Seeing visions of God

When God appeared, Abraham fell on his face in fear and worship and later built an altar dedicated to God in reverence.

Reassurances: God promised to bless Abraham and make him into a great nation, He even made a covenant with him. God gave Abraham (known as Abram at the time) a new name.

Abraham’s obedience: Abraham left the comforts of his home and wandered in the wilderness waiting for God to fulfill all His promises, many of which were only fulfilled much later. He was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, as instructed by God. At one point, Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom, whom God was going to destroy because of their utter wickedness.

Genesis 15:1 ESV  After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 17:1-22 ESV  When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”  And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.  Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”  When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

Genesis 18:1-6,22-26 ESV  And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”  … So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

God appeared to Isaac to warn Him not to go to Egypt but follow His instructions to go into the land He had promised Isaac’s father, thereby fulfilling His covenant with Abraham.

Reassurances: God reiterated the same promises He had given to Isaac’s father, Abraham.

Genesis 26:24-25 ESV  And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

God appeared to Jacob a few times. Once, Jacob saw God above a ladder angels use to descend to earth and ascend to heaven. Another time, God appeared in human form and wrestled with Jacob to test his will and humble him. God put Jacob’s hip out of joint so that he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. God also gave Jacob a new name, Israel.

Reassurances: God reiterated the same promises He had given to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham.

Genesis 32:24-31 ESV  And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Genesis 35:9-13 ESV  God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.

God appeared to and spoke with Moses many times. The first was out of a burning bush where God told Moses his mission, and later on the mountain and in the Tent of Meeting where God gave instructions for His people.

Reassurances: God reassured Moses He would be with him throughout and enabled Moses to perform powerful miracles.

Moses’ obedience: Moses responded by leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land, as instructed, in spite of numerous difficulties and rebellions from the people themselves.

Exodus 24:15-18, 25:1-9 ESV   Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

Exodus 34:34-35 NLT  But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the LORD had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the LORD.

70 leaders of Israel saw God above what looked like a pavement of sapphire stone.

The elders’ obedience: They followed God’s command to worship Him from afar and waited for Moses to bring back God’s instructions for them. 

God appeared to Samuel when he was still a young boy serving in God’s temple. He tells the boy how He will punish the priest, Eli, for not restraining his own sons from blaspheming God.

Samuel’s obedience: Samuel faithfully followed God all the days of his life.

1 Samuel 3:19-21 ESV  And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

God appeared to Solomon before he became king of Israel and rewarded him richly for humbly asking for wisdom to rule His people. The second time God appeared to Solomon, He warned king Solomon to remain loyal to God. Otherwise, his kingdom would face disaster.

Reassurances: God promised to bless king Solomon if he remained faithful as his father, king David, was.

Solomon’s disobedience: In spite of seeing God and being blessed with wisdom, Solomon willfully disobeyed God and married foreign women who led him to worship their idols. Solomon even built temples for his wives and worshipped their idols.

1 Kings 9:1-9 ESV  As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

1 Kings 11:1-14 ESV  Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.” And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.

God appeared to Micaiah and told Him how a lying spirit would entice the evil king Ahab into battle to die there.

Micaiah’s obedience: The prophet told King Ahab what God had told him. In return, Micaiah was imprisoned for speaking the truth from God.

God appeared to the prophet Isaiah, seated on His throne with heavenly beings in worship. Isaiah recognises his own uncleanness before our Holy God and is humbled and terrified.

Isaiah’s obedience: Isaiah volunteered to be sent by God and was wholeheartedly committed to turning people back to God. At one stage, he followed God’s instruction and went around naked and barefoot as a sign against Egypt and Cush.

God appeared to the prophet Ezekiel, seated on His throne in the likeness of a human being but fiery in appearance. Ezekiel fell on his face in worship.

Ezekiel’s obedience: Ezekiel faithfully delivered God’s warnings against rebelling against Him and called people to turn back to God, in the face of much opposition.

God showed the prophet Daniel His fiery throne and multitudes worshipping Him, and revealed His plans for the distant future. Daniel felt anxious and alarmed by the vision.

Daniel’s obedience: In spite of living in exile in a foreign land and forced to serve a pagan lord, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Daniel stayed faithful to God all his life, even under pressure and intimidation from different kings.

Jesus showed Himself to Stephen as he was Stephen glorified Jesus.

Stephen’s obedience: Stephen boldly testified before the council of elders and scribes that they had betrayed and murdered the Saviour.

Jesus appeared to Paul (known as Saul at the time) and showed him that He had been persecuting Jesus by persecuting Christians. Paul is temporarily blinded and subsequently fasted for 3 days.

Paul’s obedience: Paul follows Jesus’ instructions and goes into the city to be told what to do.

Jesus appears to Ananias and gives him detailed instructions on how to locate Paul and pray for the man who was severely persecuting the church.

Ananias’ obedience: In spite of his misgivings about Paul, Ananias went to pray for him, even calling him “brother”.

John saw a vision of God when he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos.

John’s obedience: He faithfully records all that God tells him to write down.

Revelation 4:2-6 ESV  At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.  And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: