Mystics, Meatballs, and the Marvelous Works of God

Excerpt From Newsletter

First of all, God doesn’t talk directly to anyone. He said so Himself. Moses was the last to hear the voice of God speaking to him privately, and even he didn’t hear any internal voice. God talked with Moses face to face from the midst of the pillar of cloud at the Tabernacle:

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about, that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. And it came about, whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
(Exodus 33:7–11)

That just about says it all. God talked to Moses directly. But the Scripture we quoted above from the Book of Numbers tells us Moses was somebody special. The rest of us, Old Testament Prophets included, have been left to rely on dreams and visions. I say “the rest of us” because Joel does say God would pour out His Spirit on everybody (Joel 2:28), so we could all have visions and dreams. Peter confirms that did occur after the Ascension of Jesus:

“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is {only} the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams;
Even upon My bondslaves, both men and women,
I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit
And they shall prophesy.
And I will grant wonders in the sky above,
And signs on the earth beneath,
Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the lord shall come
And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved..’”
(Acts 2:15–21)

So God might communicate with any one of us at any time through a dream or a vision. But everybody knows such things must be interpreted.

“Mystics, Meatballs, and the Marvelous Works of God,” The Voice of Elijah^®, April 1993, pp. 5–6

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