The Magi have traveled a very long way to see the
Messiah. Now they come to the climax of their trip. As usual, Matthew is
concise and to the point. The story of the Magi concludes in a staccato burst
of information, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they
bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented
him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a
dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
[1]
Almost all of this
information is very easy to grasp, for it involves real people doing physical
things (seeing, bowing, opening, presenting) with the very tangible (house,
child, treasure, gifts). Not so with the dream. Dreams are internal and private
and not tangible at all. Dreams are about ideas. Matthew is making sure we know
that just as the Magi story started with supernatural communication (the star),
so it ends with supernatural communication. Only, what started as a public
spectacle must end in deeply personal revelation. What started as something the
Magi were able to do out of sheer willingness ends with something they must do
to preserve life.
That God speaks to people
in dreams is not a novelty. He spoke to Abraham while he was sleeping (Gen
15:12), He spoke to Jacob in a dream (Gen 28:12, 31:8). He spoke to Joseph
repeatedly in dreams (Gen 37:5,9). All through the Scripture we read of Him
speaking to His people in dreams and visions. Actually, not only His people! We
also read how God speaks to Gentiles through dreams. He spoke to Abimelech (Gen
20:3), Laban (Gen 31:24), Pharaoh (Gen 41:1) and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:1). God
speaks in dreams, even to the foreigner!
That God has done that, and
that God will do that, should not surprise us. He made all peoples in His
image, and He is purposing to bring all peoples into His Kingdom. To do that,
He does more than speak in dreams. He pours out His Spirit upon all people,
that they too might find salvation in Christ. As Joel prophesied long ago, “It will come about
after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and
daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see
visions. “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in
those days.”[2]
We should expect as much.
· Has God ever
spoke to you or to one of your friends in a dream? What did He say then? How did you respond then?
· How will you
respond when He does?
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