Something we see, at first may not initially catch our attention. Yet there’s something about it that tugs at us and makes us take a closer look. Like Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3. He sees the bush like he would have at any other time but because he’s struck by something different – dare I say, holy, he draws closer to it. That’s when Yahweh reveals himself.
Waking up I turned to the clock to see 3.10 am. I arose from my bed and went forth.
Waking up I turned to the clock to see 5.13 am. I arose from my bed and went forth realising that I had woken from a dream of waking at 3.10 am!
‘…I rose went forth and followed thee…’
Hymn by Charles Wesley
David the Psalmist writes I will awaken the dawn. The scriptures later in the New Testament states something similar in Ephesians 5. Paul quotes from somewhere else ‘wake up o sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.’ Again in Romans he says ‘the time of salvation is nearer at hand than it has ever been awake from your sleep‘. Both of these references to sleep at first appear to mean the same thing – yet they both mean two different things. The former one is a New Testament metaphor for death. The second phrase is about the awareness of God and sensitivity to his concerns. It refers to being alert and watchful.
The time of the Lord’s return is much nearer than it has ever been. This is where we need to be watchful. Yet we can live in that place of being in his presence as if he has already returned.
The idea of the Kingdom of God being here is expressed as a now and not yet Kingdom in the Bible but there’s an element where we can be more aware of his presence as we meditate on scripture and think on the goodness of all that he has done for us and continues to be for us.
I am not an old testament scholar but I understand that the root of the Hebrew word for good news relates to having a feast, literally flesh. When people heard good news in ancient times they would have a celebratory feast with meat (flesh).
‘Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves! The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one who eats me—that one will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live ⌊forever⌋.”‘
John 6.53-58 LEB
Reading Jesus’ words recently ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ I wondered whether there was a relationship between the root of the Hebrew verb for good news and the fact that Jesus himself is the embodiment of good news. I must say my heart leapt when I thought that may be the case!
‘Wake up, harp and lyre!I will wake up the dawn’.
Psalm 57.8 and 108.2
Furthermore the number 310 that occurred in my dream looks like Bio! Bio is the prefix to words like biology and biography. This prefix comes from the Latin bios for life. There’s something in the dream about awakening to life.
We are surrounded by so much life in creation. Trees in particular and plants. One of the biggest themes in the Bible which has proved to be the top listened to subject on the Bible Project podcast to date is the theme of the tree of life. That theme starts at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis and ends in Revelation. Jesus was crucified on a tree we know this as a cross. Crucified for us so that we may have life. His life, resurrection life living in us.
Jesus talked of himself in regards to life. These are a few from the Gospel of John:
I am the bread of life
I am the resurrection and the life
I am the way the truth and the life
I have come that you may have life
Sometimes a dream like this makes me think is there a Bible verse which the Holy Spirit is highlighting. I also wanted to see if any verses matched the overall sense of the dream about waking up to new life. I looked up all the chapter and verses which relate. There weren’t that many relevant 3.10s.
These are some of the appropriate 3.10s
‘My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,..’
Philippians 3:10(CSB)
‘…and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator’.
Colossians 3:10 (CSB)
Appropriately two references are about hearing what Yahweh is saying and the response to that is obedience. The former verse is one that I like to personalise and be like Samuel in his response.
‘Then Yahweh came and stood there and called out ⌊as before⌋, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.”’
1 Samuel 3:10 (LEB)
‘And he said to me, “Son of man, all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into your heart and hear with your ears’.
Ezekiel 3:10 (LEB)
As watchmen and women we are to look to the dawn. This is the time before the new day starts. A metaphor for new beginnings. This is the time to be awake. The Lord is asking us to be awake to him. There is a lot of death around us at present in this current pandemic. The hope that we have is in the resurrection life of Jesus. He is good news for all creation!
