If you could see God, the sight would be overwhelming. You would not survive. We know that no one can see God’s face and live, Exodus 33:20. But I’m not sure how to account for what lawyers call “the mechanism of the injury.” What exactly would be fatal about the encounter? Would the sight of God’s unveiled face be so out-of-this world it would give heart attacks to even the healthiest young people? Would his perfect holiness incinerate carnal man? Would the glory of God be as hot as the surface of the sun, and as blinding? Would his voice be so loud, your ears are ruined forever? Would the genius of God’s intelligence crush your mind with its weight? We don’t know.
Every day we carelessly use hyperbolic phrases like “mind blown” and “blown away,” but these figurative expressions describe a literal reality: if you saw God, you would be blown away. Your mind would be blown as well as your body. It would be over for you. God is infinite. We will neither comprehend him nor see him this side of heaven, because in his mercy God hides himself. God’s constant miracle is that he guards his invisibility every single day[1]. He stays behind the veil to protect us from an encounter we would find overwhelming if not instantly lethal.
But he has given to his prophets tantalizing clues about his appearance, his nature, and his glory. God employs mysterious, apocalyptic imagery, through the seeming ‘unreality’ of dreams and visions and through the reality of heavenly beings. To men like Daniel, Ezekiel, and John, God offers mortal man glimpses of himself, of his power, his brilliance, and his mystery.
God reveals himself to the prophet Ezekiel with a vision of a “chariot throne.” Ezekiel is one of many Hebrew captives deported to live in Babylon, and he has been there for five years. After five years, he has become familiar with the Babylonian notion of a chariot throne. Babylonians believed that a god would “traverse the heavens in his chariot throne, inspecting his domain and exercising authority over it.”*
That is what Ezekiel saw. But this was no ordinary chariot throne. The throne was built on wheels within interlocking wheels, and four creatures rode the throne, each with four faces, the face of a human, lion, eagle, and ox. The edge of the wheels were lined with eyes. Later Daniel (also captive in Babylon) would see the same blazing throne, Daniel 7:9.
“There was the likeness of a throne … and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above it. And I saw the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it … As the appearance of a rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” Ezekiel 1:26-28.
This is some far-out stuff, something for fantasy literature or graphic novels. We may struggle to interpret the Bible’s apocalyptic visions. But there is no missing one truth:
God is bigger and more mysterious than anything we can comprehend.
His creation includes beings we cannot possibly conceive.
And yet, largely because he remains invisible, we proudly—ignorantly—think we are all that.
Well, Ezekiel did not think he was all that. What does he do when he encounters a vision of God sitting on a flaming throne of interlocking wheels with eyes on their rims and four-headed creatures and the rainbow glory of God radiating off of everything?
“And when I saw [the likeness of the glory of the Lord], I fell on my face” Ezekiel 1:28.
Ezekiel finds this vision overwhelming. As well he should. He does not die, of course, but he immediately falls on his face. I’m not sure the fall is voluntary.
I don’t think Ezekiel asked himself “What’s the protocol here? What am I supposed to do if I see a vision of a wheel within a wheel?” Ezekiel did not check the Prophet Handbook and fall on his face because he wanted to show reverence for God.
He fell on his face because he is human. EVERY human would fall on his face before God. Just as every knee will bow before him in heaven. Anyone who sees God’s glory will fall on his face.
But God lifts him up.
“And I heard a voice of one that spake. And he said to me, Son of Man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me” Ezekiel 1:28-2:2.
When Ezekiel has an encounter with God, it renders him powerless. He is on the ground with no plans to get up. But God has plans. He tells him to get up. And the Holy Spirit fills Ezekiel and gives him the power to stand and receive direction from the Lord. And God proceeds to commission Ezekiel, giving him the first of many messages that he must give God’s people.
Later, Ezekiel sees God’s glory a second time and again falls on his face. This time he had just been talking to God. It was not God’s voice, but God’s glory that made the man crumple where he stood. Again, he does not appear to have a choice. EVERYONE who sees God’s glory falls on their face.
“And the hand of the Lord was there upon me, and he said unto me, ‘Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. Then I arose and went forth into the plain and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there [like before] and I fell on my face” Ezekiel 3:22-23.
This time, Ezekiel reports that God’s hand was on him, and God talked to him, and Ezekiel was still standing. But when Ezekiel went into the plain and came near God’s GLORY, he fell on his face. I don’t think he had a choice. The narrative continues:
“Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me” Ezekiel 2:24.
God’s presence is more fearsome, more awesome, more terrible, glorious and overwhelming than we could possibly put into words. The ideas are incomprehensible. He may speak to you, even place his hand upon you. But when God reveals a bit of his glory, all you can do is fall on your face.
We cannot see God’s face and live. We cannot be in the presence of his glory and stand.
But God will lift us up. He came to Ezekiel, he overwhelmed him with his glory, so that he could commission him and send him out to accomplish great things for God’s kingdom. Only through the strengthening touch of the Holy Spirit can a saint stand before God’s glory, hear God’s message, and go forth empowered to serve God’s kingdom.
Dear God, we praise you for your glory! We praise you. You are greater, higher, wiser, holier, and more full of love and joy and hope than we could ever understand. May we serve you more willingly. Reveal to us your glory. Call us to serve you faithfully. Fill us with the power and the courage of your Spirit. Use us.
A.Ω.
[1] https://dadsdailydevotionals.com/2023/11/10/gods-greatest-miracle-2-chronicles-3310-13/
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