God speaks to me in my dreams
Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Owen Lynch answers:
What did I like about today’s passage?
Happy Boxing Day!! We are looking over three days at the Prophet Zechariah and I warn you it’s a bit bizarre! First some background:
Zechariah is written after the return of the Israelites from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem. Ezra tells us (Ezra 5:1-2) that Zechariah is a prophet who supports the work of the High Priest Joshua and the heir of King David - Zerubbabel in rebuilding the temple.
Like all prophets in the Old Testament Zechariah speaks words of challenge and comfort to the Israelites. See the Israelites believed that they were God’s favourites, that God had established an everlasting covenant (like a marriage) with Abraham and all his descendants (knows as Jews or Israelites). God promised to be faithful to them forevermore and Abraham and his descendants promised to be faithful to God. Although, they often weren’t!
Zechariah starts (1:1-6) by challenging the Jews to not be like their ancestors who were un- faithful to God, but to change their ways and become faithful once more.
In 1:7 (through to 6:15), we then dive into eight dreams that Zechariah has, which like our dreams are pretty weird and bizarre, depending on how much pizza you have eaten before you go to bed!
If you have ever been to a festival and walked past a tent where people offer to interpret your dreams and thought that was weird, well you should know that dream interpretation is very biblical - look at Genesis 28,37,41 as well as all of the prophets.
Zechariah’s dreams are a mixture of bizarre and normal - you know what that’s like right?
So the first dream the world is at peace (1:7-17), which in Zechariah’s day was when Persia had conquered Babylon and brought peace to the Middle East resulting in the end of the Israelites exile in Babylon. But then the second dream has horns (which are a symbol of Assyria and Babylon who destroyed Israel and Judah) and craftsmen (which are a symbol of Persia which destroyed the empires of Assyria and Babylon).
Thankfully for Zechariah, there’s an angel in his dreams who interprets the bizarre visions and this continues through to chapter 6.
I love the fact that God speaks to people in dreams and doesn’t just leave us wondering what they mean, he provides an angel to interpret them!
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
It reminds me that God could if he wanted to communicate with me through my dreams. The question is, do I want him to? Have you ever had God speak to you in a dream? If you ever wake in the night in the middle of a dream that seems to mean something, although you are sure what, then ask the Holy Spirit to explain it to you. I have done this a few times and woken in the morning with a profound sense of God speaking to me.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
I am going to invite the Holy Spirit to speak to me more often through my dreams.
Who am I going to share this with?
All of you!