According to the testimony of the five material senses, man appears to be the offspring of human parents, a mere speck in an immense material universe. Everything which he needs for satisfaction in the way of food, clothing, housing, transportation, companionship, seems to be outside himself and obtainable only through a more or less laborious struggle. This material image of man has been held so tenaciously in thought through the ages that mankind in general has accepted this material picture as real.
The Old Testament contains accounts of spiritually-minded individuals who, notwithstanding the seeming reality of evil, were receptive to the presence of the Christ, Truth. Because of their spiritual receptivity, they were roused from the mesmeric daydream of life in matter. The sacred pages glow with the deeds of these men of God who refused to allow the carnal mind to lull them to sleep in the Adam-dream. Thus they were able to break the chains of materiality that otherwise would have held them in bondage.
The older Scriptures also record a rising tide of faith and prophecy that God would send His Messiah to save the entire world from its bondage to materiality. The crescendo of this tide culminated in the glory of the events surrounding the birth of Christ Jesus, and no further Biblical prophecy of a personal Messiah is set forth.
