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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
Dive deeper! Sign up for the newsletter (and catch up on past newsletters) at this link: https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/
When You See God
Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6 & Enoch 14
Introduction
If you thought the Book of Enoch’s account of the Watchers who descended to earth was kinda spooky- or if you thought the stories of their bloodthirsty cannibalistic giant children were scary- or if you thought the description of their gloomy dark underworld prison sounded terrifying- just wait until what comes next.
Because Enoch is about to see something that shocks him more than zombie fallen angels, more than death cult nephilim, and more than the dungeons of hell.
Enoch…is going to see God.
And God ends up being more overwhelming than anything else Enoch has seen so far.
Now maybe you’re saying- wait a minute, Luke. Enoch couldn’t have seen God.
In exodus 33:20, God tells Moses
…you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.
So why do you expect me to believe that Enoch saw God and survived to tell us about it?
Well, that’s a good question. But Abraham saw God. Daniel saw God. Jacob saw God. Ezekiel saw God. Isaiah saw God. And they all lived to tell the tale. So how can that Exodus verse be true if several Bible figures themselves have seen God?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. And yeah, we’ll also look at what Enoch wrote down as well when He met God face-to-face.
Turn to Ezekiel 1, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Beholding the Glory
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and we are in a series of episodes right now digging into the Book of Enoch.
And today, it’s something a bit more positive- though very intimidating as well- we’re going to talk about Enoch’s visit to heaven- including Enoch’s glimpse of God Himself.
Now, I understand how that might make some people uncomfortable. I don’t like all these extra biblical spiritual experiences. Well here’s what I find so fascinating about Enoch’s record of this: it’s exactly like what you read about in the Bible when other people had heavenly visitations. It’s like if you took all of them and put them together. So if you’re worried that you’re gonna read something wild and crazy that doesn’t line up with the Bible, just hang with me today, because I think you’ll be surprised at what you hear.
But first, I want to deal with this tension that I introduced in the introduction. How can someone see God and live- yet lots of people see God and live? And not only that-
I Timothy 1:16 says God
dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.
I John 4:12 says
No one has ever seen God
So how can we reconcile this with all the passages that speak of people seeing God- even Moses, whom Scripture says met with God “face to face” in Exodus 33:11- the same chapter where God says “no one can see my face and live” (my paraphrase).
So to understand this, let’s look at what Moses specifically asks in that chapter.
Exodus 33:18
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
So Moses says, hit me full blast. I want it all. I mean, that’s pretty bold. If you ask me, Moses was pentecostal before that was even a thing. And God tells Him: Moses, you don’t even know what you’re asking.
Verse 19
19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
So Moses is able to see God, but indirectly. Not God’s full glory. Because that would have been like a bug in a bug zapper. Moses would have been fried.
So we see that some people can behold God, but in a very shielded way. Most of the time when people met with God in the Old Testament- such as Jacob wrestling with God in the book of Genesis, or Abraham’s visits with God at his home- these are instances where God appeared in a human body. Perhaps it was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. And other times God appeared in other forms in which he was obscured by cloud or, like at the end of the book of Job, in a giant whirlwind.
And then there are the heavenly or visionary experiences of prophets like Isaiah or Ezekiel. They see God a bit more directly, but it’s kind of like they can’t look right at Him. It’s too much. And to show this a bit, let’s look at one of these. Go with me to the first chapter of Ezekiel.
When Ezekiel saw God
Ezekiel 1:1 says
I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
He continues in verse 4
4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, 6 but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.
The first thing Ezekiel sees are these spiritual beings called cherubim (pronounced “kerubim”). Now, it looks like “[ch]erubim” (with a ch sound), but I forget sometimes that a lot of times in Hebrew words, the ch- is pronounced like a k. They’re technically [k]erubim. Singuler is cherub. Plural is cherubim. I want you to notice how detailed Ezekiel gets in his description of them.
(Verses 7 through 14)
7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12 And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.
So Ezekiel goes into quite a bit of detail. And I won’t read it, but the next thing Ezekiel talks about is the wheels of the cherubim. Each of the cherubim have a wheel that they are controlling. Ezekiel speaks for 11 verses about the gyroscopic wheels of the cherubim, and then Ezekiel also speaks about an expanse around the cherubim, with beautiful crystals. I don’t even know how to imagine the things he saw.
