The Lord’s Encounters with His Creation
The Lord’s Encounters with His Creation
On the occasion of the appearance of the Lord Christ to His disciples after the Resurrection, we would like to speak about the many appearances of the Lord, their various reasons, and His encounters with people.
The Lord’s Encounters with His Creation
The Lord appeared to many and spoke with them face to ear… since Adam…
Undoubtedly, it was humility from the Lord to condescend and appear to people, to speak with them, to listen to their words, and to come down to them Himself…
God descended to Adam in Paradise and spoke with him, and He also spoke with Eve. He even spoke with the serpent, with Satan (Gen 3).
It is astonishing humility from God to speak with Satan and to allow Satan to argue with Him, as in the Book of Job (Job 1, 2). It is another form of self-emptying, preceding the Incarnation!
God spoke with many human beings on various occasions. Here we wish to review some of them, and we find that He spoke to some for the sake of calling.
Encounters Caused by the Divine Calling
A calling to service, to divine fellowship, and to communion with the Lord… For this reason was the Lord’s encounter with Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Saul of Tarsus, and others…
God appeared to Abraham to call him into His friendship and to live with Him, far from the dwellings of the wicked. He said to him: “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s house, and go to the mountain that I will show you. I will bless you and make you a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse” (Gen 12:1–3). It was an encounter with a covenant and an agreement… And so also was His encounter with Noah.
We do not know when the Lord will meet us, or where. But we know that the Lord has an موعد with us… How? When? Where? We do not know.
God called Moses from the burning bush in the wilderness, in an unexpected way… He discussed with him, granted him grace and strength, brought him into His service, and addressed the reasons for his reluctance…
Another person whom the Lord called to His service, in a tone of explicit reproach, was Saul of Tarsus. The Lord met him on the road and said to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Persecuting You?! Who can persecute You, O Lord?! You can make the earth swallow him up, or send down fire from heaven and burn him! Yes, I can do that, but I want to win him by love, by friendly dialogue.
“It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:5). My love for you is stronger than your enmity toward Me. And the blessing I wish to give you is stronger than the persecution you inflict upon Me and upon My Church. Therefore, My love will triumph over your persecution…
And so it was. We saw Saul of Tarsus as soft clay in the Lord’s hand when He appeared to him. With astonishing speed he was transformed from a persecutor of the Church into a preacher and evangelist who offered himself for her sake… The Lord’s love melted all hardness in his heart. He became a chosen vessel and repaid love with love. He said: “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8). “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
There are people—like Saul—whom the Lord met to call them to Himself. And there are others whom He met in their afflictions, to comfort them…
An Encounter in Afflictions
Many in their afflictions met the compassionate Lord Christ who says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).
Among the most beautiful, wondrous, and powerful of these encounters is the Lord’s meeting with the three youths in the fiery furnace. He walked with them in the furnace, and they were not burned, nor did the smell of fire cling to their garments. His walking with them was no different from His walking with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Indeed, if God dwells in the fiery furnace, the furnace becomes Paradise. If God walks with us in affliction, the affliction turns into grace and blessing.
We, O Lord, wish to walk with You and to meet You. It does not matter whether in the Garden of Eden, or in the fiery furnace, or in the belly of the fish like Jonah; what matters is that we meet You, and that is enough…
And God, on His part, says to us: Do not fear afflictions and troubles.
I will not prevent the fire from you, but I will walk with you in it.
I will not prevent troubles and afflictions from you, but I will carry them for you.
Therefore God allowed Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den, but He sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths. He allowed Peter to be cast into prison, but He sent His angel and loosed his chains and opened the doors for him. He allowed John to be exiled to Patmos, but He appeared to him there and revealed to him what no one had seen.
He who walks with the Lord does not fear, but says with David: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me”
The children of God do not care about the kind of road they walk. All that concerns them is that God walks with them in it. They do not choose the path for themselves. The Lord chooses, and He accompanies them in it. Jacob fled from the face of his brother Esau. But God said to him, “I am with you… and will bring you back to this land” (Gen 28:15). He met him in his distress and comforted him.
