God Uses Visions and Dreams to Communicate With Humans
Visions mean “waking dreams” (Numbers 24:4). God uses these manifestation to reveal His plans to His children. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). In these revelations, the Lord may reveal a message of encouragement or warning. The mercy of God is shown by the fact the He strengthens the weak and does not bring judgments upon men until He first warns them.
In the Old Testament, the Lord revealed His will in visions and dreams to Abraham (Genesis 15:1), Abimelech (Genesis 20:1-7), Jacob (Genesis 28:10-17), Samuel (1 Samuel 3), Solomon (1 Kings 3:5), and Daniel (Daniel 2; 4). And in the New Testament, the Lord revealed also His will in these ways to Zacharias (Luke 1:5-23), Joseph (Matthew 1:20; 2:13), Pilate’s wife (Matthew 27:19), Ananias (Acts 9:10), Cornelius (Acts 10:1-6), Peter (Acts 10:9-15), Paul (Acts 16:9-10), and John the Revelator.
At the end of time, the Lord promised that He will give more of His revelation to His remnant people. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). This is a direct quoted from the Old Testament reference in Joel 2:28. This would be a special pouring out of the Spirit that would results in the display of supernatural gifts as when it happened at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4).
In the early church “the manifestation of the Spirit” was given “to every man to profit” (1 Corinthians 12:7). The events of Pentecost were but a partial fulfillment of Joel’s prediction. The prophecy is to reach its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will attend the closing work of spreading the gospel to all the world.
It should be noted that not all super manifestations are from the Lord. So, how do we know whether a revelation is from God or not. The prophet Isaiah gives us the answer “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Here, the prophet directs men to the Word of God as the basis for the truth. God has revealed Himself in His Word. Therefore, whatever is revealed that is not in harmony with the Scriptures would not be a revelation from God.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
