Appear

APPEAR [ISBE]

APPEAR - a-per': Of eight Hebrew originals the chief is ra'ah, "to be seen." Used mainly of God's self-revelations in person and in dreams and visions: "Yahweh appeared unto Abram" (Gen 12:7); to Moses (Ex 3:2); to Solomon (1 Ki 3:5). All originals used of Nature's processes, of the appearing, i.e. coming of the morning (Ex 14:27); stars (Neh 4:21); flowers, flocks of goats, tender grapes (Song 2:12; 4:1 m; 7:12 margin). So New Testament ophthen, passive of horao, "I see," "to be seen" used especially of angelic revelations and visions: as on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17:3); an angel (Lk 1:11); the risen Lord (Lk 24:34); cloven tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2:3); vision to Paul (Acts 16:9); a great wonder in heaven (Rev 12:1, the King James Version).

opiano, in Acts 1:3, of Christ appearing after his suffering; phainomai, "to shine," like the above with the added thought of a resplendent, luminous revelation, as of the Bethlehem star (Mt 2:7); the bringing to light of sin (Rom 7:13, the King James Version). Also phaneroo, "to make manifest," used exclusively of the post-resurrection appearances and second coming of Christ and of the disclosures of the great judgment day. See Col 3:4; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 3:18 and seven other passages the King James Version.

Dwight M. Pratt