Escape from Christendom

Chapter six

 

THE VISION

 

When I next see the traveler in my dream, he has begun to complain, "How long is this going to go on? I would have thought that by now the work would be finished and we could go on. I'm sorry, but I'm tired. I'm going over by that boulder to rest in the shade for a couple of days."

 

Later another traveler passes the boulder and finds him lying there almost dead. Running to the spring he fills two flasks, returns and pours the precious water down his throat.

 

"Drink, brother, drink!"

 

"Thank you! Oh, thank you! I was almost done for," says the traveler between gulps. "But how did I come to this? What went wrong?"

 

His mysterious companion joins him again. "Brother," she says, "you lost your strength because you lost your vision. The City of God over there is still your destination. It is your home, the dwelling place of our God. While you work, be sure to take time daily, hourly, to pause and look at the City of God. If you fail to look up in the midst of your labors and see the City of God, fail to stop and hear its music, neglect to breathe the atmosphere it sends forth to you, or to drink from that stream which flows out from beneath its gates, you will soon be exhausted. You must remember that sustaining power comes from the City."

 

The traveler resumes his work in the Harvest with fresh vigor. But at nightfall he is overcome by weariness. He goes to the spring; approaching it is a woman who looks to be quite elderly, yet doesn’t appear the least bit tired.

 

"What is your secret?" asks the traveler. 'You look so youthful and vigorous while I have no strength left."

 

"I have taken my queue from Daniel," she tells him. "Daniel must have been a busy man, yet in the midst of the daily pressures he continued to return to his upper chamber where the windows opened westward. There, looking toward Jerusalem hundreds of miles away, he prayed and gave thanks to God. Even though it meant the lions' den, Daniel refused to neglect his prayers. Daniel kept his vision alive by making the City of God his focus. And that's what I do. The more problems I have to contend with here in the Harvest, the more time seems to press in on me, the more firmly I fix my eye on the City of God. I make sure to keep looking up. Every time I eat bread and drink wine I do so in anticipation as well as in remembrance. This is the food of the City, you know. It keeps my eyes and my heart there."

 

When the traveler left the old woman, he seemed to be consciously attempting to keep his vision before him. In a low voice he was singing the words of Revelation:

 

"And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away!' ”

 

When I last see the traveler, his mysterious companion had returned with a final admonition for him: "Keep looking to that City and remembering who waits for you there. He has prepared a place for you and will soon be coming for you. Meanwhile, as you look to the City, He will renew your strength so that you will mount up on wings as the eagles, you will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint."