JOHN’S APOCALYPTIC VISION in the Book of Revelation describes a surreal kaleidoscopic scene of heaven, and of heavenly beings. “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice.” (Rev. 1:10) Strange shapes and colors and noises intersect across a spherical holographic image. The aether is densely concentrated at the center of power here. The unknown seat of both the known universe and the unknown realm beyond it has an energy of life experienced only faintly at the far end of the portal reaching to earth and its inhabitants. “There before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. The one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.” (Rev. 4:2-3) The energy at God’s throne cannot be viewed as merely compressed. At the nucleolus of it all is God himself. He exists in the most supranatural, organic, and elemental state, which physics cannot describe, since matter, space, and time are only by-products of him.
There is no clear depiction of God; instead, other than energy of the colors of light manifested by him and around him, there is only John’s hyperbolic description of an anthropomorphic hand holding the scroll of judgment. “I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.” (Rev. 5:1) All we can know about him is through the interaction of the heavenly beings around him; he remains physically invisible to our hesitant gaze, and this is fittingly as it should be. In the Jewish tradition of reverence towards the holiest one, not only can his name not be written out—even today, observant Jews write ‘G-d’ when using English—but hearkening back to the time of Moses, he shall not be seen. “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Ex. 33:20) It is well for us that our gaze is hesitant.
Throughout the O.T., there are many references to God having bodily features and functions familiar to humans. Daniel calls him “the Ancient of Days,” and describes him by saying “the hair of his head was white like wool.” (Dan. 7:8) He has “eyes” (Amos 9:3), “ears” (Dan. 9:18), “hands” (Isa. 5:25). He walks “in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8), and speaks as a human might: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” (Ex. 33:11) This latter quote should be viewed as hyperbolic; it is not a physical reality but a relational intimacy. But in all these instances, no clear description of God emerges; he remains invisible. He is known primarily through the presence of his voice, especially in the sense of the Hebrew “Bara,” the voice of creation: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Gen. 1-3) This same voice is also made known through the prophets of old.
His presence and power, however, can be sensed by the response of those interacting with his voice. God spoke to Abram, and “Abram fell facedown.” (Gen. 17:3) When fire fell from heaven with Elijah’s prayer, “The people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!’” (1 Kings 18:39) When Ezra praised God at the rebuilt temple after the Babylonian exile, “all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” (Neh. 8:6)
This is also the pattern of the heavenly beings in John’s vision as they respond to God’s presence. There are “four living creatures, covered with eyes,” who “day and night never stop saying ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.’” (Rev. 4:6-8) When the four creatures “give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,” (Rev. 4;9) there are “twenty-four elders” who “fall down before him.” saying: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev. 4:10a, 11)
There are distinct differences, but there is no sense of disunity in the heavenly worshipers. The four phantasmagorical living creatures are described each with separate identifying characteristics. “The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.” (Rev. 4:7) The twenty-four elders act in unison, “laying down their crowns before the throne.” (Rev. 4:10b) Together, the living creatures and the elder’s voice blend in antiphonal harmony, an elegy for the first creation woven together with a paean of praise for the new creation about to form. The imagination of it evokes both haunting and hope.
Our perception of John’s vision of God on his throne is dimmed, as someone seeing poorly from afar, and whose hearing is somewhat impaired. The exponential scale of the expanded universe of John’s description holds the promise of solving man’s eternal quest for the elusive equation that satisfies a ‘theory of everything.’ But that is what it remains, elusive.
Despite our hunger for knowledge, infinity and eternity are beyond the grasp of our finite minds, which ever desire concrete understanding. But, there is this to consider and reflect upon: “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:9, Isa. 64:4, 65:17) Perhaps we see better because of this.
Q. How do I visualize God?