Think of the change that we see in Moses—from who he was in Egypt, at the top of his game in the palace, with the confidence that he felt in himself to be able to deliver the people of God from Egypt, to forty years later, humbled. The encounter he has with the Lord at the burning bush leads him to see that this is far greater than anything the Egyptian magicians could ever show him. This is the living God.
Elijah brings about a very similar moment of realisation, where the prophets of Baal suddenly see that the name of the Lord is greater than the name of Baal. Baal failed his prophets, but the Lord sends fire from heaven.
Simon Peter had it—not when the Lord Jesus healed his mother-in-law, but—when Jesus brought about the miraculous catch of fish. Because Peter himself had been a fisherman, he knew this trade. He didn’t think there would be anything he hadn’t seen before. But he saw something he had never seen, and it came from Jesus—the one who preached such a good message. But he wasn’t just a preacher; even the fish of the sea obeyed him. And Peter’s own response was to fall down at Jesus’ knees and say, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He’s captured by a better vision.
The apostle Paul—this is how he was converted. Paul was captured by one vision at one time, which we read about at the beginning of Acts 8. The vision is of a pure church, full of people whose doctrine is right—in his opinion—orthodox and sound, and not following a false Messiah. But on the road to Damascus, Paul is suddenly stunned by the real Jehovah, in this glorious light. He meets the risen Lord Jesus and is blinded by this vision—that’s how great it is.
