PART TWO-DREAMS AND VISIONS

Those of you who were here last week may recall me saying that “At this point in my message we can focus on verse 17, (from the 33 Chapter of The Book of Job which reads) “…. that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man,” and move right along. However, I believe it will be more helpful if we first carefully consider what Elihu described in the preceding two verses as being dreams and visions of the night which occur while men are lying fast asleep on their beds. Here all three verses again:

Job 33:14-17 (ESV)
14 For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, 17 that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

When I made that decision I realized some of you may wonder whether or not I believed God continues to reveal Himself to His children through dreams and visions of the night. Sure enough, one of you asked me that question during our time of fellowship after the service. I responded by winking and pointed out that the title of that message indicated it was the first part, and that, Lord willing, I would answer her question in the second part which I planned to preach today. Obviously, the Lord was willing and now I’m going to try to explain why having a correct understanding of the roles dreams and visions to God’s children is vitally important. So much so, that it sometimes was a matter of life and death, such as the time the Angel of the Lord warned Joseph.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 (ESV)

As I was crafting today’s message I was reminded of a series of events that occurred about thirty years ago. Some of you may recall me sharing it in past sermons. It involved a professed Christian man living in New Hampshire with his wife and their eleven children ranging in age from about six months to fifteen years. The man had held a good civil service job for over twenty years. Then one night he had a dream which he said was from the Lord telling him to quit his job and move to Burlington, Vermont to plant what he described as being a Holy Spirit filled Full Gospel church. They arrived with just enough coins to make a few phone calls asking for all sorts of state and federal assistance which by law those parents knew they were entitled to. In the course of time he managed to fleece a gullible Christian family I knew out of so much money that they almost impoverished themselves. And all because they believed the Lord had spoken to this phony through a series of ongoing revelations through dreams and visions of the night. Thousands of gullible American Christian who aren’t too well versed in the Bible have been conned out of money and possessions by unscrupulous men and women who twist the Scriptures and have been able to convince those folks that God spoke to them through dreams and visions. So the question before us this morning is: does God still speak to His children through dreams and visions? For starters, let’s consider the following verses through two translations.

Hebrews 1:1-3 (ESV) 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Hebrews 1:1-3 (AMP) 1 IN MANY separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, 2 [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order]. 3 He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,

Citing Adolph Saphir, A. W. Pink explains: “These verses are not only a preface, but they contain a summary of the doctrinal section of the Epistle. The keynote is struck at once. Here we are shown, briefly but conclusively, the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. The apostle introduces his theme in a manner least calculated to provoke the antipathy of his Jewish readers. He begins by acknowledging that Judaism was of Divine authority: it was God who had spoken to their fathers. “He confirms and seals the doctrine which was held by the Hebrews, that to them had been committed the oracles of God; and that in the writings of Moses and the prophets they possessed the Scripture which could not be broken, in which God had displayed to them His will.” (A)

It’s noteworthy that the Gospels open with a summary of Old Testament history from Abraham to David, from David to the Captivity, and from the Captivity to Jesus, the Immanuel predicted by Isaiah (see Matthew 1), and that the Epistles also begin by telling us that the Gospel expounded by the prophets had been “previously promised by God’s prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:1-3). Having affirmed that God had spoken to the fathers by the prophets, the apostle at once points out that God has now spoken to us by His Son. “The great object of the Epistle is to describe the contrast between the Old and New covenants. But this contrast is based upon their unity. It is impossible for us to correctly understand the contrast unless we know first the resemblance. The New Covenant is contrasted with the Old Covenant, not in the way in which the light of the knowledge of God is contrasted with the darkness and ignorance of heathenism, because the Old Covenant is also of God, and is therefore possessed of Divine glory. Beautiful is the night in which the moon and the stars of prophecy and types are shining; but when the sun arises then we forget the hours of watchfulness and expectancy, and in the clear and joyous light of day there is revealed to us the reality and substance of the eternal and heavenly sanctuary.”

“Deity isn’t speechless. The true and living God, unlike the idols of the heathen, isn’t a mute Being. The God of Scripture, unlike that absolute and impersonal “first Cause” of philosophers and evolutionists, isn’t silent. At the beginning of earth’s history we find Him speaking: “God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:4). “He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:9). He spoke to men and still speaks to them. For this we can never be sufficiently thankful. “God at various times spoke,” (verse 1). Not once or twice, but many times, God spoke. From Abraham to Malachi there was a period of fifteen hundred years, and during that time God spoke frequently: to some a few words, to others many. [Here in the letter to the Hebrews] the apostle was paving the way for making known the superiority of Christianity. The Divine revelation given under the Mosaic economy was fragmentary. The Jew desired to pit Moses against Christ (John 9:28). The apostle acknowledges that God had spoken to Israel. But how? Had He communicated to them the fullness of His mind? No! The Old Testament revelation was just the refracted rays and not the unbroken and complete Light.”

“Thus we may see here an illustration of the sovereignty of God: He didn’t act uniformly or confine Himself to any one method of speaking to the fathers. He spoke by way of promise and prediction, by types and symbols, by commandments and precepts, and by warnings and exhortations. “God spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets” (verse 1). Thus the apostle sets his seal upon the Divine inspiration and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. The “fathers” in this verse goes right back to the beginning of God’s dealings with the Hebrews — cf. Luke 1:55. To “the fathers” God spoke “by,” or more literally and precisely, “in” the prophets. This indicates that God possessed their hearts, controlled their minds, ordered their tongues, so that they didn’t speak their own words, but His words. For instance, consider 2 Peter 1:21 (ESV) 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. At times the prophets themselves were conscious of this. 2 Samuel 23:2 (ESV) 2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. We may add that the word “prophet” signifies the mouthpiece of God: see Genesis 20:7, Exodus 7:1, and in John 4:19 — the woman recognized God was speaking to her. John 4:19 (ESV) 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Speaking of Christ to the crowds gathered at Solomon’s Portico, the Apostle Peter declared: Acts 3:21 (ESV) 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. (B)

R. Kent Hughes offers these thoughts: “In the past,” says the writer [of the Letter to the Hebrews], “God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (v.1)-literally, “in many parts and many ways.” The emphasis here is on the grand diversity of God’s speech in the Old Testament. God utilized great devices to instruct his prophets. God spoke to Moses at Sinai in thunder and lightning and with the voice of a trumpet. He whispered to Elijah at Horeb in “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV). Ezekiel was informed by visions and Daniel through dreams. God appeared to Abram in human form and to Jacob as an angel. God declared himself by law, by warning, by exhortation, by type, by parable. And when God’s seers prophesied, they utilized nearly every method to communicate their message. Amos gave direct oracles from God. Malachi used questions and answers. Ezekiel performed bizarre symbolic acts. Haggai preached sermons. And Zechariah employed mysterious signs. The significance of this immensely creative and variegated communication is that it dramatically demonstrated God’s loving desire to communicate with his people. It was never hackneyed, never boring, never inscrutable, and never irrelevant. It was always adequate for the time. It was always progressive, revealing more of God and his ways. It was always in continuity with the previous words of God.”

“Through God’s cosmic and prophetic eloquence men and women rose to live life on the highest plain. Abraham achieved the faith to offer his own son. Moses withstood Pharaoh through mighty miracles. David slew Goliath. Daniel achieved and maintained massive integrity in Babylon. But in all of this (its adequacy, its progressiveness, its continuity, its power), God’s eloquence was never complete. As grand as it was, it was nevertheless fragmentary and lacking. But no more! For in Christ came an astonishing eloquence, the ultimate speech of God-“but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son’ (v. 2a). Jesus is God’s final word. He is the ultimate medium of communication. God had spoken to us in his Son.” (C)

Barclay offers the following insights: “The basic idea of this letter is that Jesus Christ alone brings to men the full revelation of God and that he alone enables them to enter into his very presence. The writer begins by contrasting Jesus with the prophets who had gone before. He talks about him coming in the end of these days. The Jews divided all time into two ages–the present age and the age to come. In between they set The Day of the Lord. The present age was wholly bad; the age to come was to be the golden age of God. The Day of the Lord was to be like the birth-pangs of the new age. So the writer to the Hebrews says, “The old time is passing away; the age of incompleteness is gone; the time of human guessing and groping is at an end; the new age, the age of God, has dawned in Christ.” He sees the world and the thought of men enter, as it were, into a new beginning with Christ. In Jesus God has entered humanity, eternity has invaded time, and things can never be the same again.” “He contrasts Jesus with the prophets, for they were always believed to be in the secret counsels of God. Long ago Amos had said: “The Lord God does nothing without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets,” (Amos 3:7).

