“Who sees the vision of the Almighty…”

When we read in Numbers 24 about Balaam, we step into an interesting situation.  The pagan king Balak asked this worldly-wise prophet to curse God’s people.  The Jews, of course, were certainly not perfect people.  But Balak knew he was in trouble if he didn’t have a curse from God put on this migrating people on their way to Canaan.  So he commissioned Balaam to curse them.  In chapter 24, we move into the story with Balaam having already blessed the Jews twice before.  Verse 2 tells us, “the Spirit of God came upon [Balaam].” What was the result?  Blessing – only blessing!  Verses 5 – 9 tell us of the riches God wants for His people — beauty, bounty, growth, strength, victory and protection.  The point is clear: when people have their eyes on the Lord, they speak blessing about God’s people, not cursing.  How many times has another believer hurt us or annoyed us with something, and we’re ready to take their heads off?  That is because we have our eyes either on them or ourselves.  Their thoughts are something like, “Well, if they did that to you, you’d be mad too!”  Or “They hurt me so bad that I can’t get this anger out of my heart.”  Nowhere do we see the Lord in such statements.  Balaam’s vision was the Lord, and only blessing flowed from his lips.

However, some may think that this is not clear enough that God is the actual vision.  A vision is a means to see God.  Are there any verses that indicate that Christ himself is the vision?  Absolutely.  In Matthew 17 we are told of a particular time when Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the mountain to pray.  While they were up there Jesus began to shine brilliantly, so much so that Mark says the Savior’s clothes became brighter than any launderer could get them (9:3), glowing brilliantly in radiance.  After the appearance of Moses and Elijah and some brief conversation, including a statement from God the Father in heaven, everything returned to normal.  Then Jesus told them, “Tell the vision to no one…”  In essence, he himself was the vision.  It was an opportunity to get a glimpse of the glory of heaven, of seeing the King of Kings in his rightful appearance as the Second Person of the Trinity.  And the point here?  That fallen men (Moses and Elijah) are made fit and welcomed into his presence in glory.  “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11).

A final example of the Lord being a vision can be found in Paul’s testimony to King Agrippa in Acts 26.  As you may remember, Paul was converted when the risen and glorified Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus (vs. 12-18).  Being an international away from home, Christ knew this was the exact time to confront Paul regarding his attacks against his Church.  Paul then tells the king about his response: “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (verse 19).  Again, the glorified Christ was the only thing — the only one — Paul saw.  His eyes had seen the same thing as the others on the mountaintop, and with the vision came his marching orders.  All of them, empowered by the Spirit of God, made that vision so known to pagans around them that as new believers they claimed these Christians had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6, NKJV) with their message.

Many believers sit and wonder what God’s will is for them.  What does he have in mind for you?  In one sense, it really doesn’t require us to spend years trying to figure it out.  It first begins when we catch a glimpse of Who is ours and to Whom we belong.  It all depends on what we have our eyes on. Peter, James, John, Paul and even Balaam all had their eyes on the Lord.  The benefits were obvious.  Is your ambition the same as that expressed in the hymn, “Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart”?