Dreams, Do They Matter?

For many years I have mused over the role of dreams and visions in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. The interest was jump-started when a Godly lady, an immigrant from an Eastern culture, asked me to help her by interpreting a dream while I greeted people following a morning worship service. Later, I discovered that her request would not be considered unusual in the Pentecostal church in her homeland.

Like most Pentecostal disciples, I typically focus on speaking in tongues as an evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. But I wonder why so little is said of dreams and visions when both are rather prominently mentioned in Peter’s explanation of Day of Pentecost events. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17)

My material for pondering was reignited as I reread the first chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. Consider, God communicated with Joseph in a dream when He assured Mary’s betrothed, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) An all-important message was communicated via a dream!

The Magi changed course because, “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthews 2:12) Soon after the Magi left, Joseph dreamed another dream when the Lord said, Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” The integrity of Jeremiah’s prophecy was guaranteed by Joseph’s response to a dream and the Savior’s life was preserved.

While in Egypt, Joseph dreamed another dream and took his little family back to Israel. En route, another dream with additional instructions changed the family’s destination, and Jesus would be called a “Nazarene,” as the prophets had predicted. (Matthew 2:19-23)

I may be overstating the importance assigned to dreams. Or, maybe their importance has been overlooked! Of one thing I am certain, vision casting in the Bible is not the work of a deliberating committee, but a Spirit-driven Holy interruption to ordinary thinking. I am also quite interested in discovering how dreams have affected others. It may give me courage to share one or two of my own!

To whet your interest, some of my dreams came to me when I was wide awake!