Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology

Are Dreams And Visions For Today

by Tony Warren

Joel 2:28 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"

ne of many queries made by Christians concerns Joel's prophecy of a time when God's Spirit would be poured out on all flesh and His people would dream dreams and see visions. What did this prophecy actually mean, and is God still bringing miraculous divine revelation directly to His people today through their dreams and visions? Have divine revelations through supernatural phenomena like miracles, dreams, and visions ceased, or is this phenomenon still for today? Many believe that the prophecy of Joel confirms that revelation through dreams and visions is an ongoing part of the Spirit-filled Christian experience. However, they fail to understand exactly why those miracles, dreams, and visions were done. In short, they were "all done as physical signs" as a powerful confirmation that the communication of the word was genuinely of God, to be a portrait of some deeper, mystery or Spiritual truth, and because the Scriptures were not yet complete, to communicate His word to His prophets that the congregation might have these revelations. After the establishment of the New Testament, that era of the divine supernatural revelation of His word ceased with the completion of His written word. Let's consider this question carefully in the light of why there were these miracles. Dreams and visions in Scripture were used by God for the very specific reason of "divine revelation" in a time when the scriptures were not yet completed. In other words, God was still inspiring His people to pen the Scriptures and this is how He spoke His word to them. The miracles, dreams, and visions weren't done as examples teaching us that God would continue this type of revelation any more than the phenomenon of the apostle Peter walking on water (Matthew 14:29), or raising a man from the dead (Acts 9:40), or miraculously healing (Acts 3:6) a woman, or Paul conversing with and casting out demons (Acts 16:18) meant that we would continue doing this in the church today. These miracles or signs weren't divinely inspired by God to demonstrate to His people that they would literally continue to do them or to receive divine revelations through dreams or visions. They were all done as a sign or token of His miraculous power that pointed to a deeper spiritual truth of the gospel. When we examine the Bible carefully, we can plainly see that dreams and visions were revelatory. They were God speaking directly to mankind in order to establish His holy word to be written down or recorded (Habakkuk 2:2) as prophetic. So should we today reasonably expect God to speak His word directly to us this way after the fully completed word that fully equips us has been finished? It's the age-old question of "have miracles ceased? From my studies of Scripture, I believe that supernatural phenomena have ceased and God is not speaking from the mountaintop anymore. He speaks to us today through His Holy word. All the miracles, signs, and divine experiences that frequently occurred and were recorded in scripture pointed to the Spiritual work of Christ, Revelation through the Living Word, the establishment of the kingdom, and the efficacious work of God's people through Christ. No Christian should sensibly expect supernatural physical miracles to continue in the congregation of God after the Bible was "fully completed."

Unfortunately, many professing Christians today have made a mockery of this prophecy of Joel by many pretenses, and by assigning to it their own vivid imaginations, private interpretations, subconscious dreams, vain forecastings, and even thinking God has pointed them to winning lottery numbers. The fact is, regular dreaming is common to everyone and so it should not be looked upon as a new divine Biblical directive or an additional revelation from God. They should not be thought of as an ongoing system of sacred physical communicatory delivery from God. Biblical dreams and visions were great miraculous occurrences where God would personally interact with certain people so that these interactions were recorded to become God's written word. It was not an interaction that wasn't a canonical revelation in God's word. Even mention of one is a revelation. Frivolous personal predictions and indulgences were never their purpose. Dreams were literally night visions from God, a signification of a new divine revelation (Matthew 2:22) for His people. God would use dreams and visions to reveal things that He wanted His people to know. Indeed the very book of Revelation was revealed "a revelation" to John through visions depicting figures, cryptic imagery, symbols, and tokens that represented different aspects of the New Covenant with Israel, the power, glory, security, and reality of Christ in the establishment of the kingdom of God. Likewise in Joel's writing, the first thing we need to understand is that this prophecy was an omen that was pointing to Christ's coming kingdom in the New Covenant dispensation wherein all things would be fulfilled in Him. He prophesied of a time when God would pour out His Spirit upon all of mankind so that not only Israel, but all flesh (all people, nations, languages) might find grace and come to the knowledge of the salvation of Israel. And true to Joel's prophecy, men did dream dreams, and they were the "sign or miracle" depicting the fulfillment of that prophecy (Matthew 1:20;   Isaiah 7:14), and men did see visions (Luke 24:23), which were divine revelations from God pointing to this New Covenant dispensation. For Joel's prophecy was a heralding of the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the New Covenant/Testament with Israel. Their dreams and visions were revelatory signs vindicating that prophecy of the New Covenant with Israel confirmed in the blood (Hebrews 13:20) of Christ, rather than of sacrificial animals.

