God's Dream Fulfilled

Few people have ever been more lost than Dr. Robert Dykes and his wife Margery. Both

in their late 20's and parents of two young children, they were presumed dead when their

small plane went down in the mountains of the Wyoming-Utah boarder. Hundreds of planes

searched in vain for nearly a week, and there was no sign of them. The temperature had been

below zero every night, and they had no supplies, and so it was presumed they would freeze

and not be found until spring.

But young George Hunt who had just completed his first cross country flight as a student

pilot prayed for them as he went to sleep. He asked God to get them back to their family.

When he went to sleep he dreamed. He saw a red plane on a snow swept ridge, and two

people waving for help. He woke up and reasoned that he had that dream because he had

been praying for the couple. But when he went back to sleep he dreamed it again. The third

time he could see clear details of an area he use to hunt in. It was Painter's Basin and Gilbert

Peak.

The next morning he went to the airport and took a plane he was not authorized to take.

He flew to the place he saw in his dream. There he saw the red plane and the Dykes waving at

him just as in his dream. He waved back and headed to call the Civil Air Patrol. He got

chewed out for taking the plane, but when others flew over the area and confirmed his find he

was forgiven. He joined the rescue party that spent the next 24 hours getting to the plane.

There was much hugging and thanksgiving when they arrived.

The Dykes had all but given up. They had written notes as to who was to raise their

children. All they had left was one candy bar. Mrs. Dykes said to young George, "When we

saw your plane, it was the most wonderful thing. Our prayers were answered; a dream come

true." They were brought back from certain death and given life with their family by means

of a dream.

This salvation story is a mini example of what God did for all of us on Easter. We were all

lost, and the whole human race was facing certain death, and not just physical death, but

spiritual as well, which is separation from God. But God gave His Son a dream, and in that

dream a vision of how mankind could be rescued and saved from that death which threatened

to engulf them. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world.

The plan of salvation was a dream of God even before He created man. He knew the

consequences of making a free will creature, and He knew sin and death was inevitable. But it

was worth it, for He had a plan of salvation that would be a dream come true.

In the Incarnation Jesus took flight from eternity into time to seek and save the lost. In

the crucifixion he paid the penalty for their sin and took their judgment on Himself. In the

resurrection Jesus fulfilled God's dream, for by this victory over man's last enemy, which is

death, Jesus guaranteed that God would have a redeemed family for all eternity. Easter is the

celebration of God's dream fulfilled.

When Jesus woke from the sleep of death,

And in His new body took His new breath,

The storm of darkness and doom He stilled;

With hope His disciple's hearts He filled,

And God's dream for man He fulfilled.

What Jesus did for God and man on that first Easter dawn is so awesome and so ultimate

there is no way to adequately convey in words the wonder of it all. That is why we have

cantatas and a world filled with beautiful Easter music. The Easter message not only has to

be believed, it has to be felt, for the mind alone cannot grasp it all. When the Queen of Sheba

saw the wisdom and wealth of Solomon she exclaimed, "Behold, the half was not told me."

Jesus said of Himself, "A greater than Solomon is here." If words could not convey half the

glory of Solomon, how much less can they convey the glory of our risen Lord?

Trying to illustrate the glory of the risen Christ by the use of words is like trying to

illustrate the glory of the sun by means of a candle. That is why we see God doing some

spectacular things that first Easter dawn, and adding special effects to the event. The violent

earthquake, the angel rolling the stone back, and His appearance like lightning with clothes