theophany
An instance of “divine self-revelation in which God manifests himself to humans”;1 a visible appearance of God.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:1-6 ESV)
In [the Old Testament] theophanies God took on various visible forms to show himself to people. God appeared to Abraham (Gen. 18:1-33), Jacob (Gen. 32:28-30), the people of Israel (as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night: Ex. 13:21-22), the elders of Israel (ex. 24:9-11), Manoah and his wife (Judg. 13:21-22), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1), and others.
A much greater visible manifestation of God than these Old Testament theophanies was found in the person of Jesus Christ himself. He could say, “He who has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9). And John contrasts the fact that no one has ever seen God with the fact that God’s only Son has made him known to us. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18, author’s translation). Furthermore, Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and is “the bright radiance of the glory of God” and is “the exact representation of his nature” (Heb. 1:3 author’s translation). Thus, in the person of Jesus we have a unique visible manifestation of God in the New Testament that was not available to believers who saw theophanies in the Old Testament.
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1From The Ultimate Theophany.
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