The document discusses how God communicates with people through dreams in the Bible. It provides several examples from the Old and New Testaments where God gave people dreams to reveal future plans, give interpretations of other dreams, and provide instructions. Dreams were used to communicate with important figures like Joseph, Solomon, Daniel, and Joseph the husband of Mary. God also gave people dreams to grant petitions, give courage, and speak directly with individuals.
1. DREAMS IN
THE BIBLE
God certainly communicates to His
people through dreams.
We will study some of the
characteristics of those dreams.
The Holy Bible is full of them, both
in the Old Testament and in the
New Testament.
3. Works in our dreams.
Genesis 2:21 (NKJV)
21 And the LORD God caused a
deep sleep to fall on Adam, and
he slept; and He took one of
his ribs, and closed up the flesh
in its place.
4. Gen 15:12-13 (NKJV)
12 Now when the sun was going down, a
deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold,
horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then He said to Abram: “Know
certainly that your descendants will be
strangers in a land that is not theirs,
and will serve them, and they will afflict
them four hundred years.
Put impressions in our
dreams.
5. He reveals Himself in our
dreams.
Gen 28:13 (NKJV)
13 And behold, the LORD stood above
it and said: “I am the LORD God of
Abraham your father and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie I will
give to you and your descendants.
6. Reveals far away future
plans.
Gen 37: 5-7 (NKJV)
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to
his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6
So he said to them, “Please hear this dream
which I have dreamed: 7 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.”
7. Reveals far away future
plans.
Gen 37:9 (NKJV)
9 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.”
8. Reveals far away future
plans.
Gen 37: 10-11 (NKJV)
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers;
and his father rebuked him and said to him,
“What is this dream that you have dreamed?
Shall your mother and I and your brothers
indeed come to bow down to the earth before
you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his
father kept the matter in mind.
9. Reveals near future plans.
Gen 41:25-26 (NKJV)
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The
dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has
shown Pharaoh what He is about to
do: 26 The seven good cows are seven
years, and the seven good heads are
seven years; the dreams are one.
10. Reveals near future plans.
Gen 41:32 (NKJV)
32 And the dream was repeated to
Pharaoh twice because the thing is
established by God, and God will
shortly bring it to pass.
11. Individual Messages.
Gen 40:5 (NKJV)
5 Then the butler and the baker of the
king of Egypt, who were confined in
the prison, had a dream, both of
them, each man’s dream in one night
and each man’s dream with its own
interpretation.
12. Individual Messages.
Gen 41:11 (NKJV)
11 we each had a dream in one night,
he and I. Each of us dreamed
according to the interpretation of his
own dream.
13. Individual Messages
Gen 41:12 (NKJV)
12 Now there was a young Hebrew
man with us there, a servant of the
captain of the guard. And we told
him, and he interpreted our dreams
for us; to each man he interpreted
according to his own dream.
14. Judges 7:13 (NKJV)
13 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.”
Gives Courage.
15. Gives Courage.
Judges 7:14 (NKJV)
14 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.”
16. Judges 7:145 (NKJV)
15 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.”
Gives Courage.
17. Grants Petitions
1 Kings 3:5 (NKJV)
5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to
Solomon in a dream by night; and
God said, “Ask! What shall I give
you?”
18. Grants Petitions.
1 Kings 3:15 (NKJV)
15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed
it had been a dream. And he came
to Jerusalem and stood before the ark
of the covenant of the LORD, offered
up burnt offerings, offered peace
offerings, and made a feast for all his
servants.
19. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Gen 40:8 (NKJV)
8 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.”
20. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 1:17 (NKJV)
17 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.
21. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 2:26-27 (NKJV)
26 The king answered and said to Daniel,
whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able
to make known to me the dream which I have
seen, and its interpretation?”
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king,
and said, “The secret which the king has
demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the
magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare
to the king.
22. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 2:28-29 (NKJV)
28 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. Your dream, and the visions of your
head upon your bed, were these: 29 As for you,
O king, thoughts came to your mind while on
your bed, about what would come to pass
after this; and He who reveals secrets has
made known to you what will be.
23. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 2:47 (NKJV)
47 The king answered Daniel, and
said, “Truly your God is the God of
gods, the Lord of kings, and a
revealer of secrets, since you could
reveal this secret.”
24. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 4:6 (NKJV)
Therefore I issued a decree to
bring in all the wise men of
Babylon before me, that they
might make known to me the
interpretation of the dream.
25. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 4:7 (NKJV)
7 Then the magicians, the astrologers,
the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers
came in, and I told them the dream;
but they did not make known to me
its interpretation.
26. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 4:8 (NKJV)
8 But at last Daniel came before me
(his name is Belteshazzar, according
to the name of my god; in him is the
Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the
dream before him, saying:
27. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 4:9 (NKJV)
9 “Belteshazzar, chief of the
magicians, because I know that
the Spirit of the Holy God is in
you, and no secret troubles you,
explain to me the visions of my
dream that I have seen, and its
interpretation.
28. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 4:18 (NKJV)
18 “This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar,
have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar,
declare its interpretation, since all the
wise men of my kingdom are not able to
make known to me the interpretation;
but you are able, for the Spirit of
the Holy God is in you.”
29. Gives Dream
Interpretations.
Daniel 5:11 (NKJV)
11 There is a man in your kingdom in
whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And
in the days of your father, light and
understanding and wisdom, like the
wisdom of the gods, were found in him;
and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—
your father the king—made him chief of
the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans,
and soothsayers.
31. Gives Instructions
Matthew 1:20 (New King James
Version)
20 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.
32. Gives Instructions
Matthew 1:24 (New King James
Version)
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him and took to him his
wife,
33. Gives Instructions
Matthew 2:12 (New King James
Version)
12 Then, being divinely warned in a
dream that they should not return to
Herod, they departed for their own
country another way.
34. Gives Instructions
Matthew 2:13 (NKJV)
The Flight into Egypt
13 Now when they had departed,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise,
take the young Child and His mother,
flee to Egypt, and stay there until I
bring you word; for Herod will seek
the young Child to destroy Him.”
35. Gives Instructions
Matthew 2:19-20 (NKJV)
The Home in Nazareth
19 Now when Herod was dead, behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying,
“Arise, take the young Child and His
mother, and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the young
Child’s life are dead.”
36. Gives Instructions
Matthew 2:22 (New King James
Version)
22 But when he heard that Archelaus
was reigning over Judea instead of
his father Herod, he was afraid to go
there. And being warned by God in a
dream, he turned aside into the
region of Galilee.
37. Speaks in Dreams
Job 33:14-15 (New King James
Version)
14 For God may speak in one way, or in
another,
Yet man does not perceive it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
While slumbering on their beds,
38. Speaks in Dreams
1 Kings 3:5 (New King James
Version)
5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to
Solomon in a dream by night; and
God said, “Ask! What shall I give
you?”