Some thoughts on the angel flying through the midst of heaven in Revelation 14:6-7

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:6-7)

This scripture has often been used by the Church to back up the idea of the angel Moroni coming to Joseph Smith to tell him the location of the golden plates and communicate the beginning of the great restoring work that Joseph was to do. Also, when we hear it, that is the associated interpretation that we give it.

However, if we were to seriously examine the context of Revelation 14, we would discover that interpretation doesn’t fit.  Consider the very first verse of Revelation 14:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (Rev. 14:1)

Oh, look!  According to this verse (which is before the angel flying through heaven), Zion has already been established, there are 144,000 sealed there, and the Lamb is there!  If Zion has already been established, then to say that verses 6-7 represents Moroni at the beginning of the dispensation is to get things completely confused and out of order.

Perhaps the rest of Christendom is confused by Revelation, but we should overcome these errors.  In reality, the order of events in Revelation is fairly straight forward. Except for one interlude-backtrack in Revelation 12 to give context as to the identity of the beast in Revelation 13 as the kingdom of the devil, events in Revelation are pretty linear—seven seals are opened, then seven angels sound trumpets, then six angelic messengers come, then seven plagues…  The counting of things helps add to the feeling of sequence and linearity. 

Why then does the Church use this scripture about an angel flying through the midst of heaven? It might be out of tradition. (Orson Pratt gives a pretty fair sample of how it has been used in Journal of Discourses 17:307.)  It might also use it because it has the advantage of expressing with clarity that the Bible anticipated a future full of angelic ministration of the gospel message. This was important to underline in a day that did not believe there would be any more miracles, spiritual gifts, angelic visits, etc.  (Of course, that unbelief continues today, but adds a secular form.)

But for us, we should not confuse this as the point in Revelation when the gospel is restored, since v1 shows that at that point it is already there.  But this leads us to the question: why then does an angel fly in the midst of heaven declaring the gospel at this part of Revelation?  I have two answers for that. 1) There will be angels when the Lord determines angels are needed to echo or prepare people for the gospel message. Many times angels are preparatory agents before the full message comes. They are a divine poke telling people to pay attention. 2) Also, the prophet and apostles are equipped with power and authority that makes them as angels from God to the rest of the world.  And overall, this tells me that missionary work continues on.

So where does the Restoration actually get represented in Revelation?  I think it happens in Revelation 7:2 as part of the sixth seal, before the 144,000 get sealed in their foreheads. I think it is represented by the angel ascending from the east with the seal of the living God. (I explain it in this post that also talks about Revelation 6-7.) This imagery of the ascending angel is not quite as plain, thus it is particularly difficult to use as part of missionary work. But since Revelation was written specifically for the Saints, we need not be surprised if many fail to comprehend it.

Just as an extra side-note, Joseph Smith gave D&C 133:36-37, which refers to the verses about the angel flying through the midst of heaven.

36 And now, verily saith the Lord, that these things might be known among you, O inhabitants of the earth, I have sent forth mine angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, who hath appeared unto some and hath committed it unto man, who shall appear unto many that dwell on the earth.

37 And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.  (D&C 133:36-37)

This takes imagery from those verses and adapts it to the Lord’s purpose, which is to announce that the gospel is restored and all should listen, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is still the sequence in Revelation and verses about the Lamb standing with the 144,000 sealed in their foreheads that come before..  It seems the Lord can use well-known scriptures for whatever purpose He deems will get the message across, and even in multiple, similar, non-superseding ways.

Pre-conversion Alma the Younger

My husband and I were reading Mosiah 27 about the conversion story of Alma the Younger, and it seemed to me that it was impossible that he had not been taught the gospel by his father Alma while growing up.  It’s easy to wonder where Alma the Younger started to go wrong.

