Background
During a study of the Book of Daniel, I did an examination of the occurrences of dreams and visions. My quest to understand expanded to the whole Bible and ended up including trances. I have already posted an article concerning these phenomena titled: Dreams, Visions, and Trances.
As I did my study, I ran across some anecdotal evidence of God using dreams in our modern day to reveal Himself to people. There were many stories from Middle Eastern folks, particularly Muslims. Therefore I assembled some information and wrote this paper.
Muslim with a Gun Dreaming
One story I heard from a second hand source originated with a missionary from a Middle Eastern country. The story is as follows:
A missionary husband and wife stopped at a grocery store to pick up something. They were hesitant to go in, because there was a Middle Eastern man standing outside by the door carrying a machine gun. The husband decided that the man was probably not going to hurt him, so he went on into the store, made his purchase, and returned to his car. As the couple was getting ready to drive away, the wife said, “Aren’t you going to witness to that man?” The husband told her no, that the man had a gun! As they started to drive away, the wife bowed her head to pray.
Husband, “What are you doing?”
Wife, “Praying that you would change your mind. I feel that God is leading us in this.”
Husband, “Oh alright,” as he pulled back into the lot. “But I’m not going to witness to him. I’ll give him a Bible instead.”
The husband grabbed a Bible and got out and handed it to the the man with the gun. A tear started rolling down the gunman’s face.
Gunman, “I had a dream that I was standing outside this store. In the dream, a man brought me a book that would tell me the truth about God. Thank you.”
McBride’s Evaluation
There is an interesting article written by Dennis McBride titled “An Evaluation of Muslim Dreams & Visions of Isa (“Jesus” in Arabic)”.1
McBride says, “The goal of this paper is to evaluate the reported phenomenon of Jesus (Isa) appearing to some Muslims in dreams and visions, and to discern if such reports fit the pattern of Scripture as determined through conservative grammatical/historical principles of interpretation (hermeneutics).”
McBride comes to the conclusion that the Muslim dreams are not from the Holy Spirit. That is, they do not have the support of Scripture. McBride is very thorough in his research, it is well reasoned, and I recommend reading his article.
Even so, to me, the evidence is not conclusive enough to say that the Muslim dreams are not from the Holy Spirit. Therefore I did not come to the same conclusion as McBride. I believe that it is God working through many avenues, including dreams, to bring people to Himself.
Comparing Scriptural Dreams & Visions
Having just done a study on Dreams, Visions, and Trances, I remembered two specific events that might be helpful to us to review. For a good comparison, our Scriptural examples should be as similar as possible to the phenomena under consideration. This would allow us to compare apples to apples. One event is the dream by King Nebuchadnezzar, the other event is Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus.
At the time of the two Biblical examples, both men needed to be reconciled to God. Nebuchadnezzar was proud, and likely polytheistic. Paul was part of the Jewish sect of the Pharisees and thought he was in good standing with God. This is despite the fact that he rejected Jesus. Neither man was seeking visions or dreams as far as we know. In each man’s encounter, they were challenged by God to get their life right before Him.
Scriptural Dreams
My research shows that there are fourteen people recorded in Scripture having twenty dreams. All of the dreams are warning, instruction, predictions, or promises -except one. The one dream that is useful for our purposes in this paper, was dreamed by King Nebuchadnezzar. His dream, the interpretation by Daniel, and its fulfillment, are all recorded in chapter 4 of the Book of Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
I will summarize it this way: Because of the king’s pride, he will become as a beast of the field, lasting for 7 periods of time. God tells him that his condition will last, “Until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”2 After the 7 periods of time were completed, the king’s reason returned to him. King Nebuchadnezzar then says,
“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”3
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was confrontational, as was its fulfillment, demonstrating the king’s place before God. The king failed to recognize and honor God, instead thinking that he had elevated himself to his royal position. God humbled him for his pride, and the king finally acknowledged and exalted God.
It is thought that Nebuchadnezzar was near the end of his life when this dream was fulfilled. He makes the right confession, but we do not have enough evidence to know if he was actually reconciled to God.
Scriptural Visions
There are many visions given by God, especially in the Old Testament. The vast majority were messages given by God to the prophets. There is only one vision recorded that is useful for comparison in this article. The vision of Jesus that Paul had on the road to Damascus.
Paul’s Vision of Jesus
At the time of Paul’s vision, Paul (also called Saul) was traveling to Damascus with authority from the high priest in order to imprison Christians.4 On the way, he saw a great light and heard Jesus speaking to him. This event is recorded for us in Acts 9:1-19. Paul later recounts the story with more detail in Acts 26:9-18.