Hebrews 12:24

• "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

This New Covenant with Israel is what the dreams, visions, signs, and wonders, were all a revelation pointing to this. When Joel declared that at this time God would pour out His spirit upon all flesh, it was an indication of the Spiritual awakening in the New Covenant that would be upon all flesh. The notation that their sons and daughters would have dreams and see visions signified that all flesh would become prophets of God to declare His holy word through the Scriptures in this New Covenant dispensation. The deeper spiritual import of dreams and visions here is to signify these worldwide prophets would be mouthpieces of God declaring His word as His messengers and ambassadors testifying of God's word. This great event Joel speaks of would be a time when there would be a great blessing poured out through God's Spirit, and not just to the flesh of Israel (Galatians 3:8), but to all flesh. In "this Biblical context," for the young and old to have dreams and visions is synonymous with them being made prophets () who are the messengers of God. This out-pouring of God's Spirit meant that all nations, kindreds, and tongues would become sons (children) and through the gospel be the spokepersons or messengers of God. This prophecy is all pointing to the coming chief Messenger of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1) who would make all people of the world children, kings, priests, and prophets unto their God. It was never a prophecy that by this pouring out of His Spirit, all His servants would do supernatural wonders.

1st Corinthians 12:27-28

• "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
• And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."

Prophets in the sriptures are those of God's congregation who declare (testify), "thus saith the Lord," because they come with His divinely inspired word. Before the Bible was completed, God primarily spoke to His people by declaring His word through the miracles, dreams, and visions of prophets. With the completion or close of the holy canon, God still speaks to His prophets today through His Spirit, but out of His completed and perfect written word. Because now it is not an incomplete book, it is a fully equipped (2nd Thessalonaians 3:16-17), unabridged, and finished work. It's not like it was in the Old Testament where the Prophets had to receive revelation face to face (so to speak) through miraculous events and visions. Today prophets have the completed word from God that not only makes the man of God perfect and fully equipped, but just as throughly furnished unto all good works as the prophets of old were--each having his own particular gifts, station, jobs, and talent to be used of God as He will.

1st Corinthians 12:27-28

• Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
• And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."

These prophets that God has appointed in the church are now the divinely inspired witnesses of what He has declared, just as those who came before the bodily advent of Christ were. The only difference today is that we have the fully written Scriptures. And this completed book is never to be added to or taken away from by any alleged additional revelation. That's a very important distinction because the old prophets were receiving their divine messages in signs, dreams, and visions that were to be recorded. And these records of it became Holy Canon. And just as there were false prophets among God's people claiming to speak for God before Christ's first advent, there are false prophets among us today making the same claims. Claiming to have received new dreams and visions from God. That is to say, those who profess the love of God but who declares His word says something that it actually doesn't say (Ezekiel 22:28). True Prophets testify to what is actually from God's mouth, not what they suppose or imagine or privately interpret that it means. The point being, the declaration that Joel made was simply declaring that one day all flesh would be blessed by the out-pouring of God's Spirit, and these prophets would come hearalding the mystery (Colossians 1:25-27) of the revelation of Christ to all flesh. Actually, look at the specific language of Joel's words. To "pour out" means God would "abundantly give of His Spirit," or literally to pour away of His Spirit abundantly upon all flesh. This great and abundant outpouring of God's Holy Spirit occurred at Pentecost with accompanying miracles "signifying" that all nations would be able to hear and be blessed. That's the sign of everyone hearing the Spirit in their own language. Like Israel, they too would become the children of God, the servants of God, His prophets, and the messengers of His holy word. This is illustrated by the notation of Joel that the children would dream dreams and see visions. This comment denotive of them also receiving of the divine revelations from God (John 14:26;   15:26) and be messengers and witnesses of His word. With the sign completed/fulfilled, their prophecy is by the written word through the living spirit. Not through physical miracles as signs as the people before them had been taught by the prophets before the first coming of Christ, but through the word of faith that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit provided.

