Double-Checking

There’s a big difference between second guessing and double checking. In a story we read in Judges 6, Gideon did the latter, not the former. He was willing to believe, he just had to be sure that the one in whom he was believing was true.

Is that what you’re doing as well? Are you seeking certainty that Jesus is truly the Lord? If you are, then Gideon’s story is for you.

In Gideon’s story, someone called the LORD [the original Hebrew says Yahweh] spoke directly to Gideon in a way that sparks curiosity. Since the Scriptures report that this LORD physically appeared to Gideon, it couldn’t have been the One God. As we’ve already proven time and time again [see lessons #20 and #12], no one has ever seen the One God face-to-face and lived.

So, the LORD who appeared to Gideon was not the One God. It was someone who represents the One God, but it wasn't the One God.

A Messenger

In addition, since the LORD of the passage is also called the Angel of the LORD, immediately we should assume that he is not the One God. Rather, he was someone who was…

… the radiance of his [God’s] glory and the exact representation of his nature (Hebrews 1:3; NASB).

That Messenger [angel = messenger in Hebrew] of the LORD came to Gideon to challenge Gideon to take up arms against a dangerous and violent enemy of the Jews, the Midianites.

The Angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:11-14)

Getting an Answer

Did you notice how important it was for Gideon to get an answer to the question of whether the LORD speaking to him was God or not? Getting an answer to that question should be equally as important to us today. That is, just like Gideon, you and I should try to verify whether Jesus is God or not.

But wait, does that sound wrong? It’s not wrong to investigate—it’s good. This passage proves that Jesus grants us the liberty (in our desire to obtain a solid faith) to test him.

Precisely, the reason for Gideon’s offering was to test whether it was really the LORD who was speaking to him.

And was it really the Lord? Yes it was. It was the Lord Jesus.

That Messenger was the one in whom God had invested his name. That Messenger was the one with whom God was pleased to share his glory. It was the One Lord—it was Jesus Christ. It was the one of whom the Scriptures speak, calling him ‘the image of God’ (2 Corinthians 4:4).

All of the Fullness

Another New Testament passage states that Jesus is the one in whom ‘all of the fullness’ of God dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:19). Still another verse from the same epistle says:

… in him [Jesus] all the fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9; LEB).

Magnificent! These passages reinforce why Jesus was called the LORD [Yahweh] in his encounter with Gideon. These bolster our argument for why we should call Jesus Lord today! In him dwells the fullness of the deity—that is, the complete divine nature.

But how so? How does the fullness of deity dwell within Jesus today? It's because God gave the divine nature to Jesus. Jesus himself prayed over this subject. Listen to what he said about how God had given him the divine nature before he was incarnate:

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you gave me because you loved me before the Creation of the World (John 17:24).

And Paul explains the pre-incarnate condition of Jesus with the terms existing in the form of God and equality with God. Do you understand that terminology? Or perhaps the greatness of God's love for Jesus leaves you befuddled. His love goes beyond our comprehension, yes.

… [Jesus] existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped… (Philippians 2:6; LEB)

Smart Faith

Don’t look down on Gideon for wanting to know whether it was really the Angel of Yahweh who was speaking to him or not. Gideon had a smart faith and he knew that imposters existed. He knew that he had to be careful with appearances.

‘Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14), so Gideon tried to discern the spirit who was speaking to him. Doesn’t John the Apostle command us ‘test the spirits to see if they are from God’ (1 John 4:1)? Therefore, Gideon gave the Lord a very frank request: ‘Give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.’

Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.’

And the LORD said, ‘I will wait until you return.’

Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak (Judges 6:17-19).

Gideon proceeded to prepare an offering for this LORD. He offered the unleavened bread, the meat, and the broth to the Angel of the LORD, the one standing before him.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Now, the worship of angels is strictly prohibited in God’s Word, so God would only approve of the offering if the LORD to whom it was offered was, in fact, divine.

You have to read the rest of the story to see how things unfolded:

The Angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so.

Then the Angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the Angel of the LORD disappeared.

When Gideon realized that it was the Angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!’

But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it ‘The LORD is Peace’ (Judges 6:20-24).

A Forceful Flaring Flame

God gave a special sign to Gideon. The Angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff, then a flame flared out of the rock upon which the sacrifice was laid.

The flaring fire was a miracle from God—but what did it mean? Life out of death? Power from pebbles? Glory from gravel?

Well, no. Those were not the meanings of the fire. Rather, when the fire shot out of the dead rock and consumed the sacrifice, it demonstrated that God had accepted the goat meat and the unleavened bread as offerings.

The broth Gideon had poured out on the offerings, similar to the water Elijah doused upon his sacrifice on Carmel when he competed against the 450 prophets of Baal, was not part of the sacrifice. Instead, it was the Messenger's way of raising the confirmation of the miraculous nature of the fire to a higher level.

