Did Moses see God face to face?

from the old testament

• At times, the Bible depicts God's presence using anthropomorphism, a figure of speech that attributes human characteristics to a non-human (in this case, God). For instance, Adam and Eve "heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8; emphasis added). Second Chronicles  speaks of "the eyes of the Lord run[ning] to and fro throughout the whole earth" (v. 9; emphasis added).
• These figures of speech differ from theophanies, i.e., when God takes on human form in the Bible. Though God is spiritual, not physical, He can take on any physical form He wants to, such as when He appeared to Abraham (Genesis 12:7-9, 18:1-33) and when He wrestled with Jacob (Genesis 32:22-30).
• When the Old Testament says that God communicated with Moses "face to face," the expression is figurative rather than literal. Exodus 33 describes Moses going to the tent of meeting to communicate with God:"Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (v. 11a). God is nonphysical, so "face to face" is a way of conveying the direct way in which God spoke with Moses and the close relationship He had with him (cf. Deuteronomy 34:10).
• This figurative interpretation is further proven in that same chapter after Moses asks to see God's glory. God replies, ". . .you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). The writer clearly isn't contradicting himself within the same chapter. Instead, those passages distinguish between seeing God literally (impossible for sinful human beings now) and "seeing" him figuratively.
• David sang of the joy of closeness to God, even in our present state: "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple" (Psalm 27:4)

from the new testament

• The apostle John wrote, "No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:18). This is further evidence that Moses seeing God "face to face" is a figure of speech to communicate his close relationship with God.
• Through the blood of Christ, our "great high priest" (Hebrews 4:14), believers today can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16) in prayer, but we cannot literally see God.
• One day, however, we will be in God's presence for eternity, beholding the fullness of His glory. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8; cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12).
• The apostle John confirms affirms that we will one day be in God's presence, experiencing His fullness: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2; cf. Revelation 22:4).

implications for today

What do you picture when you think of a close relationship? Joined hands? Whispered words? An embrace? Physical closeness is often associated with close relationships. The Bible recognizes that and uses language to communicate it, including the phrase "face to face" to convey Moses' close relationship with God (Exodus 33:11).

God, indeed, had a special relationship with Moses, one that we would love to have ourselves. But the good news for believers is that, one day, we will be even closer to God than Moses was (and he'll be there, too!). We'll be in God's presence, experiencing His glory for eternity.

This thought can get us through the suffering that we experience in our beautiful but broken world. Today and every day of our life now, we can draw closer to God through His word, prayer, and through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But that glory is just a dim mirror of what awaits for us in eternity.