Dreams

Bible Study

Dreams

-Sometimes dreams can be a blessing, while at other times they can be a nightmare.  Some dreams can make you smile while others can make you cry.  Dreams can even feel so real that once you wake up you really have to think hard about if it was an actual memory of real events in your life, or if it was just a dream.  Some people can control many aspects of their dreams, while others cannot and are just along for the ride.  So what exactly are dreams?  Where do they come from and on that note, do they mean something?

-The answer to these two questions depends on who you ask.  The occult such as fortune tellers, psychics, spiritualists and even some psychologists will tell you that your dreams have true meaning, and if properly interpreted can lead you in the right path for your life; that if you follow your dreams and their meanings you will find your purpose and your destiny in life.

-Sigmund Freud, who did not believe in God but had science and education as his god said; ” There is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and…if that procedure is employed, every dream reveals itself as a psychical structure which has a meaning and which can be inserted at an assignable point in the mental activities of waking life.  (The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900)

-So is Freud right? Can we use these dreams by having them interpreted and incorporated them into our daily lives to help us? Or are the psychics right when they say that dreams have meanings that need to be sought after and interpreted by them, to help us out?

-Well if you have been a listener of thatsinthebible.com for any length of time, you know exactly where we are going to find the answers to these questions.  We will search inside the pages of this majestic book the King James Bible.  The book that supercedes any other book that has ever been written, that supercedes anyone else's ideas on this subject of dreams, because the author of this book is not just a mere man with limited knowledge, but the creator of the whole universe, the creator of the sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxies, and the creator of all life.  The author is the Lord Jesus Christ!  The one in whom the Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!  I can’t wait to finally meet Him, and thank Him for saving my soul from an eternity in hell!  But until I see Him face to face I am going to try to the best of my ability to use this perfect inherent Bible that He has left us in every aspect of my life.  I mean which would you rather get your answers from?  A man that has only lived on this earth less than 100 years who has limited knowledge, or from God almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ that never had a beginning, nor has an end, who always has been? Now you can choose to take man’s word for it and turn this program off, or you can take God’s word for it and listen and we search the Bible.

1) Alright turn with me in your Bible to (Eccl. 5:3).  In your Bible there are 20 dreams that are recorded by God.  Now of course thousands of people had dreams all the time just like we do today, but these are the 20 dreams that God saw fit to write down for you and I to read and know about.  Now of these 20 dreas, 14 are found in the Old Testament while 6 are in the New.  God classifies dreams into 3 different catagories.  God tells us there are 3 different types of dreams.  Here in (Eccl. 5:3) we have the first type of dream:  God says; “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business.”  Even though our bodies are at rest, our minds many times still go through thoughts of when we were awake.  So sometimes a dream can be the result of what our mind has been on much of that previous day.  For example, when I used to watch scary movies, many times a scary dream would come about as a result.  Look with me in the book of Job chapter 7.  Now at this point in Job’s life he has just lost all of his cattle. He has lost all of his sheep, he has lost almost all of his servants, and his camels, and his 7 sons and 3 daughters, he has sore boils from the sole of his feet all the way to his head, and his wife just told him to “curse God and die”.  Now if that isn’t a bad couple of days then I don’t know what is!  Even through all this Job didn’t curse God during this time, he did just the opposite, but don’t you think for a second that he didn’t mourn and meditate on his loss during the day hours.  And here in Job Chapter 7 verse 13 we see the type of dream he has because of what his mind had been on those days: “When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: so that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than life.”  Job is having a nightmare!  Job thought that once he puts his head on the pillow and goes to sleep that he will have some relief, but just the opposite happens, because what he focused on while he was awake determined the type of dream he had at night.  I believe if his three friends that came to comfort him would have mourned with Job, and then comforted him with promises from God rather than condemning him, then Job may have been able to have some peaceful dreams and some relief.

-So one of the best ways for us to defend ourselves from having nightmares and to have peaceful dreams, is to meditate on God’s word and upon God Himself and the promises that He has given us and what He has prepared for us.  In (Isaiah 26:3) the Bible says; “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee”. In (Philippians 4:6-9) the Bible says; ” Be careful for nothing; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

2)  Alright now let’s look at the second type of dream God tells us we can have:  Turn with me to (Isaiah 29:8) ” It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and , behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against zion.”