And then Ezekiel sees God.
Verses 26-28
26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.
And that’s all he says of God. When Ezekiel saw the cherubim, he went on for 11 verses. When he saw the wheels and expanse, another 11 verses. But when he sees God, only 3 verses. And it’s very unclear what he’s seeing. He said God on His throne had “a likeness with a human appearance.” In other words, Ezekiel is saying, “He was kinda like a person…” And then Ezekiel said from His waist up, He looked like fiery metal; and from His waist down, He looked like fire and brightness.” Doesn’t tell us a whole lot.
Which means: God was very hard for Ezekiel to look at and see any specific features.
He finishes verse 28:
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
He couldn’t behold God’s glory. He only saw the appearance of the likeness of the glory. And that was all Ezekiel could take, and he was done. He was on his face.
When Isaiah and Job saw God
Let’s look at someone else who saw the Lord: Isaiah.
Isaiah 6 reads
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Now, why did Isaiah say that? Did he have a cussing problem? I don’t think Isaiah had a cussing problem.
You know, reminds me of something my 7-year-old said at the dinner table a few months ago. We’re eating supper and…you never know what’s gonna come out of this kid’s mouth sometimes. When he’s supposed to eat dinner, it seems like there’s a lot more coming out of his mouth than anything going in. And he turns to me and says, “Daddy, have you ever called mommy the b-word?” My wife and I freeze. I’m like, “what?” My wife and I look at each other so confused. Like, as far as I know, my seven-year-old doesn’t even know what a cuss word is. What would even make him ask something like that? With my heart about halfway up my esophagus, I choked out, “What do you think the b-word is?”
He says, “…beautiful.” [exhale] OK, good. Dodged a bullet on that one. And I have called my wife beautiful, but I have NOT called her the b-word. And I don’t think Isaiah called his wife the b-word either. I don’t think Isaiah had a potty mouth. This man was a prophet of God. And yet, when he comes face-to-face with an obscured, cloudy vision of the glory of God, He says, “I’m undone! I’m a man of unclean lips!” He knew he didn’t measure up.
We spoke of how Job saw God- again, obscured, in a tornado, indirectly- and here’s what
Job 42:5-6 say
5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Was Job some terrible person? This is what God says about Job:
(Job 1:8)
…”there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
And yet even Job, when he sees the Lord, can’t handle it. Coming into contact with that degree of holiness makes him realize how far he comes up short.
And if you want some similar encounters with the Holiness of God, you can check out Genesis 17:3, or Revelation 1:17, or Hebrews 12:21. But for the rest of our time today, I want us to check out Enoch’s personal encounter with God.
When Enoch Saw God
In our journey through the book of Enoch, we’re in the middle of chapter 14, and we’ll finish it up today. Enoch is passing messages back and forth between the Watchers down in the Underworld and God up in heaven. Last time, a heavenly messenger had brought him God’s response; this time, Enoch is going to be raptured right up into heaven itself.
Enoch 14 reads: 8. And the vision was shown to me thus: Behold, in the vision clouds invited me and a mist summoned me, and the course of the stars and the lightnings sped and hastened me, and the winds in the vision caused me to fly and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven. 9. And I went in till I drew nigh to a wall which is built of crystals
Let me stop right there. Notice how many elements from what we have read about before are appearing again here as Enoch enters the heavenly realm. Mist (Isaiah said a cloud). Lightnings. Wind. Crystals. And listen to this next part.
and surrounded by tongues of fire:
Tongues of fire? What does that sound like? Reminds me of Acts 2. But remember: the Book of Enoch was written before Acts. Scholars debate about exactly how old it is, but we know that these first 36 chapters of Enoch pre-dated Christ and the First Century. And Enoch saw tongues of fire up in heaven.
Now, I was gonna do a whole episode on tongues of fire, but I decided to just make that a newsletter. So here’s your plug for this weekend’s newsletter, if you’d like to learn more about what the phrase “tongues of fire” means. I would have done a whole episode, but it ended up being really simple to understand, so I’ll just place it in this week’s newsletter if you want to sign yourself up for that in the show notes. If you happen to come across this episode later, that link in the show notes will take you to an archive of all the past newsletters, so just look for the newsletter that came out on May 31, 2026. Let’s keep reading.
and it began to affright me. And I went into the tongues of fire and drew nigh to a large house which was built of crystals: and the walls of the house were like a tesselated floor (made) of crystals, and its groundwork was of crystal.
