God’s Glory Manifested—How I Reached the Highest Level of His Presence I Ever Felt

Excerpted from Glory and the End Times.

In 2018, I stumbled upon the highest level of God’s Glory I have ever experienced.

This was even beyond the Father’s love. The love of the Father will set you free from religiosity and pleasing people, but the Father’s Glory is the fullness of the Father, which is the only way I can describe it with human words. I discovered not just the Father’s love, which I knew, but went one step further to discover a portion of the Father’s Glory. It started when my good friend, Warren Marcus, an executive producer of the It’s Supernatural television program hosted by Sid Roth, called me. He was so excited as he had found a new revelation. He kept trying to explain it to me over the phone, but he shared so many things so fast and excitedly that I couldn’t catch fully what he was trying to convey. He wrote a book about it shortly afterward, and I asked him to send me a copy.13 I devoured the book and step by step prayed in a totally different way, waiting on the Father of Glory to step in. What happened next changed my life yet again in an epic way.

For about 50 days in my daily prayer time, I would be caught up in the Father’s Glory for hours at a time all while just praying a few lines then pausing and waiting, then continuing in prayer and waiting. I was praying the only prayer in the Bible the Father Himself gave to humankind to pray, which I will explain a bit later in this chapter.

We know that Adam and Eve had perfect direct fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. Then man sinned and that relationship was broken. There had to be a blood sacrifice to atone for that sin over and over again due to that break in relationship—until Jesus came and became the final sacrifice. The whole point of sending Jesus to die for our sins is not only so we could be saved, but also to renew our relationship with the Father. Jesus is the door, the way.

Too many people think He is just the door to get into Heaven. But Jesus is actually the doorway back to the Father. Most people know this biblically, but most have never experienced the glory of the Father.

Imagine Moses saying he wanted to see God’s face and climbed the mountain only to see His back, which was enough for Moses’ face to shine like the sun. The whole story of humanity is of the Father trying to reconnect with His children.

It’s funny how we often sing songs in church such as, “I just want to see Your face,” followed by a message saying, “No one can see the face of God Himself and live, but then again King David said, ‘Your face will I seek.’” So which is it? In the Old Testament passages this was very true. Even just touching the ark of the covenant or the wheels carrying it the wrong way could cause you to drop dead.

In the New Testament at the Cross, God ripped in half the thick heavy curtain that was in the temple separating the priest from the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies at the moment of Jesus’ death. The curtain literally tore in half that day in Jerusalem when Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb saying, “It is finished.” This tearing apart signified that not only the high priest once a year could get that close to the Father, but through the blood of Jesus, we also have access to the Father in a new way.

When Moses asked to see His face, God replied, “But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20 NIV). Then God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and passed by, but He only allowed Moses to see His back, not His face (Exodus 33:21-23 NIV). God explicitly told Moses why he could not see His face when He said, “No one can see me and live.” Therefore, we may understand from this statement that it is out of love for us that He hides His face, because it is necessary for our survival.

We may ask why our survival depends on it, and why we would die if we saw His face. I realize that the holiness and power of God have a lot to do with that. The prophet Isaiah attempted to describe the indescribable scenes around the throne when he saw the Lord seated there high and lifted up.

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies” (Isaiah 6:1-5 NASB).

Did you notice how Isaiah knew he was ruined when his eyes beheld the King on His throne, the Lord of armies/hosts? I’m sure you or I would feel the same way if we saw God the Father, too. John the apostle described a similar sight when he was taken up in the Spirit to Heaven and stood before the throne:

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald (Revelation 4:2-3 NKJV).

It’s amazing how the luminescent smoke fills the temple during those times of worship, as the light and the glory emanate from God, who is seated upon His throne. John describes it as a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. Apparently there are lovely bands of colors in the streams of light and glory surrounding Him. God wraps Himself in light as with a garment (Psalm 104:2 NIV). He enshrouds His head with this glory fog so that you cannot see His face. It’s awesome to behold and extraordinarily beautiful. In fact, He is perfect in beauty, unlike anyone or anything else you have ever seen or ever will see. Scripture says, “Out of Zion comes the excellence of His beauty” (Psalm 50:2 Brenton Septuagint). Other translations refer to it as “the perfection of beauty.”

Often we sense that the cloud of glory is in a place. That means that His face can also be hidden in that cloud. Some of the most powerful corporate visitations I’ve been a part of was at Ruth Heflin’s campground in Ashland as the thick, physical cloud filled the meeting. Someone had opened a side door, I went outside to see if this was really what I was seeing. When I stepped outside to look back inside, I could only see thick clouds in the room; I could not even see the people. The glory realm was the strongest I had ever experienced in a room. It felt like we were all transported to Heaven.

The apostle Paul had also seen the Lord when Jesus appeared to him at noontime while he was on the road to Damascus. At that time, the Lord appeared brighter than the noonday sun. Paul had also been caught up to Paradise and heard inexpressible words that he was not permitted to speak. He described God like this:

…God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen (1 Timothy 6:15-16 NIV).

David said, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4 NIV). David’s one desire was to behold the beauty of the Lord.

One of the most exciting events in human history will be when Jesus returns and we see Him on the earth face to face. But guess who else will be on the earth with Him. Father God!

That realization blew me away, as I had never been taught this. But God Himself did come on the earth before and dwelt in the Holy of Holies and the priests did interact with God the Father as well as many other mighty men of God in the past.

Knowing this, why would it be a stretch to believe that the Father would come during the millennium when Jesus returns to earth. Heaven is amazing because the Father and Son are both there, so how much more exciting when we will be on earth with our new heavenly bodies during the millennium as the Father is also here? Our heavenly Father loves His kids; He would not want to be away from us for 1,000 years. All the dead in Christ will rise and the millennium will be beyond imagination, especially knowing the Father and Son will be in Jerusalem at their earthly throne.

Moses’ face shone so proudly after getting closer to the Father’s Glory than any human on earth. Jesus shined brightly on the mount of transfiguration and Stephen the martyr also shined so brightly, most likely having encounters with the Father’s Glory.

Imagine if I told you behind a particular door is God the Father Himself, and I asked if you would like to meet Him now. Perhaps a holy terror and the fear of God would seize you, rightly so. You may have a different response if I told you that Jesus is behind the door and asked if you would like to meet with Him now. You would probably be overjoyed but with a respectful fear of the Lord. I believe our response to meeting the Father would be different from meeting Jesus.

In fact, most the prophets said they were undone or felt like they could die or were a dead man for even looking toward the Father. In the Bible, the phrase “fell on my face as though dead” appears in several passages. One notable instance is in Revelation 1:17, where John the apostle falls at the feet of Jesus as though dead, but Jesus reassures him with the words, “Fear not.” Another example is found in Ezekiel 1:28, where Ezekiel falls on his face upon seeing the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. Additionally, Daniel 10:9 describes Daniel falling on his face in deep sleep with his face to the ground when he encounters a divine being.

So after the Cross and when Jesus returns, will people be able to visit the Father here on earth? Will He actually be here with Jesus?

Revelation 21:3-4 (NIV) says,

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”