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In this session, we’re going to focus on some deeper issues in the prophetic. Whenever we study something like this, we want to develop in two ways. First, we want to develop a better understanding of the doctrine. Second, we need some nuts and bolts. How do we do things with wisdom and skill?
When it comes to the topics we’re talking about today, we need help in both areas. The way we handle things in the prophetic can be a source of blessing, or it can send people running. Let’s be a blessing!
To begin, let’s do a quick review of how God communicates with us visually. These are some concepts we looked at in Life in the Spirit One, and they will help us set the table for today.
1. REFRESHER ON VISUAL REVELATION.
We know God can speak to us any way He chooses. He can speak to us from His Word, of course. He can also speak by way of inner impressions and other verbal means, ranging from an inner prompting all the way up to prophecy, and even an audible voice. Today we’re looking more at visual revelation. So, let’s review some categories of visual revelation.
1A. Dreams.
Dreams, which we’ll be focusing on today, are of course a revelation of sight and sound that we receive during sleep.
1B. Visions.
A vision is visual revelation we receive from the Spirit while we are awake. Visions come in two categories: inner visions and open visions.
An inner vision is a mental, interior revelation. This can be a sudden, fleeting image in your mind. People often simply call this a “picture.” An example of this may be Jesus seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree (John 1:48).
An open vision is external visual revelation in which you see the physical reality of this world and the supernatural realm at the same time. An example would be Elisha and Gehazi being able to see the angelic armies (2 Kings 6:17). In an open vision you remain “awake” and conscious of physical reality even while seeing what is usually invisible to our natural eyes. You may even interact with the Lord or His angels.
There can also be dream-like visions in the night which the Bible simply calls “visions of the night.” People like Daniel had these experiences. I don’t think there’s much difference between a night vision and a dream.
1C. Trances and Transports.
In a trance your normal consciousness is suspended, so that you are only partially aware of your surroundings – perhaps even unconscious. In a trance you are interacting more with the unseen realm than with ours. Peter and Paul experienced trances (Acts 11:5, 22:7).
There are also “transports,” in which a person experiences something in another location, perhaps even another realm entirely. Paul was taken up into the third heaven, as was John. In those experiences they operated as part of that realm rather than ours. Ezekiel was transported in the spirit (not physically) from Babylon to Jerusalem to observe what was happening there (Ezekiel 8). During that time, he doesn’t seem to have been aware of his physical surroundings, but he was interacting with God and angelic beings.
2. BASICS OF DREAMS.
2A. Are all dreams meaningful?
We can save ourselves a lot of wasted energy if we realize right off the bat that not all dreams are meaningful. Even long, detailed dreams don’t necessarily have any spiritual significance. Solomon say that “in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God” (Ecclesiastes 5:7). So we don’t want to get preoccupied with dreams. They are normal, they happen, but we don’t build our lives on dreams and other visionary experiences. As Solomon said, “Fear God.” That’s the beginning of wisdom.
2B. Dreams can simply arise as a normal biological function.
Solomon also says that “…a dream comes through much activity…” (Ecclesiastes 5:3). Scientists are learning more about this all the time, but dreams may be just be one of the ways that your brain copes with the situations of your day, and processes your memories.
2C. Dreams can also arise through bodily states or longings of the soul.
In Isaiah, God says the nations that fight against Israel will be unfulfilled like a disappointing dream: “It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and look—he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and look—he drinks; but he awakes, and indeed he is faint, and his soul still craves…” (Isaiah 29:8). So, we see that our various bodily states can cause us to dream.
Perhaps we’ve all dreamt about things that are going on in our lives. Maybe you’ve been caught up in a TV show or in a conflict with a person, and your emotionally intense experiences seeped into your dreams. This may not be spiritual, but perhaps just something biological. If you’ve ever had a dog, you know that somewhere in that dream he’s going to catch that rabbit. We have a tendency to separate our being—spirit, soul, and body—into neat little packages. But the reality is that each part of our being affects the other.
2D. Dreams also arise from spiritual sources.
Obviously, dreams can come from God as well as biology. But there are also false dreams and dreams from false sources, whether it’s the human imagination, or a demonic source.
2E. Who is eligible to receive a dream from the Lord?
In former times, dreams from God might have been mostly limited to those who had a prophetic ministry. So, in the Book of Numbers, God tells the people of Israel, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream” (Numbers 12:6). This was one of the things that set such people apart and caused people to see them as possibly being prophets.
However, one of the main features of the New Covenant is that the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all God’s people. This was prophesied by the prophet Joel and proclaimed by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “‘And it shall come to pass in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams’” (Acts 2:17).
When Jesus ascended, He received from the Father and poured out upon His people the promise of the Spirit. A part of that is that prophetic revelation would now be distributed across the entire Body. It should be normal to see Christians prophesying and experiencing visions and dreams.