Mosiah 26 describes a great purge of the church, when many members who were unrepentantly sinning were cut off. It is perfectly possible that Alma the Younger and the four sons of Mosiah were cut off from the church for their wickedness at that time.  Later, Alma the Younger himself later tells of how he and Mosiah’s four sons went forth with anger and mighty threatenings to destroy the church (Alma 26:18).  That sounds very much like the anger of someone who felt they had been excommunicated unjustly, someone who rebelled against the authority of the priesthood.

Alma the Younger may have convinced himself that what happened to him and his friends was unjust and that the church needed reform.

So, part of what the angel’s visit would have settled for Alma the Younger and Mosiah’s four sons was that his father was right and was on God’s side, that God did have power and that Alma the Younger was wrong.  And if he was wrong, then his efforts to fix the church were wrong and amounted to persecution  and destruction rather than reform.

The cool thing about Alma the Younger’s conversion story is that it shows us that even an angry ex-member of the Church is not a lost cause. It shows us Alma the Elder’s example of praying for those who separate themselves from us and for those who have been cut off for transgression.  They may yet be brought to the knowledge of the truth.

Revelation 10: The Angel Standing on Sea and Land

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1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:1-7)

One of the odd bits of imagery in this chapter is the glorious angel who sets his right food on the sea and his left foot on the land. This angel holds the little book that John ends up taking and eating.

The detail about the angel standing one food on sea and one on land is repeated three times, in verses 2, 5, and 8, which is a little clue that it holds meaning that must be understood.

I had previously thought that the angel standing on both the sea and the land represented the sovereignty of God over the whole earth (and many other commentators think similarly), but this time that interpretation didn’t quite satisfy me.  Why should God’s sovereignty be represented by an angel standing on sea and land holding a book and not an angel sitting on a throne?  There has to be something different going on here.

So what does it mean when an angel has one foot in the sea and the other on land and he holds a book? It seems like he stands right on a transition point between sea and land, a point of change.  (In real life, the transition point between sea and land is a bit indefinite because of tides and wave action and so forth, but in John’s vision, the transition point is so stationary that the angel can straddle it like a line.)

So I think we are to ponder what makes the difference between one condition represented by the sea and another condition represented by the dry land.  How are they different? Sea is fluid and fluctuating and unstable.  Land is solid and permanent and stable.  So perhaps the sea symbolizes chaos and disorder, while land represents order and firmness and security. 

Perhaps the angel standing between sea and land represents a point of change between chaos and order, between instability and steadfastness.  The book he holds in his hand is held right over the dividing line, representing the thing that makes the bridge between the two. The book is the thing that will allow people to escape the chaos and come to order and certainty and security in their lives, which, based on the events of the previous chapter, have devolved into awful anarchy, insecurity, and warlord-ism.

What is this book?  It is eaten by John, and it is essentially his witness and testimony to the world about the gospel.  So the witness and testimony is the thing that can help move individuals and peoples from chaos and anarchy into order and a firm foundation to stand on. That will take faith for people to accept in a time of chaos, but this is shown us so that we can know it is true.

I also think this is an important principle for our lives today. If we feel our lives falling into chaos, we can take a look at how well we are living according to our testimony of the truth. If we can live by our testimony, we will find firm ground and a firm foundation in Christ. Then we’ll be better able to sort out the chaos and impose order in our lives. We'll be able to live with certainty even in the middle of upheaval.

Let’s move on to what else happens in this block of verses.  In v3-4, the angel who straddles the transition point between sea and land cries with a loud voice, and seven thunders utter their voices, and the things said are forbidden that John should write them.

This leads to the question, what did they say?  And further, why go to the trouble of telling us this happened if we are not to be told with the angel and thunders said?

There’s a very simple answer, one that will sound like a cop-out at first, but it is true and there is something we can learn from it that will actually give us hope.  Answer: Those things are MYSTERIES.  We are not told what they are in this vision in order to emphasize their mysterious nature. It even tells us in v7 “the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

Further, we are to know that the things not told us here are mysteries of God. We can know they are of God because they are spoken by an angel and seven thunders. (Thunders are also from heaven, and might be symbolic of heavenly voices of authority, possibly general authorities). 

