God wraps Himself in His cloud, and the cloud both conceals and reveals. It hides enough of His glory to protect humans from being destroyed by its brightness. At the Transfiguration the bright cloud overshadowed the disciples so they would not succumb, and the same cloud carried the Father's voice, teaching them to hear His Son. In the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple the cloud filled the house so that neither Moses nor the priests could enter or minister. God sovereignly reveals His secrets to some and hides Himself from others according to His purposes. Ezekiel received more insight into the inner workings of the cloud and the portable throne than anyone else, and God may have removed the smoke from that vision so the prophet could see better. Smoke also serves as a buffer between God and man. Smoke gags and blinds humans, who need the breath of life, yet God is at ease in it, and His throne room is filled with it. Smoke is His way of saying, "Keep out." By controlling its density, He controls exactly how much of Himself He shows, so humans can know of God only what He wants them to know.