3. THE PURPOSE OF DREAMS.
But why does God give dreams anyway? I think God likes to use dreams to talk to us because it’s the only time He can find our minds quiet and receptive! I believe He gives us dreams simply because He wants to communicate with us, and this is just one of the many ways that He can do so. If we look into the Word, we see God giving people dreams for several different purposes.
3A. Warning dreams.
“And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife’” (Genesis 20:3).
It’s a bad thing when God comes to you in a dream and calls you a dead man walking!
Some dreams are what people like to call “warning dreams.” But warning dreams are not necessarily a sentence of doom. The name “warning dream” implies that a final decision concerning judgment has not been made. So, when a dream seems to portend some calamity, don’t push the panic button. Instead, seek the Lord. God is very gracious, and chances are that He is giving you a dream for the purpose of intercession, so that what you’ve seen in your dream doesn’t come to pass. King Abimelech did the right thing and avoided judgment.
There’s an interesting feature in this story. We can understand how God might give dreams to His own people because they are His people. But notice how God is so gracious that He even gives dreams to those who are not His people.
It’s interesting that in the Bible unbelievers can receive dreams that have some connection to the welfare of the people of God. But in His mercy, God might reach out to anyone to seek to turn them from destruction.
Moses says, “You turn man to destruction, and say, ‘Return, O children of men’” (Psalms 90:3). In other words, God turns our head, so to speak, to make us see the destruction that’s ahead of us if we don’t change, and tells us to repent. One of the ways He can do that is through supernatural means of communication such as dreams.
We see it in the Gospel, with Pilate’s wife. Matthew tells us, “While he [Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him’” (Matthew 27:19). This dream seems to have served multiple purposes. It was a warning dream for Pilate, and it also testified to Pilate’s wife about Jesus. Later on, as other people heard about it, it probably became a testimony to them as well. It might have caused them to fear the God of Israel who sent the dream.
Perhaps the most famous warning dream is found in Daniel chapter 4, where Daniel interpreted a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The king had a dream that foretold his losing his sanity and his throne for seven years. It was pretty brave of Daniel to lay that out for the king, by the way. He could have gotten “cancelled.”
But even in such a severe case, Daniel’s heart reflected God’s heart of mercy. Daniel said, “Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27). God is a merciful God. The Bible goes on to say that the sentence of doom didn’t fall on Nebuchadnezzar for another 12 months. Perhaps he could have repented in that time.
The next time you have a terrifying dream about a loved one, pray into it. Begin to dialogue with the Holy Spirit about it. If you feel a sense of urgency or a lack of peace about the dream or the people in it, begin to intercede in the Spirit until you feel that burden lifting, and your peace returns. Ask God if there is anything else you need to do with the information in the dream.
Use your general wisdom principles here, okay? If God starts sending you dreams, don’t go to your friend and say, “Bro, I had this dream you got run over by the #4 train and it was terrible. Everyone was screaming but I couldn’t. save you!” That wouldn’t be very edifying. Dialogue with the Spirit and consider first whether you should say anything at all.
3B. Dreams of revelation.
“But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:28a).
Most Bible readers know that God gives dreams in order to uncover secrets. And not every secret necessarily unveils future events. A dream can uncover past, present, or future to us as God wills.
In Daniel chapter 2, Daniel had a night vision that mapped out the future all the way down to the Second Coming of Christ. While dreams like this are rare, there is no reason why God can’t reveal things about situations today, whether through dreams, visions, or prophecies. (By the way, this is an amazing dream story because in Daniel’s night vision he even saw the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had previously had!)
Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, and God gave Joseph words of wisdom to not only interpret the dreams but give him prophetic counsel as to how to manage Egypt safely through the coming famine (Genesis 41).
3C. Dreams of personal destiny.
“‘There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.’ And his brothers said to him, ‘Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’” (Gen. 37:7-8a).
We see dreams of this type in the lives of people such as Joseph. This was one of the dreams that foretold his rise to power and having dominion over his own family.
3D. Dreams of divine interaction.
Some dreams provide a space for God to speak and/or interact with us, either directly or through angels. Sometimes dreams use the figure of a person we respect to speak truth to us as well. You may recall King Solomon’s famous encounter with the Lord, in which God was pleased with him and blessed him by making him wise. What you might have overlooked is that this encounter took place in a dream:
“At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask! What shall I give you?’” (1 Kings 3:5).
The fact that this happened in a dream didn’t make it any less real. The outcome was certainly real, and Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived.
Other people had such dreams as well. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, had dreams involving angels at least three times. They were real angelic encounters and yet they took place inside of a dream! How does that work? I don’t know, and neither do you!
3E. Dreams for guidance, encouragement, and action.
“But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit’” (Matthew 1:20).
The Lord can give us dreams that guide us or confirm something to us. Recall with me that Joseph was troubled about what to do with Mary’s pregnancy. You and I won’t experience something that momentous, yet the Lord may still give us guidance or assurance through a dream.
