Prophetic Dreaming
In ancient times, the LORD God sometimes made his guidance known to people in their dreams. Even today, this is still possible for the all-powerful LORD God.
INTRODUCTION
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations. They usually occur involuntarily during certain stages of sleep.
Most major world religions consider dreams to be important. The ancient Jewish people, for example, believed dreams were the voice of the one God.
In the early centuries of the Christian movement, most Christians continued the perspective of the ancient Jewish people, believing dreams to be of a supernatural character.
The prophets, for example, sometimes learned of God’s will through their dreams.
In our day, some Christians continue to believe that God can speak to them through their dreams.
That is of course, completely possible. The LORD God is all-powerful.
However, it seems to happen less often in our day. We believe that diminishing is due to three major blessings that were generally not available to people in ancient times:
- The revelation of Jesus Christ
- The full content of the Bible
- The Holy Spirit dwelling within us
Thus in most cases, those three are thoroughly capable of revealing the will of God the Father for our lives.
That said, even in our day, it is still possible, of course, for the all-powerful LORD God to reveal his will to us through our dreams.
BIBLE VERSES
Genesis 20:3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a man’s wife.”
Genesis 28:12. He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 37:5. Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
Genesis 40:8. They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
Genesis 41:8. In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
Genesis 41:11. We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream.
Genesis 41:25. Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.
Genesis 42:9. Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
Numbers 12:6. He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.
Deuteronomy 13:1. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
Deuteronomy 13:3. you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
1 Samuel 28:15. Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”
Job 33:15. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed;
Isaiah 29:7. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
Jeremiah 23:32. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says the LORD, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says the LORD.
Daniel 1:17. Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Daniel 7:1. In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.
Daniel 4:5. I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
Joel 2:28. I saw a dream. “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.” (NASB translation)
Zechariah 10:2. For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.
Matthew 1:20. But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 2:13. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
Matthew 2:19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
Matthew 2:22. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
Acts 2:17. ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.