Dreams, Visions And Experiencing God

Literal Visions

A literal vision is a vision that is direct and straightforward. It is very much like real life, and the elements in it are usually very easy to understand. There are Bible visions that fall into this category. I will take most of my examples from the life of Paul, but here are many other examples of this in the Bible.

Paul seemed prone towards literal visions. In fact, his first vision was pretty literal. It is described in Acts 9:12. We know that Paul did not see this with his physical eyes, because he was blind at the time. But God told Ananias to go pray for Paul. He said, "And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight." Paul had just had a dramatic conversion experience where Jesus personally appeared to him and he saw a bright light that left him blind. The newly converted (and temporarily blinded) Paul was praying and seeking God, trying to make sense out of his encounter with Jesus. And God gave him a vision of Ananias coming to pray for him so that he could receive his sight. That is how Paul knew that Ananias was sent from God. After his sight was restored, Ananias baptized him. I assume that Ananias did some type of teaching or basic discipleship to Paul before he baptized him, explained the basics of salvation, etc. Paul was willing to listen to Ananias because God had given him a vision to let Paul know that God was the one who sent Ananias to him.

Another of Paul's literal visions is recorded in Acts 16:9-10, "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them." That vision is pretty literal. Paul saw a Spanish man in traditional Spanish clothes asking him to go to Macedonia (Spain). Verse 10 records their response. They immediately understood that God wanted them to go to Spain and preach the gospel.

Here is another literal vision recorded in Acts 18:9. "Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent...'" That vision is pretty clear and easy to understand, isn't it?

Cornelius also had a literal vision. It is described in Acts 10:3-6. "One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, 'Cornelius!' Cornelius stared at him in fear. 'What is it, Lord?' he asked. The angel answered, 'Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.'"

This vision was so literal that Cornelius did not think he was having a vision -- he thought he was literally being visited by the angel. Verse 7 gives us his perspective on it. It says, "When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants..." and sent them to go get Peter as per the angel's instructions. Cornelius thought the angel physically came to visit him and then left (verse 7). But verse 3 tells us that he had a vision of the angel instead of a literal physical visitation.

Some visions are like that -- they are so real that you don't think you are having a vision, you think you are really experiencing it. Did you know that when the angels told the two women that Jesus rose from the dead, the women were having a vision instead of really seeing angels? Luke 24:22-24 tells us, "In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see."

Most of my own visions have been pretty literal, like the ones we have just discussed. They felt like I was really seeing and experiencing things -- they were really happening to me. In one vision I was taken up to heaven before God's throne. In another vision I was transported back to ancient Egypt to encounter the Passover angel while he was on assignment from the Lord. In another vision I saw the tabernacle or "tent of meeting" that Moses set up for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. The objects and events in my visions were not symbolic in nature, they seemed very real and they were very literal.

There are many people who have had non-symbolic types of visions, both in the Bible and also today.

Symbolic Visions

Symbolic visions are visions that use symbolism, where an object really represents something else. God gives a lot of symbolic visions in the Bible. For instance, the Apostle John saw Jesus in his vision in the form of a lamb that was slain. John described this in Rev 5:6. As the vision unfolded, it became clear that the Lamb was Jesus.

Now we know Jesus is not a lamb. He took on the physical form of a man when He was born as a baby, but He never literally took on the physical form of a lamb. Yet in this vision, Jesus was represented as a lamb. Why? Because God wanted to underscore how the Passover lamb represented Jesus and what He came to earth to do for mankind. God wanted everyone to know that the death and resurrection of Jesus is what broke the power of sin and death and made it possible for us to come to God and to be forgiven our sins.

There are many symbolic visions in the Bible. For instance, most of the apocalyptic visions were highly symbolic. Most of Ezekiel's visions were very symbolic in nature. Most of Daniel's visions were symbolic, and God had to send angels to him to explain what they meant. Let's look at a few of Daniel's visions.

In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel had a vision of four beasts, then a vision of the Ancient of Days and he did not understand them. So in verse 16, he asked an angel (or "one who stood by") for an interpretation and was given one.

Then in Daniel 8:15-26, the angel Gabriel interpreted a vision of the antichrist for Daniel. And Daniel had another vision that he didn't understand in Daniel 9. Again Gabriel was sent to explain it to him. Daniel 9:21 and 23 give us this account. "Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.... [Gabriel came to him after three weeks of Daniel praying fervently for understanding] ... "At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision." Then Gabriel went on to explain the vision to Daniel.

You might be thinking, "Why didn't God just give a literal vision in the first place instead of giving Daniel a symbolic vision and then sending an angel to explain it to him?" It is a good question, but I am not sure we will ever know God's reason for doing it this way.

God often opts not to explain His reasons to us. He is the boss and we have to do things His way. At times His way is to be very symbolic in His visions and interactions with us. God says this about Himself in Hosea 12:10, "I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets."

In short, God does it that way simply because God chooses to do it that way.

Interpretation of Visions and Dreams

We have seen that God gives some literal visions and some symbolic ones. Now here is the catch -- we need to be careful that we don't try to read symbolism into the literal visions. Likewise we must be careful that we don't take symbolic visions literally.

For instance, what would have happened if Paul decided that his vision of the Macedonian man calling him to come to Spain was symbolic? Perhaps he could apply it to a certain sect of Jews who dressed a certain way or who had certain mannerisms? If he tried to make that literal dream symbolic, then he would not have gone on his missions trip to Spain.

Conversely, if John took the symbolism in the book of Revelation literally, he could have gotten into big trouble and been led seriously astray. If he took that passage as literal instead of symbolic, he might have felt led to start a sect that slayed lambs and then worshipped their dead corpses, or something bizarre like that.

It is important that we understand when God is using symbolism and respond appropriately to it. God never wants us to worship the creation, we are to worship only Him, the Creator. He has made that very clear from Scripture. But sometimes He will use things from His creation in a symbolic way to represent Himself. When He does that, we have to be careful to worship Him and not the things that He uses to represent Himself.

So, how do you tell when a vision is symbolic and when it is literal? The way to find that out, is to go back to God and ask Him. He is the giver of the vision, so He is the one who best understands what He is trying to communicate in the vision.

We should make it a standard practice to bring it to God and debrief with Him anytime that He gives us a vision. Two important questions that we may want to ask Him are: "What does this mean?" and "Why are You showing this to me?", e.g., what response do you want me to have to You now that you have shown me this vision?

We must always involve God in the process of trying to understand and respond to any of the visions that He gives to us.