Dreams, Visions, and Trances

Background

During a study of the Book of Daniel, I became interested in the various dreams recounted in the book. I also noticed that sometimes Daniel calls the dream a vision.

As I continued my inquiry, I found another phenomena, trances, are closely related to dreams and visions.

So, I decided to do some digging to see what I could learn about dreams, visions, and trances as referenced in the Bible. These phenomena are what this paper is about.

Introduction

When considering dreams, visions, and trances, it is important to notice a few things:

• There are no examples in the Bible of someone generating one of these phenomena on their own. Some religions use drugs or chanting in an effort to induce altered states of mind -not so in Christianity.
• God initiates these special events to bring a message or to reveal truth. Not all dreams, visions, or trances are from God.

We can also observe about the special message that:

• Sometimes it is for the individual
• Sometimes it is for groups of people
• Sometimes it is for a nation
• Sometimes the message is for everyone

I organized the paper by looking at each of the three terms: dream, vision, and trance. I will include definitions, some examples, and comments. Note: The distinctions between a trance, dream, and vision are not always clear. In fact, sometimes the definition of one of the terms uses the other terms to explain it!

Dreams

I will start with a definition from the 1828 version of Webster’s dictionary:

Dreams (n.) -The thoughts, or series of thoughts, or imaginary transactions, which occupy the mind during sleep; a sleeping vision.

Smith’s Bible Dictionary has this to say about dreams:
“The Scripture declares that the influence of the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its sleeping as well as its waking thoughts. But, in accordance with the principle enunciated by St. Paul in (1 Corinthians 14:15) dreams, in which the understanding is asleep, are placed below the visions of prophecy, in which the understanding plays its part. And where dreams are recorded as means of God’s revelation to his chosen servants, they are almost always referred to the periods of their earliest and most imperfect knowledge of him.”¹

The word dream or dreams occurs 102 times in 87 verses in the bible.² Fourteen people have their dreams recorded for us, and of the 14, five are God’s covenant people, while nine of them are outsiders, or aliens. I have created the following list with the aliens in bold. I have also listed the general topic of the dream and the verse reference:

Person	Topic and reference
Abimilech	Sarah is not Abraham’s sister, Genesis 20:3,6
Jacob	Ladder, Genesis 28:12; Sheep stripes, Genesis 31:10
Laban3	Do not harm Jacob, Genesis 31:24
Joseph	Sheaves, Sun/Moon bow down, Genesis 37:5-10
Cupbearer	He will live, Genesis 40:9
Baker	He will die, Genesis 40:16
Pharaoh	Feast/famine, Genesis 41:1-7
Midianites	Israel will defeat them, Judges 7:13
Solomon	Asks God for wisdom, 1 Kings 3:5-14
Nebuchadnezzar	Future kingdoms, Daniel 2:3; Becomes beast of the field, Daniel 4:5
Daniel	Everlasting kingdom, Daniel 7:1 (See: Dream Interpretation with Daniel & Joseph)
Joseph	Mary as wife, Matthew 1:20; Go to Egypt, Mat. 2:13; Back to Israel, Mat. 2:19; Go to Nazareth, Mat. 2:22
Magi	Take another route, Matthew 2:12
Wife of Pilate	Leave Jesus alone, Matthew 27:19

The Holman Bible Dictionary notes three types of dreams that can be distinguished:

• Message dream -This is the simplest type of dream because it needs no interpretation. The dream of Solomon and the Magi would be examples.
• Simple symbolic dream -These dreams use symbols, but are still understood without interpretation. Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37:5-10 concerning the sheaves and the Sun & Moon bowing down are of this type.
• Complex symbolic dreams, This type of dream needs, “the interpretive skill of someone with experience or an unusual ability in interpretation. The dreams of Nebuchadnezzar described in Daniel 2 and Daniel 4 are good examples of this kind of dream. Even Daniel himself had dreams in which the symbolism was so complex that he had to seek divine interpretation.” (Daniel 7)”⁴

“Dreams were neither foolproof nor infallible. Both Jeremiah and Zechariah spoke against relying on dreams to express the revelation of God. Dreams could come without being God’s word (Jeremiah 23:28). Jeremiah lumped dreamers together with soothsayers, sorcerers, and false prophets (Jeremiah 27:9). He cautioned exiles in Babylon not to listen to dreamers and false prophets who told them that the Exile would not be long (Jeremiah 29:8). Zechariah pointed people toward the Lord, apparently because they were relying on dreamers and others to give them the truth (Zechariah 10:1-2). Thus, while dreams were often used by God to reveal His will, there is a warning, too, not to rely on this method to know the will of God.”⁵

Visions

The term vision(s), occurs about 30 times in various forms in Daniel, but many times seems to be used interchangeably with dream. Easton’s defines vision as, “a vivid apparition, not a dream.”⁶

We see both terms used together in this passage in Daniel 2:28:
“However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.”

“Many of the visions mentioned in the Bible seem to be little different from dreams. The main difference seems to be that a dream occurred while a person was asleep, but a vision may have occurred while a person was either asleep or awake. Also, dreams were a common experience among people in general, whereas visions were usually given by God to selected people for specific purposes. Visions were often associated with prophets. To say there was ‘no vision in the land’ usually meant there were no prophets in the land; or, if there were prophets, they had no message from God.”⁷

Prophetic visions

In Numbers 12:6, God says this about His message to prophets,
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.”

The prophets do not always call the message they receive a vision, and they may not say that they had a dream. Here are some of the prophets that actually identify the message as a vision: Isaiah 1:1; Ezekiel 8:1; Daniel 8:1; Amos 1:1; Obadiah 1:1; Nahum 1:1; and, Habakkuk 1:1.

