What will God look like in heaven? Will we be able to see Him?

While we will never know until we actually get to heaven what God is going to look like, the Bible clearly teaches that we will see Him. As David anticipated in Psalm 17, And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness—David, Psalm 17:15. And certainly the apostle John, sharing some of the last words of Scripture, wrote, No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads—Revelation 22:3-4. It’s going to be an amazing, exciting place to be, as not only will we see God the Father but, also according to the apostle John, we will see God the Son—Jesus Himself: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is—I John 3:2. This is not simply words of encouragement for our future but also for our present; Job was sustained through his difficulties with the joyful anticipation of what was to come with regard to seeing his God: I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!—Job 19:25-27. The apostle Peter wrote similar words of encouragement to the Christians of the first-century church as they suffered through their various persecutions; he said, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls—I Peter 1:3-9. Likewise as we go through the trials we face, we can know the same perspective that Paul demonstrated, knowing the eternity that awaits us, the eternity that dwarfs anything and everything we face here: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal—Paul, II Corinthians 4:16-18. What could be greater than the eternity that God is preparing for all those who love Him? So even though we can’t imagine it now, someday we will see—and know—fully. As Paul said so well in his first letter to the church at Corinth, Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known—Paul, I Corinthians 13:12.