Dreams, Visions And Experiencing God

Not all visions are visual. (Does that sound like a contradiction in terms?) You may recall the account of Samuel's first vision in 1 Sam 3. Samuel heard a voice calling him but he did not see anything. He assumed the voice belonged to Eli and ran over to him to see what Eli wanted. But Eli had not called the boy. This repeated a few times before Eli realized that God was calling Samuel, then Eli gave Samuel instructions on how to respond to God. Verse 15 tells us that Samuel's encounter with God was a vision. Yet the account does not record Samuel seeing anything -- he heard God speak to him in this vision. Verses 10 to 14 give the account of the vision. It went like this: "The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, 'Samuel! Samuel!' Then Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.' And the Lord said to Samuel: 'See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle...'" then God went on to speak a judgment against Eli's sons. Samuel's first vision appears to have been auditory in nature. (It happened at night in the dark after the nights had been turned off... maybe that is why God did not show anything to Samuel.)

Surpresa Sithole, a leader in the Mozambique revival, spoke at my church the other day. He is a man who has had many visions. Most of them were visual in nature, where he saw the things he experienced. But he did tell one story of a purely audible vision. Some time after his conversion God sent Surpresa to assist Rolland and Heidi Baker in taking care of their orphans. He was living in a trailer that he shared with a missionary from the UK. Surpresa had been seeking God and asking God if this is where God wanted him, or if he needed to go somewhere else. He prayed and sought God on this until he fell asleep.

He was awakened by a phone ringing and he jumped up to answer it. He ended up falling out of bed and landing on the floor with a loud bang that woke up the missionary he shared the room with. The missionary wanted to know what Surpresa was doing and Surpresa told him that he fell out of bed when the phone rang. The missionary replied that they did not have a phone in the trailer. So Surpresa went back to bed again and fell asleep. He was again awakened by the phone ringing. So he began to ask God what was going on. And God communicated to him that this was a vision confirming "God's call" on his life to bring him to Maputo. (God can have a sense of humor at times.)

The story that Surpresa relates is an auditory vision. It is a special sort of vision, that doesn't follow the "norm" for visions. There are many different types of "special" visions in the Bible. Let's briefly mention a few of them.

VISIONS OF THINGS TO COME IN THE DISTANT FUTURE

Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk and John all record visions of the distant future (the last days). They found these visions troubling and they did not fully understand them. But they did report them. Let's briefly mention a few of them. Ezekiel 8:1-18 records a vision of abominations in the temple and probably refers to the antichrist. Daniel 7:1-7 is the vision of the four beasts. Dan 8:1-14 is a vision of the antichrist. Most of the book of revelation records an end-time prophecy.

And Habakkuk 2:3 tells us, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry."

VISIONS FOR SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Ezekiel chapters 40 to 43 record his vision of the rebuilt temple, God's dwelling place, which had not been built yet. He was asked to watch an angel measure various objects in the temple and record their measurements, and make careful descriptions of things he saw there, so that in the future the Jews could us this as a model for actual construction of the temple.

Ezekiel 40:1-4 says, "In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city-on that very day the hand of the Lord was upon me and he took me there. In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. The man said to me, 'Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.'"

Then they proceeded to measure the wall, the gate, the portico of the gateway, the east gate, the north gate, the south gate, the entrance to the gateway, the courtyard, all kinds of alcoves, various rooms in the temple, etc.

In Ezekiel 43:11, he was told, "make known to them the design of the temple -- its arrangement, its exits and entrances -- its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations."

VISIONS TO RELAY ANSWERS IN RESPONSE TO SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WE ASK GOD

When Israel was taken into captivity, Daniel was the teenage son of a Jewish noblemen and made a eunuch in the king's service. Daniel 1 records how he chose to be faithful to God and to take a stand to not defile himself with non-kosher food from the king's table. Dan 1:17-19 records God's response to Daniel's stand of faith: "As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service." In short, he was set up as a wise man or magistrate, a high official in the kingdom.

However, the king got upset with the wise men (the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers) because he had a dream and wanted them to tell him the dream before they tried to interpret it. None of them were able to do that. Dan 2:12-15 tell us, "This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer, 'Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?' Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him."

Daniel had a serious problem here. He was about to be executed in the fallout of the king's temper-tantrum against the people who had not been able to interpret his dream. The only way he could avoid execution was if God showed him exactly what the king had dreamed. Daniel did not take this situation lightly, he called his three Jewish friends and "he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." Then verse 19 tells us, "During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision."

At times, we ask God for specific information, and He gives it to us in visions.

OTHER TYPES OF VISIONS

The Bible has so much to say about visions that we could not possibly cover all of it in a single teaching series. But let me mention a few other interesting things about visions.

Sometimes the visions occur when there are other people around, and the other people don't see the vision. This happened at Saul's conversion. Acts 9:3 tell us that Saul saw a bright light from heaven flash around him, then he had an encounter with Jesus where he was converted. The bright light was so bright that it struck Saul blind. Yet verse 7 tells us that the men who were traveling with Saul heard noises but did not see anything. Daniel also experienced this in Daniel 10:7, "And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves."

Conversely, sometimes multiple people saw the same vision at the same time. That happened with Peter, James and John at the mount of transfiguration. Jesus called their experience (seeing Him talk with Moses and Elijah) a vision in Matthew 17:9. All three of them saw the same thing at the same time. Matthew 17:2-3 tells us they saw, "He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus." What happened was that Jesus took His three closest disciples with Him into a vision where they saw His glory.

Then there is the subject of angels and visions. Sometimes angels appeared directly to people, not in a vision. For instance, Lot did not see a vision of angels. Instead, two angels physically arrived in his city and came and stayed in his home. The angels struck the mob blind when the mob attacked his home, and they made Lot and his family leave the city so they could destroy it. Gen 19:16 tells us, "When Lot hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them."

But at other times, angels appeared to people in dreams and visions. Zacharias had a vision of an angel in Luke 1:22, while he offered a sacrifice in the temple. An angel spoke to Joseph to tell him to take Mary as his wife, to tell him to flee to Egypt and later to come back to Israel. The angel who instructed Joseph appeared to him in a dream each time he wanted to communicate with Joseph. Luke 24:23 tells us that the angels at the grave who told the two women that Jesus was alive did so in a vision.

Apparently Peter was used to seeing angels in visions. One time he was in prison and God sent an angel to rescue him from prison. Acts 12:8-10 give the account of this story. "Then the angel said to him, 'Put on your clothes and sandals.' And Peter did so. 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,' the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him."

Peter thought he was in a vision while all of this was going on. He did not realize it was really happening to him until the angel left Peter standing in the street by himself!

Apparently, it can be hard, at times, to know when you are seeing a vision of an angel and when you are really having an encounter with an angel.