“The oracle of him who hears the words of God and knows the knowledge of the most high, who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered.”
– Numbers 24:16
So this verse is describing Balaam’s final oracle. So this prophet who is speaking on behalf of God, the words of God and it’s a pretty unique picture in the Old Testament. Obviously, not everybody in the Old Testament was a prophet. Only a few people had visions of the Almighty who knew the knowledge of the Most High, who heard the words of God and would speak them, but this is where what Jesus has done for us, on the Cross, just comes to life in a glorious way because it’s not just a few people now who hear the words of God.
This Verse Thanks God for His Presence
In Christ, we have knowledge of the Most High. We have the privilege of knowing God forever. May this privilege never grow old in our hearts.
We all, in Christ, have access to God and his words, his presence. In Christ, we all have knowledge of the Most High, not just a few people, everyone of us who’s in Christ has knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty. We all have the privilege of just falling down on our faces before God in reverence and awe and relationship with him. So, when we read these pictures about prophets in the Old Testament and we see their position and we think wow, they saw the vision of the Almighty. They knew the knowledge of the Most High. They heard the words of God. Just realize, wait a minute, in Christ, I have all of these things. So we praise you. God we praise you, Jesus for making this possible.
Numbers 24:16 Praises God’s Knowledge
Right now, we are praying to you. We are looking to you. You have given us a vision of your greatness, that you have given us knowledge of you. God, I praise you for knowledge of you, not just in my own life, but in every person who is a follower of Jesus, that we know you. We know you. We’re talking to you right now. We’re in a relationship with you God.
I’m in total awe right now. It almost feels inappropriate to keep speaking. You, oh God, are awesome, beyond words and I just praise you for the privilege of knowing you, having a conversation with you. I pray that even right now, God, those who are listening to this, God we would all be just overwhelmed by this privilege that we get to know you and we get to hear your words and your words spoken to us, your voice speaking to us. We get to see you. God, we fall down on our faces before you.
Numbers 24:16 Prays for Faithful Hearts
We praise you God and we pray that you would help us never to get over this privilege. May this privilege never grow old in our hearts. May we never pray so casually that we lose sight of the wonder of what we’re doing, of who you are and the privilege we have of knowing you.
Jesus, thank you. Thank you Jesus for making this possible. Thank you for the knowledge of you, God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