However, even though the things said are mysteries to us now, we can find hope in the implication that ultimately these mysteries will be made manifest in their time, as is represented by the fact that the angel cries with a loud voice and the seven thunders… well,, they thunder, and thunder is pretty noisy and public. Of course, the thing about mysteries of God is that no matter how public they happen to become, only the spiritually prepared understand them and obey their instructions. 

I think it also has to be mentioned that this stuff with the angel and the thunders is in direct contrast to the chaos happening at the same time among the wicked, as shown in Revelation 9 in the latter half.  This all happens after the sixth angel sounds his trumpet within the seventh seal. I think this is showing us that even though the righteous are greatly afflicted by the wickedness in the world, they will have compensatory blessings of great revelations from heaven to help them through their difficulties, revelations so great they were not to be written by John at that time. This gives us much to look forward to and prepare for.

Moving on.

In verse 5-7, the angel swears there will be time no longer and when the seventh angel sounds the mystery of God as declared by the prophets will be finished.  Now, for the longest time I thought that oath about there being time no longer meant that all measurement of time was to be done away with and eternity was to begin at that point.  However, this time I realized it was more likely an announcement about the probationary period before the second coming--that the end was getting very close and there was hardly any time left for the wicked to repent.  To use a vastly inadequate analogy, it reminds me of the five minute warning my mom gave before the TV had to go off.  But unlike that five minute warning, this is a message of extreme urgency with each individual's prospects in eternity at stake. Everyone has to repent because the day of grace is coming very quickly to an end.

It so happens that the terms by which the angel swears also encapsulate reasons and justification for the oath.  The angel swears by God who lives for ever and ever, and by God who created everything in earth, sea, and heaven.  To swear by God as one who lives forever should remind us He has an eternal perspective, and He can see when evil is ripe for destruction. So when He says time is almost up, He means it. To swear by God as the creator of all should remind us He also has the ability to destroy what He created. So when time is up, the wicked will be destroyed, and He has full power to do that.

This is all good news for the righteous because it means vindication and reward quickly approaches too.

There are times when I kind of wish I could redo the chapter breaks in Revelation to better group the things that happen together. I would put the contents of Revelation 10 right on the back of Revelation 9 to make it clearer that 10 is not an unrelated interlude, but is happening concurrently with the madness at the end of 9.  I think we are meant to see a contrast between what happens among the wicked versus what happens among the righteous all the way up to the second coming.  It truly will be “the best of times and the worst of times,” to borrow words from Dickens.

When an angel says a Savior is born, what are you going to do?

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:8-11)

We may have known kids that were live wires or extraordinary in some way, children that made us wonder and anticipate the mark they would make on the world. And some of you who are older may have had the experience of finding these hopes and expectations were not realized. Or we may see kids with troubled childhoods or teenage years who eventually made good in a way far beyond our expectations. (I know of at least one of the girls from my home ward growing up who had a rather rebellious teenage time, but who straightened up later. I was startled to hear she had a career, got married, had kids, and was made a Relief Society president.)

So with that in mind, if we were the shepherds in the Christmas story, what meaning might we assign to this angel announcement that this particular child born in Bethlehem is a Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, the Annointed One?  And too, this child is pointed out to our notice before he is even old enough to know there is anything to be saved from.

It is really going to depend on our faith.  (Remember, without faith, Laman and Lemuel dismissed the words of an angel to them, and they went right back into their fear of Laban and reluctance to get the plates.)  Without faith, the shepherds might have eventually dismissed the child as just another child, one for whom others had high hopes, but who wasn’t going to live up to them.  Such a child could be safely ignored because he would be swallowed up by the anonymity of history and never be heard of again.

Ah! But with faith, once the Savior has been pointed out to you, you would keep a very careful eye on that child and watch with wonder and great anticipation. Any time you hear of something neat that child has done, you hug yourself and do a little happy dance and elbow your believing neighbors and have little excited conversations with them because you just know he is going to bring salvation and you can’t wait to see it!

