Whom Will He Send?

God our Father is also a loving, doting, proud Papa who wants each of us to spend eternity smiling, laughing, playing, and happy with Him.

Throughout history, He has appeared to a very select few of His children who have heard His voice.  To several other of His children He has sent signs, wonders, miracles, and messengers to say “I love you;” to comfort them, and to get their attention. He does all of this to show His children the way home to Him and to encourage them to choose this way.

Plenit sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth are full of His glory and He uses whatever He needs of this glory so that we come home to Him.

For Example, Consider His Earthquakes

In both the Old Testament and New Testament one of the most impressive, most powerful signs God our Papa has sent has been earthquakes. Very few things exhibit His power as does the earth moving beneath one’s feet. The Book of Job tells us:

God sends earthquakes and shakes the ground; he rocks the pillars that support the earth. (Job 9:6).

To say a divine “Hello!” to Moses on Mount Sinai, before He gave him the Ten Commandments, God shook the mountain (Exodus 19:18). Since He wanted Moses to be very certain about the God who was about to tell Him His law, He also used the signs of smoke and fire.

And Mount Sinai was totally in smoke, because the Lord came down upon it in fire: and the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (Exodus 19:18).

This quaking was remembered for millennia by the Chosen People as the divine prelude to the giving of God’s law (Hebrews 18-21).

God Shakes Jerusalem

Scientific geologic data has established two earthquakes in Jerusalem in the Spring of the year 33 A.D. These quakes are reported by the gospel writer Matthew – one when Jesus is crucified (Matt. 27:51), and one when He resurrects from the dead (Matt. 28:2).

Luke reported an earthquake in the Summer of 33 A.D. After the day of Pentecost:

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. . . . Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4: 23-24; 27-31)

God Shakes the Kingdom of Israel

An eighth-century B.C. Hebrew prophet, Amos, predicted that the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed (which was then done by the Assyrians). A shepherd, he prophesied when Uzziah was king of Judah, the southern kingdom (c. 783–742 B.C.)  and King Jeroboam II (c. 786–746 B.C.) ruled Israel, the northern kingdom. Amos foretold an earthquake:

The words of Amos, who was among herdsmen of Thecua: which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the earthquake. (Amos 1:1).

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt? (Amos 8:8).

Two years after Amos prophesied, there was an earthquake now known to have been a powerful magnitude 8.2 quake. Later biblical writers referred to the time as “the Day of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:10-21; 5:25; Micah 1:3-6).

The Book of Amos refers to other things God will send so His people will “return” to Him: fire, storm wind, blight, pestilence, darkness, death, and flood.

And we know God will send more earthquakes:  a “great earthquake” (Revelation 6:12) which will be the sign that the greatest earthquake of all time is coming at a place called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16-20). This quake, referred to as the “Messiah earthquake,” to occur when Jesus returns to Jerusalem (Acts 1:9-11; Zechariah 14:1-11), will be so powerful it will change the entire world.

God Floods The World

In the time of Noah, there was a global flood for an entire year. In geologic, and scientific terms, this was the most momentous tectonic plate event in the entire history of planet Earth since God made the world (see Genesis 6-9). God sent His message to Noah and his family using the  “fountains of the great deep,” which were “broken up” on a single day (Genesis 7:11). The verb for “broken up” (Hebrew baqa) means to sever, split, or cleave and is a reference to the geologic process of plates moving with respect to each other causing an earthquake (Numbers 16:31; Psalm 78:15; Isaiah 48:21; Micah 1:4; Zechariah 14:4). The awesome plate movement at the time of Noah caused a flood that lasted for a year.

God has used His power in the form of storms, thunder, lightning bolts, a burning bush, fire and brimstone, clouds, and a gentle whisper to tell His children, “Come home to Me.”

He even had a she-ass, owned by a man named Balaam, speak when no one else could see God’s angel. Using the speaking she-ass, God opens Balaam’s eyes.

His Human Messengers & Angels

In addition to storms, quakes, floods, donkeys, and fire, God has sent both angels and human persons to His children.

Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1).

Rather than appearing in person to the Virgin Mary, God sent His angel Gabriel to extend to her His invitation for her to be the mother of His Son (Luke 1:26-38). We cannot know God’s thoughts for acting in this way. Maybe He knew that His appearance would frighten her. Maybe He knew she would be comforted rather than afraid if an angel appeared to her. Maybe He knew Mary would immediately recognize Gabriel as His messenger. Whatever the case, He acted in the best way, the divine way, to ask her to mother the child Jesus. And then He sends Mary to her cousin Elizabeth so that Saint John is, for the first time, in the presence of Jesus.

Three times God also sends an angel to Saint Joseph (Matthew 1:20-24; 2:13; 2:19).

God sends His angels in many other situations in the bible. There are at least a hundred bible verses about these messengers from God.

Today God Wants One of His Children Home with Him

Today God is loving a child of His, and He wants this child home in heaven, but He does not send an earthquake to the child.

He knows what He must do for this child but He does not send rain and flood.

He does not send a storm with flashing lightning bolts and cascading thunder.

He does not send a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud.

Today He does not send the rushing wind or darkness.

He does not send His Son in person to His child.

He does not send the Virgin Mary or any of His saints to appear to this child.

He will send no angel to invite the child home.

No donkey will talk to this child.

To bring this child home to Him, today He sends you.