I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13–14 (RSV)
How many of our race have glimpsed the divine glory while still in the flesh? Fifty, perhaps a hundred in all the ages of time, have been gifted to witness the uncreated light of God.
Some might argue that there have been mystics and holy saints whose devotion blessed them with a reflection of the beauty of God. I will not dispute that even the least of us can be transported by breaking dawn playing the hues of light across the sky.
I bless God, who gives us a foretaste of eternal joy as we truly hear for the first time that the words of the absolution are indeed meant for us. At that moment, we catch an echo of the angel's song. Even so, in our spirits, we know that there is so much more to come.
Daniel's vision sings of the One whose coming will be the redemption of all things distorted by sin and death. Perhaps, Peter, James, and John caught its melody as the Jesus shown with the uncreated light in which the eternal Father dwells.
Peter attempted to give words to the moment but failed. Jesus led them down the mountain of the Transfiguration to Jerusalem, to triumph, betrayal, suffering, crucifixion, and death. Words failed as they all fled the lonely Jesus on the Cross as darkness spread itself that afternoon.
The darkness of death sought to rule the whole of creation from Golgatha to the ending of time. The uncreated light glimpsed on the mountain burst forth from the tomb of death's imagined domain as Jesus rose eternal.
Perhaps only a few, less than a hundred before this hour, had seen the uncreated light of heaven. Jesus is the light of heaven shed upon us all who once lived in darkness. We have all seen His Risen Light.