But of course, it also depends on what kind of salvation you expect from this Savior. If you’re expecting a military salvation immediately, you might start to be disappointed if the child doesn’t show any signs of fighting prowess or an affinity for military strategy. But if you’re looking for salvation from sin, then signs of goodness and long-suffering and kindness in him and extraordinary changes of character in those around him are going to be very encouraging.

I think the heavenly announcement of the Savior’s identity so early in His life gave faithful people both a test of their faith that would have the eventual reward during Jesus’ ministry if they could believe in Him to salvation from their sins.

For us in the church today, we still have much to look forward to.  We’ve had the benefit of 185 years of Restored-church history and revelations showing us that Christ is very much involved in preparing the world for His return in glory.  But of course, our faith and our expectations will determine how we interpret those things, whether we fight it because we thought it was supposed to be different, or whether we dismiss it out of hand, or whether we see its divine origin and guidance and rejoice with every sign of progress.

Question about the possibility of the annihilation of the soul

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I ran into a post on the lds.net forum a few days ago in which someone asked a very interesting question:

I don't see why there cannot be annihilation of the individual at some point of their existence.  If a person is not content with their placement after mortality, shouldn't there be an option of not wanting to exist at all? If this God person touts Himself as being 'loving' and whatnot, wouldn't it be proof of mercy if He offered oblivion to those who want it?  Seems rather harsh to spend eternity standing in the corner wearing a dunce hat for your, say 65 years of mortality with all the limitations that come with being mortal.  Any chance for oblivion? 

It just so happens that in my scripture study more than a year ago I ran into a scripture in the Book of Mormon that answers this question.  I remember being quite fascinated by the pains that were taken to make the point, and so I wrote about it in my scripture journal, but I didn’t expect to do a post on it because I wasn’t sure it was something that would need to be said.   How wrong I was. 

This verse comes in the middle of Nephi’s vision of the tree of life when an angel is explaining things to him.

And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell—yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end. (1 Nephi 14:3)

So there you have the answer, and it is “No.”

There is no annihilation of the soul. 

It seems that being cast into hell is termed “utter destruction,” but that destruction does not go so far as to annihilate the soul.

It is quite lovely that Nephi has this from an angel and that the angel is quoting the Lamb of God.  That gives us some pretty strong authority there.  And we need it because we could not know this without revelation from God.

This gives us yet another reason to make the best we can of our life, to accept responsibility for our choices, to embrace what life is and what the Lord wants us to make of it.   Our hope is in Christ—no matter what a mess we have made of our lives, He can help us clean it up, and we have every inducement to start the cleansing process now, rather than waiting.

Thoughts on Mary and Zacharias’s experience with Gabriel

I had a few thoughts about the stories of Mary and Zacharias in Luke 1 during the Sunday school lesson this last week.

When we talked about the story of the Annunciation, when Gabriel came to announce to Mary that she would conceive, I asked myself the question, “What does it tell us about the character of God that He sends a messenger to tell Mary ahead of time that she will conceive instead of just making it happen without any warning?”

It was an intriguing question and I came up with a few answers.

I think it tells us the Lord wanted her to understand the significance of what was going to happen and wanted to prepare her.  There is also in her submissive response the suggestion that she saw it as an implied request for permission, which permission she gave.

Just to pursue for a second that idea of asking permission, this suggests that the Lord was respecting Mary’s agency.   But then we have to wonder what the Lord would have done if Mary had refused.  The Lord’s plans are not frustrated, so He would have a backup plan ready.

Who was Mary’s backup?  It would have to be a woman named Mary, also of the house of David, for Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophesies to be fulfilled.

Oddly enough, it seems Mary had a sister also named Mary (which is rather weird), but it could have been a half sister.  “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (Luke 19:25).  Of course, this is a bit speculative and depends upon how you interpret the meaning of that comma, whether it attaches “Mary the wife of Cleophas” to “his mother’s sister” or whether it continues the list with more people.  Still, I think it highly likely that the Lord had a backup in place in case Mary chose to refuse.

