I'm not one much for horror movies, mainly because they give my wife and I terrible dreams, but I really enjoy movies where things blow up. The Resident Evil series is more full of action than horror, so it was one of the few zombie movies that I actually enjoyed. For about three weeks after watching one of them (the first or the second, I can't remember), I dreamed about victims of the T-virus (that is, zombies, for those who don't know the series) invading and infecting our city. First, one would break into my house, and in my family's desperate attempt to escape, we'd climb out onto the roof, only to realize that they were coming at our house from every corner, and that our house was the last one left. Most of the dreams resulted in me realizing that we didn't have any hope, and that we were just waiting to get eaten. Yeah, told you that I get bad dreams.
In the last dream, I was on my own. I had been trying for three weeks now (in my other dreams) to envision some plan of escape, some way that we make it out of the situation alive without becoming a flesh-eating zombie. My wife and daughter had already been either eaten or turned into zombies; I guess I didn't stick around to find out which.
I ran out into a larger intersection near our house. The crowd of zombies were pressing in on me, and I only had about 20 feet until I was eaten alive. A few zombies were driving cars and trying to hit me, too, which was weird. When the first zombie reached me (he wearing a blue shirt), I had one thought: Jesus is the only hope for this city. I reached out and touched the flesh eater, saying, "Be healed in Jesus' name." A shock wave went out through the city, and before me stood a perfectly healed person. So I touched another zombie, saying the same thing, and he/she was healed. I went through the crowd touching and praying, and I realized that no matter how long I did this, I couldn't do it alone. So I called back, "Jesus has to heal them," and the ex-zombies now-healers began doing the same thing. The dream ended as Jesus was saving the city through us, and as the point of view pulled back, I could see that there were other focal points in the city where people were calling on Jesus' name and healing was coming.
This dream may or may not be from the Holy Spirit. This I know: God the Holy Spirit still speaks through dreams, and He has the freedom to use dreams about zombies if He wishes. While I'm not really ready to commit that it is directly from Jesus, I am ready to say that the dream has become a great source of encouragement to me in hard times. Jesus really, truly is the only hope for our city, and we need an army of people laying down their lives to see Jesus' healing come to our neighbors. The people we live next to don't eat human flesh (at least, I'm pretty sure about that), but they are sure controlled by their "flesh" - what the Bible calls our in-born desire to seek things on our own terms, in our own way, and to implicitly and even explicitly rebel against the One who made us and commands us to worship Him.
Peter said it this way, "He himself [i.e. Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." (1 Peter 2:24-25).
Peter was saying to his readers that they had left their Master and were following their own way, but Jesus came and took that rebellion and the punishment for it on Himself at the cross. Jesus' death makes us die to sin (the desire and act to rebel against our Creator) and makes us live to righteousness (live in the presence of God, knowing Him, His love, and His joy in a good and living relationship). It is by Jesus' wounds that our deepest need has been fulfilled, and all of our other needs are met thereby; we need God, and Jesus brings us to Him through Himself. He is the One who watches over us, takes care of us, meets our needs, lifts us up when we fall, soothes and heals our wounds when we fail...He is our Shepherd and Overseer. In Him we find life, joy, safety, hope, peace...in all of our seeking as lost sheep, we thought we knew what we were looking for, but we were deceived. He is what we need, and He is the end of our pursuit for our heart's desire.
Jesus is the only hope for St. Louis. Jesus is the only hope for Sarajevo, Bosnia. Jesus is the only hope for Shanghai, China. He is the only hope for Jerusalem, London, Mexico City, and every city in between.
The people around us are dead to righteousness because they're still rebelling against their Creator and Shepherd. They are infected with a disease called sin that distorts and destroys everything about them. Jesus is still healing; it is by His wounds that we are healed. May the Lord raise up an army of humble servants, sons and daughters proclaiming the message that the King has come - and He brought not a sword, but healing. He didn't conquer the world, but He brought a new one. He didn't bring punishment for sinners, but He took it for them.
May Jesus work through His people, in our city and in every other, to declare His message that the Kingdom has come, the King has come, and He is bringing His people - all who will come - to Himself. There is hope in your darkest time, and His name is Jesus. Come to Him and cry out to Him. Return to the Shepherd of your soul.
Come, Lord Jesus!
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