Put On Christ

The Ocean of God's Spirit

Roy Hershberger

One night as I awoke from a dream there were many unusually vivid images running back and forth through my mind. Normally I would simply role over and drift back away forgetting almost everything my minds eye had envisioned by morning, but not this time. I reawoke several times during the night and those same images would flash through my brain time and time again. By morning, though somewhat hazy, the complete dream was still in my memory, and a small understanding of what it might mean began to develop.
Throughout the next day I thought about the dream off and on and wondered if there truly was an intended message in it and if God was the one responsible for making it so vivid and hard to forget. That night I awoke at 3:00 AM and the interpretation of what I had dreamed the night before seemed to flood clearly into my consciousness. After writing it all down the next morning the depth and detailed profundity of the interpretation left little doubt in my mind that it was from the Lord and not from my own imagination. This is not to say that my understanding of all God meant to say through the dream is complete or without error. I hope that each reader will discern for themselves the legitimacy of the dream and interpretation, and may it speak plainly to all those who have ears to hear.

The Dream

I was in a very large building with many connected rooms but very few corridors. Because of this the only way to move through the building was by passing from room to room. It was of very poor and weak construction, built cheaply and with poor taste.
     It was like a prison of sorts, but with no bars, neither were any of the doors locked. The first people I noticed were a group of large, ugly, burly looking men who were walking around in rank file behind someone, I wasn't sure who at first. They seemed like inmates only they were actually the ones in charge of the building. They were all naked, except for the one they followed, and my attention was drawn to their feet which were the most ugly and deformed parts of their bodies.
     In order to avoid being seen by these men I went through a door and discovered a large room filled with middle aged and older women, some of whom were wearing tight fitting sweat gear that revealed their out of shape flabby bodies. I don't remember seeing any men at all, but there were many children, both boys and girls, as well.
     I realized they were being held there by the ugly men and I told them that if they would be very quite that we could get out of the building and away from the men. They all seemed eager to leave so we began to go from room to room as quietly as possible in order to not alert the men. There was a great number of women and children and it took some time to get them all from one room to the next.
     After a while some of the children started to lose their caution and grew loud and careless. I warned them sternly but they paid no attention. Then I realized we had been discovered and were being pursued. I began to rush them through the rooms and would then close and lock the door behind us. Strangely the hand locking mechanism was on the outside instead of the inside of the doors. This only slowed down the men because the clothed leader had the keys to each door.
      Finally I knew we were in the last room and would soon be outside. Though most quickly exited the last door into the open air, many, especially the children, seemed oblivious to the danger and began to play and goof around; jumping up and down on the furniture, laughing and having a good time. Some of the women just stayed back in the corners appearing too afraid to move. I tried vainly to get all who remained in the room to leave but they just ignored my pleas and even seemed oblivious of my efforts to get their attention. Suddenly I knew the men were only one room away and I realized I had no choice but to close the last door behind me leaving many in the room. Just as I prepared to do so I saw the door we had come through on the other side of the room opening up and a women dressed in long robes like a monk or priest starting to come through with the men right behind her.
     I closed and locked the door and turned to run with the others. Before us was a large expanse of sand beach and a tumultuous ocean with big waves. It was intimidating but I knew we would be safe in the water and that they would not pursue us past the beach. Into the water we went swimming. Boats appeared and began to pluck us from the water. The boats were filled and some of us had to keep swimming until more arrived. As I woke up I felt concerned that some of the children could not swim and would need help, yet I was not confident I could help even one stay afloat or keep them from panicking in the water and drowning us both.

