When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled His temple. 1 Kings 8:10-11.
In this passage and in others, particularly those associated with Moses in the wilderness, God's presence is presented as an incalculable source of energy and light, so powerful that humans could not survive its effects. That makes sense when one considers that the same God whose Presence created such fear and care among the Israelites was the God who initiated the Big Bang we read about in science.
If God can speak and have the universe explode into being from nothing, if he can create an intensely dense particle and then, exerting His infinite energy, cause that particle to expand into the growing universe in which we dwell, then is it so surprising that the power that surrounds His Presence when He makes Himself visibly present to man could be lethally overwhelming?
Scientists are increasingly aware of facts that support a beginning event several billion years ago, an event from which our universe has come. Most philosophers who study the possible origins of that beginning agree that there had to be a cause for the effect. They debate as to whether that cause was a personal God, an impersonal god, or some other force, but fewer and fewer espouse the idea that the universe is self-creative or self-existence, both intrinsically illogical ideas.
If the universe was begun by a single action, and that is what scientifically appears to be the case, then something or someone had to preexist that beginning to set things in motion. Because time began with the creation of the universe, that something or someone would of necessity be eternal in nature.
If that person or thing can create with a single act what we see all around us, above and below us, in the precise manner to have it all continue to exist and not collapse, knowledge of physics beyond our comprehension would have to have existed, for the room for error was essentially non-existent according to modern calculations on timing and rates of expansion. A tiny fractional difference in either direction and the universe would have collapsed back into dense matter or disappeared into the granddaddy of all explosions.
If a planet with the capability of sustaining life is so improbable as to defy any random chance of its occurrence, located precisely in the Milky Way, our galaxy, in a manner that gives our solar system a view unique among solar systems, one which allows our scientists to study the universe and arrive at proof of beginning events, does that not imply the creative energy of an intelligent person who wants us to discover the "how", but more importantly the "Who" of the Creation.
Scientists generally agree that there have been no new species since the beginning of recorded time. Alterations in species have occurred and species have disappeared, but no purely new species have appeared. The God Who created for six "days" and rested on the seventh, is still God of the Seventh, the "day" in which we live. He most often speaks with a "still, quiet voice", sustaining His Creation with the enormous energy at His disposal: He causes our hearts to beat, our minds to process thought, our cellular factories to turn substrate into energy, our souls to seek someone or Someone outside of ourselves as a source of Authority.
When one considers that the unimaginable amount of life and energy it takes to sustain the universe, to sustain life on this planet, to sustain life in each of our loosely bound amalgams of chemical compounds we call bodies, is it so surprising that He might need to shelter us from a direct view of Himself as God the Father.
Yet He loves us and desires for us to know His love. So he divested Himself of that incredible majesty, was born in dishonoring circumstances, lived a pure and perfect human life, subjected Himself to terminal injustice, and overcame death to show us the way to live with Him in all His glory, where we will stand in His Presence and not die or be afraid, but in awe, will see Him as only those made pure and perfect through His power are allowed to see Him.
I pray that anyone who reads this will know God and know His Son, will accept the power of the Spirit He has sent to reside within us, God in us, and will allow God to be sovereign in their lives, so that, in death, as we go to Him, or if we are still on earth at His coming, we will stand in loving awe and behold the full display of His power without suffering harm or being afraid. Thanks be to God, Amen.
Suggested reading: Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe, Edited by Hoffman and Geisler
Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apolgetics; R. C. Sproul
