What Do We Do with Dreams and Visions?
“And it shall come to pass afterward, 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.” Joel 2:28
As I recently prepared for a podcast Q&A, I had a friend and sister in Christ pose this question of personal interest. Perhaps you have had the same question.
“Why are so many visions accepted in New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) churches without any apparent Scriptural verification? In Joel 2:28, God promised, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” That Scripture has always and still made me question when and how this will come about.”
It was such a good question that I wanted to discuss it in a separate blog post. For those who have been affiliated with the teachings and practices within this movement, we know that dreams and visions are a major focus in it. Leaders teach and write books on the subject, providing dream interpretation books and claiming revelatory insight as to how to know what God is saying through dreams. Some of these leaders will teach that Satan will attempt to interfere with your dreams, and when he does this, he will hinder your ability to hear God and to obey His word. Dreams, internal visions, and open visions are sought after in this movement, viewed as significant characteristics of modern-day prophets. Truth be told, these visions and dreams are held in high esteem and are even viewed in an authoritative fashion.
A few years ago, I did a brief study on dreams and visions in light of Scripture, and I shared some thoughts on the subject. When looking at Joel 2:28, I noted these observations, “When reflecting on this particular verse in Acts, it is interesting to note that there is little mention of the occurrence of dreams in the early church coinciding with this verse. Other than the account in Acts 16:9 of Paul’s night vision of the Macedonian man urging Paul to come and help them, there are no other New Testament passages (in Acts) mentioning the occurrence of dreams. Therefore, it would appear that this reference to visions and dreams found in Acts 2:17 and Joel 2:28 is referencing a time to come coinciding with the Day of the Lord.”
According to this commentary,
“The three modes whereby God revealed His will under the Old Testament (Nu 12:6), “prophecy, dreams, and visions,” are here made the symbol of the full manifestation of Himself to all His people, not only in miraculous gifts to some, but by His indwelling Spirit to all in the New Testament” (Jn 14:21, 23; 15:15).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 667.
What are we to make of claims to dreams and visions today? Could God speak to someone through a dream? God can do what He wills to do. At the same time, we must be careful to attribute such things to God by using descriptive passages of Scripture in a prescriptive and personally applicable way. When we look at Scripture, we find that the occurrences of dreams and visions was not as common as some would claim today, and this is not a normative thing in the life of a Christian. Though we know that God spoke to the Old Testament prophets and fathers of Israel in various ways, He has sufficiently revealed all that He purposed to reveal through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1,2). We should also consider that God provided the interpretation or the direct meaning of a vision or dream. He did not operate in ambiguity or in the need for a dream dictionary in order to know what He may or may not have wanted to convey to an individual. He is also not at the mercy of Satan, nor is He dependent upon human beings tuning into the proper frequency in order to hear what He has to say.
There is a propensity in this particular movement to elevate the man or woman having such experiences. Although dreams were given on occasion to particular individuals, the descriptions of those accounts do not equate to being prescriptive in our lives as believers in Christ. We are not instructed to seek such experiences in order to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The written Word of God is to be the final authority in our lives, and our lives are to be lived unto the glory of God. Even the dreams found in Scripture pointed back to the sovereignty and glory of God in every situation. It is Christ’s finished work on the cross that marks us as His people. He is to be our focus and the object of our faith. No amount of claimed supernatural experiences defines my fellowship or your fellowship with God. Be encouraged by this truth.
Listen to this episode discussing the topic of dreams and visions in the NAR movement: The Lovesick Scribe Podcast: What Do We Do with Dreams and Visions? on Apple Podcasts
2 thoughts on “What Do We Do with Dreams and Visions?”
Hi Dawn. Good question – “What do we do with dreams and visions?” I am whole heartedly with you on the scrutiny of dreams and visions, having come out of the prophetic movement myself. For the most part, what is seen and presented as such today, in the apostolic/prophetic movement, is vain imaginations and demonic delusion.
I just have one further observation. Attributing the ‘last days’ reference in Joel 2:28-32 and again Acts 2:16-17 to the final ‘day of the Lord’, seems to conflict with other references to the ‘last days,’ altho’ Joel 2 does seem to address two different time periods, (Joel 2:28-29, and vs. 30-32 – future. Peter, in Acts 2:16-17 states of Joel 2:28-30, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” So Peter was identifying the Joel text to the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Other ‘last days’ references that are clearly tied to the time they were written are; Heb. 1:1-2 “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
1 Tim.4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”
2 Tim. 3:1-5 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy…5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
1 Jn. 2:18 “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”
So I fully agree with questioning and scrutinizing dreams and visions as portrayed and perpetrated today, I couldn’t assign them futuristically, to the ‘day of the Lord’ only.
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