The following is taken from John A. Tvedtnes, Joseph Smith and the Ancient World (unpublished):
Moses 1:9 records that “the presence of God withdrew from
Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And
as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth.” Joseph Smith, describing
a visit by the Father and the Son, “When I came to myself again, I found myself
lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no
strength” (Joseph Smith-History 1:20).1336 These accounts are reminiscent of an
early Christian pseudepigraphon attributed to the apostle John, in which he
declares, “After the taking up of our Lord Jesus Christ, I John was alone upon
Mount Tabor, where also He showed us His undefiled Godhead; and as I was not
able to stand, I fell upon the ground” (Revelation of Saint John the
Theologian). Compare what John wrote in the New Testament book of
Revelation 1:17, describing his vision of the resurrected Christ: “And when I
saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.”
A very early Christian text, Clementine Homilies 17:16,
has the apostle Peter declaring, “For I maintain that the eyes of mortals
cannot see the incorporeal form of the Father or Son, because it is illumined
by exceeding great light . . . For he who sees God cannot live. For the excess
of light dissolves the flesh of him who sees; unless by the secret power of God
the flesh be changed into the nature of light, so that it can see light.”
Irenaeus, a late second-century A.D. bishop of Lyon,
wrote, “For man does not see God by his own powers; but when He pleases He is
seen by men by whom He wills, and when He wills, and as He wills . . . For as
those who see the light are within the light, and partake of its brilliancy;
even so, those who see God are in God, and receive of His splendour. But [His]
splendour vivifies them; those, therefore, who see God do receive life” (Against
the Heresies 4.20.5).
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