“God is light.” I John 1:5: While working on a different, though related topic, several cross-reference Scriptures led me to I Timothy 6:16, where Paul says that God “dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” What a thought, that GOD hides Himself, not in shadow, nor in distance, &c., but in light; not by silence, but by a voice so distinct that only faith can discern it. “For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light.” Psalm 36:9. Not veiled by night, but clothed “with light as with a garment.” Psalm 104:2. God is not absent, but present everywhere, not hiding Himself behind creation, but within it, within its life, its order, its light, so that “the whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:3. His immeasurable glory so saturates the world, and yet the world does not perceive it. John 3:19. The same glory that seems hidden from sight is the very glory that upholds all things; the light that veils His face is the same that fills the world. “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice was like a noise of many waters and the earth shined with his glory.” Ezekiel 43:2. Hidden, yet all around us, Acts 17:28, unseen, yet “upholding all things by the word of His power.” Hebrews 1:3. The LORD fills all things, (“behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee,” I Kings 8:27,) yet remains above all things; veiled not by darkness, but by a glory too infinite, and light too unapproachable. Hidden not because He has withdrawn into some far corner of the universe, but because His glory is too pure, too bright, too infinite for mortal eyes. Hebrews 12:29.
The thought itself overwhelms the understanding. If light itself, the purest thing we know, which dazzles the eye and floods creation is but His covering, a mere mantle to conceal the brightness of essential glory, then how inconceivable must be the majesty of Him who dwells within it! “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:3. God hides Himself so that He might be sought; He reveals Himself so that He might be known. ”Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” Isaiah 45:15.
Yet Scripture does not leave us staring into unapproachable brightness. The light that conceals the Father’s glory is the same light revealed in the Son. In Christ, what was veiled from sight is made visible, and what was hidden in majesty is made known in mercy. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. The unseeable God is made visible in Christ, “no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1:18. The glory that creation could not contain is revealed in the face of Christ, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Hebrews 1:3. MPJ