Ask Teresa

Dear Teresa

This may sound so weird but I am having both dreams and visions of being taken to Jerusalem about the time that Jesus was alive. I knew it was Jerusalem and as I looked at myself, I was dressed in the type of Middle Eastern attire that was worn at the time. I never meet anyone that I recognize from the Bible. But when I am there, I have this strong sense and expectant feeling that God about to do something. But nothing significant ever seems to happen...I'm just there wandering in Jerusalem with camel in hand, with an expectation of something about to happen.

I have been experiencing these dreams and visions for the past 10 or 11 years, since when I was a child. I don't know what to make of them and they have been happening for a long time. I have never physically been to Israel, but it feels like I have already been, only about 2000 years back.

Any idea what this is all about?

- Visionary

Dear Visionary

I am sorry, but I am not sure what to make of your experience. When God takes us into a vision or spiritual experience, He usually has a specific purpose/agenda that is immediately manifest to us. When the enemy takes us into one, it is either to mislead us or to scare us. It doesn't sound like any of these things (God-activity or enemy-activity) are happening in your visions/dreams of ancient Israel.

It is true that God does, at times, give us visions where we appear to be taken back in time, but again that is usually for a very clear kingdom purpose. We don't have a 100% clear Bible precedent for going back in time in a vision, but we do have definite "time travel" incidents in Daniel and in the Book of Revelation. In both of these, the prophet is taken forward (not back) in time to be shown end-time activity.

There is a passage in Isaiah that could possibly involve the prophet Isaiah traveling back in time in a vision. That is found in Isaiah 14:12-16:

12 "How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
16 "Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms? (NKJV)

In tins passage, Isaiah is given details of the fall of Satan (a.k.a., Lucifer), who we know fell before he tempted Eve in the garden of Eden. Yet Isaiah seems to know precisely what the devil was saying/thinking at the time of his fall. It is possible that God took him back in time in a vision and allowed him to "watch" this past-tense event. It is also possible that God simply gave Isaiah a word of knowledge (supernatural information directly from God) that did not involve traveling back in time.

Personally, I have had two visions that involved going back in time to ancient Israel. In one of them, I met Jesus shortly before He was crucified, and He spoke to me. It was a very deep spiritual experience for me, so I don't want to go into a lot of detail here... but the experience changed my relationship with God and my understanding of His Sovereignty and Lordship in my life. In the other vision, I was taken back to Goshen on the night of the first Passover, where I met the angel of death and was instructed by him. (That was a correctional vision. I needed correction because I had some wrong attitudes towards the judgments of God. This vision had its desired effect--it corrected my attitude and gave me a correct understanding of God's judgment).

Both times that the Lord took me back in time in a vision, He had a very clear agenda in the vision and it had an immediate and lasting change on both my thinking and my behavior. It was very easy to see God's purpose in each vision.

I have never heard of anyone being taken into a vision and God not clearly showing them His purpose in taking them into that particular vision. Therefore, I don't know what to make of your experience.

So I recommend that you do the same thing anyone is supposed to do when they have some type of supernatural experience that they don't understand-- go back to God and talk to Him about it. That is basically what Eli told the young prophet Samuel to do in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel had a supernatural experience with God that was "off the grid." (In his case, he heard God calling his name.) It was something no one had experienced before and it wasn't documented anywhere. This happened several times before Eli got a clue that Samuel's experience might be a God-thing. Then in verse 9, he instructed Samuel, "Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears'" (NKJV).

The way this fits into your situation is to ask the Lord to speak to you about your experience. You can try asking Him before you have this vision again--who knows, the Lord might answer you in advance. But if you do have this vision/dream again, then invite the Lord into it with you. Ask Him if there is anything He wants to show you or teach you. Ask Him to speak to you in the midst of that vision. You can also ask Him to take you out of it and into His presence if this vision is not from Him.

When we get a supernatural experience that we don't understand, the best thing we can do is to take it back to God, ask Him about it and expect Him to give us additional insight. We know that He will answer when we ask from James 1:5, which says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."