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By John | May 22, 2009
From the Word: Angels and dreams (from Matthew 1 & 2)
”But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.’” (Matthew 1:20 NASB)
Five references here to dreams (Matthew 1:20, also 2:12,13,19,22), three of them making specific references to angels in the dreams, and also possibly in the other two. Lord, we do know that angels are Your messengers, so it is certainly plausible that angels were also a part of the other two incidents as well. In any case, You communicated directly and clearly to Joseph in each case so that as he obeyed, his actions and decisions would ensure Your birth and safety. Now in the first case (1:20), had Joseph not listened, what would Mary have done as a pregnant young woman cast off by him? Well, that didn’t happen, so we can’t answer that question with certainty, only with speculation based on cultural and biblical precedent. Fact is, Joseph did take action on the revelation from You rather than on his own assessment of what must have been for him an unexpected and uncomfortable development. You used special means - angels and dreams - to get through to Joseph for a very special event.
O Lord, how do I make decisions? I don’t need angels and dreams to know what to do for most of (if not all) the decisions I need to make. We have Your Word now, and I can confidently base many of my decisions on Your revelation there. Thank You for the clarity we have, Lord, in Your Word. May I handle Your Word accurately, taking circumstances into account, but not using them as start points for my assessment. O how differently we are to look at things with a Kingdom mindset! Give insight into Your Word today, Lord. Amen.
Please pray with us:
Speaking of “the Kingdom”, I had a great discussion last week with my daughter about the church and the Kingdom. There seems to be a lot more teaching about the church than there is regarding the Kingdom, so we (her and me) have decided to do a Bible study together this summer on the Kingdom of God. I plan to put together a study that she can do during her sparse free time at camp, and we can talk about her findings during her occasional (usually bi-weekly) visits home. We also interact frequently about the Kingdom (as distinct from the church) with our 20something group here in the Philly area. Please pray with us that our understanding of the Kingdom of God would grow and deepen based on our time in the Word.
Thanks!
John
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Topics: In the Word and Prayer |