THEOPHANIES THEME

IN SCRIPTURES THERE ARE MANY DIVINE APPEARANCES AND MANY INTERMEDIARIES BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE. ALTHOUGH SOMEWHAT OVERSIMPLIFIED IN CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS, THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA CONVEYED IS THAT GOD IS KNOWN BY MAN MERELY BECAUSE HE REVEALS HIMSELF, NOT BECAUSE MAN ENDEAVORS TO KNOW HIM. GOD IS SO DISTINCT FROM MAN THAT HE CANNOT NORMANLY SHOW HIMSELF WITHOUT CAUSING MAN'S DEATH. ONLY THE DIVINITIES OF NATURE ARE EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO MAN. BUT THE GREAT AND AWESOME GOD WILL ONE DAY BECOME INCARNATE. THAT IS THE ONLY JUSTIFICATION OF HIS APPEARANCE TO MAN : THEY ARE THE PRELIMINARIES TO HIS FINAL APPEARANCE AT THE END OF TIME., WHEN HE WILL MANIFEST HIS GLORY TO MAN, WHO AT LAST WILL BE ABLE TO SHARE IN THAT GLORY, NO LONGER TO DIE, BUT TO LIVE. THE MOST ANCIENT TEXTS MAKE GOD APPEAR IN THE FORCES OF NATURE. NOTE THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUALISATION: THE "YAHWISTIC" DOCUMENT
 SPEAKS OF FIRE (EXODUS, 19;16-20; 20: 18-21; 34 :5;, THE ELOHISTIC OF THE CLOUD (PSALMS) 17:12;  JOB 37:5 MATT. 17:5-6. AND THE PRIESTLY DOCUMENT OF GLORY.
THE GREAT THEOPHANY. ON THE MOURTIN THERE WERE PEALS OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING AND A HEAVY CLOUD OVER THE MOUNTAIN, AND A VERY LOUD TRUMPET BLAST SO THAT ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE CAMP TREMBLED. BUT MOSES LED ALL THE PEOPLE OUT OF THE CAMP TO MEET GOD, AND THEY STATIONED THEMSELVES AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN. MOUNT SINAI WAS ALL WRAPPED IN SMOKE, FOR THE LORD CAME DOWN UPON IT IN FIRE. THE SMOKE ROSE FROM IT AS THOUGH FROM A FURNACE, AND THE WHOLE MOUNTAIN TREMBLED VIOLENTLY. THE TRUMPET BLAST GREW LOUDER AND LOUDER, WHILE MOSES WAS SPEAKING AND GOD ANSWERING HIM WITH THUNDER. WHEN THE LORD CAME DOWN TO THE TOP OF MOUNT SINAI, HE SUMMONED MOSES TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, AND MOSES WENT UP TO HIM. THEN THE LORD TOLD MOSES, "GO DOWN AND WARN THE PEOPLE NOT TO BREAK THROUGH TOWARD THE LORD IN ORDER TO SEE HIM; OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE STRUCK DOWN. THE PRIESTS, TOO WHO APPROACH THE LORD MUST SANCTIFY THEMSELVES; ELSE HE WILL VENT HIS ANGER UPON THEM.  MOSES SAID TO THE LORD. " THE PEOPLE CAN NOT GO UP TO MOUNT SINAI, FOR YOU YOURSELF WARNED US TO SET LIMITS AROUND THE MOUNTAIN TO MAKE IT SACRED. THE LORD REPEATED. " GO DOWN NOW!  THEN COME UP AGAIN WITH AaRON. BUT THE PRIESTS AND THE PEOPLE MUST NOT BREAK THROUGH TO COME UP TO THE LORD: ELSE HE WILL VENT HIS ANGER UPON THEM. SO MOSES WENT DOWN AND TOLD THEM THIS.THEN GOD DELIVERED ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS (1O). MOSES CAME DOWN FROM MOUNT SINAI WITH TWO TABLETS OF COMMANDMENTS IN HIS HANDS. HE DID NOT KNOW THAT THE SKIN OF HIS FACE HAD BECOME RADIANT WHILE HE CONVERSED WITH THE LORD. WHEN AaRON THEN AND OTHER ISRAELITES SAW MOSES AND NOTICE HOW RADIANT HIS FACE HAD BECOME, THEY WERE AFRAID TO COME NEAR HIM. APPEARANCES OF GOD WITH THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH ACTING AS A INTERMEDIARY HAVE MADE INTO A PERSON. GOD APPEARS IN HUMAN FORM OR AT LEAST IN A HUMAN 'LIKENESS."  THEOPHANIES WERE OFTEN ORIGIN OF SANCTUARIES. THE PURIFICATION OF THESE  TRADITIONS DEVELOPED ESPECIALLY AROUND THE SAYING ACCORDING TO WHICH MAN CANNOT SEE GOD WITHOUT DYING. THE TEXTS ARE CAREFUL TO SHOW THAT IT WAS NOT GOD HIMSELF WHO APPEARED BUT AN ANGEL. OR ELSE THEY SHOW THAT IF GOD DID APPEAR IT WAS IN THE NAME OF A PRIVILEGE OF THE COVENANT.