In the story of Gideon, Israel was being invaded. One of the enemy soldiers had a dream that warned him of judgment, but which also served to encourage Gideon as he was eavesdropping. In the Providence of God, Gideon “just happened” to be there at the exact moment the man was talking about his dream.
And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” (Judges 7:13-15)
It's a strange case: a foreigner receives a dream about how the God of Israel is going to defeat them by the hand of Gideon. Hearing the interpretation caused Gideon to worship, gain courage, and take action. How we need some dreams like that in our own day! We need revelation from Heaven that will cause us to glorify God, chase away discouragement, gain fresh courage, and then take action. At the end of the age, the Bible tells us that “…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Daniel 11:32). We need to wait on the Lord for living words of encouragement, and dreams is one of the ways they will come.
4. INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS IN GENERAL.
Dreams have fascinated people for as long as there have been people. Are there any principles that will help us know whether our dream is from God? How do we know if our dreams have any meaning and, if so, how can we know what they mean? As the old preachers used to say, “The Bible has the answer.”
Let’s begin with a couple of principles. You may disagree with a little bit of what I’m going to say, but if it’s not completely inappropriate, I want to echo something Paul said. I’m not comparing myself to Paul in any way. But Paul said, “I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy” (1 Cor. 7:25).
I believe the Lord wants to take us higher in these things. Most of you will agree with me that we are living in the last days. The Lord wants to take us higher now. He wants us to do better. He wants us to be more faithful and effective in ministering in the prophetic. He wants our lives to carry an impact. We all want Jesus to use us, but if we want to be able to do more than just deliver a few encouraging words here and there, we will need to commit to walk in wisdom in all these things. We may need to be willing to change up how we do things.
4A. The interpretation of a dream belongs to God.
“Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8). This is what Joseph told Pharaoh’s servants when they were all in prison together. Here, Joseph is laying down the most important principle of all: that interpretations come from God. God is our source of knowledge. It is from God that we must seek the interpretation of a dream, if there is one. This has important implications for us.
4B. The interpretation of a dream must therefore be sought from God.
Daniel was called upon to not only interpret the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, but also to tell him it what it was, because the king refused to tell anyone. Daniel told the king, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days” (Daniel 2:27b-28a emphasis added).
If interpretations belong to God, and God is the revealer of secrets, then I will only seek interpretations from God. The interpretation can come directly from the Lord, or it can come indirectly through another person to whom He gives the interpretation.
For this reason, we don’t seek interpretations from people who claim they can interpret dreams by using sources other than the Spirit of God. We don’t look to a fortune-teller or to any kind of fortune-telling tools. And we don’t seek to interpret by using the wisdom of men. The Bible does say that Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams (Daniel 1:17). But this means that he, Daniel, had understanding. It doesn’t mean he got understanding from a book, and it doesn’t mean that he used “dream books.”
Please don’t use dream books. When you use a dream book you run into several problems. One problem is that a dream book limits you to the experience of the person who wrote it. You are putting God in a box by being limited to the meanings provided in the book. Another, potentially more serious problem is that your dream book might have been written by someone who is steeped in witchcraft. You are then trying to interpret a dream from God with the devil’s wisdom and the devil’s viewpoint.
If I see an interpretation of something in a dream book, I might be seeing what the enemy wants me to see. And why would I do that when there is a God in Heaven who reveals secrets? Why would I do that when interpretations belong to God? So, please, don’t use dream books.
4C. The interpretation of a dream requires partnership with the Holy Spirit – in other words, it requires faith.
Looking again at the men who were imprisoned with Joseph, we read, “And they said to him, ‘We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.’ So Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please’” (Genesis 40:8). Notice that Joseph not only understood that interpretations came from God, but he also seemed to have faith that God would give him the interpretations of these men’s dreams.
The interpretation of a dream comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. If you want to analyze it with reference to the Gifts of the Spirit, I would categorize it as a manifestation of the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom, as we’ve seen, is receiving a message or fragment of God’s wisdom, just as a word of knowledge is when we receive a fragment of God’s knowledge.
4D. How are interpretations of dreams received?
This is an interesting question that has no one, single answer. Remember from 1st Corinthians 12 that there are different ways that the Gifts operate in people. The way the prophetic operates in you may be different from the way the prophetic operates in me. It’s the same Holy Spirit, but God uses all of us differently.
In some cases, if the meaning of the dream isn’t obvious, you may feel the Spirit calling you aside to pray for insight into the dream. As you pray, God may unlock the meaning of the dream to you.
In other cases, a person may receive an interpretation of a dream more or less immediately, by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the person would receive a word of wisdom and she would know right away what the dream means. In my own life, that has been how dream interpretation usually works.
