A circle of prayer is completed in any answer to prayer. Prayer is only partly addressed in the requests of the persons at prayer. Does God answer back in the sacred conversation? Scripture informs us that he does. One would seem foolish to talk to God about problems, interests and worship, and nothing be done about the words and ideas, mingled with faith and authority, as expressed by the devout. The magnificent piece by Dick Anthony, O Speak to Me, to the music of Chopin expresses the concept of the yearning of mankind for God to communicate. Scripture represents numerous occasions in which God spoke to persons, sometimes repeatedly to an individual. It is unlikely that God ever spoke to any person directly until Christ’s words were spoken. A careful reading of Scripture suggests that epiphanies were carried by the Angel of the Lord. God seems to have spoken his words through agents as microphones/speakers carrying the message with the exact meaning that God would have conveyed had he carried through the event personally. God speaks authoritatively through means of his choice – including human agents.
Joseph determined to protect Mary from scandal when he discovered that she was pregnant. He was torn in several ways: 1) his love for Mary who, he believed at first, may have been unfaithful to her betrothal; 2) his duty to reveal his reason for breaking betrothal which would have destroyed Mary’s reputation; and, 3) his inclination to cover what he feared to be serious indiscretion on Mary’s part. This last was skirting the Mosaic Law which pronounced harsh treatment for adultery, adultery he surmised he might cover. In so private a situation, Joseph needed some help. And, he got it in an epiphany. The epiphany came in the form of a dream. The information was given from God to an angel appearing through a dream during Joseph’s sleep. Joseph accepted the experience from God and, without delay, took Mary to be his wife. God had spoken.
Joseph’s experience is multiplied in the epiphanies of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph (son of Jacob), Moses, and many prophets, judges, kings, laypersons and priests. Paul, the Apostle, apparently received an epiphany from Christ, if we may take his word for it – and we do. Do we qualify for similar communication? During the two millennia since Jesus’ earthly sojourn numerous persons have affirmed that they have had epiphanies. It would be impossible to prove or disprove these claims. In reality we may not need epiphanies for God’s messages. It is well to be reminded that Joseph’s epiphany was in a dream. Does God do the same thing in some of our dreams? Does he give answers in events? Does He give miracles as answers, such as healing from illness? Does he answer by giving this or that gift to prayerful persons? The nature of society, society with its enormous people masses, makes the individual epiphany a greater problem for credibility than just about any other kind of response. Eminent persons have recorded in detail their epiphanies. Even stern Jonathan Edwards detailed several epiphanies visited upon his life and ministry. For most persons the privilege and duty is to believe and be fulfilled with Scripture, prayer and inner assurance. With that we do have enough for life navigation and more. Like the point made to Dives in the Bible, there is faith in this formula. (Luke 16:31) It is likely that epiphanies are withheld because mankind is taken with skepticism generally that to have an abundance of epiphanies would inspire more doubt than faith. Populations struggle enough with God’s literal touch on creation and mankind that to be faced with recent or current evidence of divine intervention in natural life would likely be troublesome. In meeting the problem we have Scripture where we can accept and learn epiphany’s lessons. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020