A point was made in the lesson that I hadn’t thought of before.  It is likely that Mary wasn’t so very popular among her peers because of her righteousness and it would have been startling to her to be told she was highly favored among women, thus her troubled feelings at the greeting, and thus the need for Gabriel to clarify that she was favored of God.  I think the experience she had standing strong against the temptation to seek for the world’s favor would have been important to her development for when she would find herself in a position that would look wrong, but be okay—pregnant, yet not having known a man.   It takes a spiritually strong person to stay faithful while everyone around them thinks they have done a very wrong thing when they haven’t.

Moving on to the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth..

The case of Zacharias and Elizabeth is interesting as well.  They were barren, and both well stricken in years, implying Elizabeth is into menopause.

The angel Gabriel, when he comes to tell Zacharias he will have a son, says something interesting: “…for thy prayer is heard.”  (Luke 1:13)  This makes it seem like this son is what Zacharias has been praying for that day as he offered incense.

Yet Zacharias is very old and his skepticism is opposite what his response would be if he’d been praying for it that day.

I think it is likely that Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed for children for a long time, but that they (or Zacharias) had given up that particular petition once Elizabeth had moved into menopause, thinking it wasn’t going to happen.  That fits more with his skepticism.

So this brings us to some interesting questions now about how the Lord works when Gabriel says, “thy prayer is heard.”  Why tell Zacharias this now?  Why not visit him at the beginning of his prayers back when he was young and tell him, “Thy prayer is heard, but you’ll have to wait for years.”  It tells us that there may be long times when God is silent and doesn’t give us our petition.   And why?   It becomes a test of our faith whether we will continue to follow Him when we don’t know why He is not giving us immediately a righteous thing we ask for.   We’re probably pretty good at waiting a long time for things if we know why.  But can we wait a long time when we don’t know why?  It’s hard.  We have to trust that God is still good.

Another question that occurs to me is, “Why did John the Baptist have to be born so late?  Why not earlier?”  I think we don’t know much at all about why John had to be born so close to Jesus.  Perhaps if he were born earlier, he might have been martyred before Jesus came on the scene.  Perhaps his prophetic testimony of the coming Savior was meant to be witnessed very soon after it was given in order to show that God was moving fast and so there was necessity for quick repentance.

At any rate, the miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy was used by Gabriel as a sign to Mary that God could do impossible things.  If God could help a menopausal woman conceive by her husband, then God could certainly cause a virgin to conceive without coitus.

But back to this declaration, “thy prayer is heard.”  Sometimes we don’t know our prayer is heard until it is answered and the thing we pray for comes to pass.  It takes a lot of spiritual sensitivity to know the Lord has heard, even when our requests aren’t granted.  Granted requests are the biggest way we know prayers are heard, yet the angel’s pronouncement also teaches us that God hears our prayers all along, even if He can’t grant them yet according to His plan.

It also teaches us that God remembers and may answer our prayers far past the time that we’ve prayed them.  It teaches us something about the emotional strength of God, that He can hear our prayers and enter into the deeps of our yearnings and pains, and love us so, and yet refrain from granting our petitions for a greater purpose known to Him.  How badly He must want to bless us, and yet He can’t yet.  How many parents can stand that long a wait along with their children?

If I were to summarize the principles from the story, it would be this way:

--God respects the agency of His children, even those who are linchpins in His plan.

--Formative experiences often become a big part of our life purpose.

--God delays answers to prayer to try our faith

--God delays answers to prayer to fulfill His greater purposes.

--God’s miraculous answers to prayer are often used to help strengthen others’ faith in His power.

--God remembers our prayers even if we’ve forgotten or think it is past time for them to be answered.

--God hears our prayers all along, but has the emotional strength to delay answering and to lovingly wait along with us.

What else do you see in these stories?