How so? Simply because fire can’t consume a liquid-drenched portion of meat or a sopping wet loaf of bread. But this time it did. It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t a trick. It was a sign from God.

Confirmation of Identity

More than anything else, the miracle fire meant that God’s approval was upon this mysterious LORD—it meant that the individual standing before Gideon really was the Angel (Messenger) of Yahweh. We know this is the meaning because Gideon’s request was:

Give me a sign that it is really you talking to me (Judges 6:17).

And the Angel did give him a sign. When Gideon finally understood the miraculous power of God had given the Angel of Yahweh, he yelled out triumphantly:

Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face! (Judges 6:22)

Trust But Verify

So, Gideon’s great accomplishment was to have come to know the Angel of the Lord. That’s yours too! Do you know who God’s Messenger is? Do you know who the Angel of the Lord is? It's Jesus--the one who was with God in the Beginning. Jesus--the one to whom God gave glory.

“Trust but verify” is the maxim that applies to this passage. Would that all God’s people who receive a purported messenger from God would verify the authenticity of the messenger. Paul warned the members of the churches he founded that they needed to be leery of imposters who came to them with a false gospel.

But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be anathema [accursed] (Galatians 1:8)!

The Staff and Fire

Gideon’s goal was to prove that his visitor was truly the Messenger of God. Our goal is to prove that the Angel of Yahweh was Jesus. What both Gideon and we are certain of is that the visitor was powerful and true—but are we 100% sure that the messenger was Jesus?

Consider the staff he bore. The Angel of Yahweh touched the meat and then touched the bread Gideon had offered God with the tip of his staff. That touch unleashed a supernatural sign from God—fire from a rock.

Now, Gideon’s fire from a rock was just as powerful a sign as Moses’ water from a rock. Both defy the laws of science. They were both supernatural phenomena, not magic tricks. They both demonstrated that God can make power emerge from death.

God made life-sustaining water come from a rock--and life emanated from death. Life came from death when Isaac was born of a 90-year-old sterile woman, Sarah. But the greatest sign that God can bring life out of death is when Jesus was resurrected from the grave.

That’s how to interpret water from a rock, but what about fire from a rock? How should it be interpreted?

The fire was a sign of divine approval on Gideon’s offering. With that sign of approval on the offering, Jesus immediately disappeared. Jesus vanished into thin air because he had completed his mission: Gideon got counselling and had concrete evidence that he had spoken with the Messenger of Yahweh.

… the Angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread (Judges 6:21).

What Our Offerings Need: Calvary

The staff represents the Cross of our Lord Jesus.

Gideon’s sacrifice to God was a blood sacrifice—a goat he prepared. Gideon demonstrated his belief that remission of sins is only through blood. Christians know that too.

As we offer to God our resources, our families, our service, our time, our houses, our money, our strength, and our lives--we do it awaiting the intercession of the Lord Jesus. That's why we often say after a prayer, "in Jesus’ name." We lay these things down as sacrifices--sacrifices offered with faith in Jesus, and we wait for God to demonstrate his approval.

What’s the sign that he approves? When Jesus blesses your sacrifice with his sacrifice—the Cross.

Our offerings are not accepted by God until Jesus consecrates them with Calvary’s Cross. That’s why we come to God in the name of Jesus—not in our own names. Anything we offer God, we must offer it in Jesus’ name. We need him to touch our offerings whether they be big or small—meat or bread, a day or a year, life or death.

Panic and Peace

After Gideon realized that it was the Angel of the LORD he was speaking to, his first reaction was to panic. Does that sound familiar? It should because it was what Jacob did once he finished his wrestling match with the same being, the Angel of the LORD.

Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’

But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he [the man] blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared’ (Genesis 32:29-30).

Jesus Has the Divine Nature

Neither Jacob nor Gideon could understand how their lives had been spared having spoken to the Angel of the LORD face-to-face. Neither of them thought such a thing was possible. They knew that a man must die if he sees God face-to-face.

The Angel of the LORD was divine for Gideon. This is an important fact. Gideon’s reaction to the Angel of the LORD, like Jacob’s reaction, demonstrated that they each understood that the Angel of the LORD had a divine nature!

The revelation that the Angel of the LORD was God [that is, that he had a divine nature], caused Gideon great consternation. Does it cause consternation in you? Have you come to grips with the fact that Jesus has the divine nature--that he is God?

God is Peace

If you have concluded that Jesus is our God, then the Father wants to console you. The Father spoke a word of peace to Gideon, promising him that he would not die, and God wants to speak a word of peace to you too--that you won't die. Jesus has come to give you life.

When Gideon realized that it was the Angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!’

But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’

So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it ‘The LORD is Peace’ (Judges 6:22-24).

Gideon believed God, and named the place appropriately “God is Peace.” That means that the last LORD with whom Gideon spoke could not have been the Angel of the LORD, Jesus. Jesus had already disappeared. It was the One God, our Father, who spoke audibly to Gideon. His voice came from Heaven and Gideon walked away a much wiser man.