Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/189

 young man's eyes were opsaed, and he saw the mountains round about them full of chariots of fire and horsemen of fire (or like fire). Again, while to Balaam the angel was invisible, the ass, his eyes being opened, saw him.

Secondly, angels can assume human bodies and appear as men. The Lord and two angels so appeared to Abraham, who had a supper prepared for them, of which they ate. At first Abraham supposed them to be three men, and it was no* until they were about to go that he discovered one of them to be the Lord, and the other two, angels, who afterward went down to Sodom and delivered Lot. (Gen. 18 : i, 2.) An angel appeared to Gideon as a man, but afterward made himself known. An angel appeared to the father and mother of Samson, and they thought him a man until he ascended up to heaven in the flame of the altar. Judges 6: 11-22 ; 13: 20.

Thirdly, spirit beings are glorious in their normal con- dition, and are frequently referred to as glorious and bright. The countenance of the angel who rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre was "as the lightning. *' Daniel caught a glimpse of a spiritual body, which he de- scribed, saying, His eyes were as lamps of fire, his counte- nance as the lightning, his arms and feet like in color to polished brass, and his voice as the voice of a multitude. Before him Daniel fell as a dead man. (Dan. 10 : 6, 10, 15, 17.) Saul of Tarsus caught a similar glimpse of Christ's glorious body shining above the brightness of the sun at noonday. Saul lost his sight and fell to the ground.

Thus far we have found spirit beings truly glorious] yet, except by the opening of men's eyes to see them, or by their appearing in flesh as men, they are invisible to men. This conclusion is further confirmed when we examine the particular details of these manifestations. The Lord was seen of Saul alone, the men traveling with him hearing the

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