Antidotes provide a cure for most poisons, but the key to locating the correct one rests in identifying the poison quickly. By observing the symptoms and examining the blood tests, an emergency room doctor can often intervene with the proper antidote. The life of the patient depends on his proper diagnosis to reverse the curse of the toxins.

Our Sleeping Beauty (the Church) has ingested a poison with multifaceted effects. Each one has caused a devastating symptom that, if left untreated, will eventually merge together in her system and smother her. Time is of the essence if an antidote is to be found.

Perhaps if we step back for a moment and look at these symptoms one by one, the antidote will become obvious to us. And, if obvious to us who are the multiple parts of her body, surely as one body we can cry out for the Great Physician—that great and glorious Prince of heaven—to come with the kiss of healing in His wings.

How can she sleep while the enemy systematically stalks and devours the sons and daughters of Adam? She has been duped—thoroughly deceived by this dragon. This devilish deception has blinded the perceptive ability of her eyes from recognizing the presence of her Lord. Just like Jacob, who awakened after his dream of an angelic stairway reaching from heaven to earth (Gen. 28:10-22), she is unaware of God’s glorious presence within her. She is the biblical Bethel (Hebrew for “the house of God”), yet she has traded Christ’s shekinah glory for a deceptive image of her own fading glory.

Like Jacob, she has charged ahead, coveting and seizing those things that were not hers to take. Power, prestige, and position, stolen from the world, have now returned the favor by stealing her ability to discern and perceive her Bridegroom’s presence. She has become a blind guide to the blind. The Jesus she imagines no longer resembles the Jesus who died for her and resides deep within her.

Unlike Jacob, however, she has not realized her pitiful condition. There are no confessions of awe, memorial stones, or oil— passionately offered in worship. What remains is a Sleeping Beauty stretched out in a desert, content with a stone for a pillow—a morning glory who should be mourning for His glory. Oh, Bride of the Risen Christ, how long will you go on seeing but not perceiving?