Praise the LORD, you strong and mighty angels, who obey his commands, who listen to what he says.
Psalm 103: 20 (GNT)
Scripture: Psalm 103
In the last devotion, we looked at examples of people who said they saw God. If that many people said they saw God, they saw Him, right? If people didn’t actually see God, who/what did they see? Today’s devotion will look at some of the different forms God takes to reveal Himself to us.
To read the previous devotions in this series, click the appropriate button below.
There are several examples in the Bible where people said they saw God. If they didn’t really see God, what did they see?
Angels
Most Bible scholars believe, many times, when the people who said they saw God, instead they saw angels. Genesis 18: 2 describes where Abraham had a visit by heavenly beings: “He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him …” (HCSB). Many believe that these were angels, even though it is translated men.
Exodus 33: 11, where it says God and Moses talked face to face, could be a figure of speech. However, Galatians 3: 19 does say that “… the Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between” (GNT). God sent an angel to the burning bush to talk with Moses (Ex. 3: 2).
Why would God send an angel to do the calling and the giving of the law just to show up and chitchat with Moses face to face otherwise? That would mean the important stuff got the angel visits and the everyday visits were by God. Really?
Manoah said, “…We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” (Jud. 13: 22 NKJV). You have to read Judges 13: 22 in the context of the rest of the chapter. Judges 13: 2 says, “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman [Manoah’s wife] and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son” (NKJV). The angel even comes back a second time when Manoah asks nicely (Judges 13: 8-9). He didn’t believe his wife when she said she had seen an angel.
God appeared to Hagar in the form of an angel. “Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur” (Gen. 16: 7 NKJV). This was when she was running away from Sarah.
One problem is that angels, as well as God, are spirits. Hebrews 1: 14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (NIV). That raises the question that if God is a spirit and we can’t see Him, how can we see angels, who are also spirits?
Visions
When we just read Isaiah 6: 1, Daniel 7: 9, and Amos 9: 1, we don’t have the passage in context. Isaiah 1: 1, Daniel 7: 2, and Amos 1: 2 says what the prophets are recounting are visions Isaiah, Daniel, and Amos had.
It is kind of like my Insomnia Buddy and me. One time I sent her a message saying, “I was dreaming I was driving to Nashville. I got a late start because I left after I ate with someone. I figured I could get a motel if I thought I was going to fall asleep. But then I woke up.” If you miss the first and last sentences, you might think I was actually taking a road trip.
Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw the glory of God (Ezekiel 8: 3-4). Those verses read, “He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain” (NKJV).
We have to remember that visions are more than just dreams. These were not their minds playing tricks on them when they were asleep. It is more like going into a trance than a sleep. However, God can and did come to people in their dreams.
Dreams
Jacob saw God in a dream when he was heading to Haran. Genesis 28: 12-13 says, “Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants’” (NKJV). God wanted to make sure Jacob had stopped for the day so he could focus on what God was telling him.
You would think that God coming to people as angels would mean He would take on some type of form. It is conceivable that He would remain in His spirit form in visions and dreams. However, He may take a more physical form.
In the next devotion, we will continue our discussion on what forms God has taken when He has interacted with man.
Lord. Whether You come to us or You send one of Your angels, whether You come in a physical form or a spiritual form, we thank You for coming. Thank You for loving us enough that You want to spend time with us, correct us, and grow us into what we should be. Help us to draw even closer to You. May we always look to You. Amen.
What do you think? Have you had or heard of a time when God came to His people? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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