Recent Dream of the Lord's Return and the Cherubim, Written by my Husband

 Recent Dream of the Lord's Return and the Cherubim

Written by my Husband, Mel

I recently dreamed that Jesus spoke to me and said, " Tell me your dream". I replied," I saw four angels with their wings spread, and the tips of their wings were touching one another as the cherubim turned in each direction." Then I began to sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. " The angels sang with me, and as I repeated the chorus, more angels joined in until I was singing with a multitude of heavenly hosts! The song was upbeat and beautiful and was unlike any song I have ever heard. The angel's voices were very high pitch and sounded possibly feminine. As the song ended the final words were, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

The angels sang the word Jesus for several seconds. I looked up and I saw Jesus returning, Jesus was quickly descending toward me, with his hands outstretched, and I could see the nail prints in the upper part of his hands near the wrist, and his face was shining brightly. Words cannot express the sound of the multitude of heavenly hosts singing with me or the beauty of the return of Christ.

Doors: Part 2

(In case you can't tell, that's a picture of me kneeling in my closet. Taken in our previous house on Idaho.)

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  Matthew 6:6

Although a literal closet is not necessary, symbolically speaking, when we approach our heavenly Father for prayer, we must shut the door in our hearts and minds to outside distractions.  I highly recommend praying with your spouse and children, but I also believe individual prayer time alone with God is vital to your spiritual walk.  Sometimes all we do is a quick prayer at bedtime or over our meals, but we must not neglect time on our knees.  I know this is not always easy when we are rushed or, in my case, are not sure what to pray.  When I do not know what to say, I take this time to thank God for His love and the blessings in my life.  I ask Him to empty me of me and fill me with Him; make me clean and use me.  I do not usually ask for anything at this point (prayer requests are saved for prayer time with Mel and at bedtime). My personal alone time with God is for repentance as well as for praise and being willing to listen to what God has to say to me.

 If I had to sum up the best attitude of prayer for a prayer closet, I would choose Psalm 46:10, Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  Exactly!  Use this door to shut yourself in with God and humbly acknowledge Him and all He has done.  

Spending time alone with God in prayer opens up the doors of repentance, faith, and renewal.

 

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Matthew 25:10-13

Then one said to [Jesus], “Lord, are there few who are saved?”  And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate [or door] for many I say to you will seek to enter and  not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,'  then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' Luke 13:23-27

The above doors are symbolic of heaven’s door.  The first example in Matthew is the parable of the ten virgins, representative of those who are spiritually pure (the entire parable is Matthew 25:1-13).  The wise virgins who kept enough oil on hand to keep their lamps lit while waiting for the bridegroom demonstrate those who remain faithful in their walk with Christ and endure to the end.  The foolish virgins who run out of oil, then must leave to go buy fuel and miss the bridegroom when He comes, are those who get tired of living righteous lives and give up on their faith.  There are many reasons people backslide and, in a sense, run out of oil to fuel their spiritual lamps.  The main reason is that they blame God for their pain and disappointment.  Loved ones die, illness and diseases happen, spouses cheat, children suffer, the church lets you down, and the list goes on.  People also fall as the foolish virgins because they have grown impatient in waiting for a specific event and they walk away, saying they will return only after things go their way.  In other words, they may say, “God when you bless me with a husband, then I’ll commit my life to You.”  The list of items one may be waiting on could be anything from a good health, a baby, a job, money, fame, and on and on.  

Leaving to buy oil can also represent leaving the paths of righteousness to seek forbidden pleasures because they feel being a Christian is too boring.  They will return to God only after they have had their “fun,” never stopping to realize they could die at any age, and then it will be too late to buy oil.  The foolish women represent backsliders and not simply non-believers because they chose to meet the bridegroom (Jesus) in the first place.  Also calling them “virgins” implies they were once pure before God.  They once had the faith to want to be a bride of Christ or they would not have joined the wise virgins to begin with.  They are the shallow Christians also seen in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 (You can read my blog on that topic here: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-parable-of-sower.html

The example in Luke 13 is saying the same thing as the end of the parable about the virgins.  We must live righteous lives and work hard to enter through the gate (or door) to heaven, or God will say He does not know us and will send us away. Salvation is a free gift we can never earn, but we have to be very careful we don't lose our salvation with foolish actions.  All other doors in your life will ultimately lead you to the final door of to Heaven where we face God’s judgment throne.  Only then can we confidentially say we endured to the end as we fall at the feet of Jesus and lay our crowns at His feet.  I pray you want as much as I do hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; come and dine with Me,” and not, “Depart from Me, I do not know you.”     

