I think it would be right to say that most Christians today believe that God still speaks to people through dreams.
There are more than a few believers, however, who deny that He does this. They claim that He stopped speaking in this way in the first century around the time the last apostle died. In their view, all supposed messages from God in dreams today are purely natural experiences or perhaps even have a demonic origin at times.
I am convinced that God does speak in dreams today, and in what follows I will argue for this position. I am sure that the idea that He no longer speaks in this way fits poorly with Scripture and stems from mistaken ideas about the nature of the Bible and its role in the Christian life.
Testimony of dreams
Before getting into the arguments themselves, I think it will be good to begin by saying a few words about testimony of dreams.
I have never been aware of God speaking to me in a dream myself, so I can’t give any first-hand testimony. But I have read about and spoken to other Christians who say that they have experienced Him speaking in this way, and some of this testimony has struck me as highly likely to be genuine.
Here are a few examples:
First, something I have come across many times in recent years is reports of Muslim converts to the Christian faith, who claim that they became Christians because Jesus appeared to them in a dream.
The sheer number of times that I have heard these claims makes it very difficult for me to believe that there is no truth in them. Importantly too, some of the sources from which I have got this information are serious and sober Christian organisations run by Christians who seem not at all to be the sort of people who are given to baseless stories and hype.
Second, I can remember talking to a devout Christian woman a long time ago, who said that Jesus had appeared to her in a dream. She was going through a hard time at that point in her life. I forget exactly what happened in the dream, but I know that she was comforted and encouraged by the experience.
I am completely convinced that this woman was not lying about what she experienced, and I think it is very doubtful that she was even making an honest mistake about the source of the dream.
Third, a few years ago I spoke to another devout Christian woman, who told me how a dream helped her and her husband to move house. She saw a house in a dream, which was the first time that she saw that house. Then later, when they were aiming to move, a house that was for sale was the same as the one she had seen in the dream. They understood this as God’s leading and bought that house.
I am certain that this woman wasn’t lying, and I think it is highly likely that this dream really was from God.
Dreams today are no threat to the Bible's authority
From what I have seen, one reason why some Christians deny that God speaks in dreams today is because they think that if He did this, it would threaten the authority of Scripture.
This makes no sense.
When we say that the Bible is authoritative, what we really mean is that what it teaches is true and that we are bound by what it teaches.
However, it should be obvious that none of the examples I gave above of God speaking in dreams even remotely stops the Bible being true or stops us being bound by what it teaches. And the same is true of all other dreams God gives in our day.
Dreams today are no threat to the Bible’s completeness
Those who deny that God still speaks in dreams also sometimes claim that if He did this, it would threaten the Bible’s completeness.
This is also a mistake.
When we talk about the Bible’s completeness, what we mean is that the list of biblical books became complete almost two thousand years ago. Since then nothing has been added to it, and nothing will be added in the future.
However, no revelation given by God in dreams today is designed to have scriptural authority or to apply to the whole Christian church. Revelation in dreams today is on a far lower level than biblical revelation, and just involves pieces of useful information that are given to individual Christians or churches to help them in some way.
The usefulness of dreams
It is also sometimes said that it would be pointless for God to speak in dreams now that we have the New Testament.
There is another big mistake here.
To begin with, the first example I gave above of Jesus appearing to Muslims in dreams concerns people who would not be intending to read the NT anyway. So in their case, the fact that the NT exists cannot possibly reduce the effectiveness of the dreams.
Secondly, as far as Christians are concerned, the existence of the NT in no way means that dreams are pointless. The NT gives us crucial, general principles about how to live. But it should be obvious that in the course of our Christian lives, we encounter numerous situations, sometimes complex ones, in which only reading the Bible will not give us full insight into how we should act.
For example, take the following situations:
(1) A Christian man is wondering whether to take a job he has been offered or to keep the one he has. Despite praying and asking advice, he finds that the pros and cons are evenly balanced.
(2) A Christian couple are considering whether they should move to a different town or continue to live where they are. However, the pros and cons seem to cancel each other out.
(3) A church is considering doing some evangelism. An opportunity opens up for them to reach out to older people, and another opportunity arises for them to do outreach to teenagers. But they feel that they can’t manage both, so they have to choose.