 ANOTHER PURIFICATION: MAN PREPARED FOR A THEOPHANY BY PRAYER AND FASTING. EVEN AT A TIME WHEN THE IDEAS OF GOD HAD BEEN PURIFIED, CARE WAS TAKEN TO PRESENT HIS APPEARANCES IN AN AWE-INSPIRING SETTING IN ORDER BETTER TO EMPHASIZE THE SANCTITY OF YAHWEH AND TO MAINTAIN THE FEAR OF GOD. HOWEVER, THE PROPHETS,  WITNESSES TO THE ABSOLUTE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD, REMAINED IN FAVOR OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE APPEARANCE OF GOD ON EARTH. THEY ANNOUNCED AN ERA THAT WOULD BE CHARACTERIZED BY A PERMANENT BUT SPIRITUAL APPEARANCE OF THE TRANSCENDENT GOD. ISA:5-6. IN FACT, THE  ERA OF THE INCARNATION IS THAT OF APPEARANCES: GOD IS PRESENT AMONG MEN WHO WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO DIE. LUKE 1-2; JOHN 1 14-18. IT WAS THE RESURRECTION ABOVE ALL WHICH INAUGURATED THE PERIOD OF THESE APPEARANCES. THE RISEN LORD BECAME THE SACRAMENT OF THE THEOPHANIES. NOTE HOW CAREFUL CHRIST WAS IN THE COURSE OF HIS APPEARANCES TO GRANT POWERS TO THE APOSTLES, IN ORDER TO PROLONG HIS THEOPHANY IN THOSE VERY SACRAMENTAL POWERS MARK. THIS PASSAGE, TERMED THE LONGER ENDING TO THE MARCAN GOSPEL BY COMPARISON WITH A MUCH BRIEFER CONCLUSION FOUND IN SOME LESS IMPORTANT MANUSCRIPTS , HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN ACCEPTED AS AN INSPIRED PART OF THE GOSPEL. EARLY CITATIONS OF IT BY THE FATHERS INDICATE THAT IT WAS COMPOSED IN THE FIRST CENTURY, ALTHOUGH VOCABULARY AND STYLE ARGUE STRONGLY THAT IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN MARK. IT IS A GENERAL RESUME OF THE MATERIAL CONCERNING THE APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN JESUS, REFLECTING, IN PARTICULAR, TRADITIONS FOUND IN LUKE (24) AND JOHN (2O ). FOUND AFTER MARK 16:8 BEFORE LONGER ENDING  IN SOME LATER GREEK MANUSCRIPTS AS WELL AS SOME ANCIENT VERSIONS. FOUND AFTER MARKN16,14 IN A FOURTH-FIFTH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT PRESERVED IN THE FREER GALLERY OF ART. WASHINGTON D.C. THE ENDING WAS KNOWN TO St. JEROME.