8. Definition Of A Dream
On one level, it’s really simple to tell the difference between a dream and a vision. A dream occurs when you are asleep and a vision occurs when you are wide-awake.
Jacob, Joseph, Pharaoh, Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar were all fast asleep when they had their dreams while Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ananias and Cornelius were wide awake when they received their visions.
Yet on another level it’s not simple at all. Abraham was in the middle of a vision when God put him into a deep sleep and gave him a dream and Jeremiah seemed to be in the midst of a wide-awake oracular vision when he suddenly said, At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.[1]
Oops! So, all the foregoing prophetic revelation had really been received in a dream? And then did Jeremiah fall back to sleep and continue to dream?
I think so! That’s why I included him in this study – At this I awoke – but I also wonder, how many other revelations considered as visions were really dreams. But that’s an assignment for another day and perhaps another saint!
What about night visions? Were they visions given to people who went to bed and stayed awake or were they dreams given to people who went to bed and fell asleep.
Based on personal experience and on the fact Scripture never talks about day visions I have included them as dreams and call them night vision dreams.
The problem is, the Bible makes little or no distinction between dreams and visions. Sometimes we don’t know whether the revelation has been a dream or a night vision.
Although there are over two hundred scriptural references to dreams and visions biblical writers are not particularly consistent or concerned with precise definitions. To the Hebraic mind the main point was the person had experienced a supernatural experience and revelation.
The book of Job says, In a dream in a vision of the night[2] while the book of Daniel uses phrases like, Your dream and the visions of your head[3], Visions of my dream, and a dream, a vision of the night. Isaiah also talks of a dream of a night vision.[4]
Webster’s dictionary definition says a dream is a series of thoughts, images or emotions occurring during sleep and a vision is something seen otherwise than by natural sight - prophetic sight.
The main point for me is that in a dream the dreamer is asleep and not conscious. A good example would be Jacob’s dream at Bethel. The Bible says, When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.[5] Jacob was asleep when he received his revelation.
The key point concerning a vision is that the visionary is conscious and not asleep. A good example would be The Vision on the Mount of Transfiguration.[6]
During that encounter the disciples were wide-awake and fully aware of their surroundings. Peter even spoke to Jesus during it. The Bible says,
While he (Peter) was still speaking, a bright
cloud covered them, and a voice from the
cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased. Listen to
him! When the disciples heard this, they
fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
But Jesus came and touched them. Get
up, he said. Don’t be afraid. When they looked
up, they saw no one except Jesus.[7]
In my understanding visions are basically the same as dreams, except dreams happen when a person is asleep and visions occur when a person is awake. Both can be literal and or symbolic.
In this study I’ve included Zechariah’s eight night visions as dreams as I have with Samuel and Nathan’s night visions. I’ve also judged Jeremiah’s long piece of scripture from Jeremiah 30:3-31:40 to be a dream.
The more one studies Bible dreams the more one gets a sense and a feel for what a Bible dream really looks like. They are usually simple direct instructions or sometimes instructions given in a dialogue form. Occasionally when it suits God’s purposes they are also symbolic messages requiring interpretation. Normally they are short, direct and very similar to a parable or a very short story.
In this sense, Zechariah’s eight night visions have the typical feel of dreams. They are all like parables requiring interpretation.
Samuel’s night vision is slightly different. We don’t know if Samuel was asleep or awake but you’d think it’d be quite normal for a child of Samuel’s age to go straight to sleep and sleep all night.
Anyway when Samuel hears God’s voice he runs to Eli thinking he has been called. This happened three times until God speaks to him on the fourth occasion. And when God does speak He includes a bit more information than He usually does in a dream. His message goes to 90 words.
The same thing happens with Nathan’s night vision dream in which God gives a prophecy for King David that is 365 words long. This is far longer than any other Bible dream except of course, Jeremiah’s ‘Israel Will Return’ Dream which runs to 1,227 words.
Yet although there are grey areas which other saints might someday shine better light on, my working definition for this book is that a dream occurs while the dreamer is asleep whereas, a vision happens while the visionary is awake. You see a dream while you are unconscious and you see a vision when you are fully conscious.
I receive much of my regular revelation through dreams. I also receive images and pictures, which I call inner visions, especially when I’m prophesying or interpreting tongues.
I’ve never to my knowledge received an open vision like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration or Paul on the road to Damascus though I have received open visions in my dreams.
In this book I’m including a number of night visions because although there’s no way of being 100% sure whether they are dreams or visions they certainly function like dreams and have an important message like dreams. They also all advance God’s plans and purpose.
Still there are difficulties. In 1 Kings 3 we’re told Solomon received his wisdom from God during a dream but when the same incident is reported in 2 Chronicles 1 there’s no mention of this incident being a dream. We are only told, That night God appeared to Solomon.
Just how many other similar cases there are of this in Scripture we don’t know. I pray some scribe may be called and anointed to unravel this area. I just wonder how many other incidents where it says, God appeared or God spoke, might well be dreams?
Also in Jeremiah’s They Will Return Dream[8] the word dream is never mentioned yet we know this long revelation was a dream because it ends with the line, At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
It’s obvious Jeremiah had been sleeping and dreaming but a Google search for Bible dreams wouldn’t have shown this up.
1 Jeremiah 31:26
2 Job 33:15
3 Daniel 4:5
4 Isaiah 29:7 (KJV)
5 Genesis 28:10-22
6 Matthew 17:1-9
7 Matthew 17:5-7
8 Jeremiah 30:3-31:26
