Note by Immanuel:
I had a dream couple nights ago. Seems I cannot shake it off. I hesitate to share, but the Lord continues to impress me the need to do so. He keeps reminding me of the context of the dream: before I went to sleep, I asked Him to speak to me in a dream concerning the spiritual states of some that whom I deeply concerned.
I was quite apprehensive to share it with others, because I did not have much understanding of it. Then in the middle of writing it down, then I was able to discuss about it with brother John, Tim and Ben. Many insights were given to us.
New Home – a masion with a garden
The dream starts with an auspicious setting. I find myself lodged in an enormously large mansion, like a palace, surrounded by extensive meadows, like a huge garden. It seems that it is given to us as a gift. It has many rooms, maybe even several floors. Few families have already arrived and might have be situated. I can’t recall the furnishing of each quarter, but the living room is modestly yet elegantly decorated.
Sitting in a sofa, I am waiting for others to gather. Seems there will be an occasion for us to enjoy some fellowship time or meeting. Yet after a long time, I find no one show up. Curious of what is holding them off, I get up to find them.
Three young men wrestling with snakes
Just as I walk out the backdoor, I am caught in a vision. I come to understand that all the world had somehow become desolate except the place where we are accommodated. There seems to be a boundary line around it. Outside, extending to all directions, is but desert. Encircled around the house are beautiful meadows, dotted sparsely with some small trees.
I also see, in the vision, what happened with some young men. Many got excited with the new place, so they went out the back door, trying to look around. I don’t know how many in total. I only have three in my sight, with their age about 10 years younger than mine, in their late 20s or early 30s. After made a playful round-about of the house, they began to approach the boundary line, wanting to check out the sandy place outside. They tiptoed close to the edge of the green garden, as if knew that it was not necessarily the right thing to do.
Then suddenly there rose from the group three huge serpents which quickly wrapped up a young man. The serpents are rather enormously large. Their bodies are wide like huge tree trucks. Their heads are almost 2 or 3 times the size of that of a man. I can’t tell what kind of serpent they are. But their skin is green on the upper body and white on the bottom. Their enormously large mouths are easy enough to swallow a man. They seem almost identical in stature and apprearance.
Then, as if suddenly transported, I find myself standing aside, watching them wrestling with the serpents. The serpents are swinging their heads back and forth, trying to devour the young ones’ head while squeezing them hard. Three young men put on a good fight. Again and again with their bare hands, they hold back the serpents’ heads above their neck.
While observing all this and retraining me to rush to help, I come to some understanding. Firstly, it would be futile for the young men to rid of the serpent by wrestling in the way they have been engaging, which is just reacting to the attacks. Secondly, they need to seek help from others rather than relying on their own strength, even they are indeed pressed with a dire situation. To my relief, till now, no harm has been done to them by these dreadful creatures, no even a scratch. But we all know that it won’t be long before someone get hurt.
As I am earnestly seeking the best way to help them, suddenly an old Chinese saying come to me: “To kill a serpent, one needs to struck its ‘7 Cuns’.” Cun is a measuring unit like inch in Chinese. There is a fatal weak spot about 7 Cuns under the head of a serpent. Chinese use this saying to illustrate the great need of wisdom and caution when engaging a dangerous and overwhelming foe or situation. So I begin to shout to them that they need to locate this fatal spot. Caught in the intense struggle, the three young men are not able to pay attention to me. I actually detect their resistance to my advise, questioning why I would not just go ahead and help them to battle off the serpent. To my distress, I think to myself, indeed, what good it can do if there is nothing they can do even they find it. Without a weapon, it would be impossible for one to defeat the serpent with his bare hands – their strength are hard to master, and their skin very slick and thick.
Then I realize that I am not standing there barehanded. Next to my right tight, I have been holding a double edged sword in my right hand. The shape of it is much like the one Frodo Baggins used when he struck the big spider in the movie, The Lord of The Rings. If the right spot is exposed, then a simple blow with the sword would kill the serpents. Now, ss the serpents turning their body around, I am able to locate the spot. It is in the very middle of its neck, at the height of a young man’s heart. With a sterner tone, I begin to shout louder to them that they need to overcome the serpent so as to expose the fatal spot. I am sure now that I could manage a fatal blow to these deadly creatures, and end their struggles once for all.
