Dreams and Interpretation I

Are all dreams a multitude of thoughts, or a mental overflow? Well, without me trying to make too much out of dreams, reducing every dream to mere mental overflow is too simplistic and fails to reflect the full witness of Scripture concerning the sources and nature of dreams.

As I will point out in this article, the Bible clearly shows that dreams can carry divine meaning.

In fact, Scripture reveals three primary sources of dreams: first, God. Second, human thoughts, what Ecclesiastes 5:3 calls “the multitude of business,” where our daily concerns influence what we dream.

Third, Satan and demons use terrifying or deceptive dreams to plant fear, confusion, or distraction. We will explore the latter two in future writings, but for now, let us begin, where all things begin, with God.

Having indicated that dreams come from different sources, there are two important objectives I want to draw your attention to as we consider God as the source of dreams: first, examples of people to whom God appeared in dreams.

Second, the two ways God speaks to men, even through dreams: dark speeches (symbols) and plain speeches (Numbers 12:8).

Let us now consider the first point: examples of people God appeared to in a dream. Joseph said to Pharaoh, “God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do” (Genesis 41:28).

Joseph both recognized and acknowledged that Pharaoh’s dream was given by God, even though Pharaoh was a pagan king.

And that is not the only case. Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “He that revealeth secrets hath made known to thee what shall come to pass” (Daniel 2:29).

And that is not all—God came to Abimelech by night in a dream and said, “Behold, you are but a dead man…” (Genesis 20:3).

Why did God speak to pegan kings?  Well, God doesn’t share the same religious sentiments as us, for “known unto God are His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).

Remember Jacob? As he fled from Esau toward Haran, he dreamed and saw the angels of God ascending and descending, and the Lord appeared to him in his dream (Genesis 28:12–13).

And in the New Testament, the angel of the Lord warned Joseph in a dream by night and gave him instructions concerning the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:12, 19).

To crown it all, it is written: “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed” (Job 33:14–15).

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (2 Corinthians 13:1). Not every dream is a mental overflow or a multitude of business. God indeed reveals secrets to men in dreams.