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I want to consider something in the Word of God that I find particularly fascinating, and I think you will too: the appearances of God that are found in the Tenach (the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings – aka the Old Testament). There’s a special word for an appearance of God – theophany.

Why is it important to understand the theophanies?

The theophanies teach us about God – and the knowledge of God is the highest knowledge and the greatest knowledge there is. If God appeared to people before Messiah arrived, we to know about it.

Theophanies are part of the Bible, and it’s good for us to know everything that is part of the Bible. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

The theophanies reinforce the truth that the New Testament is the continuation of the Old Testament; that the new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed; and it’s important to understand that the Bible is one book, a book we need to understand from start to finish.

The theophanies teach us that God wants to and is able to interact with us. Some believe there is no God. Some believe that God exists, and although He created the universe, He can’t interact with us or doesn’t want to interact with us. The theophanies teach us that He can interact with us and wants to interact with us.

Knowing the theophanies corrects serious errors in Judaism and Islam. Those religions believe God can’t become a man. If we understand that in the past, God appeared in human form, then it’s not as much of a leap of faith to believe that God appeared in human form when the Son of God entered this world through the incarnation.

Some principles we need to know to help us understand the theophanies: God is too big, too great, too glorious, too powerful, too holy for us to see Him as He really is. The Son of God said: No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father (John 6:46).

Rabbi Paul understood this: God, is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Before the Son of God arrived, human beings could only see a little reflection of God – a manifestation, a representation of Him. Exodus 33: Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

God allowed Moses to see His back, but not His face. He allowed Moses to see part of Him, but not all of Him in His goodness and glory. Even Moses, the greatest of Israel’s prophets, could not see the full reality of the God who is so great and glorious, and holy. To see Him the way He really is results in death. It would be like a gnat experiencing a nuclear explosion at ground zero.

Another principle to understand the theophanies: Almost all of the theophanies were appearance of the Son of God, not God the Father. Why? John said: No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known (John 1:18). It’s one of the functions of the Son to make God known to us. Yeshua said: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?

The Son revealed God to us as the pre-incarnate Messiah; and He revealed God to us in a greater way by becoming a human being, and teaching us, and doing great miracles, and dying for us, and rising from the dead.

Before the Son of God arrived, God appeared to people while they were awake, and also in dreams and visions. He appeared in natural phenomena; He appeared in a human-like form; and He appeared as the mysterious Angel of the Lord.

Let’s start with appearances of God in natural phenomena. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Exodus 3: The angel of the Lord appeared to him (Moses) in flames of fire from within a bush … When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Fire represents the unapproachability, purity and holiness of God. The Lord instructed Moses to take off his sandals, because he was standing on holy ground, in the presence of the holy God.

As we were leaving Egypt, God appeared to the Jewish people in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Exodus 13: By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Cloud reflects God’s mysteriousness and heavenly origin.

God appeared to the entire nation on Mount Sinai with smoke, fire, cloud, accompanied by thunder, lightening and the blast of a shofar. Exodus 19: On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. Smoke, fire and cloud accompanied by thunder, lightening and the blast of a shofar represent the unapproachability, purity, holiness, mystery, and power of God, whom we should honor and obey.

God appeared to Job in a storm: Job 38: Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. The storm reflects God’s mysteriousness and power.

These are appearances of God in natural phenomena. Now, let’s consider God’s appearances in human-like form. The first instance was in the garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. Genesis 3: The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

God appeared to Abraham: Genesis 18: The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. One of the men was the Lord. The other two men were angels. Angels too can appear as men. After appearing to Abraham, the two angels appeared to Lot who was in Sodom.

God appeared as a mysterious man who wrestled with Jacob, dislocated his hip and changed his name to Israel: Genesis 32: Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The mysterious man was greater than Jacob. He blessed him, and the greater blesses the lesser; and he had the authority to changed Jacob’s name which was given to him by Isaac and Rebekah; and this mysterious man was also God. Jacob named the place of this encounter, Peniel, which means the face of God, because he understood he had seen God. And to help us remember this amazing encounter between Jacob and the One who wrenched his hip, the Jewish people don’t eat meat from the hip area of animals – a custom we have been observing for almost 4,000 years. So, when we keep kosher by not eating the lower part of an animal, think of this appearance of God to Israel.

