DREAMERS AND THEIR DREAMS

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Dreams involve at least five forms.

1.    Dreams in our sleep that involve people, places, situations, and events.

2.    Dreams in the day that are often referred to as visions.

3.    Day-dreaming when we our thoughts are far away from our daily activities.

4.    Dreams that are revealed to individuals by God as a means of communication.

5.    Our thoughts about what we would like to see ourselves doing or accomplishing in the future.

 

B.   Our theme for OceanSide in 2025 is:  “If You Are Going to Dream, Dream Big!”  (NOTE:  Our dreams involve the fifth definition mentioned on that previous list).

 

C.   Today is our Kick-Off Sunday for 2025.

1.    We want to emphasize our theme in all of our lessons today.

2.    I have entitled our first lesson:  “Dreamers and Their Dreams.”

3.    Let’s look into the Bible and talk about some of those who dreamed literal dreams.

 

I.             THE DREAMS OF JOSEPH

 

A.   Joseph was the first son of Jacob by his wife Rachel (Gen. 30:22-24).  Because he was the son of Rachel, he was very special in the eyes of Jacob (Gen. 37:3).

 

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours.

 

B.   This special relationship between Jacob and Joseph angered his brothers. 

 

C.   Something else angered them as well (Gen. 37:5).

 

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.

 

D.   There were two dreams that brought the ire of his brothers against him.

1.    The dream of the sheaves (Gen. 37:7).  “…and they hated him yet the more…”

2.    The dream of the sun, moon, and stars (Gen. 37:9)  “…and his brethren envied him…”

3.    NOTE:  Both dreams indicated that Joseph’s family would bow before him.  Remember, at this time, he was the younger brother.

4.    Some have asked:  Why did Joseph have to tell his brothers and his parents about the dream?  Answer:  When it came to pass, they would know that his dreams were not fabrications but were divine revelations from God.

 

E.   The fulfillment of the dreams:

1.    Joseph was sold into slavery by his brethren.

2.    Joseph lived in Egypt for many years.

3.    The providence of God elevated Joseph to second in command in Egypt.

4.    A famine in the land of Canaan caused his brothers to come to Egypt seeking the supplies that Joseph had store away.

a.    Genesis 42:6b (See also Gen.43:26; 44:14)

 

…and Joseph’s brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

 

b.    Genesis 42:9

 

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them…

 

5.    We know the rest of the story.

a.    Eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers.

b.    He was reunited with his father and his full brother, Benjamin.

c.    He moved his family to the land of Goshen and took care of them throughout his reign.

 

II.           THE DREAMS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR

 

A.   Perhaps one of the best known and least understood dreams of the Bible was dreamed by Nebuchadnezzar and revealed to us in Daniel 2.

 

B.   Daniel 2:1

 

And in he second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep break from him.

 

C.   Nebuchadnezzar was so troubled by the dreams that he called the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans into his presence wanting them to reveal to him the interpretation of the dream (Dan. 2:2-3). 

1.    The problem was, however, that the king could not even remember the dream itself.  When asked about the content of the dream, he said:  “The thing is gone from me.”

2.    Their inability to reveal the dream and its interpretation angered the king, and he ordered their death (Dan. 2:12-13).

 

D.   Daniel was among the wise men in Babylon at the time. 

1.    When he heard about the decree, he went in unto the king and asked him to give him some time (Dan. 2:16).

2.    David consulted with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and asked them to pray for the “mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret” (Dan. 2:17-18).

3.    “And the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision” (Dan. 2:19).

 

E.   Now having the dream and its interpretation, Daniel went in unto the king to reveal it unto him.

1.    Daniel’s opening words (Dan. 2:28)

 

But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days…

 

a.    Daniel acknowledged God as the source of his wisdom.

b.    He revealed that the message of the dream involved things to come “in the latter days,” that is, during the Christian dispensation.

2.    The dream (Dan. 2:31-35)

a.    An image, whose brightness was excellent…and whose form was terrible (Dan. 2:31).

1)    The head was of fine gold (Dan. 2:32)

2)    His breast and arms were of silver (Dean. 2:32)

3)    His belly and his thighs were brass (Dan. 2:32)

4)    His legs were of iron, and his feet part iron and part of clay (Dan. 2:33).

b.    There was also a stone that was cut without hands in the dream (Dan. 2:34).

1)    It smote the image upon its feet and broke them to pieces (Dan. 2:34)

2)    The entire image became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors (Dan. 2:35).

3)    Having disposed of the of the image, the stone “became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35).

3.    The interpretation of the dream (Dan. 2:36-45)

a.    “Thou art this head of gold” (Dan. 2:38).

b.    The silver represented a second kingdom (Dan. 2:39).

c.    The brass represented a third kingdom (Dan. 2:39).

d.    “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron” (Dan. 2:40).

e.    Many details about the feet and toes of the fourth kingdom were also revealed by Daniel (Dan. 2:41-43).

f.     The stone cut without hands that destroyed the image and became a mountain is interpreted in Daniel 2:44.

 

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed:  and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

 

1)    It would be established in the days of the kings of the fourth kingdom, that is, the Roman kingdom.

2)    God was to set up this kingdom.

3)    This kingdom cannot be destroyed.

4)    This kingdom is not associated with the other kingdoms of men.

5)    It will become the predominant kingdom as far as God is concerned.

6)    It will stand forever.

7)    NOTE:  This is a prophecy of the church that was established in Jerusalem.

a)    It was established in the first century during the reign of the Roman Empire (See Luke 2:2).  

b)    The church is the kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19; Col.1:13; Heb. 12:28).

c)    This church continues to this day and will continue forever (See Matt. 16:18).

 

III.         THE DREAM OF PETER

 

A.   Peter was a prominent apostle of Jesus Christ.

 

B.   He was given the keys of the kingdom by Jesus Christ (Matt.16:19).

1.    Keys are used for opening doors.

a.    Peter opened the doors of the kingdom to the Jews on Pentecost.

b.    He also opened the doors of the kingdom to the first Gentiles.

2.    It was this second action that involved a dream.  We might also refer to it as a vision because it transpired during the day.

 

C.   The dream is recorded for us in Acts 10.

1.    Cornelius, a centurion, saw the vision of an angel who told him to send me to Joppa to summons Peter to his house.

2.    The following day, Peter was on a housetop waiting for lunch.  It was then that “he fell into a trance” (Acts 10:10).

3.    The vision (Acts 10:11-12)

 

And I saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it has been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:  wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

 

a.    Peter was commanded by a voice to rise, kill, and eat (Acts10:13).

b.    Peter refused, saying:  “I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14).

c.    “And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15).

4.    The dream’s purpose

a.    The Lord was preparing Peter to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.

b.    Judaism taught that the Gentiles were unclean.

c.    Now that the New Covenant was operational, that had changed.  The Gentiles were now acceptable candidates to become members of the body of Christ.

d.    In fact, this was part of the mystery that had been hidden for ages by God (Eph. 3:6).

 

That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   We have looked at the dreams of three dreamers in this lesson.

1.    Joseph’s dream brought about preservation.

2.    Nebuchadnezzar’s dream foretold domination.

3.    Peter’s dream involved salvation.

 

B.   God no longer communicates to man in dreams because we have His complete will found in the book called the Bible.

1.    This book speaks of our salvation.

2.    This book proclaims the ultimate domination of Christ’s kingdom.

3.    This book foretells our preservation if we are members of the church that is in Christ.