In Isaiah 6, Isaiah heard seraphs calling to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."What the seraphs say is surprising, for the memory of my recent visit to African nations especially Nigeria is still fresh. While walking on the streets of Lagos can you honestly say, "The whole earth is full of his glory?" One day prior to the conference began, we moved from the airport to a Redemption Camp Conference site. As we moved on the road by a van while seated in the most back seat of the van, I saw from the left side of the window a middle aged woman lying dead in a pool of blood, next to a center divider; her body was separated - head severed from the torso. One missionary to Unilag, Lagos was upset for when he first arrived, he saw the same thing: a body lying dead in front of his work, Samsung Electronics, 'all day long'. Recently Yabatech UBF Bible house got robbed; a band of robbers came, and took away virtually 'everything' - computers, musical instruments, etc. The Unilag Bible house is still leaking. It costs $7,500 to re-do the roof. Requests for assistance (monetary donations) were made to several coworkers, but no one seemed 'interested'.
On a personal level, during a night drive from Baltimore Washington Airport to the College Park of Maryland, I was lost in the middle, so I got soaked in the night rain. Soon I got a cold, and I am still struggling to recover. I prayed and I rested. I took Tylenol. Fever dropped but still virus does not go away. And I admit that my body came from the earth.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty: the whole earth is full of his glory. How so? Why is the seraph's experience at variance with facts we the 'humans' observe?
Seraphs are spiritual beings. They do not have a physical body like the one we have. [They have faces, feet, and wings, and they are able to make sound, but this does not mean that their body is made of earthly components such as iron, water, etc.] According to Jewish resources, their mission is to 'protect' (whatever that means) God's holiness. Obviously they have never fallen. Arguably they are aware of the 'fallen' condition of men on earth; they appear in the know about the nature being under God's curse, for in order for you to protect good from bad you are supposed to know what is bad. Yet, they maintain, "the whole earth is full of his glory." Why?
I think the answer is that the eyes are different. Consider what produces the disparity (the disparity between man's perception and seraphs' perception of the earthly condition), that is, the seraphs see what it is supposed (and is going) to be, whereas we see the snap-shot and therefore the still-shot of the reality we are in.
God exists beyond the time domain. To him past, present, and future are all seen. In him, the ideal state (the earth which is full of his glory in an un-fallen state) exists fully, and the potential and the possibility for the ideals to become reality remain in Him in an unbridged form all the time and beyond the time.
When Jesus came, those who were close to him like the Apostle John or Peter saw this being the case. John 1:4; 2:11 To those who have the solution to a problem, that problem is no longer seen as a problem. In fact to the one who has the solution, the problem is regarded only as the means to reveal his identity. John 9:2-3; 11:40
While in a body we experience his glory partially, and for those who believe in Jesus Christ, the conditions are set in such a way that the full glory is to be revealed at the time of Christ's return. Romans 8:18; 1Peter 1:7; 4:13; 5:1.
Thus order and put on the eye glasses of faith in the Lord. Then all things will look differently. [Don't know where to order? You can order online by downloading any free Bible program and read Hebrew11:1-3, all for free.]
Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Luke 10:22-23
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