1st John 2:27

• "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

God's people dreamed dreams and saw visions before and also at the time of Christ's first advent, were signs or miracles illustrating this power that God foretold had come. With the Holy Spirit being poured out, it established all our anointing by God's Spirit to be prophets or messengers of God's word. We are thus commissioned as prophets to bring His divine revelation to the world. In this Old Covenant declaration of Joel, we have revealed the New Covenant revelation in Christ. Even as the old sayintg that,

"The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” -Augustine of Hippo

The method of revelation in the old was through miraculous and physical sign, dreams, and visions, and these sometimes needed to be interpreted (much like the book of Revelation) by God (Genesis 40:8;   41:15-16), through His Spirit.

Job 33:14-16

• "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
• In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
• Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,"

Selah! These dreams and night visions were personal ephemeral visual displays or appearances from God while they were not conscious or when sleeping, while when encountered during the waking or in simi-conscious hours, these are called visions. They are the imagery of the mind's eye synonymous with receiving divine revelation from God. In other words, it is to have God's Holy word delineated to you (1st Samuel 28:6) in a miraculous or visual manner. In fact, many books of the word of God are unambiguously and specifically identified as being visions. e.g., the books of Hosea, Isaiah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Nahum, Ezekiel, and Revelation. God's prophecy through visions and dreams is equivalent to man receiving divine revelation from God. The prophets of God (and even unbelievers in some instances) received God's word this way. If we understand this, we can get a better comprehension of what the prophet Joel (under divine inspiration of God) means when he says the sons and daughters of God's people would see visions and dream dreams, and that there would be an outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh. He is illustrating that there would be a new era of divine revelation in the era of the establishment of the New Covenant (or Testament) with Israel.

Hebrews 8:10-12

• "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
• And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
• For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

This is the New Covenant dispensation wherein the Lord's Spirit would be poured out and there would be divine revelation given to the sons and daughters, to young and old, to Jew and Greek, to bond and free. A revelation of the Kingdom where the servants of God are freemen, and the freeman of God is a servant of God. Just as the signs of miracles that took place and the supernatural wonders and phenomenon that Christ and His apostles performed were "tokens" meant to represent some deeper spiritual aspect of the New Covenant of Christ's Kingdom, so miraculous dreams and visions signified or represented the Spiritual revelations from God. As we saw, this prophecy was fulfilled literally as they accompanied this New Covenant dispensation of Christ, as a shadow of the new age revelations of the Spirit in New Testament prophets. If I could explain it more succinctly, just as the physical miracle of raising the dead signified our spiritual resurrection from death to new life, or Christ physically and miraculously opening the eyes of the blind signified our spiritual eyes being opened, so the prophets miraculously dreaming dreams and having visions represented our receiving of divine revelation in the New Covenant dispensation by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It's also interesting to note that God often uses the words dreams and visions synonymously. In the context of Scripture, dreams are in fact night visions. To put it another way, they are visual appearances or revelations while sleep that reveals some aspect of the word of God (Genesis 20:3;   Daniel 2:28;   Matthew 1:20). Often some aspect of His divine plan, purpose or future prophecy was revealed in a vision of the night (Job 33:15). Biblical visions (Genesis 15:1), as opposed to personal imaginations, are any God-inspired spiritual appearances given to God's people, whether they are awake or asleep (Job 20:8). A vision of the night is synonymous with a dream. In the daytime, people often call visions daydreams specifically because they are day visions. As if you are having visual thoughts in the day almost as if you are somewhere else. Another way of thinking about it is being in a trance-like state of mind. These mind visions at night when we sleep are simply called dreams, and when God is inspiring them it is a revelation to reveal His divine plan and purpose to His people. For example, we can see this in the dream that the Patriarch Jacob had of a ladder reaching unto heaven. This was a revelation from God in a vision of the night.