There’s a house of crystals. When it says house, it’s not a little neighborhood domicile like for a mom, a dad, and two kids. It’s like a complex or a palace here, made of crystals.
Think of how precious crystals are here on earth. You put them in a ring, or a necklace, or if it’s large enough you might just put one on display in a museum, right? But in heaven, they use crystals as construction material. They pave their streets with gold. Everything there is magnificent and opulent.
The floor is tessellated. If you’re wondering what tessellated means, dictionary.com says “tessellated is an adjective used to describe patterns of shapes that fit together perfectly, without any gaps.” Everything is perfectly constructed. Let’s go on. Enoch is in the lobby of this building or palace now.
11. Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightnings, and between them were fiery cherubim, and their heaven was (clear as) water. 12. A flaming fire surrounded the walls, and its portals blazed with fire. 13. And I entered into that house, and it was hot as fire and cold as ice:
How can something be as hot as fire and cold as ice at the same time? I have no idea. Remember how Paul said he saw heaven and couldn’t even put it into words what it was like? I feel like that’s Enoch right here.
there were no delights of life therein: fear covered me, and trembling got hold upon me. 14. And as I quaked and trembled, I fell upon my face.
Enoch didn’t even get through the lobby before he passed out. Next, he wakes up and he’s in an even bigger palace.
15. And I beheld a vision, And lo! there was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire.
Guys, we’ve been talking about spiritual portals on the podcast for more than a year now. But here’s your first description of what one looks like.
This portal before Enoch is made of flames; the borders of the portal are flaming. If you’ve seen the Marvel movies, you’ve probably seen Dr. Strange’s portals, how they’re sparking circles that form. I don’t know if the heavenly portal is circular or rectangular or what, but the border of the portal is flaming.
By the way, remember that one of the languages in which we have the book of Enoch preserved is Greek. the Greek word for portal here is thyra (thoo-rah). Fun fact: remember a few episodes back, the apostle John said he saw a door opened in heaven in Revelation 4:1, and that the word door there basically just means an opening? I said I think it was a spiritual portal? It’s the same Greek word translated “portal” in Enoch 14. The same word that the Bible calls a door or opening. It has a fiery frame and it takes you to another realm.
Enoch went through it, and here’s what he says:
16. And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent. 17. And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire. 18. And I looked and saw ⌈⌈therein⌉⌉ a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. 19. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon.
What an amazing phrase. A throne with wheels. Streams of flaming fire. If that sounds familiar, let me just remind you what Daniel saw when he had a vision of heaven:
Daniel 7:9-10
9 “As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
And now, here’s what Enoch saw as he looked upon the figure on the throne:
20. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. 21. None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him.
Enoch says not even the angels could gaze upon the Lord! Wow! Not even the angels! Is that biblical? When Isaiah saw his throne room vision of heaven, it said he saw Seraphim, and they had their faces covered as they flew over the Lord (Isaiah 6:2). Let me finish up what Enoch saw when he saw the Lord:
22. The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him: ten thousand times ten thousand (stood) before Him, yet He needed no counselor. 23. And the most holy ones who were nigh to Him did not leave by night nor depart from Him. 24. And until then I had been prostrate on my face, trembling: and the Lord called me with His own mouth, and said to me: 'Come hither, Enoch, and hear my word.' 25. ⌈And one of the holy ones came to me and waked me⌉, and He made me rise up and approach the door: and I bowed my face downwards.
Just as the biblical characters reported, Enoch fell on his face before God. I mean, a lot of things Enoch saw were just like what the Bible reports, and so that gives me confidence that this vision has been accurately preserved.
There are a couple of details that are unique to Enoch’s book: one, what the portals of heaven look like. That’s pretty cool. Two, Enoch uses the word crystal a lot to describe what he saw. Bible writers tend to be more specific, with words like “lapis lazuli” and “sapphire.” But maybe Enoch slept through geology class; he just calls it all crystal, so we don’t know what colors he was seeing. And three, I just like Enoch’s name for what he calls the Lord: the Great Glory. Let me read that sentence again.