Again, why the variety? I don’t know – and it’s ultimately God’s business. But if you bring me a dream to interpret, and I don’t have an interpretation immediately, I usually won’t ever get it at all. It works in me as a word of wisdom. That doesn’t mean I can’t ask God about it, but typically if I’m going to have an interpretation, I get it on the spot. It feels similar in my spirit to any other prophetic word that you feel you have to share, if you understand that sensation.
4E. Hints from Scriptural examples.
In addition to relying on impressions from the Spirit, there are a few interpretive hints in the Bible that may also be useful.
Err on the side of peace. When Joseph appeared before Pharaoh, he told him that God would give him “an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). Knowing that God’s heart is disposed towards mercy, we can be confident that God usually wants to reveal something redemptive and encouraging. Be cautious with dreams of judgment and catastrophe, as you would be with prophetic words of judgment and catastrophe.
Different dream, same thought. Joseph explained to Pharaoh that Pharaoh’s two dreams of the cows and the wheat were conveying the same message (Genesis 41:26). Joseph said the two dreams were one. So, realize that God can repeat Himself by showing us the same thing in different ways.
The effect of emphasis or repetition. Joseph went on to say that “…the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (41:32). Something repeated may mean that the matter is settled and will not be altered. According to Joseph it can also mean that the time for its fulfillment is soon.
5. TYPES AND SYMBOLS.
5A. Types.
I do believe we can develop a greater understanding in visions and dreams, such as Daniel is said to have possessed. One thing that may help is to have our minds renewed to the Bible’s use of types, symbols, and numbers.
While I don’t believe in “dream books,” I do believe that the symbolism of the Bible can be a help to us in uncovering the meaning of a dream. We shouldn’t necessarily be bound to biblical symbols, but in my opinion they can be useful.
Now, some dreams and visions are very straightforward. When my children were little, I had a dream where I saw my daughter running out in front of a car. I prayed about it, and don’t you know that a short time after this, I was watching my kids playing and the exact scene I had seen in my dream started to unfold right in front of me. Same scenario, same car, everything. I called out to the Lord and my daughter and the car both stopped. But the scene was exactly the same. I can only conclude that God in His kindness had shown me a possible future which was then averted by prayer. A dream or a vision that comes like that is, as I say, very straightforward.
However, sometimes God speaks in a parable. He speaks in what the Bible calls a “dark saying.” He speaks in symbolic language. Why does He do this? Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell us straight out what He wants to say?
Maybe. Or maybe he wants us to dig into the matter and gain a greater understanding not only of events… but of Him. Proverbs 25:2 says:
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
The Bible often uses types, symbols, and numbers to express a truth. The word “type” used in this way may be new to some of you. What is a type? A type is a kind of extended symbol in which the events of a story or a person’s life point to a greater reality. The story becomes a kind of prophetic picture.
For example, maybe you know that in the Bible, oil can be a symbol of the Holy Spirit. But the Passover, on the other hand, is a type, a type of Christ. The events of the Passover, how the lamb was handled and slain, how the people came out of Egypt, and basically the entire story are all prophetic pictures of Jesus which were later fulfilled when He came. Scholars would call the Passover Lamb the type and Jesus, the one to whom the type is pointing, would be called the antitype.
Another famous type of Christ is the life of Joseph, in Genesis. He was rejected by his brothers, sold by them, believed to be dead and gone, but raised from disgrace to become the ruler of Egypt. In fact, I believe his Egyptian name means something like “savior of the world.” Later on, when his own brothers were in distress, they came to him for food, and he reconciled with them. These things foreshadow the life of Jesus, even beyond our day, all the way up to the end of the age, when Christ will be finally reconciled to his Jewish brothers in a beautiful reunion, at the end of Jacob’s Time of Trouble.
There is much in the life of King David that is, as Bible scholars would say, “typical” of Jesus as well. Still another famous type of Christ is the Tabernacle, in which many of the important items point to our salvation in Christ.
That’s the idea of a type in a nutshell. As you study the Word, be alert for these wonderful prophetic pictures that God has drawn for us.
5B. Symbols.
There are a variety of symbols in the Scriptures, and these can help us when we interpret dreams. Now, right away you may think: how is this different from using a dream book? I would give two answers.
First, a biblical symbol is a biblical symbol. In other words, it’s in the Bible. God or an angel or a prophet is using this item to stand for something else. That gives it a certain level of validity which could—notice I said could—give us some insight.
Second, symbols are not infallible guides. They can be used in different ways, so we need, as always, the help of the Spirit. We also need to check the context of the passage and make sure we’re not reading something into the passage. When it comes to dreams, let’s make sure we are not applying our understanding of symbols in a very mechanical way. “Well, I saw a lion so that means my dream is about the Devil.”
Well, maybe, but maybe not. The Bible does say that the Devil is going about like a roaring lion, but it also refers to the Tribe of Judah as a lion (Genesis 49:9). If you know the Word, that tells me that a lion could have something to do with worship. And, of course, Jesus Himself is literally called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! (See Revelation 5:5.) What I’m trying to say is that there can be a lot more to this than just saying, “Oh, a lion means this!”
