yet John 1:18 categorically denies that anyone at any time has ever seen God. In Numbers 12:8 the Lord said

concerning Moses:

`With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the

LORD shall he behold'.

`Apparently' is the translation of the Hebrew mareh `pattern' (Num.  8:4); `appearance' (Num. 9:15);

`countenance' (Jud. 13:6) and Ezekiel 1:26 `the appearance of' a man. The pattern was shown to Moses in the

mount, and the comment in Hebrews 8:5 shows that all these `serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly

things'. The `appearance' of Numbers 9:15 is the presence of the Lord rendered terrible by the `appearance of fire'.

When the parents of Samson realized that `the man of God, whose countenance was like the countenance of an angel

of God' was indeed `The angel of the Lord' they said `we shall surely die, because we have seen God'. We

remember how that at Peniel, where Jacob saw God `face to face', we are told `a man' wrestled with him, which

Hosea 12:4 interprets as an `angel'. The word `appearance' comes over and over again in the opening visions of

Ezekiel's prophecy. Describing the `likeness' of the four living creatures, Ezekiel said `And this was their

appearance; they had the likeness of a man' (Ezek. 1:5), and throughout the wondrous and perplexing imagery of

these chapters that `likeness of a man' persists, and at the close of chapter 1 the prophet said:

`And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne ... and upon the likeness of the

throne was the likeness as the appearance of A MAN above upon it ... this was the appearance of the likeness of

the glory of the LORD' Ezek. 1:26-28).

Let it be noted, Ezekiel saw the `likeness' of the firmament, the `likeness' of the throne, the `likeness' of the

glory of the Lord. He even says:

`Upon the LIKENESS of the throne was the LIKENESS as the APPEARANCE of a man above upon it'.

Not merely `likeness', but `likeness of appearance' stressing the interposition of type, shadow and similitude. The

description of this man is striking:

`And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his

loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire

... And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of One that spake' (Ezek. 1:27,28).

Note again, Ezekiel is careful to say that what he saw was `as' the colour of amber, it was `as' the appearance of

fire. He does not say he saw the `loins' of this man but `the appearance' of his loins. There can be no possible

doubt that the vision granted to Ezekiel and the vision granted to John are of the same blessed Person.

`In the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man ... His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His

feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ... and when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead' (Rev.

`The similitude of the LORD shall he behold' (Numb. 12:8).

Just as Colossians 2:2,3 declares that the mystery of God is solved in the person of Christ, so the apparent

contradictions cited above of the experience of Moses, of Jacob, of Manoah and of Ezekiel, are all resolved into

harmony by the revelation of Hebrews 1:3, that He, Who in fulness of time was made flesh, was from the creation of

the world, `God Manifest' even as later He stooped to become `God manifest in the flesh'. The brightness of His

glory is followed by `the express image of His person', an equally mighty theme that must occupy our worshipping

We have seen that `the brightness of His glory' is illustrated by the Shekinah glory of the Tabernacle, the

Presence rendered visible in the pillar of fire, and anticipated in the prophecy of Ezekiel. We now must ponder the

words that follow:

`The express image of His Person'.