"GOD SPEAKS...IN A DREAM, IN A VISION OF THE NIGHT"
“GOD SPEAKS…IN A DREAM, IN A VISION OF THE NIGHT”
June 23, 2013, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
“God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceives is not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumbering upon the bed; then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction..............Lo, all these things God often works with man. (Job. 33:14-16; 2
The Bible in both O.T. and N.T. reveals that God spoke through dreams and visions to saints and sinners alike. He still does! One of the fruits of the Prophetic Revelation Movement is that now even some of the main stream denominations accept this Gift of Dreams and Interpretation as a way that God communicates with man.
The Lord has consistently spoke in Holy Scripture in parables, riddles, types, symbols, fables, allegories, figures of speech and numerous idioms. He still does! Now this Gift of communication is magnified by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Many of the people in this church are gifted with dreams, visions of the night, open eye visions and seeing in the Spirit.
Last week I had a very significant dream from the Lord specifically about our church. Dreams can be personal messages to us individually, for other individuals, the local church, the church universal, and/or to the nation or nations.
I have learned through many years of the Lord speaking to me through dreams and visions to know it is God speaking. “If we are going to embrace the Holy Spirit’s voice through dreams, it is my persuasion that all prophetic dreams either for revelation or forth telling must be backed by the Holy Scripture.
Dreams like prophecy must be submitted to be judged by those who have the gift of interpretation of dreams and prophets. If we are willing to put the dream “out there”, we have to be willing to have it judged.
If we have a dream about another individual, always submit the dream to an Elder before delivering the interpretation. That is unless you have been set into one of the five-fold offices. Even then, wisdom and humility will submit the dream and/or the Word of the Lord especially if it is a warning or correction.
Isa. 50:4: AMP “(The Servant of God says) The Lord God has give Me the tongue of a disciple and of one who is taught, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He wakens Me morning by morning. He wakens My ear to hear as a disciple (as one who is taught).
It takes a seasoned Christian with a balanced view of the whole of scripture in order to interpret correctly. People who desire the gift of interpretation of dreams have to be disciplined in Bible reading.
Job 33: 23-24 validates the gift of an interpreter of dreams: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter (of dreams) one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness.”
The dream I had about our church is easy to interpret. It is pure scripture. It is also powerful in the scope of the revelation.
Dream: The location was the present pasture of the church. The pasture was full of cucumbers on cucumber vines. I saw our church and the scripture in Isaiah 1: 8-9. Our church is a remnant like the cottage (place of shelter, shade, booth, protection) in the vineyard, a lodge (night-lodge) in a garden of cucumbers.”
Isa. 1:8-9: “The daughter of Zion is as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.”
Symbolism:
1. Zion is symbolic of the New Testament church. Heb. 12:22: “You have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn…”
In the Old Testament, Zion was the religious (priestly) and political (kingly)
Center of David’s Kingdom.
2. The Hebrew word for “daughter” is “bath”. It is taken from “banah”, which means “to build”. It is the feminine form of “ben”, the Hebrew word for “son”
3. Cottage: “sukka” – tabernacle; booth at Feast of Tabernacles; pavilion.
4. Vineyard—a field set with plants of noble quality as a cultivated garden, an orchard, an olive garden.
5. Lodge: A booth in which garden keepers lodge.
6. Cucumbers: Vigor, fitness; affluence; confidence; refreshing, (negative – lusts of Egypt).
7. Besieged city – “THE Lord of hosts left unto them a very small remnant that were kept pure from the common apostasy and kept safe and alive from the common calamity. Romans 9:27: “Isaiah also cries concerning Israel. Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” (Paul is here speaking of the remnant of the Jewish nation who received Christ and became Christians.)
“Isaiah comforts himself with the consideration of a remnant that should be the monuments of divine grace and mercy, notwithstanding the general corruption and desolation.” (Matthew Henry)
6. LORD OF HOSTS is a title that emphasizes God’s rule over every other power in the material and spiritual universe. This is the hosts of Heaven i.e. the armies of the angelic beings in Heaven. The word “host” also refers to human beings and to nature itself. In this scripture, the Lord of Hosts is the one who separates out this remnant. The work is done by Him alone and not by the hand of man. The Lord of Hosts is so magnificent that all creation services His purpose.