The Interpretation

The building represents the church built by human hands, and the deeper into the building we go the deeper into the religious system of men we go. The rooms represent all the different traditions and teachings of men that keep us imprisoned and away from our intended place or home, the ocean.
     The big ugly men represent the false spiritual authority of the church which attempts to keep the followers of Christ in the deepest rooms of the building. I don't believe they are meant to represent actual men so much, but more of a legalistic, man-made mentality of how the body of Christ should be maintained and structured. This mentality follows after the system of the world in very subtle ways that often go undetected as they are cloaked in very religious and pious traditions, beliefs, and ideas.
     This system is represented by the woman who could be a picture of the harlot in Revelation (Babylon). The men are following her in rank file because they are subject to her lead and example and are held captive by her deception. They are naked which reveals the shame of their submission to worldly authority. Their feet are distorted and ugly because they are not bringing the pure news of the liberating Gospel, but are mixing the message of truth with the distorted and twisted understanding and teaching of men which brings bondage.
     The reason I did not recognize the woman in the robes at first was because I was inside the walls of the church. As long as we remain within the walls of the religious systems of men it is very difficult to recognize the worldly system that it follows after. It is cloaked in religious robes, taking on a false pious face that we do not recognize as the system of the world. Not until I stepped outside the building was I able to see clearly who it was that was leading the men.
     The women and children represent believers who are part of the religious church system. They are spiritually out of shape and flabby as a result of being confined in the rooms of the building rather than being out on the water where they would find spiritual exercise. I sensed that some were trying to work out, but it was more of a show, an attempt to look like they wanted to get in shape, but they lacked strength and will power to do it effectively. Life was just too soft and easy for what little futile exercise they did to have any impact. The fact that they were all middle aged to older women represents the body of Christ losing it's beauty because of a lack of dynamic spiritual living. The children represent the spiritual immaturity and shallowness of the believers. And the lack of men would indicate that the body has lost it's spiritual strength and power.
     The body of Christ is being held in the confines of the church by the legalistic, man-made teachings of men. Though it would be very easy to escape there seems to be no understanding or will to do so. Once they understood they could get out they went eagerly, but they had to pass through many rooms and doors which represent all the false ideas they have held onto for so long. The great number represents all the believers who are trapped in the many and varied religious systems of men.
     When the children started to get noisy and careless it represents the modern church with all its fun, games, and entertainment as well as it's great lack of spiritual depth and maturity. This type of carelessness is allowing the system of the world to overtake us and prevent us from completely escaping the confines of humanistic (man-made) religion.
     Each time we went through a door and it was locked behind us represents coming out of the teachings and traditions of men to a greater degree and discovering the liberating truths of God. The key that the woman used to unlock the doors was the system of the world trying to unlock and adopt the truths we had discovered and claim it as it's own. If we allowed the woman and men into the room with us they would tell us, "see we have this truth now too as well as the keys and authority to unlock them, so stay with us here within the security and warmth of this building we have built."
     The most famous example of this is when Constantine, realizing that the followers of Christ were destroying his empire, tried to maintain control by making Christianity the state religion. But this manipulation of the truth goes on all the time in various forms. The religious system of men is always attempting to catch up to the truths that God reveals to His people and take them captive by institutionalizing them and subjecting them to human reason and tradition, thus destroying their power and liberating potential.
     The fact that some refused to leave the room, even though freedom was only one more door away, speaks to the fact that many Christians would rather hang on to at least a few traditions of men in order to maintain some degree of false security, and though they liked the idea of some freedom when it came right down to stepping out into the open sunlight they were either too scared (as some of the women seemed to be) or too busy playing around (like the children) to take that last step.
     The sand beach represents the last obstacle which is our vanity and pride, and even though we had escaped from the confines of man-made religion we were not yet safe until we entered the water. In doing so we must lay down any ideas that we can discover the fullness of God's truth or His purpose under our own power using our own reason and human knowledge or discernment. If we stayed on the beach the religions of men would still be able to come out and try to capture us.
     The Ocean represented the depth of God's truth and the power of His Spirit. To go into the water meant we would be plunging into the depth of the Spirit lead life without humanistic religious aids to guide us. The boats represented God's love and mercy which would keep us afloat. The fact that we all had to swim out to the boats meant that we must overcome our fear of a truly spiritual life and be willing to get wet by plunging into the depth of God's perfect will and guidance. The fact that some of the children could not swim suggests the danger of approaching the Spirit lead life in an immature and careless fashion.
     This dream ties in strongly with what God seems to be showing me about the condition of the body of Christ, how He desires to free us from the confines of our own religious thinking and how He wants us to enter into the depth of His truth, lead by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.
     Even setting the bible up to a place where we are looking to it as our foundation, the very rock on which we depend for all truth, understanding, and guidance, can be clinging to a security blanket of man-made religion. Placing our ultimate trust in the bible rather than the Spirit to lead us seems less threatening because it still falls within the realm of human understanding and wisdom. We fear letting go of what we can understand with our human senses and are reluctant to allow ourselves to be under the complete lordship of Christ resting on Him as our only rock and foundation.
     The bottom line is that we want control so that we can build for ourselves a sense of false worldly security and that is what this dream is mostly about. We can guide and control our situation through man-made religion and we can even manipulate the scriptures to our own liking, but we can not control what the Spirit of God may tell us, show us, and lead us into. Fear of a complete surrender to God, a total and complete death to self, and giving up all control is keeping us from diving into the power filled spiritual life God has for us.

But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel: It shall be in the last days says God: of my spirit I will pour out upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants, and on my handmaidens I will pour out of my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.

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