2. Warm Milk and Sleepy Saints
The majority of Bible dreams are literal and easily understood. God isn’t in the business of sending riddles and puzzles to confuse or amuse people.
Whenever God sent a complicated symbolic Bible dream He always made sure there was a dream interpreter on hand.
Of course, God can send dreams that no one can interpret. He sent one to the Bible’s greatest dream interpreter. Afterwards the prophet said,
I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for
several days. Then I got up and went
about the king’s business. I was appalled
by the vision; it was beyond
understanding. [1]
The truth is, there’s always a limit to the amount of revelation we can tolerate or cope with at any one particular time.
We see this in action when Jesus spoke of the future to His apostles. These were the chosen ones commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel worldwide. These are the men whose names will be inscribed on the wall of the New Jerusalem. [2]
Jesus said, I have much more to say to you,
more than you can now bear. But when
he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will
guide you into all the truth. He will not
speak on his own; he will speak only what
he hears, and he will tell you what
is yet to come. [3]
Although Jesus had been with His apostles for over three years He knew they were still not able to receive some very important and necessary revelation. But Jesus had a plan – the promised Holy Spirit.
After the Resurrection this same inability to receive new revelation was still afflicting the apostles. When Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women burst in with the angelic revelation that Jesus was risen from the dead, the apostles weren’t able to bear this good news. The Scripture says,
But their words seemed like nonsense to
them, and they did not believe the
women. [4]
The Emmaus Road disciples were also afflicted by this powerlessness to bear new revelation. They knew Jesus was chosen to redeem Israel and they’d heard of the women’s testimony of Jesus having risen but they still couldn’t believe it. So, Jesus turned up in person and gave them a Bible study. He said,
O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to
believe all that the prophets have
spoken! Was it not necessary for the
Christ to suffer these things and then to
enter His glory? And beginning with
Moses and all the Prophets, He
explained to them what was written in all
the Scriptures about Himself. [5]
While Jesus was quoting the Scripture the disciples’ hearts burned and they received power to believe.
The writer of Hebrews also addressed this issue of Christians being unable to bear new and deeper revelation. He was explaining about Jesus being chosen by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Then he wrote,
We have much to say about this, but it is
hard to explain, because you are dull
of hearing. Although by this time you
ought to be teachers, you need someone
to reteach you the basic principles of
God’s word. You need milk, not solid
food! For everyone who lives on milk is
still an infant, inexperienced in the
message of righteousness. But solid food
is for the mature, who by constant use
have trained their senses to distinguish
good from evil. [6]
Paul also encountered this dullness in God’s people in Corinth. He said,
Brothers and sisters, I could not address
you as people who live by the Spirit but
as people who are still worldly—mere
infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not
solid food, for you were not yet ready for
it. Indeed, you are still not ready. [7]
Paul said the Corinthians were lazy and unwilling to do the hard work of studying Scripture and pressing into the deeper and more complete teachings of God’s Word.
I believe this same sluggish spirit is at work today in much of the body of Christ, especially in the area of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit and in being led by the Holy Spirit.
Many of us have grown lazy in discovering what God’s dreams actually look like and in understanding what God’s purpose for His dreams really is.
Most Christian dream books contain little or no new revelation. It often tastes like old warmed up milk with a few cookies to sweeten things up.
Maybe like the discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus we need a good in-depth Bible study from Jesus. Then perhaps our eyes will be opened and our hearts will burn with new hope and faith towards God’s dreams.
What about you? Are you ready for some solid food? Are you willing to do some serious study? Are you able for some meat?
How thick?
They say 1.5in is the sweet spot.
What weight would you like?
6oz? 8oz? 10oz? 14oz? 32oz?
Anyone here from Texas?
[1] Daniel 8:27
[2] Revelation 21:10-14
[3] John 16:12-13
[4] Luke 24:11
[5] Luke 24:25-27
[6] Hebrews 5:11-13
[7] 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