1 Samuel 17:45: “David said to the Philistine. ‘You come to me with sword, spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.’”
“The Lord of hosts left unto them a very small remnant, that were kept pure from the common apostasy and kept safe and alive from the common calamity. The Remnant is often a small one. Multitude is no mark of the true church. Christ’s is a little flock. It is good for a people who have been saved from utter ruin to look back and see how near they were to it, to see how much they owe to a few good men that stood in the gap, and that grace was given by a good, God, who left them these good men.” (Matthew Henry)
This vision of the remnant was given to encourage them that they would be kept hidden and safe during the judgment of the sins of their nation. The charge took the form of a courtroom scene in which the whole universe is called upon to witness the twofold accusation of base ingratitude and rebellious apostasy. “Hear O heavens and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken. Heaven and earth are commanded to hear, for Jehovah, not Isaiah, has spoken. All celestial and terrestrial beings are called upon to witness the Divine plea and sanction the justice of God in His case against the sin of the nation. The Lord of Hosts is the authority behind the judgment and the blessing for the remnant.
God has touched us, indwells us, been poured out on us, speaks to us in our spirit, speaking in our prayer language, dreams, visions, gifts of the Holy Spirit, pastors, prophets, teachers, and evangelists. He leads us to worship, praise, prayer, answers, performs miracles, intercedes, delivers, sustains, blesses, helps, keeps, seals and preserves. We have twenty (20) different kinds of Bibles. He speaks to us in mysteries we don’t understand and through creation.
“The slower the scholar, the more God will forbear to teach us.”
There is no defeat in Jesus! Jesus promise us peace, power and trouble. In all trouble, be alert to find the treasure.
In Dreams, God warns of trouble, gives direction, visits, heals and reveals the future as well as the present. This is one of the revelation gifts.
In my personal dream life, I have learned to tell the difference between a dream and a vision of the night. In the 80’s, I became aware that my dreams were messages from God. In my personal life, I had an area of denial. Like the little monkey, my church education taught me to “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.” This is not from the Spirit of Truth. I was and am a very positive person. If I have a choice of receiving a negative report or a positive report, I will always choose the latter.
There were some relationships in my family that needed confrontation to correct. If people had told me, I would have thrown up a wall of denial. However, God broke through my wall of denial and delusion with dreams. Visions came a few years later.
“All these things work God oftentimes with men to bring his soul from the pit to enlighten with the lights of the living.” (Job. 33: 29-30)
This scripture tells us that God visits us oftentimes. Job 7: 17-18 tells us that God visits us every morning.
“What is man that you should magnify him? And that you should set your heart upon him? And that you should visit him every morning, and try him every moment.”
Quiet often I receive messages and answers to prayer from God on awakening. “The postman arrives often and early.” Thank God for this blessedness!
On the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17), Peter thrusts this gift past the Cross in to the New Testament Church from the Old Covenant. It is “clever” for some to say, “Well it was possibly something you ate for supper.” I reverence dreams as a gift from the Lord and He visits me in the night hours. This is very precious to me. I am usually very quick to not indulge any mockery of this gift.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:”
“This verse proclaims that in the last days God will pour out His Spirit on all of humanity and the result will be dreams, visions and prophecy. In quoting Joel, Peter not only associated the events of Pentecost with Joel’s earlier prophecy, he confirmed it to be the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. In doing that, he also indirectly announced that the “last days” commenced from that moment and will be completed when Christ returns. That means that we are in the last days.
I do not need to convince this church Body of this gift or the gift of interpretation of dreams. My purpose today is to bring you back to the center of dream interpretation which is the Holy Bible. The Holy Spirit teaches relating spiritual things with spiritual.
Dreams are for both the Christian and non-Christian, visions on the other hand are the domain of the believer.
As we are approaching our annual conference, I will make a statement asking anyone (who is not on the ministry team) who has a vision or personal prophetic word to submit it to me before delivering the word. This is for your protection as well as our guests.
