Biblical Dream Interpretation Made Simple: Hear God Clearly Through Every Dream

If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter [of his dreams], one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom (Job 33:23-24).

Although much has been written about dreams, the enormous volume of information concerning dream interpretation found in the Scriptures has been all but ignored!

The Bible is filled with dreams and their interpretations. It gives detailed instructions that tell and show us how to interpret them.

The Scriptures were written by the same God who talks to us in dreams. His language has not changed. Our dreams, like those described in the Bible, use word pictures or symbols to convey their concealed messages. Therefore, we can study the way symbols are used in Scripture as a guide to the way they are used in our dreams.

Those who attempt to interpret the Scriptures sometimes do so without leaving them in context. When they do this, they often assign meanings to them that the author never intended. Likewise, if the interpretation of a dream is to be accurate, the dream must be left in its setting. The dream and its symbols must be interpreted in light of the life circumstances of the person to whom it is given.

A Snap Shot

A dream is like a snapshot, which captures one brief moment out of a lifetime. It cannot be understood fully without knowing something about the life of the person it concerns.

Therefore, it is not enough to know the meaning of symbols alone. Nevertheless, without an understanding of symbols, we are greatly limited in our ability to navigate through the complex world of dreams.

Even when we are familiar with the background of the person a dream concerns, we should use caution when we apply a symbol’s meaning. Hasty dream interpretations should be avoided. Even Daniel mulled over Nebuchadnezzar’s dream for an hour before he ventured an interpretation, and he knew the king’s lifestyle well (see Dan. 4:18-19).

One of the best ways to keep from either simply forgetting about a dream or jumping to conclusions concerning its meaning is to start a dream journal. Taking the time to write down a dream usually causes one to remember it in greater detail. It also provides a permanent record for reference.

By recording a dream and what it appears to mean, we can check back later to see if we were correct in our understanding of its meaning. This also appears to be the safest and quickest way to learn to interpret dreams correctly. Sometimes one dream by itself does not provide enough keys to know for certain what God is trying to say. But by comparing several successive dreams, we often find a progressive message unveiled before us. Remember that Job said, “God speaketh once, yea twice…” (Job 33:14). God is faithful to speak to us again and again if we are really trying to hear what He has to say.

Jesus said to be careful of both what you hear and how you hear it (see Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18). When we listen carefully to what God is saying morning after morning, we are assured of more to come, because He said, “…unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24). Of course, the flip side of that is, “…he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark 4:25).

When recording your dreams, be sure to include each dream’s date, your location—home, vacation, etc.—the feelings that you experienced while dreaming, as well as anything important that is going on in your life at the time of the dream. By recording the background information, when you refer back to it later, you will still be able to place it into its proper setting.

Dream or Night Vision?

There is a difference between a dream and a night vision. A night vision requires little or no interpretation. In addition to the actual vision seen, a night vision usually has a voice speaking that gives the primary meaning and message of the vision. For example:

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them (Acts 16:9-10).

In contrast, a dream seldom lends itself to self-interpretation. The most common type of dream contains more than one scene; a progressive message unfolds as the dreamer is carried along, either as an observer or as a participant. Other dreams may contain two or three scenes that all speak a different message, but this is less common. Also, the scene changes in a dream sometimes give different viewpoints of the same subject or express the same idea in different ways rather than reveal a progressive message.

The First Scene

In a dream with more than one scene, the first scene usually gives the setting. Like the backdrop of a play, it sets the stage so that the sealed message it contains can be understood. For example, in the following Scripture, people walking on one another is mentioned before Christ’s teaching is given:

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, He began to say unto His disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known (Luke 12:1-2).

This stage-setting gives us a parable of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They trod on the people, oppressing them for their own purposes. They required others to conform to strict laws while they excused themselves from obeying them. Observing this setting makes us aware of emphasis and implications in Christ’s words that we would otherwise miss.

In the same way, God usually reveals the subject of His message in the first scene of our dreams. Then, once the subject has been established, the subsequent scenes enlarge upon the plot and carry it forward. This progression can be seen in Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 4:20-27:

The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.

Notice that this dream has two scenes. The first scene establishes that the dream is about the growth and prosperity of King Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. The second scene reveals God’s displeasure with the king’s prideful conduct and foretells of certain chastisement to come.

Because dreams can cover several different subjects and areas of our lives, it is important to correctly discern the subject matter to which the dream refers if we are to utilize the message properly. If we don’t do this, we may easily apply a dream to the wrong area of our lives, or even incorrectly apply it to another person when God is really speaking to us about ourselves.

This is especially true when a dream contains people we can identify. Friends and family members are often used as symbols. Sometimes they represent us, sometimes they represent another friend or family member, and sometimes they simply represent themselves. Only careful attention to all the scenes and symbols used in a dream will keep us from making this type of misapplication.

Application Aids Interpretation

Without proper application, correct interpretation is difficult, if not impossible. To determine what a dream is about and apply the message correctly, first ask yourself these two questions: “Who does this dream refer to?” and “What is it really about?” Then, examine the action in the dream to determine the message. In other words, what is the dream’s setting? What are the people saying and doing?

To answer the first question, always examine yourself to see if the dream can apply directly to you. A dream is usually both for and about the one who dreams it. Because we do not know our own hearts, God uses dreams to reveal the deep, dark secrets of our hearts to us. The problem is, we really don’t want to know the secrets of our hearts! So, God often has to use other people to represent different aspects of ourselves. These people may be strangers, family, friends, or just acquaintances. There may be just one person, or there may be several, they may be dead or alive, former friends or distant relatives. But their words and actions will reveal hidden virtues, faults, or sins about us that we are simply ignoring or have completely justified.