5C. What are some notable symbols we see in the Word?
You probably know that the Holy Spirit can be symbolized by things such as oil, fire, water, and a dove.
Metals can be symbolic. Gold often speaks of divinity, as opposed to wood, which represents humanity. In this way, the Ark of the Covenant is a picture of Christ: God and man together in one.
Silver is often a symbol of redemption. It pops up in many settings that are connected with our salvation. On the other hand, brass or bronze is often symbolic of judgment, perhaps because its coloration makes people think of burning.
Various gemstones may also have meanings. I love that picture of God seated upon His Throne: “And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald” (Revelation 4:3).
The rainbow is a picture of God’s covenant faithfulness.
Blood represents life, but salt could also be a picture of blood because of its saltiness. In the Bible, we read about a “covenant of salt,” which meant an eternal covenant. It’s been said that in the making of covenants, salt was a stand-in for blood.
Other animals besides lions and doves can have symbolic meanings, of course. Knowing the Scriptures can help you understand what it means if you dream of horses coming at you.
Even fabrics such as linen and wool can have symbolic meaning.
Colors are interesting, too. Blue can speak of Heaven, and white of peace or purity. Look at the famous horses in the Book of Revelation, and you can see white representing peace or false peace, red speaking of war, black for famine, and pale green representing death. Purple always seems to speak of royalty.
If you have the opportunity to study the fabrics, colors, and gemstones of the High Priest’s garments, that’s a fascinating study.
All these things, again, can have meaning in a particular case, but remember that we are always about fellowship and not formulas. Let’s avoid the temptation to impose our favored meaning on top of what we are seeing. Symbols can give us understanding, but they are not conclusive.
6. BIBLICAL NUMEROLOGY.
By way of review, let me say that when we talk about biblical numerology we’re not speaking about anything occult, and certainly nothing that we would ever use to try to tell the future, or something like that. What we mean is that numbers can be used in the Bible to make point us to a deeper level in a story or a situation.
Many times, numbers have no significance at all. Sometimes the fact that there’s four men in a story just means there’s four men in the story. But sometimes, the fact that a particular number is present means quite a bit, and there are common ideas that seem to go along with certain numbers.
6A. Three.
For example, the number three is associated with fullness and completeness. God is three in one. His three great attributes are that He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present. Time is expressed as past, present, and future. Physical space is expressed in three dimensions. The number three is stamped all over the Book of Revelation.
God is the One who was, is, and is to come.
Jesus is called Prophet, Priest, and King, and this is the complete work of Christ.
John is told to write the things he has seen, the things which are, and the things which are to come.
All of that is a powerful form of poetry which lets us know that God is doing a complete work which covers all of mankind and Creation.
6B. Four.
Four is associated with creation, because it takes three, the completeness of God, and adds something to it. So, we often see four in reference to the Earth or the works of God.
We have four directions, four winds, things of that nature.
There are four seasons and four phases of the moon.
There are four Gentile kingdoms that oppress the people of God.
There are four heavenly cherubim who represent the animal creation.
And, of course, there are four Gospels that represent the Word of God sent out into all the Creation, often symbolized by those cherubim.
6C. Five.
Five symbolizes redemption and grace. Why? Because we take Creation, which is four, and add to it. This speaks of God choosing to enter His Creation to redeem it.
The layout of the Tabernacle, which teaches us about redemption, is filled with the number five and multiples of five.
The Kingdom of Christ is also the fifth Kingdom which comes and shatters the kingdoms of men.
6D. Six.
Six is the number of Man, and the number of labor. Man was made on the sixth day and was commanded to work six days a week.
Man’s measurements are often built on six and multiples of six. Our days are 24 hours long. Jesus said there are 12 hours in the day. We have 60 minutes, and 60 seconds. It’s baked into nature, because biblical years were 360 days. There are 360 degrees of measurement in a circle or the sky.
The idolatrous statue in Daniel was 60 cubits high and six cubits wide.
In Revelation 13, the Beast has a number which is like a tripling of six, making a counterfeit Trinity, 666.
There are many other examples.
6E. Seven.
We’ve discussed this before, but seven is the number which is woven into the Bible more deeply than any other, and it symbolizes spiritual perfection.
God gave man a Sabbath on the seventh day. There were also Sabbaths of weeks, of months, and even of years. Many have believed that the Kingdom of Christ will be the Sabbath Age, and be the seventh 1000-year period since Adam.
There are many sevens in the covenants of God, His promises, His blessings, and descriptions of holy things and the things of the Spirit. Seven is used extensively in Revelation to signify that this is the completion of the great work of God in salvation.
In all these things, God is showing you that He is at work. I think it’s been said that seven is like God’s fingerprint.
6F. Eight.
