The Final Stage [Dream]

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." -2 Corinthians 3:18

I had a dream yesterday (1|15|12), when I took a nap after church, here is what I wrote down after waking up:

I had a dream about leveling up and progression. It was me and some friends of mine. We would go through different stages or situations like Level 1, 2, 3, 4... However, after several stages, we would revisit the same stages, but the situation would be tougher; there would be more obstacles. This picture is almost like the game Super Mario for NES. I remember I was at the final stage. At this point it was just me on this stage (I had the impression that others were not there with me yet). Here's what I saw: I was up on a very tall cliff, tall enough to be freezing cold. There was a ginormous river (ginormous = raging rivers splashing, very furious that a damn could not stop it; you could say tsunami waves, but a river), that flowed from the left to the right in my perspective, and essentially, I was at the top of a large waterfall. There was a small icy pathway from one end of the riverbank to the other. In this stage, I remember slipping and not being able to stop myself, but fortunately caught myself with my feet on a boulder. When I slipped I remember being afraid to slide into the river, or go off the cliff. I was afraid because I didn't know how far down this fall would be. But one thing I did know, I was avoiding the situation. In order for me to pass this stage, I needed to jump in the river and go off the cliff.

This stage is exactly what I am in, and I know I am avoiding it. But it is also the stage we must pass if we are to follow the Spirit. This raging river signifies the Holy Spirit. The cliff resembles the death of ourselves, our soul.

Matthew 16:24-28

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up the cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" [PAUSE]

Let's look at that last bit again: "...Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" This question is answered in the next verse:"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

Here, we have the answer to what happens in exchange of our soul (The Reward):

1. "The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father...": In exchange of our soul (according to the previous verse), we should expect this 1st promise. Jesus says that He will come in the glory of His father (more on this in a moment).
2. "...with His angels...": This is the 2nd promise in exchange of our soul. We know that when Jesus endured the 40-day fast in the desert, angels came and ministered to Him.
3. "...then He will reward each according to his works.": The 3rd promise is that we will be rewarded according to our works. This is almost implying that we cannot work without exchanging our soul. We know that Jesus didn't start ministering until after He died to Himself (40-day fast) and became dependant on the Holy Spirit. He began His ministry with "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me..." It wasn't Him. It was the Holy Spirit (Jn.5:19,30). Jesus from the get-go acknowledges that He cannot, and depended solely on the Holy Spirit after baptism. The 40-day fast simbolizes a death to self, the soul. It is only when we truly deny ourselves that God will use us for His glory, because it is not our will, but His. The soul must be out of the picture in order for His will to arise.

v.28 - "There are some standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."

• "There are some standing here who shall not taste death...": The way Jesus says this is interesting. Why wouldn't He just say, "There are some standing here who shall not die..." He instead says, taste death. This tasting death is really the death of ourselves, our soul.
• "...until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom...": Jesus knew the truth about the Kingdom. It wasn't something to be seen or to be revealed in the last times, when Jesus comes back. He is referring to the Kingdom coming and being available today. The Kingdom is present always. He was telling this to His disciples 2000 years ago. Here, He was explaining that He will come in His glory (His Kingdom), only after we taste death. It is the death of ourselves, our soul!
• To understand this passage more clearly, it can also be written: "There are some of you who will see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom, but only until you begin to taste death." Until we taste death, will we see Him come in radiance! He is saying that they will taste death, but not a physical one. It is our soul.

Why do I share this? Because it is vital. This is the last stage before glorification (Romans 8:30). After reading a bio on Smith Wigglesworth and Reese Howells and all others who were baptized in the Holy Spirit, one thing took place before resurrection/glorification: burial. The burial of self. The burial of the soul.

I'm not sure where you might be in your walk with the Lord, but I know one thing: He is constantly leading us to a place where we deny ourselves, and we are being transformed into His image, from glory to glory. Eventually, it comes to the death of ourselves; a surrender of the soul, our will, our desires of the flesh. But it is only for the better!

RELATIVE PASSAGES

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." -Romans 8:18

"...who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through theresurrection of Jesus Christ." -1 Peter 3:20-21

"Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles..." -1 Peter 4:1-3

"On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures has said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."' But this He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." -John 7:37-39

"Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." -Romans 8:23

"And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.' But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, 'Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." -Matthew 26:6-13

"We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God." -Acts 14:22

Are you picking up on this? There is a message of suffering. But this is not a physical one. What is suffering is the soul; a continual process of denying our self as we bear our own cross. This goes on up until burial. The Holy Spirit is leading us to the stage of death to self, of burial; then life in the Spirit, resurrection and newness. In order for Christ to be glorified in me, I must come to my end. This is the Divine longsuffering! This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit: being immersed over and over again, until we eventually drown.

One question remains: "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" (Read Matthew 20:20-23).

He surely is "preparing the ark"; the exceedingly great army (Eze.37:10), for this coming storm ahead of us.