Then he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, the utterance of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty.” (Numbers 24:3-4)
There is a message that comes through very clearly in this account and that is, even heathens are compelled to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and will. Try as he might, Balak could not coerce Balaam to pronounce a curse against Israel and finally conceded that it was to no avail. In fact, Balaam declared something that has, for centuries now, been recited in synagogues as a declaration of Israel’s ultimate destiny — “How goodly are your tents O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel.” This prophecy speaks of a mighty, united nation under the kingship of the Messiah. In other words, rather than declaring a curse and their demise, Balaam is prophesying a time when Israel will be the head of all nations.
But let’s go back to this thought — even the wicked must acknowledge and declare God’s sovereignty. When Daniel interpreted king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerning the fearsome image and pronounced that he, Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold, he was suggesting that Babylon was the chief nation among the Gentiles. However, after Nebuchadnezzar had thrown the three Hebrews into the fiery furnace only to see them walking around the fire with a fourth man, the “head of gold” acknowledged the God of Israel as the “Most High God” (Daniel 3:26). Think of it this way: the “head of gold” contained a mouth which had to confess that the God of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego was God.
As it has been, so shall it be in the future — all will be compelled to acknowledge the LORD as King. The LORD Himself has declared that, in time, “Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Isaiah 45:23). There may be those who refuse to do so today but there is coming a day, as Paul said, “That at the name of Yeshua every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). May we be those who gladly, and boldly, bow to His Will and declare His Kingship to the world.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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