Eight is a number of resurrection and new beginnings. Eight begins a new cycle because it is the first number after seven.
There were eight people on the Ark, to start a new world.
Jesus rose on the first day of the week, which is also the eighth day.
For these reasons the sanctuary area in a Greek Orthodox Church is always an octagon.
6G. Twelve.
Twelve is the number of governmental perfection. Usually we see it in connection with the human race having a proper administration. We have the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. In Revelation, God selects 12,000 Jewish men from each tribe. This gives us the well-known number 144,000.
The heavenly city is also associated with twelve. There are 12 foundations, as well as 12 gates of pearl (not pearly gates!) and a wall which is 144 cubits high –12 times 12. The length of the city along each side is 12,000 stadia, an ancient unit of measurement.
Eleven, on the other hand, is seen as a number of rebellion and apostasy, probably because it falls short of governmental perfection. There were eleven disciples after Judas fell, and eleven princes of Edom, Israel’s traditional enemy.
6H. Twenty-Two.
The number 22 is very significant in the Word, and the Jews assign great importance to it. It is strongly associated with the Word of God.
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and, according to how the Jews count them, 22 books in the Old Testament. (That means, by the way, that there are actually 49 books in the Bible, not 66, and 49 is 7 x 7!)
God performed 22 works in Creation. Jacob, or Israel, was the 22nd generation from Adam. Twenty-two speaks about God doing a complete work – as we would say in English, from A to Z. It’s when God does everything that needs to be done. Remember, at the end of Psalm 22, Jesus says… “It is finished!”
6I. Forty-two.
I’ll give you one more, just because it’s so fascinating, and that is the number 42. This number is the product of six (man) and seven (God’s perfection), and those two things don’t jibe. This number is all over the Bible, and it speaks of mixture and the judgment that comes along with it.
There were forty-two stages of Israel's wanderings in the desert.
Balaam made 42 sacrifices to curse Israel (Numbers 23).
In a civil war in Israel, 42,000 men were killed (Judges 12:5-6).
King Saul’s son Ishbosheth ruled Israel when David should have, until he was 42 years old.
During Elijah's ministry, there was a famine because there was no rain for 42 months (James 5:17).
Remember how some young men mocked the prophet Elisha and a couple of bears came along and killed 42 of them.
Perhaps most famously, the reign of Antichrist will last for 42 months.
Here’s something amazing: God will be faithful to His people through those terrible 42 months. The rainbow, the sign of God’s faithfulness, is created when light shines through water in front of you at an angle of... you guessed it… about 42 degrees!
6J. Summary.
There are many more numbers we could explore if we had time, but what’s important is that numbers, types, and symbols, may help to guide our interpretation of dreams and visions – but they can’t control our interpretation.
7. SOME CAUTIONS REGARDING DREAMS.
7A. Learn from Joseph… handle your dreams with care.
The wisdom principles we use in the prophetic apply to dreams as well. Don’t get overly excited, even about an exciting dream. Joseph got himself in trouble through his pride and lack of prudence in sharing his dreams. His dreams were real and they came to pass – but not for a couple of decades.
“…Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more” (Genesis 37:5). Or, to quote Will Rogers again, “Never miss a good opportunity to shut up.”
But Joseph was a classic “over-sharer.” He kept going: “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me’” (Genesis 37:9).
Now, maybe we can fault his family for not mentoring him better, and we know that God was in this situation, but Joseph was unwise in how he handled himself and his gifts. Please don’t create a daily dream blog. Somebody once said that God is only saying half as much as we think He is… but when He says something He means it twice as much as we think He does! Bring your dreams to a few wise friends or mentors, not to the Internet.
7B. Dreams, like other gifts, don’t automatically validate themselves, or a person.
If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods”—which you have not known—“and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)
Notice that the sign can still come to pass, and yet the person himself be false. We talked about this when were spoke about false prophets in the end times. Having a valid gift is not enough. The test was not just a valid gift, but whether the person was encouraging you to follow Yahweh. The dream can be true and yet the dreamer still be false!
7C. Ask God for everything He wants you to have, but don’t chase experiences.
“And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets” (1 Samuel 28:6).
Just by way of explanation, the Urim and Thummim were mysterious objects that were in the possession of the High Priest and were used to give answers to questions. That may sound strange and perhaps even pagan to you, but it was something that was used to ask questions directly of God. In Hebrew, Urim and Thummim means “lights and perfections.” People think these were stones that might have shined in order to give a yes or no answer. This is one of the great Bible mysteries.
So, we shouldn’t chase after experiences, but is it wrong to seek God for supernatural manifestations? No. After all, that’s what a good chunk of these courses has been about. But without the context of a vibrant personal relationship with Christ, our experiences become worse than meaningless… they become dangerous!
