The Lord be with you
Concordia Theological Quarterly is a peer reviewed
journal that I receive. In the most recent issue (Volume 79; Number 1-2;
January/April 2015) is an article by Walter A. Maier III titled The Divine Presence within the Cloud (pages
79-102). This post is a review of that article. A link to the article is found at the end of this post.
A Theophany is an appearance of God to people but the
presence of God is veiled in some fashion to protect the people. To put that
another way, theophanies both reveal and conceal God. They are, then, marks of
God’s great mercy in at least two ways. First, God appears to someone. Second,
God ensures that that person is not harmed by the appearance. All theophanies
may also be considered foreshadows of the Incarnation for in Jesus God indeed
dwelled among us in a visible way, but the divinity was veiled so that being in
the presence of Jesus caused no harm. There are numerous theophanies in the
Bible, such as the burning bush in Exodus 3 or the appearance of the “Divine
Angel” to Abraham in Genesis 18.
This article by Maier deals specifically with ones in which
God’s presence is manifest with/in cloud/s. Maier examines five different cloud
theophanies. First is the pillar of cloud that accompanied Israel during
the Exodus. Second is the cloud of Mount Sinai
when the Law was given. Third is the cloud over the Ark of the Covenant. Fourth
is the cloud that appeared at the Transfiguration of Christ. The fifth is the cloud(s)
of Judgment Day. To do this he examines over forty Bible passages, not counting
references in the footnotes.
From these various cloud theophanies Maier finds, aside from
the standard Theophany deductions found above, that they “conveyed the reality
of the immanence and transcendence of God, that is, his nearness to, and
distance from, the Israelites.” He also writes, “The pillar of cloud, the
mountain cloud, and the atonement-cover cloud reminded the Israelites that God
could be at different locations at the same time. They could speak of Yahweh’s
presence being localized but also confess that Yahweh was omnipresent.” He also
finds that the Sinai event foreshadowed both the Transfiguration of Christ and
his Second Coming.
He concludes, “We see, then, a fundamental relationship
among the clouds examined in this study; the pillar of cloud, the Sinai cloud,
the atonement-cover cloud, the transfiguration cloud, and the cloud(s) of
Christ’s second advent. Within each was, or will be, the divine presence. That
was a blessed reality for the Israelites and for the apostles, and it will be
for us on the Last Day.”
This article would be
an excellent source for a Bible study on this topic. As is common in the
articles for Concordia Theological Quarterly, Maier is actually writing
for pastors, seminary professors, and like professionals. Therefore he refers
to the Hebrew and Greek texts, considers certain textual questions as they
impact the passages examined, and so forth. If you are not familiar with such
things, one point to keep in mind that will make the reading of the article easier
is the abbreviation “ET.” ET stands for English Text. There are times when the breakdown
of chapters and verses in the Masoretic Text (Hebrew text) and the English Text,
as found in a standard English Bible, are not the same. When this happens, the
letters “ET” tell you where to find the reference in your English Bibles.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Rickert
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