Monday, August 19, 2019

Chapter 3, Part 1: One Angel Is Often Enough ... But If Needed, God Can Send More.


(New book coming in September)

Dreams, Visions, Angels, and The Holy Spirit

Joan Boney


Matthew 26:50-54    Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took HIM.

And, behold, one of them
(Peter) which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.  (John 18:10 shows this was Peter with Jesus.)

Then said Jesus unto him
(to Peter), Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and HE shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?


But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?


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An angel causes an earthquake and the great stone sealing Jesus' tomb was moved by that one angel.

Matthew 28:2-4   And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

***

The women had made spices to place on Jesus' dead body but they wondered who would move that big stone for them where the Jews had sealed Jesus' tomb.

But when the women got to the tomb, the stone was already moved allowing them access to the tomb.

However, when they got inside, the body of Jesus was not there!  

Where was Jesus?  What have they done with the Lord?  they questioned among themselves(Luke 24:2-4 & John 20:2)

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Mark 16:1-7    And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint HIM.

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: HE is risen; HE is not here: behold the place where they laid HIM.

But go your way, tell HIS disciples and Peter that HE goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see HIM, as HE said unto you.


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Three angels visited Abraham whith a message from God concerning Sarah.

Angels look like regular men.  Angels do not have wings.  But angels do supernatural things and they have incredible strength and they know things unseen by regular men and they deliver message from God.

These "men" knew Abraham had a wife named Sarah.  They asked where she was.  One of these "men" had a message concerning her which he delivered from God to Abraham.

Genesis 18:1-2    And the Lord appeared unto him (unto Abraham) in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

9-15    And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.


Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 

(Sarah didn't laugh aloud but "within herself", yet these "men" knew she was laughing.) 

And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 

(God disclosed the thoughts of Sarah's heart to the angels.) 

Is any thing too hard for the Lord?

At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. 

And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

These angels of God lived in truth of God.  They were not going to permit Sarah to live in a lie.  They forced her to see the truth of what she did.

Later Sarah is declared as a woman living in faith, receiving strength through faith in what God said.

Hebrews 11:11    Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

We can see the angels delivered the message from God whereby Sarah received the strength needed to do the will of God in conceiving and delivering the child promised by God.

Angels deliver messages from God, by the will of God, to the people chosen by God.

Genesis 18:16   And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Sodom was their next assignment from God.


***

Only two angels of the three went on to destroy Sodom.  

(Makes you think three were not needed for this amount of work at Sodom.)

Genesis 19:1    And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

The angels are going to get Lot out of Sodom and destroy Sodom.

When the men of Sodom saw the angels, whom they thought to be men, they came to the home where these men were lodging with Lot.  These evil men of Sodom came "from every quarter" of the city.  This shows us how corrupt the whole city was.  They came for the purpose of having sex with the angels whom they thought to be men.

Lot being righteous tried to dissuade them from their evil intentions.  But they, being evil, would not be persuaded to turn from the evil.

So the angel, being mighty in power from God, blinded these men at the gate.

Genesis 19:4-13    But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,  And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.  Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judgenow will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.

But the men
(angels) put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

And they
(the angels) smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.


And the men (angels) said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.


The angels could not destroy Sodom until they first delivered Lot. God would not destroy the righteous.

(Here is another example for us.  God will deliver the righteous, those who are found in peace, without spot and blameless, before HE brings HIS wrath ... the great tribulation ... upon this world in the day HE comes to judge this world before HE destroys this heaven and this earth.)

Genesis 19:14-30    And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. 

(Lot believed the message of God, delivered by the angels, and he tried to save his sons-in-law, but they mocked the message and Lot, and they ended up being destroyed by God.)

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.


And while he lingered, the men (the angels) laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 

(The angels literally made them leave the city by putting their own hands upon the wife and two daughters and causing them to leave.) 

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he (the angel) said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.  

(This is a critical message, spoken by the angel, which must be obeyed.)

But Lot doesn't want to go to the mountains and he pleaded for an optional course. 

And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:  Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:  Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

(Lot pleads as if the optional city, a little one, is free from the sins of Sodom and therefore will escape the destruction of the wrath of God.)

And he
(the angel) said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.


Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither.  

Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.  

Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;  And HE overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 



(This action of Lot's wife, implied that she longed for the things of Sodom. for the things of this world ... and she went against the order given by the angel for the angel said, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, least thou be consumed."  Genesis 19:17)  



And there was a severe penalty against Lot's wife for disobeying the instruction delivered by the angel of God.

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:

And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when HE overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.


And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.



Though Lot didn't want to go to the mountain as the angel instructed, Lot ended up going to the mountain.  We sometimes think we know best, even over what God says.  But sometimes God will have mercy anyway and we usually end up in the place and situation God told us regardless.


Concerning angels ... We see how the angels performed the Word authored by God.  We see the mighty abilities given by God to His angels.  We see angels taking the hand of the wife and daughters and dragging them out of the danger.  We see angels destroying the cities by the will of God.



*****

Exodus 23:20-23  God says:   Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for MY name is in him.

But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.




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