I could give a multitude of similar examples. It should be clear that Christians and churches often have to choose between various courses of action that seem to fit equally well with the Bible. And some of these decisions are very big ones. What is more, it makes sense to think that God is almost never neutral about big decisions we make. Almost always He will want us to take one course of action instead of other alternatives.
In other words, for individual Christians, Christian families and churches, situations will often arise when reading the Bible doesn’t give enough insight to know what the will of God is. Scripture is not designed to give us direct and specific information about how to decide in situations like the ones I have just mentioned.
So Christians and churches often find themselves in situations where it is very helpful for them if they are able to hear God speaking to them about what He specifically wants them to do.
Of course, God can always find a way of working out His purposes other than by giving special insight. Or, even if He chooses to give insight, He can do this other than by speaking in a dream.
But it is a big mistake to think in terms of either–or here. It should be both–and. Speaking in dreams is one way, alongside other ways, in which God sometimes steers His people in the right direction.
Acts 2:16-18
The idea that God doesn’t speak in dreams today not only involves mistaken thinking, but it also fits poorly with Scripture.
The most important passage on this topic is Acts 2:16-18. Here Peter, referring to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given, quotes the prophet Joel:
‘16 But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 “And it will be in the last days”, says God, “that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.”’
Peter is saying that the events of the day of Pentecost are the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy in Joel 2:28-32. Joel prophesied that God would pour out His Spirit, says Peter, and this has now come into effect. And the text makes it clear that pouring out the Spirit includes dreaming dreams, and these are certainly dreams in which God speaks to His people.
The prophecy explicitly says that ‘old men will dream dreams’. However, it would be wrong to think that this means that only old men will dream dreams. Rather, what we have here is a piece of rhetoric, in which each spiritual activity in v. 17 applies to each of the groups of people mentioned in this verse. Sons and daughters, young men and old men will all prophesy, see visions and dream dreams.
Next, we must note the time reference in this passage. It says that God will pour out His Spirit, and that Christians will have dreams etc., ‘in the last days’. The last days here is the period of time that began with the giving of the Spirit and will end with the return of Christ.
But if God stopped speaking in prophecies, visions and dreams in the first century, this would mean that it was only in the very first part of the last days that God poured out His Spirit as Joel and Peter describe. And this does seem a rather awkward interpretation of the text. Acts 2:16-18 therefore fits more naturally with God speaking in dreams throughout the Christian era.
Furthermore, to think that God no longer speaks in the prophecies, visions and dreams referred to in this passage also fits poorly with what is known as ‘salvation history’.
This is a term that refers to how God’s overall plan for human beings has unfolded in various ways in different periods of history.
For example, the calling of Abraham and the giving of the Law at Sinai involved big changes from what had come before. Later, the ministry of John the Baptist also brought something radically new, as did the earthly ministry of Jesus.
The day of Pentecost was also a huge change from what had come before. On this day the Spirit was given in fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of the New Covenant.
Crucially, however, since Pentecost there has been no critical point in salvation history. We are still in the same New Covenant era that began on that day.
In view of this, it would be unexpected, to say the least, if God no longer spoke through prophecies, visions and dreams. After the Spirit had descended on the day of Pentecost, this would be like Him deciding to partially reascend to heaven part-way through the New Covenant era.
Summing up
In view of the above points, there really seems to be no good reason for thinking that God no longer speaks in dreams today.
This idea appears to be the result of mistaken thinking about the nature of the Bible and its role in the Christian life. It also fits poorly with Acts 2:16-18. And it runs up against very plausible Christian testimony that God still speaks in dreams.
Guarding against potential dangers
If we accept, as we should do, that God speaks through dreams today, we nevertheless need to exercise great care in this area. It is surely true that the vast majority of dreams that Christians have are not ones through which God is aiming to communicate.
Sadly, some Christians show much too little caution in their attitude to dreams they have had. Rushing to assume that an unusual dream must be a message from God can have disastrous consequences, if an important decision is based on the dream alone.
Instead, those Christians who think that God may have spoken in this way should humbly take the matter to Him in prayer.
See also:
The Bible, God’s Voice, and Useful Information
Every Christian Should Desire the Gift of Prophecy