The Heavenly Voices

2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (Rev. 14:2-3)

I have posted already about what we can learn from the new song sung before the throne, but I want to point out something else I noticed from these verses and those following—the voices.

And indeed you can notice it about the whole of Revelation 14—there are so many heavenly voices!

There is the voice of God Himself—described as “the voice of many waters” and “the voice of a great thunder.”  Many waters have a persistent hiss to them, so it would be a good metaphor for the quiet voice of the Lord when He speaks with mildness in a whisper.  Thunder, on the other hand, is definitely loud and fearsome.  We are to learn that the Lord will use both these voices when speaking to His children.

There is the voice of the 144,000 harpers with their harps, singing their new song before heaven.  As we continue in the chapter, we find the voice of six different angels each crying with a loud voice, each in their turn and each with their work to do.

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. (Rev 14:6-18)

What message do the angels give?

·      The everlasting gospel to the world (v6) and a message to fear God, give him glory, and worship him for his powers of creation (v7)

·      Babylon is fallen because she made all nations partake of the wrath of her fornication. (v8)  (The Lord wants people to know that fornication leads to the fall of societies.)

·      If anyone worships the beast and takes his name and number, he will drink the wrath of God, be tormented in the presence of the heavenly host, and not find rest day or night. (v9-11) Also, the Saints are those who keep the commandments and have faith in Jesus. (v12)

·      If you die in the Lord, you’re blessed and you’ll rest from your labors and your works will follow you. (v13)

·      Thrust in the sickle and reap; the time has come (v15)

·      Thrust in the sickle and gather the clusters of the vine; the grapes [of wrath] are ripe. (v18)

There are so many heavenly voices in this chapter that I think we are meant to get the impression that God is not silent and neither are the heavens.  There is a multitude of voices and instructions from heaven to those with the ears to hear.  (It began with the voice of God to Joseph Smith and continues to this day in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)  The angels have important messages that can help us in this age to avoid temptations.  What faults do you see that they help with?

The Lord calls Samson’s Parents to Prepare Samson: Judges 13

The visit of the angel to Samson’s parents and the events in Judges 13 that transpire in that incident are very similar to Gideon’s call to deliver Israel.  1) Instructions are given 2) sacrifice is made 3)they see miracles as the angel ascends into heaven 4) They feel they have been presumptuous and worry they will die because they have seen God. 5) They realize they will not die because they Lord has accepted their sacrifice.

The question that comes to me now is, “Why did the Lord call the parents of Samson instead of Samson directly this way?”

The answer seems to be that extra preparation for Samson was required and that the nature of the obstacles he faced required he be raised a certain way so that he could better deal with them.  At the beginning of Judges 13 it says the Lord had delivered the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years.  That’s a long enough time that a significant portion of the population didn’t know what independence even looked like for their own people.  The younger portion of the population might be inclined to raise their social status by affiliating themselves in some way with the Philistines who ruled over them.  Samson would fight a lot of social apathy and inertia.

It is interesting that the angel came to visit Manoah’s wife first, and then when Manoah prayed to have the angel visit them again to instruct them, the angel came to his wife again and not directly to him; she had to run get him.   This might look like a slap in Manoah’s face from the Lord, but I think there is another better way to read it.

I love that the Lord answered Manoah’s prayer; it showed that the Lord cared just as much about him as his wife.  I love that Manoah’s wife ran to get him when the angel came; it shows how anxious she was to have her husband be included in the spiritual experience.  I think this shows the Lord blessed Manoah’s wife with the first visitation in order to challenge Manoah to exert his own faith and request to be included.  To his credit, he did.

I think there is a great message here for men in the church.  You often hear them say that women are more spiritually in tune, blah, blah, blah.. but this story teaches us that the spiritual experiences of faithful women are meant to be a challenge to men to show them what blessings men can enjoy too if they will humble themselves and ask and seek and knock, etc.

How was Samson to be prepared if he was to “begin to deliver Israel” as the angel said?  You can imagine this would be a very important question for Samson’s parents to ask, and Samson’s father, Manoah, asks it. “How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?” 

