Even angels don’t see the essence of God, Angels: Day 063

Even angels don’t see the essence of God

Angels are spiritual beings that live in the presence of God. Yet even they never saw God until Christ was manifested in the flesh, says St. John Chrysostom. Created beings simply  aren’t capable of  gazing on the Uncreated, but God loved us so much that he came to us in a way we could see and understand.

Since his Son was about to appear in the flesh, God had been preparing the prophets for a long time to see the substance of God, as far as it was possible for them to see it.

But not only have the prophets not seen what God really is, but not even angels or archangels. If you ask them, you won’t hear them answer anything about his essence, but only singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14). If you want to learn something from the Cherubim or Seraphim, you’ll hear the mystic song of his holiness, and that “Heaven and Earth are full of his glory” (Isa. 6:3). If you ask the higher pow- ers, you’ll find out that their only task is to praise God. “Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!” says David (Ps. 148:2).

Only the Son and the Holy Ghost see him. How can any created nature even see the Uncreated? We can’t even see any incorporeal spirit at all, even the cre- ated ones, as we’ve often proved with the angels. Then how could we discern the incorporeal and uncreated Essence?

This is why Paul says, “whom no man has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).

Furthermore, Paul shows that he is invisible not just to us, but also to the powers above: after he says, “He was manifested in the flesh,” he adds that he was “seen by angels.” So he became visible even to the angels when he put on the flesh, but before that time, they didn’t see him that way, because even to them his essence was invisible. –St. John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on the Gospel of John

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I love the Lord’s incarnation all the more because it is a gift to angels as well as to human beings?

CLOSING PRAYER

Holy Guardian Angel, let us look together on the glories of redemption. Let us praise God together. Let us thank god together. May we do this together through all eternity.

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