The Wind in the Trees

Shortly after I became a Christian, I had a dream so striking it grips me as strongly today as it did then, almost fifty years ago.

In a previous post, we saw that virtually all peoples have seen the world haunted by a numinous presence. However, not all people have seen that presence as good. In fact, virtually all religions, including Christianity, see a multiplicity of spirits inhabiting the invisible realm.

My dream reflected that. In it, I saw golden electrical waves filling the atmosphere around me and shimmering like the glory of God. The waves were layered and in between the layers, I could see darkness peeping through.

It didn’t stay that way. Everything started to move. The atmosphere–both glory and darkness–swelled like ocean waves rising and falling. Slowly, it all began to swirl around, gaining momentum until a giant whirlpool sped around me. All of a sudden, the powerful vortex flushed the darkness down and it was gone. Pure, bright light sparkled all around me. Freshness, vitality and life filled the air and filled me as I beheld the spectacle. However, as I looked at where the flush had occurred, my stomach froze in sheer terror. The finality of the judgment, the thought that what went down there did so forever, paralysed me with fear.

I have no doubt that God gave me this dream. So why?

Firstly, it produced in me a confidence that things do not go on the same forever. They move in God’s time. A day is coming when all will be light, love and life. All pain, suffering, darkness and evil will be dealt with decisively, once and for all. “That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”

Secondly, the reality of darkness alongside eternal Goodness means war. Perhaps spiritual warfare is a new thought for some. One of the consequences of our Western worldview is the loss of any meaningful conception of the dark powers. Without an understanding of their reality, however, much of Jesus’ message remains completely incomprehensible. He came to earth, in fact, precisely “to destroying the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14-15).¹

We are like hobbits in the Lord of the Rings, participants in a huge cosmic war waged by powers much greater than ourselves that we know little about. Yet somehow we have a significant role to play.

The dark powers come against us in two predictable ways–to mesmerize or terrorize. They mesmerize us with lust for power, sexual pleasures, fame or wealth. They terrorize us with the prospect of our impending death which spawns a multitude of other fears, loss of family, finances, friends, health etc. (Heb. 2:14-15).

The “glory flush” speaks of God’s crushing defeat of these powers and gave me confidence, that despite all the battle wounds and scars, we win.

Lastly, the dream imprinted upon me a healthy fear of God, something that seems lost in much of church culture today. However, I believe I’m not alone in my need for something to sharpen me up so I don’t become careless.

Contrary to what some believe, the love of God does not do away with the fear of God. Rather, it necessitates the fear of God. Because we have the capacity to love God, we also have the choice to walk away from Him. The whole sorry history of humanity has been a testament to the consequences of abandoning the Source of Life. The fear of God reminds us to not make the insane choice of choosing death. Because God loves us, he exhorts us not to hold onto darkness and be sucked down with it.

I conclude with the words of J.P. de Caussade who says the fear of God is a great grace which should not be spoiled by turning it into a worldly kind of fear. A “true and right fear of God is always peaceful, quiet, and accompanied with confidence.” Any fear contrary to this should be immediately rejected as coming from the devil, the author of trouble and despair.

1. c.f. Greg Boyd’s excellent essay, The “Christus Victor” View of the Atonement, for conclusive proof of the Bible’s central emphasis on spiritual warfare. ↩︎