As stated above, if one is asleep physically, he may, in a dream, believe himself to be awake. This, to me, is the most fascinating and primary relevance of this analogy: Both the one who is awake, and the one who is asleep, can think that they are awake. God does not make one's condition clear to the individual when he is asleep. It is only made clear to the one who is awake. In the same way, at the time of Christ, both the Christian and the Jew may have thought that they were faithful to God, but only the Christians knew with certainty that they had attained unto Faith. God did not make it clear to the Jew that he had not attained unto faith, though the Jew himself, of course, thought that he had (71:3)

The SEEKER and the BELIEVER-
To wake up the peoples of the world Christ sent forth his followers. It was they who were to be the means of bringing faith and everlasting life to the masses. Their task was enormous, but their faith unconquerable. Their future was perilous, but they had been prepared for whatever obstacles they might face. And, of course, many obstacles there were, for this company of blessed souls, who possessed nothing but the unalterable conviction that the Christ had come, had to meet face to face with a world which doubted, rejected, and even fiercely opposed this truth (71:4)

Some believed, and some didn't; and the two had to meet. Their meeting, in fact, was a requirement of God's plan. For it was only through these meetings that the light residing in the believers would be shed abroad to all nations (71:5)

Get Next Page