When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, Matthew 27:59-61 &  28:2-7

Hallelujah!  Jesus is risen!  This is such an exciting door and is the cornerstone of our faith.  Jesus came to Earth in human form and willingly allowed Himself to be tortured and crucified for our sins.  His blood on the cross paid the debt we owe God for our sins.  But the story doesn’t end there.  When Jesus rose from the dead, He removed the sting from death and swallowed it up in victory!  Not just the sting of His death, but ours as well.  Because we serve a risen Savior, we have the opportunity to live with Him in paradise for all eternity.  Don’t waste such a precious gift by living a life of sin.  Repent and live for Christ, embracing His death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb!

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory? I Corinthians 15:50-55    

Doors: Part 1

When you see this title, you may be thinking I have come up with a random theme for a sermon, or that I have run out of topics, and I am just grasping at straws.  However, this is a subject that came to me after praying on what to write about.  Mel and I were discussing dreams, and the issue of open doors seems to be a common theme in his dreams.  It was then I knew what I needed to blog about: the positive and negative doors in our lives.

We have a bible search program on our computer called “Word Search 7.”  When I looked up the word “door,” 164 matches popped up.  As I read the many different times this simple word is used, I realized I could delve much deeper into the subject than I originally intended.  I am certainly not going to list all those scriptures, but this will be a four-part series.

The very first time the word door occurs in the bible is in Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."   God confronts Cain after he has given God a less than satisfactory offering.  God obviously knew Cain’s heart very well, for sin was indeed lying at his door.  The next action of Cain is murdering his brother Abel.  When we willfully choose to disobey God and have no desire to please Him, we invite sin to rule our actions.  We open our heart’s door to evil ways and are more apt to do the wrong thing.  Although we can never be perfect, when we do our best to please God and have a sincere desire to walk down paths of righteousness, it is much easier to resist temptations and do the right thing.

I am not going to sequentially go through all 164 occurrences of the word door, but before I move to the New Testament, I would like to mention two more important doors in Genesis.  In contrast, the door of faith and the door of doubt.  

 First, the door of faith to which I am referring is the door on the ark that Noah spent 120 years building.  In Genesis chapter 6, God instructs Noah to build an ark so that he and his family will be spared the coming judgement upon the wickedness of humankind.  In faith, Noah spends 120 years building the ark.  Noah further obeys the Lord by gathering pairs of animals onto the ark. 

Then the Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark-- they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut [the door]. Genesis 7:1 & 13-16

Notice that Noah and his family are spared because God sees they are righteous.  Next, notice it is God who shuts the door to the ark.  Due to Noah’s faith and obedience combined with holy living, God used His door of protection not only to spare Noah, but also to assure future generations could continue after the floods.

The door of doubt to which I am referring is the door Sarah stood next to as she learned she would have a child.

Then the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.  Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent." And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Genesis 18:1-3, 9-14 

In spite of hearing the Lord Himself tell her she would have a son at the age of 90, she refused to believe.  This was not the first time she refused to believe God’s promises.  As you know, two chapters earlier she insisted Abraham marry her servant Hagar in order to supply him heirs.  She could not be convinced God was going to use her to be the mother of all nations, and acted outside of God’s will.  Yet, God is gracious and forgave Sarah’s faithlessness and stubbornness.  

 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.  Genesis 21:1-2 

You can read more about Sara in my blog, "Profile of a Doubter, Part 1: Sarah"  https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2024/02/profile-of-doubter-part-1-sarah.html

There the good news lies.  Even when we stand by our own doors of doubt and obstinately refuse to believe God’s promises, He is faithful to still do just as He says.  However, this is not to encourage you to doubt, but to believe that God is the ultimate promise keeper.   

This is all I am going to explore for the Old Testament.  Part 2 will explore the New Testament.