GOD’S MYSTERIOUS INTERVENTIONS

PART ONE-DREAMS AND VISIONS

MIKE CUNNINGHAM

JUNE 6, 2010

 

 

 

Writing to the Christians living in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul urged them to:

 

 “...walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,” Ephesians 4:1-4 (ESV).

 

Peter reiterated these instructions in his first letter to those Christians he referred to as being elect exiles of the dispersion. The apostle wrote:

 

 “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble,” 1 Peter 5:5 (ESV).

 

Dressing ourselves with a beautiful Christ-like spirit of humility so that we will be completely humble is a lot easier said than done, isn’t it? Actually, apart for the Holy Spirit inclining us to even desire to become humble, we never would want to. And unless we utilize the strength of Christ within us, it’s impossible! Jesus taught His disciples that fact with these instructions:

 

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing,” John 15:4-5 (ESV).

 

Paul learned this truth and he shared with his readers the result of having applied it in his own life with these encouraging words:

 

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” Philippians 4:13 (ESV).

As I have been explaining in this current series of sermons, our heavenly Father desires each of His adopted children to rid themselves of the spirit of pride which continues to lurk within every one of them. So much so, that He often blesses them with all sorts of help regardless of whether or not they ask Him to. He frequently provides them with assistance in overcoming the remaining remnants of pride in their hearts in unexpected, and sometimes in very mysterious ways through what are referred to as being ‘Acts of Providence.’ For instance, William Cowper, in his timeless thought-provoking hymn ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way’ graphically expresses one aspect of the ‘Providence of God’ with these words:

 

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter and He will make it plain.

 

In his outstanding book Trusting God, Jerry Bridges cites theologian and author J. I. Packer who defines the ‘Providence of God’ as being, “The unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds all creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.

 

And that includes our heavenly Father who is moment by moment doing precisely whatever is necessary to incline and enable His children to overcome the spirit of sinful pride. So powerfully ingrained is that evil propensity in all human beings that if left to ourselves we would never want to part with it. In fact, all too many of us Christians are content with making only a half-hearted effort to completely get rid of the remnants our sinful pride, rather than sincerely struggling every day to cultivate our spirit into increasingly resembling a beautiful Christ-like one. Left to ourselves, none of us would be willing to submit our will to God’s will which He has revealed in the Bible. That’s the reason He frequently makes Himself known and speaks to us, sometimes very loudly, through ‘Acts of Providence.’ It behooves us therefore to pay attention to God’s unceasing providential activity throughout the world; a fact which one of Job’s friends reminded him of when he rebuked that godly man for what he perceived as being sinful pride. For instance,

 

Job 33:14-17 (ESV)
14 For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, 17 that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

 

At this point in my message we can focus on verse 17, “.... that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man,” and move right along. However, I believe it will be more helpful if we first carefully consider what Elihu described in the preceding two verses as being dreams and visions of the night which occur while men are lying fast asleep on their beds. In researching these particular verses I saw that men such as Spurgeon and an old Puritan named Richard Mayo whom I have been quoting recently relied heavily on Joseph Caryle who had produced a massive ten volume work on the Book of Job. In it Caryle defines a dream as being “a figment of our imagination which is formed and framed in our mind while we are asleep. It’s a work of our soul while our body is asleep. Our outward senses such as hearing and seeing are bound, but our inner senses such as the ability to fanaticize and remember things have full reign and are apt to roam all over the place. Our imagination is very quick and nimble while our body lies like a log and doesn’t stir. It builds ‘Castles in the Air,’ so to speak, and concocts all sorts of imaginary illusions or fabrications in the brain during the day, but much more so at night while we are asleep. Images of things or people are presented to us in dreams. For instance, when Pharaoh was asleep he, “…dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, 2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. 3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. 4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. 5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. 6 And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. 7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream,” Genesis 41:1-7 (ESV)

 

Then there was the time when, “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Genesis 28:10-12 (ESV)

 

Who of us will ever forget the memorable account of Jacob’s youngest son, a young teenager named Joseph?


1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. 12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” Genesis 37:1-13 (ESV)

 

Caryle continues: “Nebuchadnezzar in a dream saw an image with the head of gold, with shoulders and breast of silver, with belly and thighs of brass and legs of iron etc. These dreamers had images so clearly represented to their minds as anything can be to the most wide awake eye of the body. And though in many dreams there is no such similitude presented to the mind, but only a voice speaking, yet nothing can be declared to us in a dream without forming in our mind some kind of likeness. When it is said that God came to Abimelech (Genesis 20, and to Laben Genesis 31) and an angel of the Lord to Joseph in Matthew One speaking to them in dreams; the first two men had such things exhibited to and impressed upon them so as to give them each the assurance that God spoke to them, and Joseph was absolutely convinced that he had been spoken to by an Angel of God.”

