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Transition: A Fresh Revelation

“Above [the Lord] 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.” (Isaiah 6:2NIV)

In the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of the Lord seated on his throne in heaven, which was an assurance for the prophet that God was still in control in this time of transition. The angelic beings in the vision—the seraphim who hovered around the throne of God, had six wings but were using only two for flying. So awesome was the presence and experience of God. So great the splendor of his holiness that the seraphim used the other four wings to cover themselves—two wings to cover their faces humbly and the other two to protect their feet—as if they were overwhelmed by the magnificent glory of such a holy God. They continually called out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty: the whole earth is filled with his glory.”

Moses, the great deliverer of the Israelites, also had a similar experience when he asked to see God’s glory. The Lord put him in the cleft of a rock and covered him until he passed by, so Moses could see his back. “But,” the Lord said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). Such is the glory of God!

More impressive than all of this is the fact that when Jesus came to earth, he came to reveal who God is! Jesus told his disciples, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” —the very God whom neither the seraphim nor Moses here on earth could behold because of his glory! The apostle Paul later wrote to the Colossians, saying that “in Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). The writer to the Hebrews put it this way: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (Hebrews 1:3).

Jesus, God’s eternal Son, laid aside the glory he possessed in heaven and came to earth to reconcile us to God. His glory was not the extraordinary splendor that overwhelms, but rather that of a compassionate Savior who loves us and wants to be our best friend. Today, let us spend time in fellowship with Emmanuel—Jesus, who is “God with us.”