This will be the final post of visions, dreams and sound doctrine. From
the outset forgive me for its word count, but this is a topic of great
relevance, with so many voices out there. This is by far the longest post ever
uploaded. The reason behind this, I have decided to bring in another
perspective on the topic and so I felt it would be prudent to have Gideon’s
input on the subject. He is the pastor at Florida Baptist Church. This then is
a joint post with intertwined thoughts from both of us. If you want to dissect
this topic accurately it would be good to read it with an open Bible.
There are many references to scripture but not all have been captured in their
entirety due space constraints.
Now that we had a foundation laid concerning sound doctrine and what we
must be on the lookout for, which I covered in part 1 and 2, let’s now explore
dreams, prophecy and visions.
Again it would be prudent to establish a fundamental truth concerning
this, not to say that dreams have totally run their course, but to swallow them
up would be foolish.
The difference between a vision and an apparition
is that a vision is not an actual manifestation but something that occurs in
the mind. An apparition is a physical manifestation of the spiritual object. A
vision is not an actual appearance of something, where an apparition is.
However, an actual object that exists spiritually can appear in the form of a
vision that is not seen by others. Apparitions, on the other hand, are often
seen by more than one person at a time.
A vision is a "Visual” experience of any kind.
The term is sometimes used of dreams with no thought of supernatural revelation
(see literal renderings of Job 20:8 cf. 7:14; Isaiah 29:7), but usually refers
to the extraordinary religious experience of a prophet.
There are many accounts of visions in the Bible.
Here are a few.
· "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and
Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah,
kings of Judah," (Isaiah 1:1).
· "Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the
fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God," (Ezekiel 1:1).
· "Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord
said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord," (Acts
9:10).
· "About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an
angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!" (Acts
10:3).
· "A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was
standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help
us," (Acts 16:9).
Different people have seen visions in the Bible.
· Abraham, after these things the word
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a
shield to you; Your reward shall be very great," (Genesis 15:1).
· Jacob, "God spoke to Israel in
visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am,"
(Genesis 46:2).
· Paul, "A vision appeared to
Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and
saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us,'" (Acts 16:9).
· Ananias, "Now there was a disciple
at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And
he said, “Here I am, Lord," (Acts 9:10).
· Cornelius, "About the ninth
hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come
in and said to him, “Cornelius!” (Acts 10:3).
There are visions of different things.
· The Lord, "After these things the
word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not fear, Abram, I am a
shield to you; Your reward shall be very great,'" (Gen. 15:1). See
also, Gen.46:2; Num. 24:4; Isaiah 6:1).
· The Future, "“As for me, Daniel, my
spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming
me. 16 “I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the
exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the
interpretation of these things: 17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in
number, are four kings who will arise from the earth," (Daniel 7:15-17).
- A man, "A
vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing
and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help
us," (Acts 16:9).
- An angel, "For
this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve
stood before me," (Acts 27:23).
DREAMS
Dreams can sometimes fascinate believers. From the
visions Daniel experienced in the Old Testament (Daniel 7) to Peter’s dream
about clean and unclean animals (Acts 10:9-16) it seems as though dreams lace
almost all the books of Scripture.
Even in the modern context, it seems as though
believers have come to Christ through seeing Jesus in a dream
What are some examples of dreams throughout
Scripture? What does the Bible have to say about dreams explicitly and
does God still speak to us through dreams? And how much stock should Christians
place in dreams today?
We cannot dive into every instance of dreams in
Scripture. However, I will highlight a few instances of dreams and why they
matter:
Joseph (Old Testament): You cannot discuss Joseph from Genesis without
diving into dreams. Granted, most of the time he spent interpreting dreams
(Genesis 41), but he did have a dream of his own before he entered Egypt
(Genesis 37). These dreams hinted that Joseph’s family would “bow to him” in
the future. This comes to fruition when they come to him for food during a
great famine. In essence, the dream had a purpose to foretell the future
Daniel (Old Testament): Like Joseph, he often interprets dreams rather than
has them, but in Daniel 7 he witnesses a terrifying dream of four beasts.
Theologians have attributed each beast to a certain kingdom (Babylon,
Medo-Persians, Greeks, and Romans/End Kingdom). The dreams served to show
events and kingdoms to come.
Joseph (New Testament):
Joseph, Jesus’ father, sees an angel in a dream who
warns him to flee to Egypt before Herod can take the life of his son (Matthew
2:13). This dream served as a warning.
Pontius Pilate’s wife (New Testament):
When Jesus stands at trial with Pontius Pilate, his
wife warns Pilate against having anything to do with him, because she knows of
his innocence (Matthew 27:19). The dream informed her about the true nature of
Jesus.