All this makes us understand the serious principle that God has established:
I will not eradicate evil from the earth. Evil will remain, but I will protect you from it. The tares will remain with the wheat until the day of harvest, and they will grow together, but I will protect the wheat from the tares…
Thus we see from the beginning of creation that God did not say, “Let there be no darkness,” but rather, “Let there be light”; and there was light (Gen 1:3). And the darkness remained, “And God divided the light from the darkness” (Gen 1:4). The authority of darkness attacked the Lord Christ, and Christ was unjustly judged, insulted, scourged, crucified, and died. But the light triumphed at last through the Resurrection.
So what should be our toward injustice and darkness?
The Scripture says: “By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19). Be patient; do not resist evil. On the day of harvest the Lord will send His sickle and remove the tares from the earth.
“Do not resist an evil person” (Matt 5:39). “Do not avenge yourselves” (Rom 12:19). “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matt 5:41). And what then? “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exod 14:14). Do not resort to human schemes, nor rely on your human arm… In the midst of affliction, I will meet you; I will walk with you in the furnace as I walked with the three youths…
When the man born blind testified to Christ, they cast him out of the synagogue. And while he was outside the synagogue, Christ met him, revealed Himself to him, and granted him faith.
Do not grieve, My son, if they cast you outside the synagogue; they will also cast Me outside the camp… Endure, and carry your cross. I too will carry a cross. I will carry all your crosses. I will take all your troubles and burn them at the sun…
Elijah fled from Jezebel, and the Lord met him in his fear, comforted him, and strengthened him.
Elijah said to the Lord: “They have torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it” (1 Kings 19:10). The Lord comforted him: You are not alone; for I have seven thousand knees that have not bowed to Baal. And as for Jezebel, the dogs shall lick her blood. But you, wait for the Lord.
All that stands between us and evil is only the factor of time. Evil must eventually be defeated. But the important question is: when? This time is in the hand of God and under His governance and dispensation.
God will burn the tares and destroy the darkness. “The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exod 17:16). As for us, let us wait for the Lord. However long He delays, He will surely come and establish justice on the earth. God meets the afflicted to save them. But He has another kind of encounter with sinners…
The Lord’s Encounter for Punishment
The Lord met Cain not to grant him grace but to pronounce upon him the sentence. He met the rich fool to say to him: “This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” There are many encounters of judgment. Therefore beware, and take heed of the Scripture: “Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping!” (Mark 14:36).
“The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not expecting him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites” (Matt 24:50–51).
He will come again for judgment, to judge the living and the dead, to give each one according to his works. He will come in His glory on the clouds of heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.” The mountains will melt like wax before the face of the Lord… And truly, as the apostle says: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Heb 10:31).
Yet I do not wish to conclude the article with this encounter of judgment, for there are encounters of blessing and others of love.
The Encounter of Blessing:
Such as the Lord’s encounter with Solomon. He blessed him and blessed the house which he built, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, like the dwelling of the Lord upon the Tabernacle of Meeting over the Ark. And like the Lord’s first encounter with Jacob the father of the fathers, and His first encounter with his grandfather Abraham; it was for calling and for blessing together.
An Encounter of Love:
As when He used to enter the house of Mary and Martha, filling the house with love and happiness; a single glance at His face was enough to gladden the heart. It is an encounter of love, in which the Lord says to man: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). Thus He stands at the door of the human soul and says: “Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one!” (Song 5:2).
Another example of this also is His encounter with Abraham when He visited him with two angels…
Abraham hosted Him, and then He granted Abraham the grace of having a son, and as a friend He discussed with him the matter of Sodom… In wondrous understanding, as one of His chosen ones, He conversed with him about the destiny of a nation and a people…!
Among these encounters of love is what happened even after departure from this earth… It is the Lord’s encounter with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration…
How did Moses and Elijah appear with Him at that time? How did they disappear? And by what appointment? Did they come immediately merely by a will in His heart? I do not know… But it is an encounter between the Lord and His beloved ones… And there is a similar encounter, I mean the eternal encounter.
The Eternal Encounter:
Concerning this encounter, the Lord says to His holy disciples:
“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2–3).
Shall we call this an encounter? Rather, it is an abiding fellowship. An encounter that begins and does not end. The meeting of the Head with the body… We shall be in Him, and He in us, and we shall abide in Him forever.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