Genesis 29:12-13

• "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
• And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;"

This dream was the prophecy of Christ, who was the appointed Messenger (not angel) of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1) providing the way (John 14:6;   Ephesians 4:10) and means of constant communication of the Spirit of God with mankind (John 1:51). The dream of Jacob's ladder was a visual "portrait" or picture of the coming fulfillment. It was the legitimate means by which God communicated His authoritative word directly to human beings in a night revelation to them. Miracles, signs, wonders, dreams, and visions are all in the same category of supernatural events interjected into the normal course of the natural world, as a demonstrative sign or token of God's magnificent salvation plan. Different aspects of Christ's coming kingdom and salvation program were divinely inspired and brought to His prophets through His Spirit in order to deliver specific infallible words of God.

Matthew 1:18-20

• Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
• Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
• But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

The meaning of Joseph’s dream is revealed to be a revelation that this is the fulfillment of prophecy (Isaiah 7:14), a sign of the coming New Covenant Kingdom of Christ. This dream, recorded as Scripture, revealed to Joseph (and us) that this is the fulfillment of Holy Scripture establishing the inerrancy of Holy Canon in the prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Christ, These things are a central tenet of the Christian faith. Without God being the Father, we have no Saviour that can be the Son of God in the flesh. So we see that in accordance with Joel's prophecy, God's servant Joseph had dreamed a dream "revealing" the mysteries of God (Matthew 1:20-25;   2:13) concerning the Messiah. Likewise, with visions, they also represent revelations of God's Holy word.

Proverbs 29:18

• "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."

In this context, this verse illustrates that where there is no revelation, declaration, or instruction from God to the prophets through visions, the people perish. The vision here is again synonymous with prophets bringing the word from God. The dreams and visions of Scripture have great import to God's congregation because they represent instances in which God interacted with humans supernaturaly, or outside of the normal methodology. That is to say, propheticly, as only He could. Even as we see in Matthew 2:12 when God came to the wise men in a dream instructing them of the evil of King Herod and warning them not to return to Him as they had been instructed. Contrary to what some professing Christians believe, the prophecy of Joel is not an affirmation that Christians today would continue to prophesy by miraculous supernatural dreams and visions, rather it spoke of the coming miraculous revelation of the mystery of the New Covenant Kingdom of Christ, through the revelation of the comforter(John 16:13). That is a prophet or one that has revealed of God things that are to come. That prophecy was fulfilled and we do have this revelation by the Holy Spirit that Christ sent. Before the Bible was completed, God often addressed and instructed His people through select prophets. Just as He also brought revelations through supernatural events, occurrences, phenomena, and miracles. But these miracles were signs and have ceased with the completion of holy Canon, and likewise the divine supernatural revelation that came through dreams and visions. Before the full revelation of the word of God on the pages of Scripture, His word was received through the means of these signs, dreams, visions, and miracles. After the books (plural) were all completed, where none other could be added, these methods of the revelation of God's word ceased. A good example of the revelation this way, that also literally fulfilled Joel's prophecy, can be seen in Luke chapter one.

Luke 1:19-22

• And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
• And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
• And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.
• And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless."