AS SEEN
All the dreams in Scripture and the meaning behind
them. Dreams often employ symbolism to teach a lesson, divulge elements of the
future, or help us discover more about God.
TO US THEN
I know that many will now be looking to the book of acts to say, “But
hang on”; “‘And in the last days it shall be, God
declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;” (Acts 2:17) - It is obvious that in the last days
this will happen but never at the expense of God’s Word. Can you conclude with
any certainty that we are in the last days? God is not the author of confusion,
when a dream, vision or prophecy contradicts God’s Word it is obviously a false
message. The ones that are not as obvious to discern, we then wait and see if
they come to pass. If not, they are false and we must not give the one who
speaks to much attention. “You need not be afraid of
him.” Although most dream references in
Scripture refer to certain dreams God has given to a certain person (see
above), Scripture does mention a few things about dreams:
- Acts 2:17: In the
End Times, many believers will see dreams. Although it doesn’t specify
what exactly they’d see, one can infer it might be a vision of Heaven,
Christ, or of the future.
- Eccl.5:7: This verse
seems to warn against placing too much hope in dreams. “Much dreaming . .
. (is) meaningless.” Therefore, we shouldn’t dwell too much on dreams, and
instead, turn to Scripture to hear God’s messages to us.
- Jer. 29:8: This verse warns
us against placing our faith in the dreams of others. Sometimes false
prophets will speak about dreams that did not take place to sway God’s
people. Christians have to be careful whenever anyone speaks about a dream
and should test everything said about that dream against Scripture.
If you take a look at the frequency of dreams in the Bible, most occur
in the Old Testament. Since most who lived in the Old Testament had limited
access to God’s word, or in the case of those who lived before the time of
Moses, God used dreams and visions as a way to communicate His messages to
people. The Bible does mention believers having dreams in the last days, but
those dreams should never usurp Scripture in terms of authority.
God may place a dream in a Christian’s life to warn
them about a future event, show a symbol that is important for that believer’s
life, or to convey a certain message. Whenever a Christian encounters such a
dream, they should test the spirits by opening the Bible and reading what it
has to say about the subject of that dream.
Furthermore, although dreams may fascinate us,
Christians should not envy other Christians who have dreams. Dreams don’t have
a greater authority than Scripture, and most believers have God’s words right
at their fingertips.
If people are experiencing visions and dreams today, it may fulfil what
Scripture says about this happening more frequently in the Last Days. However,
ultimately, it shows us God is still speaking to those unreached by Scripture.
Amidst all this we have been called to test the spirits; “Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) – The context of this chapter teaches
us that every spirit which denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
the spirit of antichrist (a deliberate opponent to the message of the true
gospel, an enemy of the cross).
There are many ministries, churches and cults that are thriving on
dreams and vision. This is not new, we see it from the Old Testament (Jer.
23:16-32) and Paul dealt with the same issues in the Church in Colossian
(Col.2:16-23). The trend we are seeing in the Church today, it’s easy to uncover
and obvious to pick out as we examine them against the Bible.
However the not so evident deceiver is the one who dresses in sheep’s
clothing but are in fact ravenous wolves. Remember to remove emotion
from the analysis, do not be caught out by the hype of their productions.
Jeremiah singles out these types of individuals (Jerimiah 23:1-2,
9) –
(Deuteronomy 18:20-22) – We also understand
that God chose a time and a season whereby he used prophets in a mighty way to
get His message out. The Old Testament if full of their dealings with the
children of Israel.
The writer of Hebrews now brings in a truth that we must digest and
cherish above all else; “Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last
days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1)
There was a time prior to the finished
work of the cross where prophet played a major time in the lives of God’s
people, that time has passed, we now have the written Word of God that fuels
our feet and the direction in which we (the Christian) walk.
Conclusion
Christians should consult Scripture any time they
encounter a vivid dream that seems to have a meaning or authority greater than
the regular dreams most of us experience each night. The day of reckoning is not far away, let us hold the penned Words of
God in the Bible as our priority. Without the grace of God in our lives we
would all lose our way. Thank you Jesus for your input in our lives. Gives us
ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches is my heartfelt prayer.
In the articles circulating around which talks
about Muslims who have seen Jesus in dreams, those dreams occur because they
mostly do not have access to God’s word or have not read Scripture for
themselves. Dreams form a temporary bridge for them to encounter God.
Let us cling to the finished work of the cross as we embrace our Saviour
with outstretched arms as we trust Him to get us home.
Signing off
A joint post by
Tyrone Arthur and Gideon Mpeni
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