I am not one who claims to have a continuous flow of ‘spiritual dreams’ where I believe God is ‘speaking to me’; but I have had a couple of notable ones over the years where that seemed to be the case; and that is ‘scriptural’ in case you are wondering (Acts 2:17). Yet I am an active dreamer, meaning something always seems to be going on in my head when I sleep, but seldom do they ever make sense or bear worth repeating to anyone because of that. But I did wake up the other morning after dreaming about a particular Bible verse, of all things.

When I say I was dreaming about a ‘verse’, it really was a particular passage with reference and all, and it just kept boring into my subconscious as if to drive a point home, and when I finally woke up, I could not get it off my mind, so naturally I went to spend some time looking it over. It’s a verse I have cited here numerous times before and it is John 3:36.

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

I still remember the setting I was in many years ago when that passage was first brought to my attention and I recall just staring at it, then highlighting it in my Bible…curious as to why I had never ‘seen that one before’. Ever have that happen in your own study time and you come across certain passages that just reach out and grab you like that?

It was the very last part of that sentence that made such an impression on me too, and still does today. I have a hunch the reason the Holy Spirit will often have us circle back and revisit various passages in the Bible is because there is ‘more there’ than meets the eye. It’s as if He is trying to get us to ‘see something’ we have not quite yet fully grasped. And I have no problem at all when God wants to do that with me; I like repetition and am one of those who needs to see or hear it over and over again.

This particular verse, especially the last part…speaks to our ‘spiritual condition’ that we all find/found ourselves in…prior to having a life changing and transformative encounter with Jesus. Paul would later write that we “were dead…in our sins and trespasses’ in Eph. 2:1, and we’ll come back to that text later. But after one truly turns (repents) and ‘comes to Jesus with all their heart’…they begin to experience the ‘God kind of life’ that we were called to have; but you really do have to come to Him first (John 5:40; 10:10).

Now prior to this ‘coming to Jesus’ experience, please take a moment or two and let that sink in where it says…’the wrath of God abides on him’… ‘him’ being those who have yet to truly repent and come to God with all their hearts. I went to gather up different translations of that phrase so as to get a better understanding of what is being addressed, and I share some of those with you here now:

[ the wrath of God hangs over him continually / God’s displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually/ God will be angry with them forever/ God will continue to be angry with people like that/ remains under God’s angry judgment/ must endure God’s wrath/ They will know only God’s lingering wrath/ he will see God’s constant anger/ but will remain under God's punishment]

Friends…this is what it means to be born with a curse on you, and every last one of us were born into this world and life with that ‘curse’, which was a ‘curse of death’ (Romas 5:12). Now that might not seem fair to you, or confusing at best…but there is good news: God had a plan set in place to redeem us from that place of death, or as we like to say in our church circles…a plan to ‘save’ us. (John 3:17-18). Do you know what it is/was that Jesus came to save us from? It was the ‘wrath of God’ that was on us (Romans 5:9).

I should also point out that this was NOT God’s ‘doing’ or original plan or design for any of us, but when sin entered the scene early on, it complicated things for all of humanity. And yes, God had a backup plan figuring this would happen since we were given the gift of choosing for ourselves instead of being programmed like a bunch of robots who were ordered to love and serve God.

So when sin entered the world back in Genesis 3, death came upon all men and as a result…men became subjects to the one who ruled this world at that time, the wicked one known as the devil, or Satan (Rev. 12:9). Why do you think he was in a position to offer up all the kingdoms of this world to Jesus when he tempted Him in the wilderness? (Luke 4:5-6). And in case you have not been taking good notes when reading here, go look at 1 John 5:19 real quick. That is written to those who supposedly ‘know’ already.

So when you read there that this ‘whole word lies under the power of the wicked one’ (unless they have been set free, of course - Acts 26:18; John 8:32-36)…do you recall exactly ‘how’…this spiritual entity of wickedness and darkness exerts his control and power? It is through our sinful flesh or carnal nature’. That is exactly how Paul explains it in Ephesians 2:1-3 – ‘working IN the sons of disobedience…through the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind’ and henceforth…’by nature were children of wrath’. 

Are you starting to see now why I spend so much time driving home the point that dealing with this carnal flesh nature is not some ‘holy option for super saints’?