When answering the second question (what the dream is about), remember that God’s ultimate desire is that we should walk in righteousness. As the preceding dream about Nebuchadnezzar shows, many of our dreams are about our personal conduct or holiness. Another area of our lives that God often communicates with us about in dreams is our livelihood. As John wrote in Third John 2, God desires above all things that we may prosper and be in health, even as our souls prosper. Therefore, God speaks to us concerning our relationship with Him, our jobs, our health, and our relationships with others.

For example, I once dreamed that I was having a blood test. I could see my blood as though I was looking through the microscopealong with the laboratory technician. My blood had large, irregular, red cells with the word meat written on them. When I awoke, I knew that God was warning me that my cholesterol level was getting too high from eating too much meat.

Another significant dream was one that my wife had. We had a small service business, and unbeknown to us, our service manager decided to go into business for himself at our expense. My wife dreamed that he was in my office wearing a face mask like the one worn by the Lone Ranger, and he was stealing papers. She told me the dream, and when I went to the office and checked, I discovered that a card file containing all our customers’ names and addresses was missing. Acting on the information in the dream, I immediately went to his house and recovered them. In doing so, I saved our business from considerable loss.

Although some dreams actually reveal the future—such as the dreams God gave Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis— our dreams usually relate to our immediate situations. Most of our dreams address things that are relevant to our lives at the time we have the dream.

It is not uncommon for God to give a pastor or traveling minister a sermon topic or message in a dream. He may also show the pastor a problem in the church that needs to be dealt with. Although the subject matter of dreams is almost endless, that which concerns us concerns God; He is faithful to communicate with us when we diligently seek Him for His guidance.

Once we know the particular subject God is talking about and who He is referring to, proper dream interpretation is usually not difficult. But if these two things are not determined correctly, any interpretation we may venture will be misguided or incorrect.

Checking the Source

On the other hand, not every dream we have is from God. How can we tell the difference? When we learn to communicate with God by speaking to Him in prayer and hearing His reply, we soon learn that everything we hear is not His voice. Instead, God simply inserts a thought into our thoughts, often answering our questions when we are not even thinking about what we have asked.

Sometimes we receive God’s thoughts in dreams the same way. We may be idly dreaming a rambling, almost incoherent dream, and God will insert a clear, meaningful message into it. Trying to remember our rambling dream is not practical, often not possible, and certainly not necessary. The portion containing God’s message will be remembered if we faithfully try to do so. Sometimes we have no choice but to simply forget the rest:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).

As a general rule, if after substituting the symbols in a dream with the key words or thoughts they symbolize, you still find no recognizable message, then the dream is probably just junk mail, proceeding from somewhere in the confused or troubled regions of the soul. It is not from God. It should still be recorded, however, for later examination in relation to other subsequent dreams may reveal that its meaning was simply not apparent at the time it was received.

This is not to say that unless a dream is directly from God that it is not useful. Our dreams reveal the secrets of our hearts—even when we really don’t want to know them. The Bible says that it is our spirits that truly know us, not our conscious minds (see 1 Cor. 2:11). Although there are times when our spirits will cry out for help to us in the night, these messages can be understood using the same method and keys used with other dreams.

Since some of our dreams are not from God, we should exercise reasonable caution when we apply them. We should observe the same basic precautions with dreams that we apply to other sources of personal guidance. Information and instructions obtained from dreams should be confirmed in other ways before we act upon them.

For instance, a strong obsession for something may cause one to dream of obtaining it (see Jer. 29:8). This happened to me once when I was attempting to sell a business that I owned. It had become a real burden to me, and I was anxious to sell it. One night I dreamed that a man came and paid me in cash the exact amount that I was asking! He never came, and it’s good that he didn’t. I finally realized there were other ways besides selling it to unload some of the burden. Later, it became a real blessing to me.

God’s timing is another factor that must be taken into consideration when we are working out His will in our lives. Sometimes He tells us what He will do for us, but we have to wait for Him to do it. Joseph is a good example of this. He was 17 years of age when he had the two prophetic dreams recorded in the Bible. However, he was 30 years of age before they came to pass (see Gen. 37:2,5; 41:46). The Bible states, “Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him” (Ps. 105:19).

Although 13 years may be longer than most of us want to wait before our dreams are fulfilled, sometimes we really don’t have a choice. If we try to rush things by taking them into our own hands, we usually wind up with an Ishmael in our lives (see Gen. 21:11). It is much wiser to obtain confirmation from other sources before we take action based on directions received in dreams: “…In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Cor. 13:1).

Conversely, sometimes a dream simply confirms instructions that one has already received from a different source. God’s dealing with Gideon is a good example of this:

And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him [Gideon], Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.

And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian (Judges 7:9-15).

The power of this type of confirmation is seen in Gideon’s reaction to this dream. An angel had visited him and commissioned him to deliver Israel. Then he supernaturally confirmed the commission. After the angel’s visitation, God responded to Gideon’s prayer and manipulated the dew both on the ground and on a fleece that Gideon placed out for additional confirmation. But it wasn’t until Gideon heard his victory declared in a dream that he was bold enough to act upon God’s command and go to war (see Judg. 6:11-22,36-40).

There is one obvious way of checking a dream to see if it is from God. God’s messages are always consistent with His written Word. A dream may seem like a fable or even include wrong or sinful actions, but when properly interpreted, the message it contains will always be in accordance with the righteous principles of the Bible. Like some of the stories in the Bible, the dream content may appear very negative, yet contain beautiful, positive truth. A dream from God will never instruct us to do something evil. Like the Word itself, a dream from God will equip us to walk in truth and righteousness:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and [every dream that is from God] is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17).