Material as this may appear to many, the first verse of the chapter, as well as other verses following those quoted, proves conclusively that this records a personal appearing of the Lord, and also that He has a tangible being, composed of various parts of the body, as real as those which characterize His offspring. This instance is only one out of many in which the Lord appeared to Abraham. Read the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, 1-3, "And when Abraham was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him." Then follows the conversation engaged in between God, our Eternal Father, and Abraham, the "father of the faithful." How such an event should occur between a real human being and one who had no real organization, "without body, parts or passions," requires more credulity to believe than to accept the idea which the Scriptures themselves convey in these chapters, viz: that God has an actual personality.
If language more direct than the foregoing is required, it can be found in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, regarding the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. * * * Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." It is evident from this that the Lord was in one place, the tower of Babel in another; that He was surrounded by associates, and in counsel with them proposed to go to the place where the tower was in course of construction and there defeat the purpose of its builders. No one could take this account, written in the simplicity of truth, believing that it is a truthful statement of the historical facts, and still believe that God is without body, parts or passions and in His actual individuality fills at once the immensity of space.
The entire Bible history of Abraham is also one continuous account of personal visits, conversations and covenants made by the Almighty to and with the patriarch. Isaac was also favored with the presence of the Lord: "And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of." (Gen. xxvi:1, 2.) And again in the twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter: "And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake."
Jacob, the grandson, of Abraham, was no less favored of the Lord in being a personal witness of His existence, with love and interest in His earthly children: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canan and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession." (Gen. xlviii:3, 4.)
Abraham was designated "the father of the faithful, the friend of God." Of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the Lord has said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." To them He made glorious promises and entered into everlasting covenants extending into eternity. He promised that their seed should be as numerous as the stars of heaven and as countless as the sands upon the seashore. To the thoughtful person who reads the Scriptures in the spirit of truth, it must be apparent that our Heavenly Father foreknew the unchanging integrity of these men, and because of this gave them such great promises and made them, by His visits to them, living witnesses of His existence and personality.
Moses is another witness to the personality of God. "And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." (Ex. iii:6.) On another occasion there were over seventy witnesses that God is a personal being. "Then went up Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness." (Ex. xxiv:9, 10.) He said to the prophet Moses: "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 my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen." (Ex. xxxiii:20-23.) Again it is written: "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." (Num. xii:7, 8)
These quotations respecting the prophet Moses show that on some occasions he had personal visits from the Lord. In one instance he was accompanied by over seventy associates, and once he was permitted to see the back parts only. These statements are so much in detail and in such direct language that they are not susceptible of any private interpretation, but must be taken in a literal sense. How any one can profess to believe in the Bible and read these statements, yet deny the personality of God, is a matter of wonder and astonishment, and can only be accounted for in the fact that people have been taught to accept the precepts of men without taking the natural and reasonable conclusions which a personal reading of the Scriptures would establish in their own minds.
When Hezekiah, king of Judah, was beset by the Assyrians he offered the following prayer to the Lord: "Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear; open, Lord, thine eyes, and see; and hear the word of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God." (II Kings xix:16.) And again it is written: "Now mine eyes shall be open, and my ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." (II Chron. vii:15, 16.) The Psalmist David expressed himself, saying: "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God; incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness." (Psalms xvii:6, 15.) These expressions in the prayers of righteous men point to the manifest truth that God has eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart with which to love, a mouth to speak; and taken with other statements of Holy Writ, show beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt, that our Heavenly Father is possessed of a body composed of the various parts which go to constitute the several members of a human body, and that He is susceptible of anger, love and hatred. He hates iniquity and loves righteousness. He is angry with the wicked every day. Such are the statements of Holy Writ. He, therefore, cannot be without body, parts or passions.
The Lord was also seen by the prophet Isaiah. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." (Isa. vi:1.) To corroborate these testimonies of the Old Testament we call the attention of the reader to several passages in the New. When Stephen was being martyred he saw God: "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts vii:55, 56.) Nothing could be plainer and more convincing from the written Scriptures than that Stephen actually saw God, and that He and His Son were in the heavens in the presence of each other.
Paul wrote to the Philippians as follows: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." (Phillip. ii:5 6.) And again in Col. i:15, Paul said respecting the Savior: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature." To the Hebrews the same apostle says, concerning Jesus: "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Heb. i:3.) These writings of Paul, though not relating to a personal appearance of God, fully corroborate in doctrine all the quotations on the subject made from the Old and New Testaments. The Scriptures referred to show conclusively the personality of the Father, and a portion of the quotations presented, point to the fact that He is a separate personage, and entirely distinct in person from His Son Jesus Christ.