Visions of the Night
“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. Job 4:12-14
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Visions of the Night
We read here in these verses of a poetic description of sleep. Eliphaz speaks to Job of a nightmare. It is a bit aloof of Eliphaz to speak to Job of past nightmares as he is currently living through his very own. Sitting in sackcloth and ash Job knows full well the horror of a nightmare. So it can be in our lives at times. We hear the doctor give the diagnosis and we are numb; we receive the late-night phone call from the police, and we feel confused. In these times and others like them we wish only to wake up, for it all to be a horrible dream. Yet, as the numbness fades and the reality sets in we know it is not possible. It is in precisely these times where we need not the crushing accusation of the Law. We know we are sinner, and the consequences of living in a fallen world are all too evident. We are convicted and crushed by the Law. In these moments we need the reminder of another vision of the night, which saw shepherds receive an angelic message of the newborn King. We need to be reminded that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came into this world broken by sin on a silent night in a little town of Bethlehem. The Christ child was embraced by a wooden manger that night, to remind us that even on this holy night His reason for coming was clear. For in but a few short years this Child of Bethlehem would be embraced by the hard wood and cold iron or a Roman cross and nails to set us free from the accusation of the Law. To set us free to be children of God by His grace, through faith, in Him. We are reminded that one day we too will close our eye in sleep, to wake not to a nightmare, but to an eternal reality as our Lord has called us home to Him in heaven.
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Visions of the Night
We read here in these verses of a poetic description of sleep. Eliphaz speaks to Job of a nightmare. It is a bit aloof of Eliphaz to speak to Job of past nightmares as he is currently living through his very own. Sitting in sackcloth and ash Job knows full well the horror of a nightmare. So it can be in our lives at times. We hear the doctor give the diagnosis and we are numb; we receive the late-night phone call from the police, and we feel confused. In these times and others like them we wish only to wake up, for it all to be a horrible dream. Yet, as the numbness fades and the reality sets in we know it is not possible. It is in precisely these times where we need not the crushing accusation of the Law. We know we are sinner, and the consequences of living in a fallen world are all too evident. We are convicted and crushed by the Law. In these moments we need the reminder of another vision of the night, which saw shepherds receive an angelic message of the newborn King. We need to be reminded that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came into this world broken by sin on a silent night in a little town of Bethlehem. The Christ child was embraced by a wooden manger that night, to remind us that even on this holy night His reason for coming was clear. For in but a few short years this Child of Bethlehem would be embraced by the hard wood and cold iron or a Roman cross and nails to set us free from the accusation of the Law. To set us free to be children of God by His grace, through faith, in Him. We are reminded that one day we too will close our eye in sleep, to wake not to a nightmare, but to an eternal reality as our Lord has called us home to Him in heaven.
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