– About 8 years ago I went on a camping trip in New Jersey with my sister and brother in-law.  We hiked about 5 miles into the woods and set up camp there.  After we got our tents and everything set up we sat down to relax from all our hard work. My sister handed me one of the bottles of water that they had brought and of course after a long hike like that I was very thirsty!  But the first big gulp that I took was absolutely disgusting!  See what they had done is filled all the water bottles with seltzer water!  I couldn’t believe it, for me it was like drinking poison, I hate seltzer water!  So I went to bed so thirsty that night, with my tongue literaly sticking to the roof of my mouth from being so dry.  And wouldn’t you know, that when I went into dream land that night, I dreamt about a nice cold glass of water, like the ones you see in those commercials for nice cold soda drinks, filled with ice cubes and huge water beads to run down the glass.  I dreamt that I had one of those in my hands, and was taking huge gulps of it to quench my thirst.  This was no nightmare, this was a beautiful dream!  But then, to my dismay and horror, I woke up.  My mouth was drier than it was when I went to sleep hours before, and all I could think of was how much I wanted something cold to drink!  So to make a long story short, as we were hiking back those 5 miles back to our vehicle, I couldn’t help it any longer and got on my stomach next to a stream and plunged my whole face into it and drank as fast as I could!  So a dream according to God can also come from needs of your flesh that have not been met while you’re awake and your flesh causes you to experience them in your dreams.

-Your flesh can even cause you to dream dreams in which you act a way you never thought you would ever act, such as use violence, or have a terrible temper, or any other terrible things imaginable.. The reason for this is because our flesh is wicked, there is no doubt about that.  If you don’t think this body we live in is wicked and depraved, then you are deceived.  Even though you may be a saved, born again, child of God, we still are stuck in this sinful flesh.  Paul, undoubtedly one of the greatest Christians that has ever walked this earth, said it best in (Romans 7:18) where he says; ” For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:”

3)  Now the third and final type of dream God tells us about is found in (Job 33:14-17) “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; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw men from his purpose, and hide pride from man.”  In the past God has spoken to people through dreams.  For example turn with me to (Genesis 20:1-14).  Also turn with me to (Genesis 37:3-11), Here we see that because of the dreams that Joseph had, he knew that his family would one day bow down to him.  Because of this his brothers were so angry with him that they wanted to kill him.  (vs’s 18-20).  But in (Genesis 42:5-9) we see that this dream comes true.  So the question arises, since God has dealt with men in the past through dreams, does He do that today in our day and age?

-One very important observation to note is that there are only 6 dreams recorded in the New Testament, and after the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is not one mention in the Bible of a dream after that.  The last dream mentioned in the Bible (which is again before the crucifiction and resurrection of Christ) is found in (Matthew 27:19) in which Pontius Pilate’s wife told her husband that because of Jesus Christ, who was a just man, she was having nightmares and told him not to do anything to Jesus.  So it appears that just as the apostolic signs have died out at the death of the 12 apostles, the same thing for the most part has happened to dreams.  Now God may here and there use a dream to deal with someone that does not have access to the word of God, but since the word of God has been completed, and is for the most part accessible anywhere, God will deal with man through the word of God.  We know this because in (2nd Peter 1:16-21) we are told that the Bibe is a “more sure word of prophecy” than that of God’s own voice coming down out of Heaven!  And that we are to “take heed” to the word of God and not a voice from Heaven which would include any dreams that we have.

-The reason this is so important is because there are people today that profess to be saved, and say that God speaks to them in dreams and they say God tells them to do this or that, and that God has given them a Revelation above and beyond the word of God.  The problem with this is God has given us many commands against this.  In (Psalm 119:11) the Bible says; “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  It is the word of God that gives us our directions not dreams.  In (Galatians 1:8) the Bible says; “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”  So God makes it clear that what has been put down in the Bible is what we are to go by, not anything else.  God gives us a clear warning to watch out and not be deceived by the dreams that we have; (Jeremiah 29:8-9) “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.”  So God tells us to not be deceived by dreams that we have that prophesy falsely in God’s name!  Which is exactly what we have going on today.  If you do have a dream, and think it may be from God, the best thing to do is to throw it out and ask God to show you what He wants you to know through the Bible.