Job 38:1-3 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: (2) "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (3) Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
As I mentioned earlier, there were other methods that the Lord used to lead the saints under the old covenant, which we will examine in this section. But it must be emphasized that the following methods were the exception and not the rule. And in each case, God only led through these methods as He sovereignly decided to do so. Occasionally the Lord would speak audibly, as He willed, to those who were not His prophets. In the above quoted account God spoke audibly to Job. Job was not a prophet but just an ordinary believer, for the Lord referred to Job as a righteous man and not as a prophet (Ezekiel 14:14). And so we can see that even though there were occasions when God spoke audibly to the saints, this was by far the exception and not the rule. And in all instances it occurred only as the Lord chose to do so by His sovereign will.
Judges 13:2-11 “Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. (3) And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. … (6) So the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. (7) And He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.' " (8) Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, "O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born." (9) And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. (10) Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!" (11) So, Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, "Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am."”
Another method that God used to sovereignly guide the old covenant saints was through visions. The only accounts we have of normal saints under the old covenant receiving visions from the Lord, was when they had visitations from angels. Although there are numerous examples of angels appearing to saints in the Old Testament, it was still an exception when this occurred and not the rule. At no time did any saint have an angel appear to them as a result of them seeking guidance through angels. It was always as a result of God dispatching His angel to appear to the saint as He sovereignly decided to do so. The first account that we will look at is quoted above. This is an interesting account, because this is the one instance that we know of where someone asked the Lord to let the angel re-appear to them, and God allowed that to happen. In this account, the angel of the Lord appeared to the parents of Samson to give them guidance in how to bring up Samson before the Lord. This couple were not seeking angelic visitations and had not been seeking the Lord’s guidance at all.
Acts 10:1-6 “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, (2) a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. (3) About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!" (4) And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, "What is it, lord?" So, he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. (5) Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. (6) He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.”
In the next account quoted above an angel of the Lord appeared to the gentile, Cornelius. The angel was sent by God to instruct Cornelius what he must do so that he could hear the gospel and thus be saved. Although Cornelius was praying and fasting at the time, he was not seeking any angelic visitations, and was completely taken by surprise when this did happen.
Judges 6:12-40 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour!" … (14) Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" … (17) Then he said to Him, "If now I have found favour in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. (18) Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you." And He said, "I will wait until you come back." (19) So, Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. (20) The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. (21) Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. (22) Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So, Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." (23) Then the Lord said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." … (36) So, Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said-- (37) look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." (38) And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. (39) Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew." (40) And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”
There are many more accounts in scripture of angels appearing to normal saints in the Old Testament, and this is by far the most common method used by the Lord to guide His saints, outside of the three primary methods that we discussed earlier. But even though this method was more common than others, it still only occurred as the Lord willed, and never as a result of the saints seeking this type of guidance. Another method that God used to sovereignly guide the old covenant saints was through signs. There are a number of examples of this method used in scripture, but the one we will look at is the one most know about, which is Gideon. The above quoted passage of scripture is a record of this incident. In this account Gideon had been approached by the angel of the Lord. And through the angel, God had told him that He would deliver Israel from the Midianites through Gideon’s leadership. Gideon asked the Lord to provide a supernatural sign to confirm that God indeed would use him to deliver Israel. In fact Gideon asked the Lord for numerous signs. God graciously answered his requests by granting him not only the signs that he asked for, but others besides. The Lord also spoke audibly to Gideon. Through all the signs and the Lord’s audible voice, God gave him guidance. In Gideon’s case, the signs were not only supernatural, they were also spectacular. The reason that God did that was because Gideon had been called by God to accomplish a great work for Him. And Gideon knew nothing of the Spirit of God, as he had never had any encounters with Him before.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments