Chapter 4 of the gospel of Matthew begins with the account of the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness. The most striking verse is the first one which tells us that He was led by Holy Spirit into the wilderness so that He would be tempted by the devil!!
The Burning Bush - I can imagine these flames lit up a huge area, and Moses would wonder why the fire was not spreading to another growth nearby. In fact it was because the flames seemed to be having no effect even on that one bush that Moses went to look!
Jacob was on his way to find a wife from his maternal family. The previous verse tells that he took a stone and laid his head on it!! No modern day hotels for him! He obviously slept in spite of his uncomfortable pillow because he had an amazing dream.
The Bible is not clear about where angels and demons come from. There are obviously thousands of them around today. Angels spend their time blessing us, protecting us, encouraging us. Demons spend their time hassling us, distracting us, trying to stop us fulfilling the plan of God for our lives.
Imagine for a moment the delegation from Moab who had gone to fetch Balaam. They watched the donkey do strange things, then they listened to a conversation between the prophet and the donkey, and finally they saw Balaam fall face down in front of a being they could not see.
Numbers 22 - The angel of The Lord stood in the road. - The Israelites here had grown in number and in reputation and were a formidable enemy. As they began to cross the plains of Moab all the Moabites were terrified, and were expressing their fear to the elders of Midian.
This verse suggests that there are angels from another source! Angels of satan! These are the evil spirits that we read much about during the ministry of Jesus. He often blamed demonic activity for sickness or infirmity and had no hesitation in casting out those demons. Sometimes with dramatic effect.
God does not want us to live in fear! Yet so many Christians are afraid of so many things. Illness, loneliness, financial difficulties, and in many parts of the world believers have reason to be fearful for their lives. But God constantly repeats His assurance. We have nothing to fear.
Our God is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). His attitude to sin never changes. He is merciful and He is just. He gives us second and third chances, but if we do not change our ways, we can only take the consequences of our rejection of Him.
When we lived in the Paris area, we opened our home to many who needed a bed for a night or longer. We housed people from all walks of life, all ages, and all levels of society. We never knew if they were angels in disguise, they could have been.
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