BIBLE
Out of context: Reply #241
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What is meant by Genesis 32:30 when Jacob said, "I have seen the face of God?" We know that in John 1:18, Jesus refers to what God told Moses here in Exodus, that no man has seen the face of God; and yet, there are other passages in the Word of God that mention someone seeing God. This, of course, is dealing with a theophany, or really, a spiritual seeing of the face of God, but not in all of His glory. In the same chapter (Exodus 33) where God said, "There shall no man see my face and live," the Bible also says, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto a friend. So here again this has to be dealing with a spiritual seeing of the face of God, and it is not contradictory."
Moses certainly was in God's presence, just as he was in His presence when he walked up on Mt. Sinai and saw the bush burning. Although he did not see God, he saw the effects (the burning bush) and knew the relationship of God, as God said, "Take off your shoes, you are on holy ground." So, here is an instance of God supposedly meeting someone "face to face." Also, in Deuteronomy, it says, "The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, and lift up His covenants unto thee." Certainly, God's Word says no man has seen His face, so what we are dealing with here is not only a physical and personal relationship with a man, because Genesis 32:24 says very simply, And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now, it doesn't say that God wrestled with Jacob. This could have been an angel, a theophany, or a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, wrestling with him. Jacob was wrestling with God spiritually, as well as physically. So, certainly, when God had dealt with him through this wrestling match, if you will, and when God had not only crippled him, but also healed him, this is when Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face." It did not mean that he had literally looked into his face, but that he had met with Him in a very personal way.