The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line
Judges 13:6-7
Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
Deciding which verses from Judges 13 to set aside for devotional reflection has been the only downside to encountering a chapter of divine spectacle so immersed in God’s nearness. But in this dialogue between the Angel of the LORD and two bewildered disciples we discover afresh the central paradox of divine revelation: that Almighty God must conceal Himself in order to reveal Himself.
Marvel at the LORD’s humility, friend. Consider that our eyes aren’t calibrated to take in the omni-dimensionality of God’s Wholeness; we have no words in human language to describe His eternal, immaterial Being because the very concept remains beyond the reach of our understanding. As my friend recently said, it’s like trying to draw a three-dimensional sphere in a two-dimensional world. All you can do is draw a perfect circle and say, “it’s far better than that.” For us to see anything of a God Who is beyond the realm of our vision and understanding and language, He must wrap Himself in some form, and stoop down to our level, and speak in our tongue, and repeat Himself over and over again because we’re so slow and hard of hearing.
Oh, how awesome this shining face must’ve been to behold! I’m sure Samson’s mom came back to Manoah with her face all aglow. But never forget the greater splendor concealed behind it, friend. A splendor that would take the very breath from our lungs if we could behold it. With that in mind, as we embark together through one of the most marvelous Old Testament Christophanies, and as we learn from the readiness and obedience of two faithful saints, may we stand in awe once again at the depths of God’s humility revealed herein.
Mountaintops of transfiguration are where we little men ascend to our highest point, but where Almighty God descends to His lowest.