What About Dreaming

Today I began reading from the gospels. On Sunday, January 3, 2021 I started a fifty-two week reading plan in which I will read a different genre of Scripture on each day of the week: Sunday - epistles; Monday - Law; Tuesday - history; Wednesday - Psalms; Thursday - poetry; Friday - prophets; Saturday - the gospels and Acts. It is very interesting reading the Scriptures in this way. When I saw the reading plan, the format appealed to me because it is the way that I studied the Scriptures in the Bible survey classes at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

This format allows me to see the entire canon of Scripture as a whole during a week. Some genres are much longer than others; therefore, my reading on some days is brief (Psalms) and other days (history and prophets) much longer. Today I read the birth of the Messiah in Matthew 1-2. Having read from the other genres during the week, coming to the birth of the Messiah had a fuller meaning. One thing that I caught but had read many times before was how a messenger (angel) or God himself spoke to persons in their dreams. An angel spoke told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because the child conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. An angel spoke to the Magi in a dream to not return to Herod. An angel told Joseph in a dream to flee with Mary his wife and the child to Egypt. An angel spoke to Joseph in a dream to tell him to return to Judea and he was warned by God in a dream; therefore, he settled with Mary and the child in the region of Galilee and raised him with their other children in a city called Nazareth. 

I talk to the Father every morning. When my earthly father was on his death bed at the start of 2014 I began writing the Father a letter in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. However, he speaks to me in his word and has never spoken to me, that I know of, in a dream. Not only did this occur in the gospels but there are several instance in the early church, recorded in Acts, where God or an angel speaks to his servants in their dreams. 

I am guided by the word and the Spirit. The word is actual language but the Spirit leads by urging. Could God speak to his people in dreams today? Sure, God can do whatever he wants, however he wants to do it but is it needed? The apostle Paul wrote his apprentice Timothy to fix his mind on the sound doctrine of the word and not worldly fables. This will discipline him and others for godliness. (cf. 1 Ti. 4:6-10)

So how should we take this? One of the things that I noticed about these dreams in Matthew 1-2, each of them were connected to the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture. Therefore, be careful to know the word of God before making any decision or listening to a message.