After the covenant was made at Sinai, the leaders of Israel celebrated by ascending the mountain and eating a meal in the presence of God – who appeared to them in a human-like form. Exodus 24: Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelis; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

God appeared to Joshua as the commander of the Lord’s army. Joshua 5: When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. The commander of the Lord’s army asked Joshua to do the same thing God asked Moses to do at the burning bush: take off his sandals, and for the same reason – because he was standing on holy ground. That lets us know that the captain of the Lord of Hosts is the same One who spoke to Moses – God.

Isaiah was blessed with one of the greatest visions of God in a human-like form. Isaiah 6: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Daniel was blessed with an tremendous vision in which he saw the progression of the world’s empires followed by the final world empire – the kingdom of the Son of Man, the perfect human being – the Messiah. Daniel 7 records Daniel’s vision of four animals which represented four world empires. Then he saw something much greater. As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. This is an appearance of God the Father in human-like form. He is the Ancient of Days – the oldest, the eldest; the One who is before all others. He sits on a throne as the greatest of kings. His white clothing represents purity. His white hair represents age and wisdom. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven (that’s the Messiah). He approached the Ancient of Days (that’s God the Father. God the Father is a separate person from God the Son) and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. The Messiah is the final world ruler. Once He begins to rule Israel and the nations, His kingdom will have no end.

The Lord appeared to Ezekiel on a throne in the form of a man who was glowing and burning, surrounded by brilliant, multi-colored light. Ezekiel 1: On the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

Ezekiel 8 records a similar theophany: I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal.

Finally, we come to appearances of God as the mysterious Angel of the Lord. The word “angel” means messenger. A man can be an angel – a messenger; an angel can be an angel – a messenger; the Son of God can be an angel, a messenger – sent by the Father to represent God. The Angel of the Lord is interchangeable with God. He speaks as God. He is recognized as God – because He is God.

The Lord appeared to Gideon in a human form, as the Angel of the Lord. Judges 6: The Israelis did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites … The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” Notice that the one who spoke to Gideon is called the Lord, not the angel of the Lord. But there is only one person speaking. “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.” Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

Now it’s the angel of the Lord who speaks to Gideon. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

Gideon understood that seeing God face to face resulted in death; and he believed that seeing the angel of the Lord resulted in death – because the angel of the Lord is in some mysterious way, God Himself. The Lord had to reassure him that he would not die. But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

God appeared to Manoah and his wife in human form, as the Angel of the Lord. Judges 13: Again the Israelis did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’” Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!” Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?” “I am,” he said. So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?” The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.” The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” “Beyond understanding” is “pele.” It’s the same word used of the Messiah in Isaiah 9 – His name is “Wonderful.” Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. And he realized this was no ordinary angel. “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!” Like with Gideon, Manoah understood that to see the Angel of the Lord is to see God, and to see God results in death. His wife, however, understood that even though they had seen God, it was not the Lord’s intent to kill them. But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.” The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson – who may have been the strongest man who ever lived, whom God used in a great way to rescue us from Philistine oppression. The Angel of the Lord is interchangeable with God. He speaks as God. He is recognized as God – because He is God.

The Tenach teaches us that God appeared to people in natural phenomena – in a burning bush; in a pillar of fire; in a pillar of fire; in smoke; in a storm; and He appeared in a human-like form; and He appeared as the mysterious Angel of the Lord.

The New Testament teaches us that God appeared to people in an even greater way through the incarnation of the Son of God. The appearance of the Son of God is the greatest theophany of them all.

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank You for Your Word, which teaches us about You; and the knowledge about You is the greatest knowledge.

Thank You that You appeared to people, and that these theophanies were written down and have been faithfully transmitted to us across the centuries.

Thank You for these theophanies, which teach us that You want to and are able to interact with people.

Father, we want to pray for those in the other monotheistic, one God religions, that You help them understand that God can become a man; that that is consistent with Your revelations to people before Your Son appeared on Earth.

Father, thank You for sending Your Son into this world. He is Your angel, Your messenger to us. Thank You for the incarnation. Thank You that Messiah Yeshua alone has seen You; and He has made You known to us. His theophany is the greatest theophany of all. Now, help us make Him, and You, known to many others.

And, thank You that Your Son not only appeared as a man, and became a man, He remains a man. He is now and forever will be the Son of Man – the perfect, glorified human being. And, by uniting Himself to humanity, He has elevated man to the highest places. That is so cool! You are so cool! Thank You.