Jewels From Judy

The Crosses Return - A Dream within a Dream

Recently, I have felt prompted to release specific dreams and visions from when I first committed my life to the Lord. The night I had this dream I had spoken to my brother on the phone. He was in a terrible place at the time and told me that he had a dream the night before that he was standing in a huge open field at night and could see many stars, but he knew there was something else there. My brother said he asked the Lord what it was He was trying to show him, but he couldn't see it. He reported awaking from that dream disappointed. Before I went to sleep that evening, I asked the Lord if He would show me what He was trying to show my brother. In His graciousness - He did. Praise Him!

July 14, 1997

I dreamed that I was traveling with a group of people. It seemed to me that we were a ministry team and knew each other very well in the dream, but when I awoke I had no idea who they were. In the dream, I was exhausted and asked the person we were visiting if I could take a nap in the back room.  I went to lie down and soon was in a deep sleep.

While I took this nap, I began to dream. (So it was a dream within a dream) As with my brother, I was standing in a huge open field and the night sky was full with stars. I looked up and saw one star that looked very bright and was twinkling in a dynamic manner. I carefully watched it and noticed that it was getting larger. I concentrated on this star trying to fathom and comprehend what the Lord was showing me. Then I realized the star appeared to be getting larger because it was actually moving closer to the earth. It got to be so radiant that I could hardly look at it. As it came nearer to me, I realized it was not a star at all, but an extremely bright and luminous gold cross.

One reason it flickered was because it was rotating on its axis. I could see there was something wrapped around it, but I couldn't tell what it was at first. Then I realized the only reason I could gaze at the cross at all was because it had grape leaves draped over it. It reminded me of South Dakota Gold. (See a similar example cross My cross was solid gold.)

The grape leaves kept me from being blinded by the intense brilliance of the cross. The other reason it flickered brightly at times was that as it was coming towards the earth, it also seemed to be growing larger and then getting smaller. Even though it was a considerable distance from me, as it came closer, I could see that it split from being just one cross, to three crosses, then to seven crosses and back again! The One Cross was always in the center. The crosses on the right side went behind the center cross and the crosses on the left side went in front of it in a straight line. They then moved in the opposite direction outwardly. This is how the three became seven crosses, and then they became three crosses again, then back into the One Cross. The whole time they were each spinning on their own axis. The crosses moved in this fashion the entire time they approached the earth. They each had grape leaves draped over them and I could see the stars in the background. It was a magnificent sight!         

When I woke up from the 'nap' (I was still sleeping and dreaming) I went in and told my missionary friends about this dream. They each in turn shared with me what they thought the dream meant. I was a bit troubled because none of the interpretations bore witness to what I was feeling about the dream.  It was not contentious in any way, but they all seemed to be guessing and my sense was that they were guessing incorrectly.  Then I awoke from the dream.

Interpretation:

I do believe the simplest interpretation of this dream is that Christ is returning to the earth. He is steadily moving towards us and even though the crosses were still far off, I could see their approach and felt the urgency of teaching the Gospel before Jesus' return.  Since I had this dream only five days after totally surrendering my life to Jesus, looking back on it I see His will in calling me to the mission field. 

God Almighty is symbolized in the One Cross representing Unity and Primacy as the All Sufficient One. The cross is symbolic of the method used to slay the Lamb of God. It is the instrument of death to the flesh.

The Three Crosses reflect God's divine completeness and perfection. He is The Way, The Truth, The Life. Three represents the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent.  He completes all time in the past, present and future. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Peter, James, and John.  Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days, and he foreshadowed Christ's resurrection on the third day. Jesus validated Jonah's testimony in Matthew 12:40 and again in 16:4. It also states in 1 John 5:7-8, "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. There are three who bear witness on the earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood. These agree as one."

The Seven Crosses denote spiritual perfection found in the Seven Spirits before his throne, and signify He is coming in fullness, strength and perfect power. The Seven Spirits are the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord. This is the sevenfold anointing of the Messiah. The Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the only One who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. He was seen having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He alone is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing! Amen! These are the sevenfold ascriptions to Christ (See Isaiah 11:2 and Revelations 1:4; 4:5, 5:1-14).

For greater understanding of what this means in our time I recommend Johnny Enlow's book which came out in 2008, "The Seven Mountain Prophecy."

In this dream, the grape leaves were used to veil the brilliance of God, so that I could see His return is near. The crosses were draped and shielded from full view to keep from blinding me. We know in part and prophesy in part. We know not when He will return, only the Father knows (See Mark 13:32). We are to be doing our part, but only in obedience, carrying out the Great Commission (See Matthew 28:18-20). We are to be aware that He is coming back as He promised He would do; however, we must also understand that He is slow in His return, as He doesn't desire anyone to perish. (See 2 Peter 3:1-18). We are each responsible to be about our Father's business until Christ's return. The key is to walk in obedience and wisdom. Even Jesus had to wait and grow up before He could walk fully in His ministry.

Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. Grape leaves bring nourishment to the fruit of the vine. Grapes are the fruit which Jesus used in proclamation of the new covenant. We drink from the cup in remembrance of what Christ did for the remission of our sins. The grapes also represent Jesus' first miracle and the fruit of the Spirit.

The dream within a dream seems to be symbolic of going deeper for revelation. In this part of the dream I was so exhausted. To this day I remember how tired my body felt as I asked the host if I could take a nap and how deeply I was sleeping. This brings to mind when Jesus said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." (See 2 Corinthians 12:9). This also reminds me of when Jesus (the Carpenter) told His disciples (the fishermen) after an exhausting night of fishing to let out the nets and get ready for a haul.  Deep calls unto deep! (See Luke 5:4-10 and Psalm 42:7)

The Lord revealed His grace to me in a personal way through this dream. To ask God to show me something - and for Him to do it - seems an amazing example of His love and grace. I just realized that I had been serving Christ for about five months when I had this dream, and it is interesting to me, as five is the number of Grace! All glory and honor to our God!

Another thing that I now see that I had not seen before is the significance of the date of this dream. July 14th or 7/14 is relevant to the Scripture that has been an essential word for our day found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land."

The people on the team were people I had not met.  Not surprising, since at that time I knew very few Christians.  Now I have met many people since being in ministry and love their company. However, I ran into one consistent block which is that the Lord did not allow others to interpret the dreams He gave me. Then in 2004 when I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do, He told me to get out my journals, beginning from 1997.  I was then to type them and afterward He would be the One to give the interpretation.  This lines up with Genesis 40:8.  It is my belief that you cannot operate in the gift of interpretation of dreams if you seek others to do it for you - as I did for many years!  After allowing the Lord to develop this gift, He has led me to different believers, not only for confirmation, but to help others understand their dreams. (See Proverbs 11:14). For the most part I am to sit with Him in the Secret Place and let Him tell me what their meaning.  Praise God!

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rev. Judy Bauman