In Numbers 24, a seer, Balaam, was the first person to announce the coming of the world's messiah. Balaam wasn't even a believer but God used Him to send the world a message. If God can use a seer to deliver the world a message about His coming, this may mean the sign or message you want to hear from God won't always come from a Pastor or even a fellow believer. We need to be willing to listen and ask God if messages we are receiving are from Him.

Over time you can see if a message was from God because He will give you a message or promise to believe in but then you have to cling to it and watch for progress rather than full completion. When you can see signs of Him moving in your life, it provides encouragement and boldness to continue moving forward.

Heaven Sent a Promise

• Promises about God and from God are essential to our faith. These prophecies that are were written down provide us confirmation and a roadmap for our belief in His faithfulness
• The delivery or completion of a promise from God will not always be immediate and sometimes will take longer than you think it should or want it to. Cling to His promises.

Heaven Sent a Sign

• Along the way, God will provide you signs of progress or the fulfillment of His promises to you. We have to be looking. Balaam unknowingly was looking towards Bethlehem when he made the proclamation about the coming ruler out of Jacob's line of decedents. He even speaks of the Star out of Jacob to reference the physical sign of the promised King arriving. When you look back you can see how these statements were not simply pretty language but pointing to signs we would see. God does the same thing in our lives today but we need to be looking.

Heaven Sent a Savior

• Even though this message of Balaam was through a seer of the time, God can use anyone to deliver a message to the world. The question is are we listening??
• An interesting note about the Christmas story is the wise men were from Babylon and when Daniel was in Babylon he was over the scholars of that time and would have been familiar with the prophecies of the time. Christ's significance is not only for Israel but the whole world even when the first message about Christ was through Balaam and then confirmed with the witness of the Magi at Christ's birth.

The signs of Jesus and His coming was all around history of the world in prophecies and signs. We can cling to God's promises because He will deliver on those promises. To help us stay strong in the faith, we can look for signs along the way and cling to a faithful Savior.