There once was a man who had a dream.  And in that dream God
showed the man how to understand the true faith that leads to eternal
life.

THE DREAM

I was walking alone when I heard the roar of a great waterfall. As I came near I saw it was Niagara Falls. Many people were gathered and pointing into the air.  I walked closer and saw that a tight rope walker had strung a steel cable across the river a few
yards from where the water rushed over the edge.

I looked out over the boiling river and saw a man walking on the wire and pushing a wheel barrow as he crossed from the other side.  As he neared the platform the crowd cheered and I moved closer to see this amazing man.

As I approached the wire walker looked directly at me and said:  "Do you believe that I could push a man across the river in my wheel barrow?"  I replied: "Sure, I believe that you could do that."

The man looked at me with piercing eyes and said:  "If you truly believe, then get in the barrow and I will take you across." I gasped as my mind beheld the meaning of true faith.

I awoke suddenly and fell to my knees asking God to explain the meaning of this parable to me.  As I prayed a great peace came over me and I drifted back to sleep and I saw an angel of God who spoke to me and said:

"Listen and I will explain the dream more fully.

The "river" is the world of sin and destruction.

  The "wire" is the Law of God.

   The "wheel barrow" is the Kingdom of God.

     The man with the barrow is Jesus Christ."

The angel gently asked me if I now understood the meaning of the dream.  "Not yet" I replied, "what  must I do to be saved from the river of destruction."

The angel said:  "When God calls a man to be saved, He asks the man to have faith that Jesus will carry him across the river of sin.  If the man chooses to get in the barrow, trusting in Jesus and obedience to the Law of God to protect him from falling back into the world of sin, he will be delivered safely to the salvation of eternal life.

The only way the man could be lost would be to jump from the wheel-barrow (which is the kingdom of God) back into the river of sin (which is the kingdom of Satan). Sadly, many do...

"Why would they ever do that"?  I asked.

The angel told me that the power of sin was great and that those who did not "love God with their whole heart, mind and soul" would be attracted to sin and choose to jump from the kingdom of God back into the kingdom of Satan.

"How could they be so foolish?" I asked.

With a deep sigh, the angel said that many were deceived by the ministers of Satan who told them that it was impossible to keep the Law of God.  The angel took me by the arm and we went back to the great falls of Niagara.  There, I saw Jesus asking another man to "get in the barrow".  The man moved toward Jesus when suddenly an attractive woman appeared at his side and said:  "You do not have to cross over the wire, Jesus has already done it for you...Jesus walked across in your place".  

The man looked at Jesus and the swaying wire and then down into the river of death. He thought for a moment and then turned to the seductive woman.  "But Jesus said that I must believe in Him and get in the wheel barrow."  The woman smiled and said: "Well, you did believe, didn't you?  You believed that Jesus could carry you across and that is all that Jesus wants from you."

The woman opened her well-worn bible and pointed to a verse which said:

      "For God so loved the world,
      that he gave his only begotten Son,
       that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
      but have everlasting life."
                                   John 3:16

The woman lifted her eyes to the man and said:  "You see, you have believed in Jesus and you will not perish, you already have everlasting life and you do not need to make
that frightening journey across the river of sin.  What if you were to fall in, it would be certain death; that is why Jesus did it for you.  When Jesus asked you to get in the barrow,   He did not really mean it literally, He just wanted to see if you would do it.  
You believed and you started to get in, that is all that is required. Remember, the bible says:

'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.'
 
If you were to actually get in the barrow, you would be trusting in your own works.  By not getting in you are proving that you truly believe in the finished work of Christ."

The man's eyes lit up in understanding.  He asked the woman: "Does that mean that I can stay here on this side and even if I were to fall into the river of sin occasionally, I would not perish?"

"Why, of course, the woman said, "By grace you are saved through faith"!  You had faith that Christ would save you and you shall never die." The man hugged the woman, and said: "Thank you, thank you...you have saved me from crossing the river on that narrow, shaky wire.  I am sure I would have fallen off the barrow.  But now I feel peace. Please let me help you to teach this message of grace and serve you until I die."

The woman smiled...

The angel of God turned to me and asked if I understood the vision. I said: "Yes, now I see how those whom God calls to cross the river of death can be tricked by the false teachers who always use the bible to lead people away from obedience to the Law of God."  

The dream is clear to me now. "The way that leads to life is narrow and few there be that find it".  In order to be saved from sin and inherit eternal life, we must trust Jesus to carry us across the river of sin on the wire of God's law which is the "narrow path that leads to life"

As long as we stay on the wire, we cannot fall into sin.  And Jesus promises that he will not let us fall. The only way we can fail is to choose to jump out of the barrow and back into the river of sin through deliberate disobedience to any of the Ten Commandments.

The angel said:  "Yes, now you understand.  And now knowing the true way of faith, the only question left is...Will you get in the barrow yourself?"

Harold Kupp