Paul’s vision of Jesus was also confrontational. He was called out by God for persecuting not only Christians, but Jesus Himself. Paul was clearly humbled. “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”5 A man appointed by God came to Paul and healed his blindness, and Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul repented, became a believer, and followed Jesus the rest of his life.
Comparison with Muslim Dreams
I have read a number of the Muslim dreams, and the two biblical examples are much more confrontational. The Muslim dreamers usually sense love and an invitation to seek Jesus. It is as if God is gently wooing them to Himself.
Paul and Nebuchadnezzar had already been given opportunities to know God and trust him. So in spite of the confrontation, I think we could say that God was also issuing an invitation to Paul and Nebuchadnezzar.
Some of the Muslim dreams are more symbolic like Nebuchadnezzar’s. Since the king had the interpretation from Daniel, he did did not have to guess what it meant. But even without any interpretation, the Muslim dreamers can sometimes surmise what the symbolism means. This is the case for former Muslim’s such as Nabeel Qureshi whom I speak of in a later section.
Jesus Preaching
In McBride’s evaluation, he expects that if Jesus were actually appearing in dreams, He would be speaking more truth. In fact he says, “I have to wonder why Jesus wouldn’t share the gospel with Muslims if He were appearing to them.”
McBride also says of the dreams, “there is little or no mention of sin, repentance, confession, righteousness, or forgiveness–and no presentation of God’s holiness or justice. Simply put, the need for salvation is not clarified (or in some cases even mentioned), yet that was at the heart of Christ’s communication with unbelievers when He was on earth.”6
In the case of Paul’s vision, several of the items in McBride’s list, sin, repentance, forgiveness, and faith are cited. Paul’s vast biblical knowledge as a Pharisee needed to be corrected and honed. I can just imagine the mixed emotion Paul experienced as he reevaluated his life and thinking with this new information!
In the biblical example of Nebuchadnezzar, none of the items McBride specifies are named. Repentance is the point of the dream, but I think that God was also using the dream for a different task. The king needed to know who the true God really was.
As for the Muslim’s, I think God is appealing to them in a different manner as well. To say it another way, I think that there is time later for God to confront their sin and talk about forgiveness. It could be that God is using the dream to draw the dreamer to Himself, and then will reveal more truth at the appropriate time.
Nabeel Qureshi
In his book, Seeking Allah, finding Jesus7, Nabeel Qureshi, describes his dramatic journey from Islam to Christianity, and shares how he developed a passion for Islam before discovering, almost against his will, evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and claimed to be God– and of the peace he eventually found in Jesus. You can read his testimony here, Nabeel Qureshi.
Qureshi describes three vivid, detailed dreams that helped him in his quest to determine if Christianity is true. The dreams came near the end of a quest for truth that took about 4 years. Qureshi’s search started when he met a Christian named David, and they became friends. David was able to answer Qureshi’s questions concerning the authenticity of the Bible, who Jesus really is, and His sacrifice and resurrection.
Qureshi’s Dreams
Qureshi asked God for the dreams, because his culture placed a high value on dreams. His family even owned an Islamic book on dream interpretation which they consulted for the meanings. The three dreams demonstrated to Qureshi that he was losing confidence in Islam. After the third dream, He says,
“This was the final installment of my three dream series. Again, upon interpreting it, I found it to be favorable towards Christianity. I interpreted the stairs to mean a pathway to Heaven, as they were heading up. When I asked my parents for an interpretation from the book they had used, they determined that stairs are a quest for knowledge and truth, something that fit better than my interpretation. I could not get off of my quest for truth and simply fall in line with Islam anymore, no matter how much I wanted to out of respect and duty.”8
Conclusion
My conclusion is that based on the anecdotal stories, it appears that God is using dreams to bring people to Himself. It is not the dreams by themselves, but they seem to be one of the tools God uses.
The Bible does not instruct anyone to request dreams, describe how to interpret dreams, or teach us that dreams are reliable. I therefore do not recommend this practice. However, I cannot deny Qureshi’s story or his conversion, and the role that the dreams played. Please see my post Muslim Converts to Christianity for more information.
1 https://www.biblicalintegrity.org/2012/03/01/muslim-visions-jesus/ 1/24/23
2 Daniel 4:32
3 Daniel 4:37
4 Acts 9:3-9 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
5 Acts 9:9
6 Question 10. Is Isa’s message consistent with Scripture? https://www.biblicalintegrity.org/2012/03/01/muslim-visions-jesus/ 1/24/23
7 Full title: “Seeking Allah, finding Jesus: a devout Muslim encounters Christianity”.
8 Quote from Qureshi’s testimony.