I am very gracious to allow people opportunity to give their testimonies and prophetic insights, but first I want to be able to judge the word. Also, I will need to make the “call” as to the proper time of the “flow” of the Holy Spirit. If I make a mistake and it is not like you see it, then it is on me –not anyone else.
INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS is a revelatory gift.
Job 33: 23-24: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter (of dreams) one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness.”
I believe in New Testament, we have more interpreters than one in a thousand. This church alone has at least 40 people who are able to interpret dreams at least on some level. All Bible teachers and scholars are equipped to interpret when led by the Holy Spirit.
Dreams and visions should not be hastily interpreted, but soaked in prayer. It is good to keep a dream notebook. Especially write down visions of the nights as well as open eye visions. Like scripture interpretations, watch your context and the dream setting is relevant to the message. Also, the Lord always gives three confirmations. So if the Lord gives you direction in a dream, you can look for a confirmation or in my case, I see the dreams actually come to pass.
The languages of dreams and visions are languages of God. Within those languages are many dimensions. The Holy Scriptures were inspired by the same God who talks to us in dreams. The way symbols are used in Scripture is our same guide to dream interpretation.
VISIONS OF THE NIGHT
There is a difference between a dream and a vision of the night. Some times you may see a television screen in the dream. This means “tell a vision”. This is to signal that you are receiving a vision. It will often be rich in scripture metaphor and the activity will be anointed with the Glory of God. Bible scholars will be able to interpret these visions by taking the images and metaphors to the law of first mention in the Bible. Whatever something means the first time it is mentioned in the Bible, will usually mean that throughout the Bible.
In a night visions, I will often hear a voice speaking to me who I will know to be Jesus or an angel. Sometimes, I will see a message written out (Acts 16: 9-11)
A dream usually contains more than one scene, is a progressive message and the dreamer can be either an observer or participant.
Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream Daniel 4: 10-17.
Like scripture, dream symbols can have a dualistic interpretation, i.e. (negative- positive).
Example: Mother – Spiritual Mother, the Church; or natural mother, love kindness, comfort.
Mother-In-Law – could be literal or legalistic church, meddler, trouble-maker
EXAMPLE - Dream I had 10/16/99
“I saw a river. The river banks were covered in snow. The falling snow began to turn to rain. The rain was melting the snow into the river.”
Ps. 46: “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the City of God. The Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Most High… He uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Isa. 55:10: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven… (vs.11) so shall my Word be that goes forth out of my mouth.”
Hose. 10:12 “the time He comes and rains righteousness on us”.
James 5:7 “Therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”
EXAMPLE – Mini- Vision 10/20/99
“I saw two mountains:
The first one of brightness, Glory Light and Snow. A beautiful river clear as glass flowed from it.
The second one was dark and a river of fire flowed from it.
This is easy – The first one is Mt. Zion and the second one is Mt. Sinai.
TEN EMBLENS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
Rain – Life giving and quickening power of God.
Dew – refreshing and invigorating power
Gift – joyful, gracious, and liberating power
Fire – Zeal and refining power
Dove – gentleness, harmlessness, and comforting power
Water – life-giving and infinite power
Wind – resurrection power
Oil – Consecration and anointing power
Seal – redemptive and keeping power
Earnest – ownership and guarantee power
The Lord taught me interpretation of dream through prayer, the word and years of study. I am still learning and often forget more than I remember. However, there are now excellent books to aid in the interpretation of this language of God. I own two or three that save me time. One of those books is Understanding the Dreams You Dream by Ira Milligan. It is a handbook that will give you quick scripture references to many biblical symbols. The Divinity Code by: Adrian Beale and Adam F. Thompson is also an excellent reference source as well as Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.
I still use my concordance and prophetic literature from many fine prophetic teachers.
This is a revelatory gift and one of the nine arms of the Office of the Prophet. However, it is not limited to the Prophet. Usually someone who is standing in the Office of the Prophet will have at least three revelatory gifts operating in their lives.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
I entered into the labors of the books aforementioned as well as a sermon by: Carolyn Sissom, Dreams and Interpretation, January 16, 2006