Isn't it possible that, when talking of either God, the spirit or heaven itself we are not talking about literal, physical or personalized 'things' I know it is easier to imagine God as a person, just as it was, and still is, easier for many to relate to God while gazing on a statue representing Jesus. But when we anthropomorphically personalize God we run into problems such as explaining John 10. Maybe it would be worth a moment to try and grasp the 'experience' instead of codifying the nature of God.
To me, knowing God is the experiencing of him, the sense of presence rather than a technical and absolute description of his being.
Knowing God is the key. If you know Jesus Christ, you know the Father because they are one. Christ is equal to the Father (John 10:30; Phil 2:6). Jesus claimed His deity while here on earth. He said He was the "I AM". It was at this and another instance when He claimed to be the Son of God that the Jews took up stones to kill Him for they thought He was committing Blasphemy - an offense requiring the offender to be stoned to death (Lev 24:16). The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant by His proclamations. My point here is that Jesus was and is very personal. He came to earth in the form of man to save man from their sins. If Jesus is who He claimed to be (God - and He is), then God is very personal and not just a force we experience.
Now, with this in mind, if Jesus is God, then we should also be able to find evidence of Him in the Old Testament. He wouldn't have simply "popped up" in human history around the time of Christ. So where is He? Let's take a look.
The Lord (Jesus) wrestled with Jacob:
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. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”
But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
So He said to him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Jacob.”
And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”
And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”(Gen 32:24-30)
The Lord (Jesus) appeared to Abraham:
And when Abram 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, saying,(Gen 17:1-3)
Now, above we see that the Lord has introduced Himself to Abraham as “Almighty God”. This is significant in the following verses.
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.(Gen 18:1-5)
What is significant here is that Abraham recognized the Lord and knew which of the three was He. Later in the book of Genesis we again find something worth noting with regard to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.(Gen 19:24,25)
How many Lords are represented here in Gen 19:24,25? Remember, there is only one true God. (Deut 6:4;32:39; Isaiah 44:6,8; 45:5,18,21,22).
Worthy of note is also Jesus’ words in John 8:56-58:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
The Lord (Jesus) appears to 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. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.(Isaiah 6:1-5)
One last thing to mention, the Scriptures say that none can see God without dying. So who is this “Almighty God” that Abraham saw, the Lord sitting on the throne that Isaiah saw, and the God that Jacob wristled with? God that man can see without dying.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.(Exodus 33:20)
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.(John 1:18)