This vision of a messenger of God that Zacharias saw in the Temple, was a revelation concerning faith and the kingdom of Christ just as Joel had prophesied. It was a sign heralding Elijah coming to prepare the way for the kingdom of Christ. Visions like this were miraculous predictions foretelling and fulfilling God's Holy word. Other examples can be found in Matthew chapter two and Acts chapter nine.

Matthew 2:21-23

• "And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
• But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
• And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."

Acts 9:10-12

• "And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
• And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
• And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight."

The prophecy of Joel concerning dreams and visions is literally fulfilled in the events in the New Testament coming of Christ and culminated spiritually in God pouring out of His spirit upon all flesh that these sons and daughters might also have the truth revealed through the Spirit of revelation. This was also signified by dreams and visions. Because it all pointed to the coming of the New Covenant dispensation of the Spirit of Christ sent to all nations. In the Old Covenant, only a remnant of the nation of Israel experienced God's blessings of salvation through His Holy Spirit. But what the prophet Joel foresaw was a coming time when not only upon Israel but God's Spirit would be poured out abundantly upon all flesh (all kindreds).

Joel 2:32

• And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call."

This is the context of this prophecy of Joel chapter 2 and it applied to Jesus bringing salvation to all nations (Romans 10:12-13) through the Mount Zion that is the kingdom of Christ, and through the spiritual Jerusalem (Galatians 2:24-26), which is the Holy City in Christ, to whom God would call a remnant regardless of their being old or young, Jew or Gentile, bond or free. This is the revelation that was kept secret from before the world began, that God's spirit was to be poured out upon all flesh--meaning not just the flesh of Israel, but upon whosoever (Romans 16:25-26) would call upon the name of the Lord. As difficult as the prophecy of coming dreams and visions may be to grasp by some Christians, there are three facts that should be readily understood.

1. Scripture illustrates and confirms that dreams and visions were used of God as a conduit of His Spirit to speak to people concerning the declaration of His Holy word, His will, and His divine determination.
2. With the Holy Canon now being completed and closed to any further addition, God through His Spirit speaks to people concerning the declaration of His Holy word, will, and determination through the completed infallible word of that divinely inspired book. It should be self-evident that it is not an incomplete book, it is the completed and sealed Bible.
3. If 1 and 2 are true, (and it is) then certainly the time of this great outpouring of God's Spirit that Joel spoke of, wherein many would dream dreams and see visions, would refer to this New Covenant dispensation, and a great outpouring of the Spirit of revelation of God's Holy will, word, and determination, upon all nations.

This is exactly what took place at Pentecost with the vision of the great cloven "tongues" like fire setting upon each person, which signified (was a sign) that His Spirit would now go out to all tongues (languages) or nations. This truth is also confirmed in the vision that the apostle Peter had concerning God cleansing what was before unclean to Israel, which was a reference to the Gentiles. The mystery is being revealed through this vision in Acts of the tongues of fire in the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh. It referred to all languages and people receiving God's Spirit of prophecy. In the New Covenant, all kindreds should receive and promulgate the word of God through this abundant dissemination of the gift of God's Spirit. What was once unclean flesh (the Gentiles) is now made clean (Ephesians 3:5-6) through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them.

Acts 10:10-15

• And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
• And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had 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.
• And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
• But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
• And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."

Again, this illustrates that the ceremonial distinctions of clean and unclean flesh, were actually prophecy pointing to the separation of the Israelites from the Gentiles. In this New Covenant with Israel, this has come to an end, and now the Gentiles who were ceremonially unclean flesh and separated from the Jews (Acts 10:28), now are one with the Jews (Ephesians 2:13-16). In Christ Jesus they are also appointed heirs of the Kingdom. The apostle Peter has received a "vision" from God teaching him the knowledge of the great mystery in the Spirit of Christ, that the dispensation of separation of Jews and Gentiles is over. Because in this New Covenant with Israel, all flesh who are in Christ are one and part of the New Covenant with Israel. This is regardless of national origin, tribe, or ancestry. In Christ, they are prophets receiving divine revelation by His completed word, through His Holy Spirit. We are all one flesh, one children, one body, and one holy household of God.

