Gen 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said. (ESV)
I was about to finally move on from this verse when something caught my eye. Previously in verse 1 "the LORD said to Abram". Here "the LORD appeared to Abram". I can kind of imagine Abram hearing a voice but what on earth did he see? Theologians call a visible manifestation of God in the OT a theophany (it means literally 'appearance of God') and there are quite a few of them. Abraham got another when he was 99 years old (Gen 17:1), and later encountered God in three visitors (Gen 18:1). Moses saw several visible phenomena connected with God like a burning bush Ex 3:2 and a cloud Ex24:5, Num 12:6-8. Actually the burning bush is interesting as Ex 3:2 says that the angel of the LORD appeared in flames from within the bush but then the LORD, that is God, speaks to Moses when he goes over to take a look. We get the same thing happening in Judges 6:11 when the angle of the LORD sits down and starts chatting with Gideon. Then in verse 14 the LORD (Yahweh) turns to him and speaks. First the angle of the LORD speaks, you blink and suddenly it's God speaking. When the angel speaks again he says something that you would expect God to say Gen 16:10, Judges 2:1. Manoah and his wife see "the angel of the LORD" and cry "we have seen God!" (Judges 13:21-22). It's all very confusing.
What makes it harder is that 1 Tim 6:16 says God "dwells in unapproachable light" and that "no one has ever seen or can see" him. John agrees that "No one has ever seen God" (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12) yet Hebrews states, without any apparent awkwardness, that Moses "saw him who is invisible". Heb 11:27. There is something in the heart of God that, though he is innately immaterial and invisible, he loves to manifest himself and make himself known. This self revealing nature of God, his desire to display who he is, his tendency to want to show up, is behind the whole of creation. God's invisible excellent qualities made tangible and visible are captured in the bible with the word "glory".
I spoke to a friend recently who saw God's desire to glorify himself in a rather negative light. The truth is it fills life with meaning and purpose. God made the universe in all its starry splendour and placed us on this little blue planet to display his amazing glory. The stars are dazzling but as living breathing examples of God's sacrificial love we were made to outshine the brightest among them. At the deepest level my purpose is to exist! I was a sinner, but now I am forgiven and adopted into God's family. I was a rebel, now I am a son. Simply by existing I shine out God's amazing grace. Look at me! I was an enemy of God, squandering everything he had given me, slandering him and going my own way, as lost as I could be and yet see how in his love he sacrificed everything to save me; He found me, won me, rescued me, and now he's changing me from one degree of glory to another. The meaning of my life is God's glory. Wow.
But I guess that's jumping ahead a bit. At this point in salvation history, things are not that clear. The brightness of the garden of Eden has faded but God keeps showing up and from these and other passages it seems he does so in a very human form. They are perhaps, fleeting, temporary glimpses of the future incarnation of the son of God. The one who perfectly displays the Fathers glory and makes him known. The one, in fact, in whose image and likeness we are being fashioned. We are encountering something in verses like this one that is impossible to comprehend but utterly true none the less; an invisible God making himself visible. We also, at times, get glimpses of both God's oneness and his plurality of personhood. Yahweh and the Angle of the Lord. Unified yet Distinct.
I am still left with lots of questions though. What did God look like and how did Abram know it was God? Even when Jesus came his disciples didn't think to draw him or describe his physical appearance. I wonder what would have happened if Jesus had chosen a sculptor or artist for one of his disciples! Did he look like Joseph? I guess he must have looked Jewish. As for how Abram knew it was God I guess I have to answer that question every time I think God is speaking to me either through a prophetic word or a thought that pops into my head. In either case I have to discern if it really is God speaking.
Joseph Smith Jr. said that both Yahweh and Jesus appeared to him near his house, a claim that led to the formation of the Latter day Saint movement also known as the Mormon Church. It's relatively easy to weight these sorts of sightings based on whether they line up with God's word in the bible (although that slightly glosses over the question of how we know the bible is the word of God) but how did Abram do it? Did God say more to him than we read, giving time for Abram to get to know him and build up a relationship? Were there any supernatural signs and wonders associated with God's appearing to distinguish him from other people or fraudsters? These things certainly happened later in the OT and when Jesus came but they are not mentioned here. It all sounds very normal and every day, just as it must have been in the garden with Adam and eve: "the LORD appeared to Abram".
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