Do we always know what kind of supernatural communication we are facing? As the people of God, the answer to this question is very helpful because we are meant to recognize the different types and forms. It says in 1 John that as believers in Christ we are called to test the spirits. In addition, we can see from Revelation 4:5a that lightning, voices and thunder emanate from the throne of God (cf. 1 John 4:1 i.c.w. Revelation 4:5a).

 

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

 

5a From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings [Note: voices] and peals of thunder. ...

 

Both the Hebrew and the Greek word for ‘voice’ encompass many types of sound, such as the sound of natural forces, animal species, humans and their language, where the words or the meaning of the sounds are not understood. With regard to the nature of supernatural communication, an example from the animal world should serve us, which God created before man and in this context should clearly reflect the realm of supernatural communication.

 

It is no coincidence that the first animal to speak to humans came from the reptile genus, i.e. cold-blooded animals, and that it approached woman with a question.

 

 

The serpent that spoke to the first woman worked with the aim of luring man out of his relationship with God and causing him to fall in his order and God’s purpose (cf. Genesis 3:1).

 

1 Now the snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’

 

Satan, the adversary is ‘cold-blooded’ and is clearly more than once assigned in the Word of God, among other things, to the genus of reptiles in the form of a serpent (cf. Isaiah 27:1 i.c.w. Revelation 12:9).

 

Isaiah 27:1:
1 In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword – his fierce, great and powerful sword – Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

 

Revelation 12:9:
9 The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

 

The four different characters of evil mentioned in Isaiah 27:1 are the following,

 

As we know, a serpent acts in such a way that it devours its victims and has a divided tongue with which it hisses. From this it shows us that the adversary speaks or can speak true things but mixes them with lies or withholds deeper truth from us, because his aim is always to distort the truth and subvert or infiltrate it. This is plain, for example, in the context of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, where the adversary led Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and quoted to Him the verses from Psalm 91:11-12, though the devil was not addressing also the subsequent verses that are describing the victory over him (cf. Luke 4:9-11 i.c.w. Psalm 91:13).

 

Luke 4:9-11:
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here.
10 For it is written: ‘ “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” ’

 

Psalm 91:13:
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 

Jesus later applies the statement from Psalm 91:13 to His followers, the 72 disciples, saying:

 

‘I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.’ Luke 10:19

 

The question therefore arises, what kind of communication from the supernatural realm are we dealing with? Is it the characteristics of a cold-blooded or warm-blooded being? Does the communication take place via a twisted tongue or via an undivided, whole tongue?

 

The false prophet Balaam, whose name means ‘swallower of the people’ also defied God’s instruction and rode on his donkey to serve a king.

 

 

Balaam decided to ride off to King Balak, who urged him to curse the people of Israel, which Balaam was clearly denied by God. Balaam was the son of Beor, which means ‘burning torch’. Based on the meaning of the name, we can see that we should ask ourselves what kind of spiritual communication we allow in our lives: Is it the spirit of truth or the spirit of lie? Is it the snake or is it the donkey? Is it cunning or is it truthfulness? Is it pride or is it humility? Is it self-interest or servanthood?

 

Balaam had to be confronted three times with the living Word of God that is, the revelatory truth of the Word until he realized the only truth that stood in his way (cf. Numbers 22:23-26.31-34a-b).

 

Numbers 22:23-26.31-34a-b:
23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.
24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.
25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.
26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. …
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down.
32 The angel of the Lord asked him, ‘Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.
33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.’
34a-b Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, ‘I have sinned. I did not realise you were standing in the road to oppose me. …’

 

It thus clearly shows that the presence of the revelatory truth of the Word of God drives the forces of falsehood and rebellion into a corner in order to confront people who move within the lie with a decision. This decision, or dealing with it, is like the phase of a birth in which the fruit is revealed or becomes visible.

 

It is like addressing the ecclesia in the region of Pergamum, where Jesus Christ meets her as the bearer of the sharp, two-edged sword as the revelatory truth of the Word of God and addresses the false teaching of Balaam (cf. Hebrews 4:12 i.c.w. Revelation 2:12.14).

