In a nutshell, theophany is a manifestation of God in a visible way and captured by the senses of the human being. It is when God appears in His glory to man, even if through another organism.

This word has a Greek origin and comes from the combination of two words: "theos", which means "God", and "phainein", which refers to the verbs "to show" or "to manifest".

Theophanies in the Bible

Theophany in the Old Testament

Theophanies were very common in the Old Testament, when God often revealed himself temporarily, usually to give someone a relevant message. Here are some times when God appeared in the first part of the Holy Book:

To Abraham in Shechem

The book of Genesis reports that God was always in contact with Abraham, communicating with him throughout his life, but only on a few occasions did God show Himself in a visible way.

The first of these appearances is reported in Genesis 12:6-7, which describes that God appeared to Abraham and said, "To your descendants I will give this land," referring to the land of Canaan. No details about how God appeared to his servant are given in the passage, except that it must have been very impressive, since the book records that Abraham built a temple to the Lord there.

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To Abraham, announcing the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah

When Abraham was already 99 years old and living in Canaan, he once received in his tent three men who were passing by. While Abraham was having lunch in their company, he heard the voice of the Lord say that he would have a son.

When the meal was over, the three men got up to leave, and Abraham accompanied them. According to Genesis 18:20-22, two of the men went in the direction of the city of Sodom, while the third remained and announced, in the first person, that he would destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which makes it apparent that this man was probably a direct manifestation of God.

To Moses on Mount Sinai

Moses is considered the man who had the closest intimacy with God, since the Lord always spoke with his servant, who guided the Israelite people through the desert toward the promised land.

Many people often think that God manifested Himself when Moses talked to a burning bush, but the Bible implies that the bush was on fire, but it was an angel who was communicating with Moses, not God Himself.

In Exodus 19:18-19, however, God decides to speak directly to Moses and comes down on Mount Sinai enveloped by a dense cloud, with lightning, thunder, fire, smoke, and the sound of a trumpet. All the people of Israel saw this phenomenon, but only Moses was called to meet the Lord, who gave him, at that moment, the laws of Israel and the Ten Commandments.

After a dialogue that lasted days, Moses asked God to allow him to see His glory, but the Lord refused, arguing that His face would kill any mortal, but allowed Moses to see His back (Exodus 33:18-23), astonishing him.

To the Israelites in the desert

The book of Exodus also relates that when the Israelites built the tabernacle in the desert, God descended upon it as a cloud that never disappeared and served as a guide to the people in the desert, as the people followed the movement of the cloud and when it descended, they set up a new camp at the place indicated by it during the 40 years they spent in the desert.

To Elijah, on Mount Horeb

Pursued by Queen Jezebel after confronting the prophets of the god Baal, Elijah fled into the desert and climbed Mount Horeb, where God warned him that He would appear to talk. The verses of 1 Kings 19:11-13 report that Elijah waited hidden in a cave and heard and saw a very strong wind, an earthquake and then fire, after which the Lord appeared before him in a gentle breeze and theThe verses do not talk about how Elijah reacted when he saw himself before God.

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To Isaiah and Ezekiel, in visions

Isaiah and Ezekiel were two prophets who were able to see the glory of God in visions given by the Lord, which are reported in Isaiah 6:1 and Ezekiel 1:26-28. Isaiah, for example, reported that he saw "the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the flap of his garment filled the temple." Ezekiel, on the other hand, wrote "high up - on the throne - there was a figure that looked like a man. I saw that the top ofWhat appeared to be his waistline looked like shining metal, as if it were filled with fire, and the underside looked like fire; and a bright light surrounded him."

Theophany in the New Testament

Jesus Christ

The greatest theophany in the New Testament is the coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Since Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are one, in a Trinity, the coming of the Christ can be considered an appearance of God to men. Jesus stayed on earth for 33 years, preaching the good news of the Gospel and words of love. Another theophany is reported when Christ, after being crucified, is resurrected and comes back from the dead to speakwith his apostles and followers.

To Saul

Soon after Christ's death, his followers began to be persecuted. One of the promoters of this persecution was the Jew Saul of Tarsus. One day, as he was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus, intending to continue his persecution of Christians, Saul saw a very bright light and then a vision of Jesus, who rebuked him for persecuting Christians, as reported in the book Acts of the Apostles9:3-5, "Saul asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' He answered, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'"

After this vision, Saul converted to Christianity, changed his name to Paul, and began to preach the Gospel, being one of its greatest disseminators and author of most of the books of the New Testament, spreading the word of Christ throughout the world.

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To John on the island of Patmos

John, one of Christ's apostles, was imprisoned and isolated on the island of Patmos for preaching the Gospel. While there, John had a vision in which Christ came to him, reported in Revelation 1:13-16: "His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like bronze in a fiery furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters.He had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun when it shines in all its fury."

At that time, Jesus allowed John to see the end of time and commanded him to write about the apocalypse, in order to prepare Christians for his second coming, on the day of final judgment.

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But has anyone really seen God?

Some theologians preach that whenever God showed Himself to man, He showed a manifestation of His power, never His true appearance, which would be impossible for man to see. John, for example, wrote that "no one has ever seen God" (John 1:14), while Paul wrote that Jesus is the manifestation of "the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). Finally, Jesus Christ Himself emphatically declared,as recorded in John 14:9: "He who has seen me has seen the Father," then it matters little, according to some theologians, if God really appeared in all His splendor to man, because what matters is that we feel His existence in our innermost being.