At other times, specific ones receive a vision that is not a prophetic word. These, I am calling ‘other’ visions to distinguish them from the prophetic visions.

Other visions

Vision of Heaven

Acts 7:55-56 records Stephen’s vision of heaven, even though the term vision is not used:
“But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ “

A Great Light

In Acts 9:3-9, we have Saul’s encounter with Jesus while he was non-believer. Saul (also known as Paul), was traveling to Damascus with authority from the high priest in order to imprison Christians.⁸ On the way, he saw a great light and heard Jesus speaking to him. This event was the catalyst for Paul putting his faith in the Lord.

Years later, Paul gives his testimony to King Agrippa and describes this event to the King as a vision. Acts 26:19, Paul says,
“So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

Greek for Vision

Two Greek words translated vision, are optasia and horama, discussed next.

Optasia

The Greek word Paul uses in Acts 26:19 above, is optasía (op-tas-ee’-ah). The word is used to mean “a vision, a supernatural appearance.”⁹ The word occurs 3 other times:

• When Paul talks about the man caught up to the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4¹⁰;
• Zacharias sees a vision while in the temple and cannot speak in Luke 1:22; and,
• In Luke 24:23, just after Jesus rose from the dead. In this passage, the disciples were amazed by the report from some women. The women had gone to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning,
  “and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive!”

Horama

Another Greek word used is hórama (hor’-am-ah). It is used 12 times, once in Matthew 17:9, and the rest in Acts. (Acts 7:31; 9:10; 9:12; 10:3; 10:17; 10:19; 11:5; 12:9; 16:9; 16:10; 18:9) The word is used to mean “a spectacle, vision, that which is seen.”¹¹ Here are two examples:

Immediately after Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John, this is recorded in Matthew 17:9,
“As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.’ ”

Acts 18:9-10 – Jesus speaks to Paul in a vision to encourage him to keep preaching.
“And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’ ”

Trance

The Greek word translated trance, is ekstasis (ek’-stas-is) and occurs 3 times. From existemi; the English transliteration is ‘ecstasy’. Vine’s dictionary says,
“a condition in which ordinary consciousness and the perception of natural circumstances were withheld, and the soul was susceptible only to the vision imparted by God.”¹²

The word trance is used of Peter twice about the same event, and Paul once. It is notable that both men were praying at the time of their trance. Luke, the physician and therefore one likely to understand the phenomena, alone used the term.

Peter on the Roof

Chapter 10 of Acts tells the chronicle of Cornelius, who is described as a God fearing Gentile. Cornelius is in Caesarea and God gives him a vision. Peter is about 50 miles away, staying in Joppa, and falls into a trance while he is on the roof praying. Peter sees what looks like a sheet being lowered full of animals that are unclean to Jews. It is accompanied by a voice saying, “Arise Peter, kill and eat.” God gives Peter the message through a trance, that, “what God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

This event is a watershed moment at the beginning of the church. God is showing Peter that, “God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”¹³ Since Peter was a pillar in the early church, it was important that Gentile conversions were authenticated through him. Not that Peter allowed them, or that he even thought it was a good idea. It was God’s plan.¹⁴ (Peter recounts the story starting in Acts 11:5.)

Paul in the Temple

In Acts 22:17-21, Paul receives a warning from the Lord to flee Jerusalem. Paul says,
“And it came about when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance. and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in Thee. And when the blood of Thy witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the cloaks of those who were slaying him.’ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

This is a particularly interesting passage in that Paul dialogues with the Lord. Paul appears to be making a case that he should not have to flee. His reasoning seems to be that because he used to persecute Jesus, they would see his transformation, and accept him. Nevertheless, the Lord still tells him to Go!

Conclusion

Since the earliest days of the Bible, God has used dreams, visions, and trances to reveal truth about Himself. In the grandest sense then, these would be considered Special Revelation, particularly because of the prophetic content. In a broader sense, these phenomena have also been used to warn, confirm, and encourage. I also have written about anecdotal evidence of God giving dreams in our current day in, Muslim Dreams, and additional information in my post, Dreams from God.

God has also used other avenues to make himself known to us. I wrote another article about this, titled, Revelation of God.

Appendix

When writing about visions earlier in this paper, I ran across Proverbs 29:18,
“Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.”

The term used in this Proverb for vision is, châzôn (khaw-zone’), meaning divine communication. This is the same word that has been used when God sends a word through one of His prophets. (See: Prophetic Visions, above.)

I have heard this verse in Proverbs being used to mean that we need to, “look ahead and make a plan for the future. We need to do some goal setting.” However, now we can see that what this Proverb is really talking about. It is telling us that the real need is for us to have a word from God.

We might think that we need no restraint, which is a very popular concept in the world. The thinking is that with no restraint we will be happier. Yet the Bible is clear that we need to submit ourselves to God’s will and His guiding love and wisdom. We need His restraint. That is where we will find happiness.

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1 Smith’s Bible Dictionary -edited for brevity.

2 New American Standard Version used for the search

3 I put Laban with the aliens because he did not go with Abram when God called Abram out from his father’s house. God made the covenant with Abram and his offspring (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:18), not his father Terah’s house. Therefore I concluded that those that stayed behind when Abram left were not part of the covenant. Laban was Terah’s great-great-grandson, and Abram would have been Laban’s great-uncle.

4 Holman Bible Dictionary

5 Holman Bible Dictionary

6 Easton’s Bible Dictionary

7 Bridgeway Bible Commentary

8 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.

9 Strong’s Concordance for G3701

10 This is thought to be Paul talking about a vision he had.

11 Strong’s Concordance for G3705

12 Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. The entry given for ekstasis, translated trance.

13 Acts 11:18

14 Acts 13:47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’ “(All caps indicate an Old Testament quote.)