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D E C E M B E R 2
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In the Bible dreams seem to be a favorite vehicle God uses to speak to and guide us. Read about several examples of biblical visions, or call stories, the tasks God assigns through them and how visions impact the lives of Christians today.
Dreams & Visions
Karl Rahner once wrote that sleep is an act of faith. Sleep is a time when we are relaxed and therefore, according to the Bible, susceptible to God’s prompting. We give up control and commit ourselves to the care of God. In sleep we may surrender ourselves “to significant dreams that…may embody the promptings and the behests of God.” Dreams seem to be a favorite vehicle God uses to communicate with us. Dreams—and their first cousins, visions—are ways God has of calling and challenging people and of gracing them with more than mere repose. Dreams and visions are the stuff of revelation and a source of hope. Quite a few stories in the Bible confirm Karl Rahner’s opinion of sleep. In the Book of Genesis, for example, Joseph was much maligned by his brothers for his dreams. But Joseph’s gift of dreaming eventually changed God’s people’s history. And when their little brother was in a position to save them from starvation, the brothers learned to be grateful for Joseph’s dreams (Gn 37—47). Eli the priest was similarly disturbed by young Samuel’s dreams and impatiently sent the poor lad back to bed twice before realizing that God was trying to speak to them both. Suddenly alert, Eli counseled Samuel to answer the third time, “Ready, Lord. Your servant is listening!” (1 Sam 3:10). SPONSORED LINKS
 Famous Call Stories Many dreams and other vision stories function as “call stories.” Through dreams or visions God often speaks to and guides people. Think not only of Joseph and Samuel, but of Jacob and Moses, Isaiah and Daniel, Joseph the husband of Mary, and Paul the apostle. A call story typically follows a discernible pattern. God appears or speaks, frequently through some medium or messenger. The reason for the appearance is given; the dreamer or visionary is commissioned for a task. The recipient protests and is reassured. A sign or prediction is given to verify the call. Moses must have been surprised not only to see a bush burning but not being consumed, but to hear from it a voice telling him that he was standing on holy ground (Ex 3:1-6). Samson’s mother found out she was to bear a child from an angel who appeared while she was working in the fields (Jgs 13:2-5). Isaiah was given a glimpse of heaven as part of his initial call (Is 6). Zechariah was offering sacrifice in the temple when he learned that his aged wife was with child (Lk 1:9-19). Mary of Nazareth was not expecting to hear that day that she would bear a son who would save the world (Lk 1:26-38). Paul was out to persecute the church when he was called to become its apostle instead (Acts 9:1-30). The Bible consistently conveys that people called by God are caught unawares. Typically, they were not preparing for a career in the Lord’s service. God’s call is accompanied by an explanation and a task. God wants something done, and it is usually an imposition on the person chosen, who needs to rearrange his or her plans. Amos, for example, was a shepherd from Judah in the South, called to preach repentance to Israel in the North. Jonah disliked the Ninevites to whom he was sent to preach. He also had some well-founded fears that the Ninevites would repent and mend their ways, which is more than he could say for his own people. Elijah was a marked man after God called him to denounce King Ahab and his pagan wife, Jezebel. Elijah became so lonely and depressed that he holed up in a cave longing for death. Then God appeared to him, not as a hurricane or an earthquake, but in a gentle breeze that set Elijah back on track to prophesy again (1Kgs 19). Jeremiah regretted having to deliver all those lamentations and woes to the people that made him so despised. He complained bitterly to God, but there was no respite for him until the people began to experience the disaster of the Babylonian Exile, a consequence of their sinful ways (Jer 20). Matthew built on his scriptural heritage to describe another Joseph the dreamer (Mt 1:18-2:23). First, God’s messenger encouraged Joseph to pursue his plans to marry, telling him in a dream that Mary’s child was of the Holy Spirit. In another dream, the angel warned Joseph to flee Herod by taking Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Finally, a third time, Joseph followed his dream by returning and settling in Nazareth after the king was dead and the danger had passed. “Pick someone else!” Frequently the person called protests that God could not possibly mean them. Moses, for example, offers a variety of excuses: I am slow of speech. No one will believe me. I am wanted for murder and afraid to appear before the Pharaoh (Ex 3:11-14; 6:12; 28-30). Moses seems to hope that God will move on to another messenger to free the people. Isaiah reminds God that he is a sinner (Is 6:5-7). Jeremiah complains that he is too young to wreck his life speaking on God’s behalf to a troublesome people (Jer 1:6). Zechariah complains that he and his wife are too old (Lk 1:18). Even Mary wonders about being unmarried (Lk 1:34). The choice of Paul is so outrageous that other Christians protest his call (Acts 9:26). They could not trust that the one who had been persecuting them up to that point would now be joining them in preaching the gospel. Even Simon Peter can take some comfort in having told Jesus from the outset of his call, “Depart from me for I am a sinner!” (Lk 5:8). According to any human criteria, God seems to make the most improbable choices. Reassurance and a Sign When God speaks, people must listen. God has ways of letting us know who is in charge. The Bible does not propose a democracy. Rather, God reassures the person called and sometimes grants a “sign.” And then follows the “rest of the