The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Matthew 2:19-20,
"After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.'"
Following a stay in Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph and gave him the instruction to take Jesus and Mary back to Israel. Earlier, Joseph had been instructed by an angel to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt, and now, in much the same language, he was to return, and did so by taking them to Nazareth in Galilee.
It appears to be the same unnamed angel in both cases, as in the first angelic visit the angel told Joseph to stay in Egypt "until I tell you". Then following Herod's (who sought to kill the young Jesus) death, the angel, in fact came back to give Joseph further instruction to return to Israel.
The language in both angelic visits, as quoted by Matthew, follows the same pattern. "Get up, take the child and his mother..." In the earlier angelic visit it was "escape to Egypt" and the later visit, "go to the land of Israel".
I can't help but think of the many contacts between heavenly beings and those of us of planet earth. We read of many in both the old and new testaments. It is fascinating to me in that we appear to exist apart from any contact with the environs of heaven. But, that just isn't the case.
At times I think of the vision Jacob had of angels coming and going between heaven and earth on a stairway. We read of it in Genesis 28:12, "He [Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." This was no mere dream as it turns out it was a vision given him in which the Lord himself restated his promise to make a nation of Israel, give them the land Jacob was on and provide an "offspring" [Jesus Christ] that would be the blessing of all the peoples on earth.
What were these angels about that were "coming and going between heaven and earth Jacob had seen on this stairway? Were these angels dispatched from heaven with various duties to be performed, following which they returned to heaven? If so, what might those assignments have been? Were they assigned to certain individuals on earth? Were they assigned some task that impacted various nations? Or, were they simply headed for the tropics for some needed rest and recuperation (a person's curiosity can run rampant here…)?
Did Jacob witness a literal means of transport between heaven and earth represented by the stairway in Jacob's vision? Or, was it just symbolic of the interaction between heaven and earth? Did the angel that provided Joseph his instructions use this same stairway?
It is all just fascinating to me to consider as I read of these angelic contacts. Certainly the sphere of our existence extends well beyond what we typically see and hear.
It causes me to wonder what may be going on today in this regard?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
"After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.'"
Following a stay in Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph and gave him the instruction to take Jesus and Mary back to Israel. Earlier, Joseph had been instructed by an angel to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt, and now, in much the same language, he was to return, and did so by taking them to Nazareth in Galilee.
It appears to be the same unnamed angel in both cases, as in the first angelic visit the angel told Joseph to stay in Egypt "until I tell you". Then following Herod's (who sought to kill the young Jesus) death, the angel, in fact came back to give Joseph further instruction to return to Israel.
The language in both angelic visits, as quoted by Matthew, follows the same pattern. "Get up, take the child and his mother..." In the earlier angelic visit it was "escape to Egypt" and the later visit, "go to the land of Israel".
I can't help but think of the many contacts between heavenly beings and those of us of planet earth. We read of many in both the old and new testaments. It is fascinating to me in that we appear to exist apart from any contact with the environs of heaven. But, that just isn't the case.
At times I think of the vision Jacob had of angels coming and going between heaven and earth on a stairway. We read of it in Genesis 28:12, "He [Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." This was no mere dream as it turns out it was a vision given him in which the Lord himself restated his promise to make a nation of Israel, give them the land Jacob was on and provide an "offspring" [Jesus Christ] that would be the blessing of all the peoples on earth.
What were these angels about that were "coming and going between heaven and earth Jacob had seen on this stairway? Were these angels dispatched from heaven with various duties to be performed, following which they returned to heaven? If so, what might those assignments have been? Were they assigned to certain individuals on earth? Were they assigned some task that impacted various nations? Or, were they simply headed for the tropics for some needed rest and recuperation (a person's curiosity can run rampant here…)?
Did Jacob witness a literal means of transport between heaven and earth represented by the stairway in Jacob's vision? Or, was it just symbolic of the interaction between heaven and earth? Did the angel that provided Joseph his instructions use this same stairway?
It is all just fascinating to me to consider as I read of these angelic contacts. Certainly the sphere of our existence extends well beyond what we typically see and hear.
It causes me to wonder what may be going on today in this regard?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
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