Ephesians 2:11-19

• Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
• That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
• But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
• For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
• Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
• And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
• And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
• For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
• Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"

It couldn't be clearer that the God-inspired dream of Peter was the revelation of just this mystery. It confirmed that those who were once separated from the commonwealth of Israel (the Gentile nations) who were considered common or unclean to the Jews, are now made one body through Christ. This is the word revealed to the apostle Peter through God's vision concerning the unclean things that God has cleansed. All flesh could find grace in the Lord Jesus and become fellow citizens and fellow heirs in the Israel of God. Peter's vision was a prophetic revelation "signifying" to him, and ultimately to us. Again, a vivid confirmation of the revelation represented in the prophecy of Joel.

Joel 2:28

• "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"

All flesh would now receive divine revelation whether they are sons or daughters, old men or young men, Jew or Greek because there is now no distinction. It's talking about an outpouring of the Spirit of prophecy upon all peoples in this coming Kingdom age. Joel's prophecy has come to pass in the New Covenant with Israel (Hebrews 8:8-11) and is revealed in Peter's vision of God making clean what was unclean. The prophecy of all flesh being able to dream prophetically and see visions means all who believe, without distinction of genealogy, gender, or national heritage. They would all receive the wisdom of Christ to know God as Father and they all would be His children. In this New Covenant dispensation, God pours out a blessing wherein He places His law into their minds and writes His laws on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33) that they all become His messengers. We don't even have to suppose or speculate because the apostle Peter stood up and declared its fulfillment plainly. In the book of Acts Peter explained the fullness of that prophecy of Joel concerning the pouring out of the Spirit and the dreaming dreams and seeing visions. Very clearly and unambiguously that chapter of Joel spoke of the revelation of the mystery of the fall of national Israel so that the kingdom of Israel (through Christ) might be extended throughout the whole world. A new dispensation that is all-inclusive, with mercy and grace toward all flesh. The signs Joel spoke about under the inspiration of God were ultimately fulfilled in the finished work of Christ. All the divine supernatural revelations through miracles like walking on water, turning water to wine, raising the dead, opening the eyes of the blind, multiplying bread, etc., all "represented" a revelation of some aspect of the gospel of Christ. i.e., raising the spiritually dead, opening the eyes of the spiritually blind, healing the spiritually sick. Those supernatural signs pointing to the gospel ceased with the completion of the revelation of the Bible. They were all signs signifying the fulfillment of the prophecy of revelation in the New Covenant church--as was unambiguously "declared" by Peter.

Acts 2:14-23

• "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
• For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
• But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
• And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
• And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
• And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
• The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
• And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
• Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:"

This is the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. The apostle Peter addressed the crowd and explained to them that "what they were witnessing" was that fulfillment. It's not even debatable that this was the realization of the signs that Joel spoke of. Peter stated "explicitly" that this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. What further witness do we need. This was the sign of the revelation of the coming of Christ in the New Covenant with Israel dispensation when all their sins would be forgiven. Those men speaking in other tongues (languages) at this event were not babbling drunkenly as some had supposed, they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and were hearing God's word through other "known" tongues or languages. Even though they were not spoken in their language. This is divine revelation. Joel's prophecy was not a notation that God's children would continue to have revelatory dreams and visions from God, nor that they would dream of lottery numbers, or that they would have God's visions or see psychic phenomena. Joel's word wasn't a prediction that the moon would very literally turn into blood, or that physical wonders of blood and fire would occur, rather it prophesied of these "sign" that were symbolically foretelling or revealing some spiritual aspect of God's word. The revelation that the moon, being a symbol of the reflective light from the congregation (Genesis 37:9;   Revelation 6:12) of the Sun (God), would have that light replaced with blood in the judgment of the blinding of Israel. When it spoke of the sons and daughters dreaming and seeing visions, that is a sign of prophecy. It spoke of Israel receiving revelation, pointing to the coming New Covenant when all flesh could become prophets or messengers (not angels) of God. Dreams and visions were always one of the primary ways in which God communicated His revelations to mankind, and this denoted that this gift was also to other flesh that would come into the commonwealth of Israel. The outpouring of the Spirit of dreams and Visions to all flesh signified the fall of the Old Covenant with Israel (Hebrews 8:10-13; Hebrews 10:15-17, 2nd Corinthians 5:16-18). This was the confirmation of the institution of the New Covenant with Israel. This is the last days heralding of the revealing of the mystery, the revelation of the salvation of the world.