When King Saul grew to be so evil, the Lord closed off the flow of supernatural communication to him. In fact, being the king, he ought to have had a higher expectation than most people that God would speak to him. But God was seeking relationship, and leadership that was godly. Maybe God wanted Saul to reach out for Him with all his heart, in repentance and faith, rather than use methods to get the answers he craved. God can always give us answers, but the answers we need are in God.
Let’s be careful not to get so excited about some of these things that we lose our focus on Jesus. Walking with Him, worshiping Him, fellowshipping with Him – that itself is the wonderful adventure we are looking for. Any supernatural experience or supernatural communication we have with Him is a bonus. Let’s stay passionately in love with Jesus.
8. A FEW PRACTICAL POINTERS.
As we said early on in these courses, we can’t grow in a gift directly. We can’t make God give us gifts or experiences. But we can get better at cooperating with God in the ways He wants to use us. Are there ways to become better at a ministry of receiving dreams and visions? I can give you a definite maybe.
I don’t think you can make yourself dream, strictly speaking, unless you take drugs. But what should we do?
See dreams and visions from God as something to be expected.
Pray and tell God that you are open to this whenever He might choose to communicate with you that way.
Before you go to bed, invite God to speak to you in the night seasons. I suggest, of course, meditating in the Word at night, as the Bible counsels us.
This should be obvious, but if you want to dream you need to sleep! Americans don’t sleep nowadays! Make sure you get enough sleep so that you are getting into a deep sleep.
Make sure you’re comfortable and warm enough. Dreams happen during the REM (or rapid eye movement) phase of sleep. If you’re too cold, your REM sleep may not be very good. The same goes for if you’re too hot.
I find that many times I have dreams and revelations, even words of knowledge, when I am first waking up. I think that’s because my soul hasn’t really kicked in yet and God can reach me in a different way. Once your mind becomes active, it’s harder to focus on something with your spirit. If that sounds weird to you, think about it a bit and you may start to agree with me. King David talked about meditating or talking within your heart on your bed (Psalms 4:4).
Be a good steward of your dreams. You can avoid forgetting your dreams by quickly jotting them down as soon as you wake up. But if you find that God is frequently waking you up in the night, maybe he’s not making you a dreamer. Maybe he’s making you an intercessor. Spend some time praying and seeing what’s on His heart, not just your heart.
Be a good steward of dreams also by getting counsel. When you have a dream that you think may be from the Lord, use these principles that we’ve been talking about today, pray into it, and don’t be too shy about bringing it to others to see what they think.
Remember, when it comes to dreams, sometimes a pig is just a pig. But sometimes, God is speaking to you in a wonderful way.
9. EXCELLENCE IN PROPHETIC MINISTRY: SAMUEL’S LIFE & GROWTH.
Key verse: “So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19).
Reading the text of 1 Samuel 3 (NKJV):
1 Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, 3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, 4 that the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” 5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
6 Then the LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 (Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.)
8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
11 Then the LORD said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. 14 And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
15 So Samuel lay down until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!” He answered, “Here I am.”
17 And he said, “What is the word that the LORD spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you.” 18 Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him.”
19 So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. 21 Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
9A. Initial Observations.
A life of impact: Samuel was impressive not just for his prophetic ability but for the total impact of his life and ministry on his nation. What he accomplished was astounding. He was an anchor of stability in Israel for decades, and kept the nation tied to the Lord and His ways.
Foundation-laying work: When Samuel was a boy, the word of the Lord was rare – there was no open vision. And yet, probably without the benefit of what we think of as prophetic training, he came to a place where his words did not fall to the ground. Not only this, we believe that Samuel founded the schools of the prophets in Israel. How did he do this when he likely had no mentors?
The heart of the prophetic: Perhaps Samuel accomplished so much because he had a right heart to go with his strong gift and calling. We know it is God who gives the grace but there is also the human side of the equation, in which we cooperate with Him.
9B. Our Primary Goals as Prophetic People.
First, xxcellence in character and ministry: “So Samuel grew…”
Then, life of impact because of God’s presence: “…the LORD was with him…”
Also, anointed words, words that carry life: “…and let none of his words fall to the ground.” Notice, too, that it is the Lord who lets none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
So, what can we learn from Samuel’s life that will propel us into excellence in the prophetic?
9C. Reflections to help us grow in Prophetic Wisdom.
1. Take time to minister to the Lord, both personally and with others.
“Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli” (1 Samuel 3:1).
“Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”” (Acts 13:1-2).
Samuel ministered to the Lord individually. He did this as part of his ceremonial duties, but we are sure he had devotional times or worship and intercession before the Lord. The Word speaks of him passing the night in prayer to God.
Once again, Antioch is a great example of how leaders need to minister to the Lord together. If you are in leadership at any level, I challenge you to take times where you simply wait on God together, even with fasting. When you do, the Spirit will come alongside with words of direction and perhaps even commissioning, as happened in Acts 13.
2. Be quick to respond to authorities and to obey.
“…the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, ‘Here I am!’ So he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ And he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ And he went and lay down” (1 Samuel 3:4-5).