And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.
Perhaps you are wondering: what can it even mean that He was brighter than the sun? I want to read a paragraph from John Bevere’s book The Awe of God (page 40). I couldn’t put it better than this.
…Joel and Isaiah say that the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will not shine on the day Jesus returns (Isaiah 13:9-10; Joel 2:31-32). Allow me to elaborate. When we walk out on a clear night, what do we see? A sky full of stars. But what happens when the sun comes up in the morning? The stars disappear. We must ask, do all the stars quickly run away as the sun rises, and then, when the sun goes down, do the stars suddenly run back out in the night sky? The answer to that question is obviously no. What happens? The glory of the stars is one level, but the glory of the sun is a much greater level. So, when the sun comes out, because it is so much brighter than the stars, it darkens them.
When Jesus returns, His glory will be so much greater than the sun, He will darken it, even though it will still be burning! Are you getting a better glimpse of His glory? I believe this is why we are told that all the people of the earth are going to cry out "to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!'"
Again, that’s from The Awe of God by John Bevere. Thank you to him, and thank you to Enoch, because I feel that I’ve gotten a better glimpse of God’s glory. Like, guys, I need to wind this down. I feel like I need to pray. I feel like I just need to sit with this for a little while. Give me a minute; take a minute for yourself if you need to; and we’ll wrap up soon with some closing thoughts.
[glory]
Next Time
Next time on this podcast, I am going to give you the secret to immortality. No joke. That’s what we’ll be talking about next week: how to live forever.
Actually, here’s the real question I want to deal with: in Psalm 82, God threatens the Watchers with death. He says, “Like men you will die.” But what does it mean for a spiritual being to die? We know what it means when a human being dies- their mortal body is deceased. But spiritual beings are already in the spirit realm; what does it mean for them to die?
That episode is going to be one of the most fascinating things I’ve learned in this journey through the book of Enoch. So join me next week as we start into Enoch 15 and Psalm 82. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get that episode when it drops.
I also want to give this shoutout mega super weirdo Caleb. He writes this: “I came across your podcast a couple years ago and have been listening to it ever since. I just want to say that I appreciate you doing this in a biblically grounded way that isn’t overly intellectual and only takes a short time. I have recommended this podcast to everyone in my lifegroup and my 8 year old son also loves listening to it.”
So shoutout there to Caleb, and to Caleb’s son. And Caleb, if you’ve been with us that long, I don’t even have a word for that level of weird. I dub someone a weirdo when they’ve listened to at least 25 episodes. I call them a super weirdo when they’ve listened to every single one. You’ve listened to them all for years now; I don’t even have a category for that. I guess we can stick with super weirdo for now, so that you don’t have to update your resume.
On a more serious note, as I said in my email back to Caleb, I feel like this podcast has been a journey, and so it means more than I can say to hear from how many of you are on this journey with me.
Closing Thoughts
So in closing, guys: portals are cool. Crystals are cool. Cherubim are cool. God is a little more than I can fathom. I get a little bit overwhelmed just reading about how all these other people responded to seeing Him.
I know I could not behold God in my flesh. Apparently I still can’t even fully behold Him in my spirit. And yet the Bible tells us anyway: seek to see the Lord.
Matthew 5:11 says
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
When Isaiah came before the Lord, he recognized his own sinfulness. The same with Job, a man that God said was was blameless. Enoch walked with God, yet he’s falling flat on his face just walking into the lobby of God’s house. These are great men. We might even say they were holy men.
But God is a holy holy holy God. And what does holy mean? In one sense, to be holy means to be weird. Holiness means set apart. Different from the world.
Hebrews 12:14 says
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We have to be holy. We have to be like God if we want to see God. And the more we seek to make ourselves like God, the more the world will look at us and say we’re weird.
But that’s OK. I am willing to disappoint man if it means gaining the approval of this God who shines with the glory of a thousand suns. Because someday I’m going to meet this God face to face.
So if you’re willing to be holy even if it makes other people sometimes think you’re weird, I hope you’re a little more holy and weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.