 

Caryle provides his readers with the following insightful information about dreams: “Some are mere natural dreams and they arise in different ways. Some dreams come from the person’s temperament. Melancholy cynical people have their own special dreams and so too do men who have positive and optimistic natures. Some men are prone to being sad and skeptical while others tend to be upbeat and hopeful. Natural dreams are also caused by things such as the food we eat or didn’t eat; our overall physical and spiritual health or the side effects of certain medications. There are natural dreams resulting from special works we were diligently engaged in during the day as Solomon reminds us: 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business;” Ecclesiastes 5:3 (KJV) That is to say, a man dreams at night of what he has been doing during the day. Natural dreams also come about from something which we strongly desire such as the hungry man dreaming that he is eating to his heart’s content and the thirsty man that he is drinking until his thirst is quenched. Suffering the pangs of hunger and thirst produces a ravenous appetite which is so powerful that he craves for something to eat and drink in his dreams. These are all natural or normal dreams and have no other cause except what is common to all men.”

 

“Then there are diabolical dreams which the devil knows how to stir-up and work on the imagination of men. Satan is skilful and diligent in appealing to our lusts both during the day and at night. Once he has succeeded they will work in us while we are awake and asleep. The devil can inspire false doctrines and beliefs by means of dreams, as well as instigate sinful practices in men. Of such dreamers we read: “If there be among you a false prophet, or dreamer of dreams, (Deuteronomy 13:1; 3).False prophets had many dreams, (Jeremiah 23:25). They were apt to say, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Because the holy Prophets had their dreams from God, the Devil gave his unholy Prophets dreams too. They consisted of lies and vanity, deceptions and inaccuracies, leading them away from God such as by not respecting the truth of doctrine or purity of worship. We may reduce all diabolical dreams to these two heads: They are either dreams of falsehood because he is the father and originator of lies, or they are filthy defiling dreams because he is an unclean spirit and the source of filthy desires, whether corporal or spiritual.”

 

There are also so called divine dreams. First: because they are sent immediately from God and second because the subject matter is divine and heavenly, or some manifestation of the holy will of God to man. There are five special messages upon which dreams are sent from God. First: To reprove or admonish; Thus God dealt with Abimelech in a dream that he shouldn’t engage in sex with Sarah (Genesis 20:3) and with Laban, that he shouldn’t hurt Jacob, or hinder him in his journey back to his father’s house (Genesis 31:24) whereupon Jacob told him, God rebuked you last night. Furthermore, that dream of Pilot’s wife (Matthew 27:19) was sent to admonish Pilot about passing Judgment against Christ.

 

Second: God sends dreams to instruct and inform. There are teaching dreams such as that of Joseph (Matthew 1:21) which was sent not only to show him what to do about Mary his espoused wife, but also to instruct Joseph about that great mystery of God manifested in the flesh, to save lost men. Third: Dreams are sent for support and consolation in times of trouble. God comforted Jacob by a dream while he was in a desperate condition, and assured him of His presence (Genesis 28:12). Fourth: Some dreams are sent by God with a sad message to afflict and terrify. Job bemoaned his sufferings and sorrows that were caused by these kinds of dreams: 13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ 14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, Job 7:13-14 (ESV) Fifth: God reveals to the dreamer what shall come to pass. He reveals His own councils as to future Acts of Providence by dreams and visions. For instance, the seven years of famine were revealed to Pharaoh in a dream. And the great things of the Church and of the world were also revealed to Daniel in a dream and in visions in his head as he lay upon his bed (Daniel 7:1). The message in the dream was for instruction and admonition,” (A) but, as we have seen in the texts from Job which we are examining this morning, we are told that God also spoke “in a vision of the night,  when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, 17 that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; Job 33:14-17 (ESV)

 

That’s as much as I intend to cover this morning. I hope I have given you enough food for thought to last you throughout the week. As we seriously contemplate what God has already done and will continue to do in our lives through His Acts of Providence, I hope you and I will have enough spiritual insight to count each of those acts as being among our many blessings.

 

Lord willing, next week....

 

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(A) An Exposition with Practical Observations on the Book Job, by Joseph Caryl, © 2001 by Dust & Ashes Publications, 3423 Phillips, Berkley, Michigan 48072, pg.280-282.

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