story.” Sometimes the sign is most natural: a rainbow (Gn 9:12-17) , a child (Is 7:10- 16), perhaps a little victory even in the eyes of others, as when the staff of Aaron swallowed the staffs of the Egyptian magicians in front of the Pharaoh (Ex 7:12). Remarkably, the “sign” of Paul’s call was that he was blinded by a great light, accompanied by a voice identifying Jesus with the church Paul was persecuting. Paul no doubt puzzled over the possible meaning of his sightlessness. After some days, at the touch of a reluctant healer, Ananias (who was himself obeying a vision), scales fell from Paul’s eyes (Acts 9:17-19), and he could finally “see” the meaning of his experience. Later he would interpret another night vision featuring a young Macedonian to mean that Paul would bring Christianity to Europe (Acts 16:9-10). Eventually Paul’s call would reverberate to “the ends of the earth” in the conversion of the Gentiles. Apocalypses Sometimes biblical people have visions without being asleep. “Sight” is a spiritual as well as a physical sense. Reality is more than what we see with our eyes. And, God calls people to act upon what they see. Many visions in Scripture can be classified as examples of apocalyptic literature, a term widely misrepresented and misunderstood. In today’s popular culture, apocalypse is presented as alarming, destructive and generally extremely unattractive. The Greek word apocalypse means “revelation.” In Judaism and later in Christianity, the primary purpose of apocalyptic literature is to offer hope in situations of suffering, oppression and apparent hopelessness. The biblical apocalypses are expressions of God’s victory over evil. Ezekiel, the oldest apocalyptic book in the Hebrew Scriptures, was written in the sixth century before Christ, during the Babylonian Exile, a fifty-year period of captivity (ca. 587-538 B.C.) when oppression robbed the people of hope for their release. Ezekiel had some strange visions, but all were meant to offer hope to God’s people. At the same time, the meaning of these visions remained hidden from the oppressors. The language of apocalyptic is cryptic, designed to conceal its meaning from the oppressors while giving hope to the oppressed. Thus, Babylon is portrayed as a beast or a dragon, mythical creatures that were nevertheless frightening and powerful. Ezekiel’s visions take him out of the world of oppression and show him a world where God reigns. For example, Ezekiel says, “While I was among the exiles…the heavens opened and I saw divine visions….As I looked, a stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire….Within it were figures resembling four living creatures that looked like this: their form was human, but each had four faces and four wings…” (Ez 1:1-6). Ezekiel concedes that the times are frightening and the oppressors are powerful: “See, lawlessness is in full bloom, insolence flourishes, violence has risen to support wickedness” (Ez 7:10-11). The difference between what we now experience and the reality we await in hope is as night to day. For Ezekiel, the day of the Lord is coming soon to vindicate those who remain faithful even in the midst of suffering: “It shall not be long in coming, nor shall it delay. The time has come, the day dawns” (7:11-12). The apocalyptic Seer speaks for God in promising to restore the people and punish their oppressors. So, for example, we read: “Thus says the Lord God,…I will repeople the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled, which was formerly a wasteland exposed to the gaze of every passerby. This desolate land has been made into a garden of Eden…” (Ez 36:33-35). In the second century before Christ, the Jews were oppressed by the Seleucid kings who succeeded Alexander the Great. The Book of Daniel portrayed these oppressors as “Babylonians,” partly to conceal the intent of the book from those very oppressors. Daniel offered hope to the Jews of his time by assuring them that their oppressors would be crushed as were the Babylonians before them. Daniel has visions of two different worlds that exist simultaneously, as Ezekiel did. For example, Daniel says: “At that time there shall arise Michael the great prince, guardian of your people. It shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book” (Dn 12:1). Then God through Daniel promises: “Blessed is the one who has patience and perseveres…” (Dn 12:12). In Christian literature the visions that come first to mind are from the book named “Apocalypse” or “Revelation.” This book is all about visions. John the Seer writes at a time when his world is threatened by a new Babylon, Rome. In the nineties, Christians were being persecuted under the Emperor Domitian just as they were in the sixties under Nero. Since it was not possible to directly confront the perceived monster, the Roman Empire, Christians were encouraged by the apocalyptic visions that promised that the present situation would be reversed and that evil would be conquered and eliminated. Faith during oppression would be vindicated and those who were suffering would soon be liberated. Conclusion Clearly not every dream is a call from God nor does every vision mean an angel is directing us to a certain action. Like other spirits, these experiences have to be tested in the light of the Scriptures and the church. We must be both humble and courageous in interpreting our dreams and visions within the context of the gospel. According to the Bible, visions, whether of the dream variety or out of body experiences in which God speaks, can be reliable media for believers. They are often vehicles by which God assures us that all is well in the world of faith and hope. It is not that believers cannot be perturbed or inconvenienced, or that they won’t suffer. But more important, more real even than the fears and other beasts that afflict them, God is always good and always faithful. We can rest in that assurance and follow the urgings of our faithful dreams and hopeful visions.
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