When a prophet of the Lord is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
Numbers 12:6
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
How many of you have had a bad dream recently? How about your kids? What about a dream from the Lord? Know anybody that’s had one of those?
As you know, I tend to have my ear out in the world of prophecy. I try to be aware of what is being discussed, whether or not it has any merit. For example, last week I mentioned how there are some people who believe President Obama is the Antichrist.
One thing that seems to be increasing is people claiming to have prophetic dreams, specifically of an End-of-the-Age nature. If you don’t know what websites to look at for these dreams, it shouldn’t take much of a Google search to track them down. One of the main sites I’ve found is z3news.com.
Looking at my biblical resources, I found that visions and dreams are each mentioned more than one hundred times in the Bible. Both words are derived from similar roots for the word “seeing”. Visions seem to be exclusively experienced by believers – a list that includes such people as Abraham, Daniel, Peter, and Paul. Dreams were had both by believers (Jacob and Joseph) and non-believers (Nebuchadnezzar and Pilate’s wife).
Here are some additional things I’ve learned about prophetic and spiritual dreams:
- God’s Word is most important (Jeremiah 23:28)
- Dreams are often riddles that God gives to prophets (Numbers 12:6-8)
- They should not be taken lightly because the message is usually a serious matter (see any number of dreams in the Bible for examples)
- They can be easy to misinterpret in your own ability; God gives interpretation (Genesis 41:15-16; Daniel 1:7)
- If from the Lord, they will conform with Scripture, not contradict it (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)
- Dreams can be fulfilled years after they are given (Genesis 37:6-7, 42:6)
- Dreams can be false, can arise from false prophets, and can be interpreted falsely (Jeremiah 14:14, 23:32; Zechariah 10:2; 1 John 4:1)
So, do dreams and visions still happen today? I believe that they do because my wife and I have both had them. But it takes the utmost care and prayerful discernment to know which are from God, which aren’t, and what they mean if they are from God.
I do know for sure they will happen at the End of the Age. Consider Joel 2:28: “And it shall come to pass afterward [terrible things at the End of the Age], that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
As is always my practice in such matters, be aware of what’s being discussed out there. Take it all with a grain of salt, put God’s Word first, and let Him guide you down the path of truth.