Excerpt from Appendix 9 of…
Immanuel: A Practicum by Patricia A. Velotta
God Chose Intimate, Face to Face Relationships, with People in the Old Testament.
Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him
until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did
not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip;
and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled
with him. . . . So Jacob called the name of the place
Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is
preserved. (Genesis 32:24–25, 30)
So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks
to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his
servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart
from the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:11)
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They
have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that
You, LORD, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands
above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud
by day and in a pillar of fire by night. (Numbers 14:14)
So he [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and
forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And
He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the
Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:28)
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His
face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD
lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24–26)
The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain
from the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 5:4)
Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the
LORD. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For I have
seen the Angel of the LORD face to face. (Judges 6:22)
Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore!
(Psalms 105:4; 1 Chronicles 16:11)
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy
also upon me, and answer me. When You said, “Seek
My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will
seek.” Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your
servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not
leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When
my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD
will take care of me. (Psalms 27:7–10)
Abraham is Described as a Friend of God
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
And he was called the friend of God. (James 2:23)
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your
descendants I will give this land.” So he built there an
altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (Genesis
12:7)
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared
to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;
walk before Me, and be blameless. . . . Then He finished
talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
(Genesis 17:1, 22)
Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of
Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the
day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three
men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he
ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself
to the ground . . . And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am doing . . . For I have known him.”
(Genesis 18:1–2, 17, 19a)
I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether
according to the outcry against it that has come to
Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away
from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still
stood before the LORD. And Abraham came near and
said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the
wicked?” . . . So the LORD went His way as soon as He
had finished speaking with Abraham. (Genesis 18:21–23,
18:33a)
We Can Be a Friend of God Too.
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
(1 Corinthians 8:3)
He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the
king will be his friend. (Proverbs 22:11)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(Matthew 5:8)
You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you
friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have
made known to you. (John 15:14–15)