In My Flesh Shall I see God
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:26, ESV)
Job’s conversations in his distress and complaining sometimes reveal profound truths about God and His purposes that are astonishing. One of those truths is noted above. He says after his skin, the body, has been destroyed by disease and ultimately death, yet he will see God in the flesh. Let me quickly point out two words that carry the weight of this verse: “flesh” and “see”.
What does he mean when he says, “in my flesh I shall see God?”. The most obvious meaning is that he will see God with his physical eyes, in the flesh, in the body. Yes, people finally saw God in the flesh, that is Jesus! But there is more. Jesus said “blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” in Matt 5:8. He was certainly not referring to seeing God with the physical eyes, but the experience of Him.Similarly, when He told Nicodenus in John 3:3 that a man has to be born again to “see the kingdom of God”, He was not referring to physical sight with the eyes. He was referring to entering into the realities of that kingdom, that is, experiencing the Kingdom of God. In the spiritual sense, “seeing” is experiential knowledge.
The second word is “flesh”. Job said he will see God in the flesh.The flesh here is also more than just the body. It is the earthly part of our being that involves the body and associated soulish faculties. Your soul, that is, will, emotions and mind, is the center of your EARTHLY HUMAN EXPERIENCE. The word flesh is not always referring exclusively to the body but is often used to refer to the body as well as our “natural” psychological faculties. I will recommend you look up the word “flesh” in the Louw-Nida Greek English Lexicon if you have access to this resource or similar resources.
When Job said he would see God in the flesh, he was speaking prophetically of a time when the people of God will be brought into experiencing God in their earthly life. We will be so united and one with Him that our emotions, will, motivations and yes, our physical bodies will be permeated completely by God!! What a prophetic picture of the believer in Christ! God wants to bring you to such intimacy with Him in the flesh, that is, in this earthly daily life. You do not need some out-of body-experience to see or experience God”. God instead became flesh so that we can experience Him in the flesh. This is God’s desire for your daily living. Yes, you may have out of body visions, etc. His dream, however, is ultimately to have you live daily and constantly in fellowship with Him in your ordinary daily “human” life on the earth. Become conscious of the fact that God wants to completely fill your entire being, emotions, desires, thoughts, body, etc. He wants you to experience or “see” Him in the flesh.He wants your ordinary life here on the earth to be a walking, visible manifestation of Him! This is a very profound truth and I struggled to put it in a short devotional. Please take a moment to reread this it as needed and study these things independently for yourself.
MEDITATE
What is the meaning of “seeing God” in the flesh?
APPLY THE WORD
Be conscious He wants you to “see” Him in the flesh!
PRAY
Ask the Father to bring you into such intimate fellowship with Him in your daily walk
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