Matthew 2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Many people want God to speak to them directly, face to face, no room for error. I am not one of those people! Every time the LORD or His messengers show up, people are struck with incredible fear. I have had enough fear in my life, thank you very much! I don’t need an angelic messenger messing up my day.
People often will claim, that if the LORD showed up in Church, that would be a great thing. We beacon the Holy Spirit to fall, for His wind to blow through, for His presence to invade. I don’t really think we know what we are asking for in these moments.
One of the ways that God communicates to His people is in dreams. This kind of communication is very rare, at least in the pages of Scripture. It doesn’t seem to be as scary as when the LORD shows up face to face. No one is diving to the ground seeking cover.
But in these first two chapters of Matthew there are five separate dream instructions that come. Four of them come to Joseph, the step-father of Jesus. The first calms his fear about marrying Mary. After all he knows he isn’t the father of the child she is carrying in the womb. He knows the biology, and he hasn’t done that with Mary!
The next dream instruction comes to the Magi after they have visited Jesus. This and the following three dreams help protect those involved in the story. The dream tells them to avoid Herod, so they skip town.
The next warning happens right before all the infant boys are killed in Bethlehem by Herod’s men. Imagine being a king and being so afraid for your life that infants are a threat to you! Joseph is warned in a dream to leave immediately for Egypt, and this he does, saving Jesus’ life.
Joseph gets two more instructions in dreams, one to return to Israel and the other to avoid going back to Bethlehem. Again, two more instructions to save Jesus life.
Now before you start buying pepperoni pizza before bed in hopes of getting this kind of instruction from the LORD, consider carefully what you are seeking. Do you really think you want to be at the center of the Redemption Story? Hasn’t that role already been filled?
This kind of God-dream is very rare, but they do happen. Of the millions of dreams I have had, I have had a couple that were this type of dream, a dream with extreme spiritual significance. Neither one had to do with the Redemption Story per se. But they were significant in my walk with Christ. But also don’t really want any more.
I have enough guidance in the Scriptures to live an effective life for the LORD through what is contained in them. If I live what I already know, I am on the right path. I also have the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing, if I am willing to listen and obey.
And I think that is often the rub for most of us. We know what we are supposed to do, but we have difficulty doing it. That is what is so remarkable about these dream instructions. They could have been ignored, but they weren’t. Each was acted upon. Obedience followed.
I pray that obedience will follow in our lives as we learn and hear the Truth spoken to us.
The Arnold Journey 