Sometimes I dream in parables.
A few nights ago I dreamed that there was a random couple who were vehemently fighting with the enemy. It seemed that they had built a house on a bad foundation and the enemy was hurling scripture at them about the foolish man who does this, and when the storms come, the house would fall. The couple knew that they had built their house on a bad foundation, but prayed that somehow their house would be saved anyway. The enemy told them that there was no way to do this because God would not go against His Word. There was no hope to save the house, and it would soon be in ruins. The couple sat down in front of a large chair and prayed for mercy. All of a sudden, the house began to move. Angels began to detach the house from it's old foundation, and two of them flying a helicopter (ha!) lifted the house off the old foundation and took it to a newly built one. Just as the storm came, the couple was lifted off to safely occupy their house with it's new rock foundation, while the enemy was swept into oblivion. When I woke up, I thought.. that is a picture of mercy. That even when we deserve the end to our "means" by God's own law, He finds a way around it.
At first I thought that this parable was a picture of salvation, but when I thought about how the couple behaved, I realized that they were already believers. They Knew scripture, they knew how to keep the enemy at bay, and they knew to pray. I believe that in the dream, when the couple sat down before a large chair, it represented the mercy seat, which the psalmists call "the secret place of the most High." I understood then what God was trying to say through this parable.
The mercy seat was on top of the ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark was a picture of the three ways that we rebel against God. First, there is Aaron's rod, which represents our rebellion against God’s authority. Second, there is The Ten Commandments, which represents our rebellion against His standard. Finally, there is a bowl of Manna, which represents our rebellion against His provision. As Christians, we begin to build our foundations on solid rock, but sometimes we start to add our own materials. When I say sometimes, I really mean, always. No one’s foundation is perfect .I have lived in very old houses, and I will tell you that as a house ages and begins to settle, discrepancies in the foundation begin to appear in the form of cracks and sagging floors. Even foundations that seem solid, show the secret places under the strain of time. We all have times that we fill the bases of our lives with our own authority, our own standards and our own provision…that’s why God had those three things put under the mercy seat, because He knows us so well. We are screwed up people. We started as screwed up sinners, and we are now learning to become less screwed up as the redeemed. But We don’t have to lose the whole house just because it is starting to sag a little. But we need to stop trying to cover up the uneven floors by just hanging the pictures straighter and putting wedges under the furniture. We need to go to the mercy seat.
In the old Testament, the blood of a sacrifice was required to be sprinkled on the mercy seat as an atonement for our rebellion. The blood of the Jesus is our permanent atonement and He sits on the Mercy Seat! In Exodus 25:22, God said, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony.” We are literally under the shadow of His wings when we kneel before Him there. That’s where we walk into Psalm 91, all safe and cuddly in the shelter of the most High. That’s where we get the solid Rock for our sagging foundations, and if need be, if we totally blow it , he lets us begin all over again in a new foundation of grace found in His endless love for us.
So what did I learn from this parable?
1. Don’t let the enemy use scripture against you, he is the king of condemnation, and we serve the King of Mercy.
2. The best vantage point in life, is from under the wings of our Father.
3. Don’t try to cover up a screwy foundation, but ask The Carpenter for help before the storms hit.
4. Angels can fly helicopters, which makes them even cooler than I thought.
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