Does God still speak to us today through miraculous dreams or visions? I believe that would be contrary to God's word that any addition to the Revelation of God (Revelation 22:18) is strictly forbidden. God's infallible word is not incomplete, it is the completed word, and anyone who adds or takes away from this revelation is guilty of the plagues God pours upon the faithless. The great cry of the Reformers of "Sola Scriptura" was a demonstration of our faith that God's written word alone is our ultimate authority "today." The completed Bible is the only divine word that we can know is infallible and unerringly authoritative. Because God wants us to live by faith, not by sight. Just as supernatural phenomena like heavenly signs, miracles, and demons being cast out were "revelatory" signs or tokens of some deeper Spiritual truths of God's magnificent salvation program before the Bible was completed, so dreams or visions were signs representing our current revelations from God by His completed word, and through His Spirit. How do we know that salvation is not only to the Jew, but to the Gentile also? It is by reading God's word and receiving that revelation through God's Spirit.

Ephesians 3:4-6

• Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
• Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
• That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:"

Written in the Old Covenant scriptures but kept secret through cryptic or dark sayings (Isaiah 56:6-7), that the meaning of these truths should now be revealed to His chosen people by those Holy Scriptures made known and understood through His Holy Spirit. The fulfillment of receiving dreams and visions, revelations of those things kept secret. Today God communicates His messages through the Holy Bible because this is now His "authoritative" and fully complete written revelation to his people. Let's not forget that those dreams, visions, miracles, and signs are now "the Bible." In other words, they were written and recorded in order to be part of God's infallible word.

2nd Timothy 3:16-17

• "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
• That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

God inspired this, and once completed in this New Testament era, those Scriptures indeed fully furnish His people unto all good works, not partially furnished so that it requires additional revelation through "more" dreams, signs, or continuing visions. At least not since it has been completed. All we need to know while on this sin-cursed earth is written in these completed Scriptures.

Conclusion
We have seen from Scripture that the dreams and visions were miraculous events where God communicated or messaged people directly before there was a fully completed Holy Canon. But just as supernatural miraculous signs and wonders ceased (No one's feeding thousands with a few fish), dreams and visions ceased because these things were never designed by God to continue after the Holy Bible was complete. They were all portraits, symbols, signs, a supernatural revelation of some deeper Spiritual truths that God was teaching. To add to or take away from God's word today through either dreams, visions, additional prophecy, miracles, miraculous healings (that pointed to salvation), or any alleged new or additional revelation from God, is strictly forbidden (Revelation 22:18-19). Once God communicated His authoritative word to His prophets this way to bring His word to His people. But now this is done through the revelation of Christ, who is the living Word.

Hebrews 1:1-2

• "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
• Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;"

We don't need prophets miraculously receiving revelation through dreams and visions today, we receive revelation through a personal relationship with Christ, who sent His Spirit to reveal all truth directly (1st John 2:27) through Him. We are prophets through the divine revelation of Christ Jesus. Our personal dreams or imaginative visions are not God giving us a divine message or communicating personal prophecies, guidance, financial information, powers, or suggestive solutions of trivial matters. Our revelations come from Scripture made manifest to us By the Spirit. When we evaluate the dreams of the Bible, they do not relate to anyone's own personal issues, but rather they were prophetic messages directly from God. They were His Holy words delineating His perfect plan and purposes for His people, most of which was not even fully known until this New Testament dispensation.

