The Cocoon

Judy Bauman

This vision was very vivid and played like a movie on a scroll in the right-hand corner of the room where I was sitting. This is what I saw:

 

There was a man who was distraught and weeping bitterly. He was bent down on one knee, naked, and his face was buried in his hands as he wept. In the air above him and to his right appeared a hand with a Bible in it. The man looked up in his broken state and he saw the hand offering him the Bible. With hope in his eyes, he reached up and took it. As he opened the Book, the words came off the pages like a thread and they began to wrap around the man. The Words encircled him until I couldn't see anything but a large white cocoon. The cocoon was very still for a period of time. Then it slowly began to rock back and forth, and soon there was more and more movement. I could tell there was a struggle going on inside of the cocoon. The cocoon began to split then suddenly it tore open. A huge butterfly adorned in stunning heavenly colors came out and quickly flew across the room and out my window! It was the most beautiful, vibrant butterfly I have ever seen. I looked back at the corner because I really wanted to see this again, but the scroll rolled up and disappeared.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

This vision speaks in two ways. First, in our broken state, the Lord's word has transforming power to change our lives.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

Without God's word working to transform us, we are broken, naked, wretched, miserable, poor, blind and lost. It is when we dig for His gold in the Bible - when we invest time in study - that we become rich. See Revelation 3:17, 18 and 2 Timothy 2:15

We truly are 'worms' without the blood of Jesus covering our sins and the Word of God with its transforming power at work in our lives. The cocoon seems to be symbolic of dying in Christ and the butterfly represents being reborn of God. See Ephesians 2:10

Until we come to that broken place, we can never know how much we truly need God. When the Word of God is opened up to a broken heart, then the Lord can make miraculous changes in even the most miserable of souls. His Word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. See Isaiah 55:10, 11. I was strongly impressed that this man was incarcerated. However, we must consider the fact that any bondage to sin can be a prison sentence.

It takes time to make a transition into a life IN CHRIST, but the beauty of being a new creation is worth it. Remember too that it is important to allow the struggle that occurs on the inside. It is the struggle inside a cocoon that strengthens the wings of the butterfly, and without the struggle the butterfly could not take flight.

John 8:36 "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

The second part of this vision that has stood out to me is 'the hand' that gives the Bible to the broken man. As we invest in other people's lives by handing them a Bible, we bring the transforming of God into their lives. We need to invest our own resources to get Bibles into the hands of those in desperate need of transformation.

Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be."

It is worth noting that spiritual discernment was key in the 'hand' giving this man a Bible at the exact time of his desperation. I believe this hand was led by the Holy Spirit. May we be sensitive to God the Father's drawing of the lost to Himself and be ready to give what is needed when the fullness of time has come in that person's life.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you.

In Christ,

Judy