Nebuchadnezzar saw Jesus for a reason: God needed to change him. He brought tribulation to the God's chosen people, and God saw fit to save, not only he young men, but the Jewish nation itself. That was because of the Abrahamic Covenant. Nebuchadnezzar saw God and lived because God had to keep His promise. He saw God face to face; that face was Jesus. Because Nebuchadnezzar saw God's real face, he did not die but was humbled! (Nebuchadnezzar had previously put on God's face by his own devices; having statues of him made to be worshiped.)
Jacob saw Jesus because through his seed, Jesus would be born. Jacob saw his future "grandson", of course far removed from his generation. Jacob needed that! The sinew of his thigh shrank as his "grandson" touched him. Obviously that was an indication that Jacob would be the antecedent of the "man" with whom he wrestled. To this day, Jews do not eat the sinew of an animals thigh - it is not kosher to do so. They believe that it is unclean, being the rear quarters of the animal, but it seems to be out of respect for the Savior.
God allows certain people to see His face and live. Although Adam and Eve saw God face to face before they sinned, immediately thereafter they only heard Him and His Voice (Gen 3:8). They had lost their "bright eyes" as sacred scripture calls their original bright nature. After suffering guilt for their sin, and attempting to hide their shame by their own devices, they attempted to deceive God. However, upon hearing His Voice, they were ashamed of what they had done.
Sin deprives sinners from communion with God. Being the only two people, God had the grace to allow Adam and Eve hear Him but not see Him. Again, only a select few can see God's face and live. Moses was not even allowed to see God's Face:
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Exod 33:18-23)Why not? Why could Moses not look upon God's face? Because he had killed an Egyptian. He was not worthy to look upon God face to face. Solomon was the son of David who was a type of Jesus. Jesus was not of Solomon's loins, so God had no reason to allow Solomon to see Him face to face (Solomon was Joseph's ancestor - not Mary's). However, Solomon longed to see what Jacob saw:
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. (Song of Sol 2:14)On the other hand, from the Psalms we know that David sought to see God's face and finally saw God face to face!
Many of the kings were syncretic - they retained God in Spirit, but rejected His physical presence. They took other gods besides God which was against the First Commandment. If we examine the original Hebrew, it can easily be seen why: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exod 20:3). A better rendering, I believe from the Hebrew is: "You shall have no other gods with my face."
Mankind, because of doubt, must always place a "face" on God. The Second Commandment describes the attempts to do that: "Thou dost not make to thyself a graven image, or any likeness" (Exod 20:4). People must have a god whose face they can see, and if they don't, they put a face on God.
Pagan religions nearly always do that. Their gods do not exist, so pagans create them. Statues of all types of pagan gods and goddesses are all over the world because God must have a face. The most obvious exception is Islam. However, their prophet is empowered to be supra-natural; thus, the "face" of Allah is for all practical purposes Mohammad.
God made a promise to Abraham - actually two: (1) they will have the Promised Land, and (2) they will see God. Solomon's Song implores God to allow the "Church" to see His face.. "Thy countenance is comely" is the expectation that Jesus will have a radiant beauty. God spoke to Isaiah the prophet who was on the first layer of the New Testament Church (Ephes 2:20). That same verse indicates that Isaiah was one of the "stones" set next to the Corner Stone which is Jesus. Isaiah knew to whom he looked:
Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. (Isa 33:17)As with any building, the true invisible Church cannot be measured to the corner stone, which is the Datum. ON the other hand, the Church looks toward the Corner Stone who is the Way to build an eternal Church. Because Isaiah was part of the Church's foundation, he looked toward the Datum or Corner Stone as the Church was beginning to be built. He didn't see God face to face but he knew that someday thereafter others would!
The "King in His beauty" is God on His throne. When Christians finally see God face to face, it will be Jesus's glorified Face they see! I believe that Isaiah is speaking of Heaven because it is in a "land that is very far off." You may think that the apostles saw Jesus. Some did. However, they did not see Jesus's beautiful countenance at first.
God created Himself in the Flesh for two distinct purposes. (1) He realized that people's faith needed reinforcing. Their unseen God must have a face! (2) In order to redeem mankind, that face must die, and live again. God showed his Face so that believers could see the agony of His face as He died. It was not God's Spirit which died, but His Body as Jesus was the face of God! When God's face died, Jesus gave up the ghost - his Holy Ghost (Mark 15:37).
Shortly thereafter, Jesus was resurrected. Some could not recognize him because his countenance had changed. His face was not recognizable: for instance, to those on the road to Emmaus. Jesus lacked something as he could not even be touched until he had seen his Father:
Jesus saith unto her (Mary), Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:17).Jesus needed to remain ceremonially clean to be in the presence of his Father. After he ascended he was glorified: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body... (Phil 3:21). Jesus was glorified by being in the presence of his Father. We will be glorified as well when we come unto his presence; God with the face of Jesus!
Moses didn't get to see God. Elijah met God (1 Kings 19:11-19). However, neither did Elijah get to see God's "face".
Now for seeing God's true beautiful glorified face: Jesus took James, Peter, and John atop Mount Horeb where they saw Jesus countenance change. Jesus was standing there talking to Moses and Elijah, neither of whom had ever seen God's face. As they talked, they saw Jesus's ordinary face. Jesus, as "seen" by Isaiah was not the most handsome person, at least in the eyes of others:
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. (Isa 43:3)On the other hand, the face that Isaiah saw was beautiful (Isa 33:17 above). God seemed to have a face for the world and another one for Heaven. It's the same face but the countenance was different.
Finally, God showed his true face... the one He would have on His throne, Remembering that neither Moses nor Elijah had not the honor of seeing God's face, he brought them to the mountain for a look!
Moses had died and his ashes were still in the grave. On the other hand, Elijah was taken to Heaven without suffering death. The patriarch and the prophet represent the dead who will see Jesus and the living shortly afterward. James, John, and Peter had never seen the beautiful face of God. On the Holy Mountain, Heaven came down for just a short time when God left the throne for His footstool.
(Jesus) was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light... While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (17:5) (Mat 17:2, 5)Father and Son were together in the presence of those five people. They saw Jesus changed from ordinary to glorified - made entirely in the likeness of God. This is the same description of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. The transfiguration of Jesus was God showing the patriarch, the prophet, and the three apostles his Holy Face. It appears that thereafter, the Jesus the public saw was no longer merely Joseph's ordinary son but God's glorious Face! Jesus remained that way after coming from the mountain:
And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. (Mark 9:15)Scripture indicated that Jesus would be uncomely (Isa 43:3). On the other hand, in his letter to Caesar, Pilate described Jesus as "comely". Why the difference? Some saw Jesus before the transformation, but Pilate saw Jesus only afterward. The world sees God's Face as ordinary, but Christians see Jesus as beautiful. That was what Isaiah wrote!
The throne of God sits on a sea of glass. Christians can see through that transparent floor and see God's Face. With our new bright eyes, Christians can see the beautiful Face of graceful God while the world can see only the seemingly ugly face of a judgmental God. He's God either way; it's just that people see Him differently.
What did God mean that if his face is seen, the person would die? I believe he was speaking of those who would create their own face for Him without seeing His true countenance. The Fifth Commandment addresses that: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
God is without name. He just Is. When God put on his Face, He was called Jesus. The Commandment is to not take God's "face" frivolously. That, of course, was God's Purpose. He showed the world His face so that they would know that it was God's Flesh that died on the cross.
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