  Interestingly enough the angel doesn’t say anything about weapons or fighting.  He essentially repeats all the things previously told Manoah’s wife: 1) His wife is not to eat or drink anything from the vine, or wine, or strong drink and 2) Everything told her before she is to beware—no razor to shave his hair, and he is supposed to be a Nazarite unto God from the very beginning.

So how is being a Nazarite and doing these things supposed to prepare him to begin to deliver Israel?  It’s the little differences and the purpose behind them that will set him apart.  His life will be structured differently because of being a Nazarite and having to avoid wine or strong drink.  He’ll look different because of his hair, and he won’t be touching the dead, so he won’t be going to certain places like to graves and such.  These differences are small, but they have a big purpose--being set apart to God.  They help build moral strength to live differently from other people.  The little things can lead to big things and big courage.  Being obedient in the little things and feeling the Lord’s favor gives strength to be obedient in the big things that will require battle and trusting the Lord.

That reminds me a lot of the standards in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. Those guidelines are small and simple things, but they help set youth apart for the Lord, and the experience gained in following those standards helps build greater moral strength for greater challenges that lie ahead.  And I don't think that those standards are only for youth. They can bless any adult at any age who is willing to follow them.

It is neat to me that the angel doesn’t just say Samson is to do this, but also instructs Samson’s soon-to-be mother that she is to avoid drinking wine and strong drink as well.  She becomes a kind of half-Nazarite, and her example will help Samson learn how to find permissible things to drink.  (Her obedience during her pregnancy also ensures Samson will not suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome.)

So, do the little differences of being a Nazarite help?  To some extent, yes, but Samson’s tendency to break other commandments ends up casting a shadow over his story.  We can only wonder how his story would have been different if he had found better women.

Gideon’s Debate with an Angel and the Sacrificial Sign

11 ¶And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

16 And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

18 Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

19 ¶And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

20 And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

21 ¶Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

23 And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.  (Judges 6:11-24)

This is a really interesting story to me, especially because Gideon has these miraculous things happen in his life and on the surface, he seems to be reluctant to believe them.  It demands our examination.

Gideon’s request for a sign is often called unbelief, but if you look carefully, he has a good reason for it.  He says, “If now I have found favor in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.” (v17)

This strikes us as strange because we think, “The angel is right there.  It should be obvious he’s talking to Gideon.”  But Gideon wanted to know this was from the Lord and not a false prophet or false spirit.  Apostate religion and idolatry was rampant in the land, and Gideon’s caution marks him as one who wants to be spiritually discerning and cautious.  I think he would like to believe that he could make a difference and be an instrument of the Lord in effecting the deliverance of Israel from the Midianites (who were ravaged the land and destroyed their crops), but he recognizes that this might be a false guide gratifying his vanity and vain ambition.

Gideon does not only ask for a sign.  He also brings an offering, a sacrifice of cakes made from an ephah of flour (about a bushel) and the flesh of a kid (a young goat).  Considering the people were greatly impoverished by the attacks of the Midianites, this sacrifice was very generous.  It is also somewhat similar to what Gideon would bring if he went to the tabernacle.  To me it seems to indicate that Gideon was living the principle “faith precedes the miracle.”

The angel tells him to put the cakes and flesh on a nearby rock and pour out the broth, possibly over the whole to soak it.  Then the angel touched the flesh and bread with his staff and fire “rose up…out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.  Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.” (v21)  While it says fire came out of the rock, I think what really happened was the touch of the angel’s staff caused the meat and cakes to catch fire and burn, which means the angel was a person of such intense glory that even the touch of his accessories incinerated things. 

Gideon’s subsequent terror is understandably like Ether’s.  He automatically thinks he has been presumptuous, talking and questioning the glorious personage as if he were a normal person when the being was clearly capable of great destructive power.

