God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high - Hebrews 1:1-3
INTRODUCTION
Dream can mean a number of things: it can refer to a personal desire or aspiration. We have heard people say, “My dream is to become a faithful Christian.” This expresses desire. Dream also refers to a personal visual experience while asleep. What is dream? According to Wikipedia,
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, although they have been a topic of scientific, philosophical and religious interest throughout recorded history.
Dreams are beautiful
experiences. However, while some dreams are wonderful and inspiring, others are
educative and entertaining while some are horrible and useless.
Dreams have been
part of humanity from time past, time present and will likely continue in time
to come. You may have dreamt last night and may likely dream this night. The
questions have remained:
1.
What
values do dreams present to us?
2.
Does
God still speak to us in dreams today?
Truth be told:
sometimes, we dream about the things we imagine about or entertained in our
minds in the course of the day. Ecclesiastes 5:3 and 7 say:
“For a
dream comes through much activity….” (New King James Version).
A careful study
of The Bible shows that dreams are God’s communication tool for individuals:
Genesis 20:3
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and
said to him, “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast
taken; for she is a man's wife.”
Genesis 20:6
And God
said unto him in a dream, “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of
thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered
I thee not to touch her.”
Genesis 31:10
And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.
Genesis 31:11
And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, “Jacob: And I said, Here am I.”
Genesis 31:24
And God
came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, “Take heed
that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.”
Genesis 37:5
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his
brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Genesis 40:5
And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his
dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the
butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
Genesis 40:8-9
And they said unto him, “We have dreamed a dream,
and there is no interpreter of it.” And Joseph said unto them, “Do not interpretations
belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you.” And the chief butler told his dream
to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me.”
Genesis 41:8
And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit
was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all
the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that
could interpret them unto Pharaoh.
Numbers 12:6
And he said, “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.”
1Kings 3:5
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by
night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
Daniel 2:7
They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his
servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.”
Daniel 7:1
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon
Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the
dream, and told the sum of the matters.
Joel 2:28
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will
pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Matthew 1:20
But while he thought on these things, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of
David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 2:12
And being warned of God in a dream that they should
not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Matthew 27:19
When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife
sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have
suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
Acts 16:6-10
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul[a] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
DOES GOD SPEAK TO US THROUGH DREAMS?
YES, HE DOES!
At Job 33:15-16, we read,
“In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.”
It should be stated that at Joel 2:28,
God spoke through His prophet:
And
it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions.
This prophetic
declaration was replicated at Acts 2:15-17. It is pertinent to state that while
“prophecy” and all the miraculous are expected to come to an end as explained
at I Corinthians 13:8-10 nothing is said of dreams. In other words, dream is
not going to come to an end – it will remain our individual experiences.
The question,
therefore remains:
DOES
GOD GIVE US GENERAL REVELATION OF HIS WILL TODAY THROUGH DREAMS?
The answer to
this is a compound NO!
God’s final
revelation of His Will on what we must do to be saved, worship Him and live our
lives are all revealed forever through Jesus Christ and written for us on the pages
of the New Testament. Nothing is to be added or removed (Galatians 1:6-9;
Revelations 22:18-20).
Take Note:
Any dream that
is contrary to God’s revealed Will in Scripture is not from God. Therefore,
whenever you dream always juxtapose your dream with God’s Word (I John 4:1).
It is dangerous to build doctrines out of your personal dreams. It is also dangerous to universalize the applicability of your dreams. Always say, “I dreamt” and stop at that. Jeremiah 23: 28-29 says:
The
prophet that hath a dream, let him
tell a dream; and he that hath my Word,
let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the
LORD.Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces?
If you have dream about anyone, just say, “I dream” and relate same to such an individual. Avoid advertising it to others and do not come to Church to say, “The Lord told me.”
CONCLUSION
Dreams are God’s
ways of communicating to man on individual levels. Dreams, however, can be
hijacked by Satan. Enjoy your dreams. Take serious the lessons embedded therein,
but be careful not to make mountains out of molehills.
May God continue
to bless us all in Jesus’ Name!
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