In this dream, a Christian man and woman who were a married couple, were on their way to a park to meet with friends and have a picnic together. They were quite aware that something bad was going to happen in this park, but they were not concerned. They were going to the park regardless, believing that nothing bad could happen to them because they were Christians.
As the couple was walking along a road on their way to the park, they saw a person standing at the side of the road. When they drew near to the spot where he was standing, he suddenly stepped out in front of them and stood facing them. In his hands, he was holding a very ornate treasure chest. He held the chest out toward them and opened the lid revealing a full display of beautiful and very precious jewelry. Then, he told the couple that they could have any and as much of the jewelry they wanted free of charge. The man and woman were surprised at his offer, but they really wanted to get to the park. The man was emphatic that they needed to choose and take as much of the jewelry as they wanted. The couple didn’t see a need for these jewels and didn’t really believe that they should take them. They were more interested in getting to the park to have fun with their friends. Because they could tell that this man was going to block their path to the park until they chose something, each one reluctantly picked out a ring from the chest. When the man realized that the couple was not going to take anything more, he stepped back out of their path and let them continue on their way.
The rings that the man and woman chose were gold bands with small diamonds embedded all the way around. The woman tried on the ring she had chosen and it fit her perfectly. Her husband tried his ring on, but it was too small for him, so he handed his ring to his wife to wear as well.
When the couple arrived at the park, they went to the very back corner where they had agreed to meet with friends, thinking that their presence in the park would not be noticed and they would be safe. Though this couple and their friends were quite aware that something very bad was going to happen in this park, they believed that they were exempt (it wouldn’t touch or affect them) because they were Christians. When the couple arrived at the back corner of the park, their friends were already waiting for them, so they all proceeded to set up for their picnic.
Suddenly, a man walked up to this group. He had a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. He rounded the group of Christians up and began giving instructions on what he expected them to do. He told the group that they were all to lay down on the ground in a straight line where there was a small incline. He said that he was going to shoot an arrow at each one and they were not allowed to move until after the arrow had been released from the bow. As he was telling them this, he pulled out an arrow and applied a very deadly poison to the tip. The tip of the arrow was rounded, not pointed.
He informed this group that they would have a 50/50 chance of living because once an arrow was released toward them, they would be allowed to roll or move to avoid being hit. He told them that if the arrow hit them, it may just scrape or barely break the skin. But, he said that because there was a very deadly poison applied to the tip, if the poison penetrated their skin, they would surely die. He also said that if the arrow did not hit them, they were free to leave.
While he was telling the group of people these things and preparing his arrows, they were all obediently lying down in a row as instructed. Great fear and confusion had come upon them, and they were wondering how this could be happening. They were also wondering how they could possibly avoid being hit with an arrow when they had to lay so close together leaving no room to move. Suddenly, it occurred to the woman who was wearing the precious rings that she did not have to just lay there and let him shoot at them. She therefore jumped up and ran over to the man, grabbing the arrow out of his hand. She broke the arrow in two yelling, “NO! We are not going to let you do this!” Then, she called to the others shouting, “Get up! There is only one of him and many of us! There are children here! Stand up and protect your children!”
Interpretation:
The park represents the world with all of its pleasures and entertainment. The Christians in the dream being well aware that something bad was going to happen in the park represents how the Bible clearly warns Christians not to love the world or the things of the world and, that those who have gone after the world and its lusts will be judged along with the world (Colossians 3:1-6). The dream reveals that though Christians have been clearly warned, they can become enticed into friendship with the world and deceived into believing that they will not be judged along with it. This deception can then lull them into a lukewarm state where the love of the world becomes greater than their love for God.
In the dream, this Christian couple was more intent on having a picnic in the park that in receiving precious jewels! They wanted the man to get out of their way so they could continue on to the park. The person presenting the jewels to them represents Jesus. This depicts how Christians can become more interested in the things of the world and its entertainment than they are of Jesus and His Kingdom. The man stepping out into the road blocking their path represents Jesus presenting Himself to them, hoping to stop them from going after the world.The jewels He offered to them represent the treasures of the Kingdom of God. Because their focus was so much on the world and its entertainment, they did not even recognize that it was the Lord standing in front of them, offering them the treasures of His Kingdom and Himself as the most precious treasure of all! Love for the world causes love for Jesus to grow cold.
The man who came to the group in the park with the bow and arrows represents the devil who was able to gain easy and direct access to the Christians with his fiery darts and arrows because the things of the world were more important to them than God. This left them in a deceived, vulnerable and unprepared state. In this state, the shock that something bad could actually happen to Christians, enabled the man to bring confusion and fear upon them and convince them that they couldn’t do anything to stop his attack even though they outnumbered him. The arrows represent the weapons of satan. That they were not sharp though the poison was very deadly represents that the weapons of satan are not powerful. However, if we believe him, coming into agreement with him, we are then giving him the power to destroy us.
The rings that the couple had accepted from the treasure chest, represent our commitment to belong to Jesus. Because the woman had put on both of the rings, it gave her the ability to wake up to the truth which caused her to realize that she could defeat the enemy. She then had the strength and courage to stand up against the him and to call the others to stand up as well.
I believe that if the couple had received ALL of the jewels when they were offered to them, their eyes would have been opened and they would have heeded the warning about the park. They would not have even wanted to go to the park for entertainment. The couple would have then been so in love with Jesus that they would have desired God’s will instead of selfish pursuits.
Matthew 6:19-23 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
James 4:1-9 says, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
Colossians 2:1-3 says, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians 3:1-5 says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”
Many Christians in the western culture have been deceived into treating Jesus more as a ‘ticket’ to Heaven than as the greatest and most precious treasure. They do not realize that Jesus desires nothing less than a relationship of loving oneness with Himself and the Father.
Jesus wants us to know the height and depth and width and breadth of the love of God and to become filled with all the fullness of God Himself. He does not want us to be satisfied with knowing about Him. He wants us to love Him above all else.
Those who will truly seek the Kingdom of God first – to know and love Jesus above all else, are preparing themselves to become the Bride of Christ. These will also be used of God to help awaken others.
I received this dream in March of 2000.
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