22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

23 And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

The neat thing about this is even with this show of power, the angel of the Lord, which we must suspect is Jehovah Himself, did not threaten Gideon in any way to get him to take this job of delivering Israel.  Instead, He worked to show Gideon his potential, and He issued the call and promised His presence and support all along, using all edifying building methods.  There was no coercion, or threatening, or condemning.

This experience with the power of God builds Gideon’s testimony.  He had perceived before that the Lord had delivered the Israelites into the hands of the Midianites, and he saw his sacrifice was accepted.  Even though the angel was not there, Gideon felt the voice of the Lord through the Spirit saying, “Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.” (v23)  This peace taught him that following Jehovah and sacrificing brought peace.  So he built an altar as a memorial to remind himself of that and next was willing to obey the Lord’s instructions to destroy the idolatrous worship facilities—the altar to Baal and the Asherah grove—and build up an altar to Jehovah and offer a sacrifice there.

It is also neat to see the conversation that Gideon had with this angel of the Lord before the sign.  Gideon asks some very good questions that go right to the heart of his concerns.

First the angel says, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” (v12)

Gideon doesn’t feel very valiant or mighty at this point, though.  There he is, threshing in the wine press to hide the grain from the Midianites.  He probably thought, “If I’m so brave, why do I have to hide my food like this?”  He says to the angel, “if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (v13)

His question, “Where are the miracles?” is an excellent question and you have to give him credit that he sees the ascendency the Midianites have gained over Israel not as a sign of Baal’s power as an idolater might, but as a sign of God’s leaving Israel to themselves.  Previous to this conversation, a prophet had declared to Israel that they had not obeyed the Lord’s command to not fear the gods of the people around them, so he should have known that Israel’s idolatry was instrumental in Israel’s defeats.

The answer given to Gideon’s question is very interesting.  “Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” (v14)  You wonder where the miracles are, Gideon?  You are the miracle.  Sending you is the beginning of more miracles.

You can tell Gideon is really thinking about that, and he is very aware of his limitations.  He asks another good question.  “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (v15)  Save Israel with what?!  I’m poor!  I don’t have much to fight with!

The answer comes, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” (v16)  I the Lord am your weapon, Gideon.  With me, you’ll hit them as easily as you could hit a single person.

Of course, this is where Gideon wants the sign that this is really the Lord talking.  But the Lord’s promise that He will be Gideon’s weapon is fulfilled.  We see it as he breaks down his father’s altar to Baal and cuts down the grove and his father declares Baal must avenge himself and nothing happens.  We see it also in the battle cry, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”

Here are some important principles I notice:

Idolatry and sin brings defeat. – The miracles disappear when commandments are broken.  They may disappear so gradually that we don’t notice.

Sometimes God calls us to be the miracle. – These are the kinds of miracles that happen not because we are capable and competent but because we are inadequate.  If we were capable, it wouldn’t be a miracle.

God calls, encourages, promises to be with us, and gives us an idea of what we can become with His help. – His stretching is edifying and challenging and may even be chastising, but not in a way that will take away our hope.

It is okay to turn to the Lord with questions about how we are to overcome our inadequacies for the callings He gives us. – We have to have some awareness of the problem before we can ever be open to getting it fixed.  Honest questions asked with faith open us up to revelation.

Seeking discernment in what guides we listen to is a good thing. – Discernment is a safety measure because an ego desperate for validation can be fooled, as can a frustrated, chafing, impatient soul.

Sacrifice comes before signs are given. – You have to meet God halfway.

It is God who gives peace. – God’s peace transcends what seems logical.  It defies understanding and is out of all proportion to the acts that brought it. 

Many church callings I was given I have gone into them feeling very inadequate.  I could say with Gideon, “Wherewith shall I…?” But I have seen the Lord opening the way, making me equal to the task that I couldn’t do before.  The Lord has helped me through callings of being ward organist, bear den leader, Sunday school teacher for 16-17 year olds, and primary chorister.

I am sure you have seen that in your life too.  Will you share with me some ways you’ve seen this happen?