We know that Samuel probably did not learn this type of obedience from serving Eli the priest, because Eli did not discipline his sons. Notice the instant obedience of Samuel’s heart. How many children or young people come literally running the first time they are called? Not many.
3. Put yourself in a position to listen to the Lord’s Voice.
“Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, “Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears’” (3:9-10).
Do we have our own times of solitude and reflection? Our friend Jan Nel, who’s gone home to be with the Lord now, used to speak about the idea of “training our senses.” I bet Samuel was fully ready, and his ears were fully open when the Lord came by again. So let it be with us!
4. Carry on with the normal responsibilities of life in this world.
“So Samuel lay down until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD” (3:15a).
Some of us, if we’d had this kind of deep experience, would get on the phone and tell our friends. It doesn’t say that Samuel slept; he was probably too excited. But notice that he got up and performed his duties. Be careful that when we begin to have exciting experiences in the Spirit, we don’t leave off doing the normal things of life. You still have laundry to do and grass to cut. We still have responsibilities in this life if we are to function and to maintain a good testimony.
5. Learn to deal well with rejection, and don’t become overly sensitive.
“Then all the elders of Israel… said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.’ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them’” (8:4-7).
Samuel seems to have taken this personally. Prophetic people have to deal with a lot of rejection in life and we need to bring that to the Lord and let it be crucified. In fact, in my experience, rejection is the fire through which God brings pretty much every prophetic person. It’s one of the main ways that God causes a prophetic person to lean on Him instead of looking to Man for acceptance. So, here the Lord pulls out of Samuel’s heart the real issue – it had become about Samuel a little bit!
6. Walk with integrity – even in the smallest of matters.
“‘Here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.’ And they said, ‘You have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man’s hand’” (12:3-4).
This needs no elaboration. No one in the entire nation could bring any such charge against him. Let none of us become like Balaam, who was a prophet for hire.
7. Love and pray for those to whom you minister.
“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way” (12:23).
Somebody once said, “Not all intercessors are prophets, but all prophets are intercessors.” And I think that’s true. Whenever we believe that people have rejected us, or even rejected the Lord’s ways, the responsibility of the prophetic office is to continue to intercede so that God’s purposes would be fulfilled in His people.
Paul told the Colossians, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” (Col. 4:12)
8. Learn to speak difficult truths to others in love, as your position may require it.
“So Samuel said: ‘Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams’” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Notice that I say as your position requires it. If your position does not require you to speak a corrective word, you might enter into presumption by delivering it. When you see in the Scripture words about rebuking and correcting people, be careful. Remember that Samuel was the senior prophetic figure in the nation. In fact, he was the most anointed prophetic person the nation had probably seen since Moses. However, delivering this word to King Saul still cost him something. By the next chapter, he is telling God he can’t go anoint David as king because if he does, Saul will kill him!
Delivering a word can be difficult in the moment, but it can also bring about difficult consequences for us.
9. Love the whole body and mourn over sin.
“Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul…” (15:34-35a).
I believe it was Jim Goll, a well-known prophetic leader, who first popularized the saying, “Don’t let your discernment become criticism.” Maintaining a love for the Body and taking a stance of mercy, a stance of intercession, will keep you from becoming a bitter spring.
10. Don’t “turn off” your eyes and ears – your own wisdom and experience can fail you.
“So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, ‘Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!’ But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”” (16:6-7).
We’ve spoken about this before, but after living for decades in a kingdom where appearances were what mattered, even the great Samuel was carried away by the flesh, swayed by what his natural senses told him.
11. Have a teachable, correctable spirit – and take heed to the correction.
“So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, ‘Neither has the LORD chosen this one’” (16:8).
After God corrected him, Samuel then refused to move forward without God’s express leading!
12. Prepare the next generation – individuals, prophetic people, and other leaders.
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (16:13a).
“Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied” (19:20).
“All those chosen as gatekeepers were two hundred and twelve. They were recorded by their genealogy, in their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their trusted office” (1 Chronicles 9:22).
No one can be considered excellent who is not looking behind him. Do you have a heart to not only sow into the next generation, but get involved in their struggles, questions, and concerns? Are you learning things for yourself only, or to feed those who are younger in the faith?
The Apostle John speaks about little children, young men, and fathers. Little children must be fed. Young men can feed themselves. But fathers feed others. They not only understand the need and the responsibility, but they accept it, even embrace it.
And here I see Samuel perhaps bringing David along, as well as a whole company of prophets, schools of prophets.
Later on, David seems to have done what Samuel had apparently done – put gatekeepers into place. This was a responsible position. They guarded the gates against dangers, but also against spiritual dangers – they prevented what was impure and unclean from entering! In this way Samuel and David, two prophets, taught others how to safeguard the people of God and to safeguard their worship. They had a heart for the next generation!
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