Too Holy to See | The Institute for Creation Research

Too Holy to See



“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

Skeptics sometimes complain that if there really were a God, why doesn’t He simply show up? The Bible has two responses.

First, as today’s verse suggests, if God did “simply show up,” His glorious, radiant holiness would obliterate any nearby sinners. For this reason, He hid His full glory when He did show up. For instance, during Moses’ ministry, “on the third day in the morning,…there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled” (Exodus 19:16).

Indeed, “clouds and darkness are round about him” (Psalm 97:2), and “he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies” (2 Samuel 22:12).

God once took the form of a man to hide His glory enough for Jacob to wrestle Him. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [face of God]: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).

Last, what do these dealings reveal? His grace! In His grace He shows up in ways that preserve even the wicked. He shields us from His overwhelming brightness because “the Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart...that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered” (Joel 2:12, 32). “We shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9), for “he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2), even the skeptic. BDT

Days of Praise Podcast

Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, Dr. John Morris, and others to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.


The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...

NEWS
Acoustic Communication in Animals
We are all familiar with vocalizations in the animal world. For example, dogs bark, birds sing, frogs croak, and whales send forth their own distinct...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Crystals!
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

APOLOGETICS
Playing Chess with Little Furry Critters
God’s multifarious and marvelous designs for basic creature needs are so innovatively clever and providentially purposeful that Christ’s...

ACTS & FACTS
Credit Only Our Creator
History was my favorite subject as a young kid. But it always puzzled me when my teachers said, “We study history so that we don’t repeat...

ACTS & FACTS
Genomic Tandem Repeats: Where Repetition Is Purposely Adaptive
Tandem repeats (TRs) are short sequences of DNA repeated over and over again like the DNA letter sequence TACTACTAC, which is a repetition of TAC three...

ACTS & FACTS
Dinosaur National Monument: Fossil Graveyard of the Flood
Straddling the border of Utah and Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument (DNM) is one of the richest exposures of dinosaur fossils in the world.1...

ACTS & FACTS
The Transforming Influence of Genesis: Worker Dignity and Safety
When Pharisees questioned the Lord Jesus about marriage, He answered by quoting Genesis 1:27: “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made...