“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
This is beyond my comfort zone even though I admit that God has spoken to me in dreams. But I have never heard a voice like the boy, Samuel. I have never had a vision like Zecharia or Mary in Luke 1. Actually, I am not sure these should not be called appearances rather than visions. For the most part, the Bible does not make a distinction between a waking vision and a dream in the night. In Genesis 46:2, we read,
“And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, ‘Here I am.’”
In Numbers 12:6 the Lord says,
“Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.”
There seem to be two types of dream by which God speaks to people. The Lord, or the Angel of the Lord, may appear to someone in a dream. As Paul was led into the city after being confronted by Jesus on the road, the Lord spoke to a man named Ananias in a vision, saying he was to pray for Paul’s eyes to be opened. In the shipwreck in Acts 27, Paul told the others on the ship, “This very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship. He said, ‘Do not be afraid.’” We cannot know whom God will speak to like this. And although the Bible clearly teaches that God speaks to His children in many ways, He is sovereign over how and when He speaks.
God can also speak in riddle-like dreams as He did to Pharaoh in Genesis 41 or to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel. In Numbers 12 God told Miriam that He spoke to prophets in dreams that were like riddles. But He spoke to Moses face to face. A complicated dream is not necessarily a bad thing. When God speaks in this kind of dream you have to struggle in prayer to understand what God is saying. In Genesis 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hear that you can interpret dreams. Joseph answered, “It is not in me, but God will give Pharaoh the meaning.” God gives the meaning of dreams. Daniel said the same thing to Nebuchadnezzar. “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show the king the mystery, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” God uses our struggle to understand to develop faith in us.
I would not put dreams on the same plain as Scripture. Nor would I put God speaking to me in a book or a sermon, or in my prayer time, on the level of Scripture. But the Bible teaches us about these things. God is in charge of how He speaks.
I am not sure God speaks to us in every dream. But I believe He will let you know when He is speaking to you. As you sense His presence and hear His voice, He will grow your faith. There is no limit to what God is able to do through you as you listen and learn to trust Him.
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