In the beginning, the young men are a little bewildered with my way of engagment. They wondered why I would rather shout to them than to instantly use the sword to attack the serpents. To my relief, they begin to pay attention to my advice and come to their senses, realize that our only solution is to pierce the sword into a serpent’s “7 Cun” for a fatal blow. They begin to make every effort to tangle the serpents head in order to expose their weak spots. Holding the sword in my hand, I am waiting for the moment.
Impressions and Understandings
- “My Father’s House”: The Lord reminded us of what Jesus shared in the Gospel of John that He will prepare a place for us in the Father’s house. Some insights of the nature of such “dwelling place” or “abode” have been given to me in the past, hard to expound on it in a record of dream.
- Garden of Eden: At first, I felt a bit repulsive with the idea that serpents should be found in the property given to us. In the process of our discussion, the Lord quickened our understanding that the settings of the property is like a garden rather than just any dwelling place. Some important spiritual realities were thus revealed. It is the picture of the garden of Eden. I think it also serves as a picture of our spiritual life in the Angelic Realm, or the second heaven, where we will have to overcome the Serpent, or the Accuser of Our Brothers, even by exposing the serpent’s heart or nature in us.
It is the infliction of sin (wandering off from the fellowship or discipleship of God in His House) that have entangled man with the shame of Sin and the fear of Death. The Lord reminds me now that He did not bless Adam with an innocent life like the one envisioned by the soulish understanding of many who still refuse to or remain “blind” to the necessity for one to be “taught by God” as sons. In essence it is a carefree and danger free life. Rather, Like he blessed Moses, he has blessed Adam with His Word or Counsel, to easily put the Serpent down like Jesus was tempted in the Wilderness. Now in our hand is His Rod and His Sword, which has to be applied to our lives individually.
- In the beginning, I thought the serpent is something outside of us. Then I began to realize that this is only partially true. It is also symblic of the fallen man, its sinful nature. That is missing the mark of Sonship in God or Eternal life. This new perspective sheds new light in my understanding on why Jesus would call some people as sons of the Devil or descendants of the Serpent-the great Liar or Deceiver. Indeed flesh cannot give birth or produce that which is of the spirit. Putting to death our sinful nature is the first and foremost step for for a son of Adam to enter into the fulness of spiritual life as a son of God in Christ Jesus. This is the baptism of first death or the baptism of water in Christ Jesus. Still God has better baptisms (anointing) for us to receive as our right and inheritance as a son of God, co-heir with Christ Jesus in God the Father. That is the baptisms of fire and glory of the Son and the Father. Much can expounded on this. We will wait for another time.
- The illusion of our own sense of freedom, even out of innocent curiosity, can prove to be detrimental for the wellbeing of our life in God. I am reminded again of why the Lord constantly encouraged those with Him to be on the alert. Peter later expounded that, an important part of this watchfulness, is to resist to the Evil One’s schemes, who would seek every opportunity to prey on our mind and our soul. In order to guide our heart in God, we have to endeavor to be ready for a fatal blow to the “heart” of the evil in us, and that which is attached to us.
- The Lord quickened me to know that in the dream, the place given to us is more than a “refuge”, or an “oasis in the desert” (His word to me after the dream). Rather it is the “Eden that is before us and with us” along the high way of holiness, as foreseen by Isaiah and others concerning the remnant people of God in this day. His continued teaching (discipleship by the Holy Spirit in Truth) is the passage thru “water and fire”, which is guarded by the cherubim. It is the narrow path that opens for us the narrow gate, leading us into the broad place of His Dwelling or His Inheritance for those that are His sons or disciples. The dream evidently puts a great emphasis on the need for us to be very mindful of the time and the spiritual place we are set in. Moreover, the order or the ways thereof. In short, divine order will be restored in our midst, even as the sons of God are coming into the true fellowship in His Household. Now we are entering the blessed place of divine impartation with His wisdom and glory, as we are disciplined as sons of God the Father or taught as disciples of Jesus Christ our Lord. In essence, we are truly being “permitted into maturity”, where the “substance” or inheritance of sonship is available in His House and real in our matured life in Christ.
- What a great comfort to know that even when we are entangled by the Evil One for a while, the Good Father would not allow us to be “touched” or harmed. How true and how good it is to know that He who started the good work in us will certainly finish it.
- The dream seems to have some spiritual implications beyond any person or group. It is but a sample of the work of God presently unfolding in our generation.
