John saw a vision of the glorified Jesus and described what he saw as,
“His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;” (Rev 1:14).
John’s response to the vision was to fall at Jesus feet as if dead.
Daniel saw a similar vision,
“His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire,” (Dan 10:6).
Daniel’s response was similar to John’s; he fell on his face in what appeared to be a deep sleep. Daniel later wrote that it was as if he had no strength to stand. His vigor was gone.
Isaiah describes his encounter with God a little differently. Isaiah writes,
“… I also saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, …Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. …and the house was filled with smoke.” (Isa 6:1-4).
Isaiah then describes his response,
“Then said I, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’” (Isa 6:5).
Is there a common theme in each of these encounters? Is there something significant about which we should be aware? In each case, when the man (John, Daniel, Isaiah) encountered God up close and personal, they recognized their inferiority and need for mercy. John and Daniel fell on their faces as if they were dead because of their fear, and Isaiah cried out in fear. All three of them realized that they were in the presence of the Holy God, and that they themselves were not holy.
The other significant issue is that each man was touched by God. Isaiah cried out to God and confessed that he was “unclean” and was in need of cleansing. God purged Isaiah with a burning coal from the altar in heaven. Daniel fell on his face, but the man in the vision touched him and raised him to his feet. Daniel then asked to be strengthened so he could see and understand the vision. He was strengthened by his God. John fell at the feet of his vision of Jesus. Jesus touched John and told him not be afraid, but to write what he saw.
God did the purging. God did the touching. The men merely submitted to the purging, the touching. As John wrote in another passage,
“If we confess (admit) our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9
It is our responsibility to admit our sin. It is God’s responsibility to forgive and cleanse (purge) us. Isaiah cried out that he was “undone,” his sins were exposed. John and Daniel expressed their exposed sin by falling helplessly in front of the LORD. Falling on one’s face before another is an expression of submission, an admission of inferiority, and a cry for mercy.
The pictures of “eyes as a flame of fire” and “eyes as lamps of fire” suggest eyes that pierce our disguises and expose our sins. Do we really want that exposure? Do we really want God’s cleansing? It sometimes hurts. His eyes expose our faults. God wants our deeds corrected, our words cleansed, our imaginations controlled, our thoughts purified, and our attitudes adjusted. Having God expose our sins is sometimes difficult for us to endure. As the writer of the book of Hebrews states,
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Heb 12:11).
The writer is explaining that the correction, and God’s exposure of our failings, is not pleasant at first, but is necessary to cleanse and train us to be righteous.
In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the character Eustace maintains a nasty attitude toward all the others on the voyage. Eustace thinks only of himself and needs some correction. At one point, Eustace becomes an actual dragon, not just a boy with a dragon attitude. But his new dragon body awakes him to his “inner dragon” – the sin in his heart. Eustace then tries over and over to remove his dragon skin and return to being a boy, but he finds that it is impossible for him to change his fleshly dragon characteristics. It is only when he submits to the lion Aslan (the allegorical representation of Jesus in the story) that Aslan can remove the dragon “clothes” to restore the boy. In Eustace’s description of the event, Aslan had to cut deeply to remove the dragon exterior – and it hurt. The pain, however, was worth the result. Eustace was fully restored, both in body and soul.
It is the same in our lives. We sometimes do not want to give up our sinful or hurtful attitudes, thoughts, imaginations, words, or deeds. That is a part of the struggle with our sinful nature. We need to submit to those eyes of fire so that God can expose us to our own wrong attitudes, thoughts, imaginations, words, and deeds. Once they are revealed to us, and we admit them, God will work on cleansing us, changing us, and purifying our lives. May we desire that as strongly as the psalmist,
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, Oh LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psa 19:14).
Break the Bread 