 

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

 

Revelation 2:12.14:
12 ‘To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. …
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: there are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.

 

This false doctrine includes corruption in the form of mixture as an apparent morality on a pagan and humanistic basis, as well as treachery.

 

Balaam chose to go the way of corruption and rebellion against the truth of God’s Word, which is evident in the fact that he positioned himself on three different high places and offered unjust sacrifices with the perversion of the holy standard of ‘7’ (Note: completeness of God; cf. Numbers 23:4.14.29-30). Here it is no coincidence that the numerical value ‘7’ relates to the Hebrew letter ‘Zayin’, which means among other things ‘sword’. From this it is clear that Balaam deliberately cultivated a false standard of the Word of God and twisted it for his purpose.

 

Balaam went up to sacrifice the ‘7’ by the 7 bulls and 7 rams, first on the heights of Baal (Note: false/evil government; cf. Numbers 22:41), then on the top of Pisgah (Note: acting out of an allotted inheritance with a wrong heart attitude that thereby becomes a trap; similar to the gold of Egypt that led to the golden calf; cf. Numbers 23:14) and then to the top of Peor (Note: covenant breaker through fornication/sexual impurity; cf. Numbers 23:28).

 

After the confrontation of Balaam’s plan by squeezing his leg between the wall of the vineyard and the body of his donkey, whose species belongs to the warm-blooded animals, there was communication on the part of his donkey, which was beaten by him.

The donkey, in the service of Balaam, asked Balaam three questions so that he could come to the realization of the truth about the presence of the living, powerful and sharp Word of God, which she had previously recognized and responded to (cf. Numbers 22:27-30).

 

27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff.

28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?’

29 Balaam answered the donkey, ‘You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you here and now.’

30 The donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?’ ‘No,’ he said.

 

The donkey’s intervention resulted in Balaam’s spiritual eyes being opened so that he too, like his donkey, saw and acknowledged the presence of the living, powerful and sharp sword (cf. Numbers 22:31-33).

 

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down.

32 The angel of the Lord asked him, ‘Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.

33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.’

 

 

When God speaks to us in a new way that is previously unknown to us, we should respond with a question, similar to what Peter did when he was on the Sea of Galilee with the eleven disciples. He too was confronted with the appearance of the living Word of God and responded with a question in order to be able to act accordingly (cf. Matthew 14:24-29).

 

Matthew 14:24-29:
… 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’
28 ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’
29 ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.

 

It is important here that in our approach to revelatory truth we do not allow false, intimidating communication to find resonance in our feelings. We should cooperate with the instruction of the living Word of God and stay focused on it despite all distractions or intimidation until triumph is established in our lives. How do we put God’s instruction into action so that what is said is seen before men through our actions of faith?

 

It is about responding appropriately to leadership that offers direction through specific instructions. In this context, the walk in the understanding of the order of the tribes of Israel and the sojourn in the ‘first love’ is significant, which plays a central role in the depiction of the walled vineyard in the incident with Balaam. These contribute to the knowledge of God’s truth and His presence (cf. Numbers 22:24-25.31 i.c.w. Numbers 24:1-5).

 

24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.

25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. …

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down.

 

1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face towards the wilderness.

2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him 3 and he spoke his message: ‘The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, 4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: 5 ‘How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling-places, Israel!

 

Even if God wants to and does speak to us in different facets and in different ways, it is up to us to understand whether it is the Lord or a sound or a kind of voice that we should better not give space or access to our inner being (Note: heart; cf. Proverbs 4:23).

 

23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

 

The cold-blooded nature of the enemy can speak truth and yet deceive with wickedness, luring us outside of our assigned authority or trying to intimidate us within our authority. Both hinder us from doing the will of God in due time, for which we are predestined in the truth of God’s living Word to destroy evil works.

 

The warm-blooded nature in the form of the talking donkey points us to the relevance of moving forward as saints in Christ with an understanding of biblical time and full readiness to carry the King of Kings. What has the Lord instructed us to do and not to do? Who are we to stand up for and serve with our lives? Then we should do it accordingly, even if it challenges us.

 

There is protection in obedience!

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm