“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 1:20 (NIV)
This week, our suggested readings connect into God speaking to humans thru dreams. Perhaps you are like me, and your most vivid dreams are connected to food that is hard to digest, and so you take people who talk about God speaking to them in dreams as a little out there. We need to shake off our scepticism and get with God’s program, for the Bible records God speaking to many people in dreams, and Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 includes dreaming dreams as part of this age of grace that Christ began for us. Here in this account in Genesis 20, God intervenes in an “unbeliever’s” life in a dream to save this “unbeliever” from certain judgment and destruction. It is a neat kind of dream - for Abimelek has a conversation with God in his dream. I am thinking that a conversation with God would be a little scary- and Abimelek is afraid, he does fear God, and he lines his behaviour up with God’s request. This chapter appears immediately before Sarah gives birth to Isaac, and seems to have been placed here to ensure that the reader understands that Sarah’s baby came from Abraham and not from a foreign king who took her into his home. Yet as I read it I cannot help but think of the mission stories coming out of the Middle East of Jesus appearing in “unbelievers” dreams and directing people to speak to believers about salvation. One of Parkdale’s missionaries Craig Rogalsky was part of one of these stories. What a gracious wonderful God, who speaks to unbelievers in dreams, who saves them from certain judgment and destruction!
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/June/Dreams-Visions-Moving-Muslims-to-Christ
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