Whenever I hear someone claim that God has prophecied to him/her or has spoke to them in a dream telling them that they should say or do this or that (fill in the blank), I always reply that God has prophecied and spoken to all of us, but it is through His completely furnished and fully comprehensive written word for our lives. In fact, it would take more than our lifetime to ever learn half of what God has inspired and written in the Scriptures for our instruction, so what's this additional revelation? I learn something new from the Scriptures every day. It is there revealing to us "everything that we would ever need to know," to prophecy, to find understanding, to live a Godly life, for greater knowledge, to make righteous choices, for admonition, for validation, for direction, for confirmation, and for instruction in righteousness. Through His Spirit, this is now the only infallible revelation of the Holy mind of God for us today. So why would anyone pre-dispose themselves to seek extra-biblical validations? Why would God add additional revelation to the Bible when it is already complete? There are no extra-biblical revelations today, despite the proclamations from some quarters. Not by dreams, visions, miracles, wonders, or other means of prophecy. Is there anyone today who can part seas, raise the dead, wrestle with God, heal with a touch of his hand, walk on water, open the eyes of the blind, heal an atrophied hand instantly? Many are the voices that make such claims, but not one of them is validated by the Spirit of truth. That era of revelation by sight is over. It is written, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. We do not live by sight, we live by the faithfulness of Christ. We don't seek worldly or physical proofs of God's power, we already have the full Spiritual proof of it.

John 20:27

• Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
• And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
• Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
• And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:"

Do we need to reach our finger out and feel the holes in Christ's hands in order to believe that He was "actually" nailed to a cross, crucified and resurrected in the flesh, and lifted up to heaven? God forbid, because Christ has fully equipped us with all the faith and revelation necessary. There is no need for the Spirit-led believer to have the dreams or to see the visions of old in order to prophecy. We can boldly say, "Thus Saith The Lord" right here, right now, every single one of us. We are the divinely inspired messengers of God, we have the faith of Christ, we have the prophecy of God, and we have the Spirit of God. An evil and adulterous generation or family seeks after signs and wonders. On the other hand, we have no need to see the signs and wonders of old, we have been endowed with the unction or anointing of God's Spirit that we disseminate His "divine revelation" today, and it is strictly through His written word. Sola Scriptura, meaning that the truth of God's word is solely revealed to us today by the written word, through the Holy Spirit of God. Our dream is walk the glorious promised land, and our vision is to see the only Jerusalem that is Holy, the Holy City from above. We don't need any man to be a miraculous prophet and teach (1st John 2:27) us, nor any prophet to dream or see visions of God to reveal instruction. We have our instruction, and it was accomplished in the finished Living Word, where we have revelation through His completed written Word.

In closing, let us pray that no one will seek to exalt themselves through any vain imagination that their personal dreams or visions are divinely inspired revelatory messages or a revelatory call from God. Rather dreams are our own nightly flights of fancy, subconscious processings, nightmares, urges, musings, introspections, or counseling. The truth is, if any of us choose to neglect the whole counsel of the word, and we try hard enough, we can assign some great spiritual import or significance to any dream that we might have. But that doesn't mean that it is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. God forbid that we should be deceived into taking our personal dreams as our realities through ambitiousness, vanity, zealousness, or even delusion. The success of Biblical dreams and visions rests in the success of the promulgation of the good news. Let us not make dreams a distraction from our real work as witnesses, the true prophets or messengers sent from God today. Faithful Christians should not expect miraculous dreams or visions to be a part of the Christian experience, since the Revelation is complete, the book is sealed, and the Lord's prophet has the testimony in the written word of God.

Peace,

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Copyright ©2019 Tony Warren
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Created 12/12/19 / Last Modified 12/15/20
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