Dreaming of Dreams

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

Many years ago in a little town in Texas, an older gentleman with whom we attended church told of a dream he had about the then nearly desolate church being filled with people.  It happened some years later that the church grew significantly, though I tend to think his dream spoke of a greater fulfillment.  I'm always struck when reading through the first couple of chapters of Matthew how critical dreams are.  First Joseph, traditionally viewed as much older than Mary, dreams that he should go ahead with his marriage.  Next the Magi, also doubtless older men, are warned in a dream against returning to Herod.  Then Joseph is told in a dream to go to Egypt.  After Herod's death, he dreams that they may return home.  Finally, he settles in Nazareth because of a dream.

I would be reluctant to change the course of my life based on a dream, no matter how vivid and convincing. Nevertheless, I can attest to the damage that not dreaming does to a person.  Lack of sleep means a lack of dreams.  I am always a better, more balanced person - and that's not saying much - when I get a chance to process everything in dreams, when my sleep is less disturbed.  It is almost as if dreams denied from lack of sleep invade my waking hours.  It makes me wonder about people who do senseless things, the perverts, the suicides, and the serial killers.  Are they simply overwhelmed by undreamt dreams? 

In Proverbs 29:18 we read:  Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.  The KJV says the people perish without vision, but the throwing off of restraint is simply the prelude to death. As a nation, we seem to have stopped dreaming.  We are blind.  We have no respect for any prophetic voice.  I am not talking about the people who call themselves "prophets" or, perhaps worse, "prophecy teachers".  The prophet's job is to proclaim God's truth and call His people to repentance with power, not give somebody a "word" about his backache.  Prophecy, dreams and visions pull back the curtain on the machinery behind the play.  It reveals what is normally hidden, unearths the buried truth, exposes the lies that support the daily delusions. 

As Christ could not have come into the world or survived to reach Golgotha without the dreams of men, so we will see no restoration or revival until our vision of the kingdom is quickened.  We need old men to dream Reality again.