“God can’t reveal more than men can understand. His revelation comes through the minds and the hearts of men. That is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews saw. He says that the revelation of God which came through the prophets was in many parts and in many ways. There are two ideas there. (1) The revelation of the prophets had a variegated grandeur which made it a tremendous thing. From age to age they had spoken, always fitting their message to the age, never letting it be out of date. At the same time, that revelation was fragmentary and had to be presented in such a way that the limitations of the time would understand. One of the most interesting things is to see how time and again the prophets are characterized by one idea. For instance, Amos is “a cry for social justice.” Isaiah had grasped the holiness of God. Hosea, because of his own bitter home experience, had realized the wonder of the forgiving love of God. Each prophet, out of his own experience of life and out of the experience of Israel, had grasped and expressed a fragment of the truth of God. None had grasped the whole round orb of truth; but with Jesus it was different. He was not a fragment of the truth; he was the whole truth. In him God displayed not some part of himself but all of himself.

(2) The prophets used many methods. They used the method of speech. When speech failed they used the method of dramatic action (Compare 1Kings 11:29-32; Jeremiah 13:1-9,27:1-7; Ezekiel 4:1-3, 5:1-4). The prophet had to use human methods to transmit his part of the truth of God. Again, it was different with Jesus. He revealed God by being himself. It was not so much what he said and did that shows us what God is like; it is what he was.” “The revelation of the prophets was great and manifold, but it was fragmentary and presented by such methods as they could find to make it effective. The revelation of God in Jesus was complete and was presented in Jesus himself. In a word, the prophets were the friends of God; but Jesus was the Son. The prophets grasped part of the mind of God; but Jesus was that mind. It is to be noted that it is no part of the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews to belittle the prophets; it is his aim to establish the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He is not saying that there is a break between the Old Testament revelation and that of the New Testament; he is stressing the fact that there is continuity, but continuity that ends in consummation.” (D)

In conclusion allow me to share these thoughts of C. H. Spurgeon: “As the ages passed on, first one and then another truth was revealed; first one and then another aspect of a truth was made known, until, in the fullness of time, the glory of God shone in the face of Jesus Christ. There is in the East an anticipatory dawn, a sort of premature twilight, which always disappears before the true dawn commences. So in the history of the world, especially in the history of Israel there have been many dawning’s of light, to be followed perhaps by periods of obscurity, yet graciously illumining the successive ages, and heralding the coming of the Light of the world.”

“God presents the truth to the individual in such a form as may best secure his obedience. The Spirit of God shows the things of Christ in an intellectual, ethical, imaginative, emotional light, according to the intellect of those to whom He is communicating. 2. God influences the preacher so that in the selection and presentation of his themes he may best inform his congregation. God knows the special truths for the times; or the particular aspect in which the truth needs to be recognized. Furthermore, not just any men are called, but certain men, men of spiritual inclination and force were selected to be the vehicles through which God would “speak to the fathers”; and the same rule of selection of preachers still applies today because Christ makes Himself known to the world through certain spiritual agents and holy minister’s of the Gospel.” (E)

It’s been my prayerful hope that the cumulative effect of the various men I have quoted have adequately answered the question as to whether or not God still speaks to His children through dreams and visions of the night. However, things aren’t always what they seem. Lord willing, next week….

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I obviously put a lot of time and effort into today’s message and the preceding ones in this series as well. I assure you each of them have been a labor of love. Please let me know your thoughts about this particular style of preaching after the service. I want these messages to be helpful to everyone who has heard them preached and the folks who may read them later on my web page, some of whom I know are pastors and preachers. I very much appreciate the internet readers who take the time to post their comments in my Guest Book.

(A) Exposition of Hebrews by A. W. Pink, © 1954 by I. C. Herendeen, Swengel, Pa. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mi. P.21-23.

(B) Ibid.

(C) Hebrews Vol. 1, © 1993 by R. Kent Hughes. Published by Crossway Books a division of Good News Publishers, 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Il. 60187, pgs. 20-21.

(D) The Letter to the Hebrews, Revised edition, © 1976 by William Barclay, pgs. 12-13.

(E) C. H. Spurgeon in The Biblical Illustrator, by Joseph S. Exell, Hebrews Vol. 21, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mi. 49506., pg. 4.