Introduction

In this teaching I would like to share on two ways that symbolic dreams and visions can be interpreted. For this I will look at two prophets, Daniel and Zechariah, both of which had symbolic visions but functioned in two different ways.

The two ways I will look at are Interpretation by understanding and Interpretation by prophecy. Both ways work through the grace of the Holy Spirit, each with its on strengths and weaknesses.

I will start be looking at the two styles separately  then we will compare the benefits of each, then we will look at examples of how to interpret by understanding and lastly, we will answer the question of why God speaks in symbols.

Interpretation By Prophecy

I start with this one, because it is the least popular form of interpreting dreams or visions. Interpretation by prophecy is when an interpretation to a dream or vision comes in the way of a prophecy. Let’s look at one of Zechariah’s visions and see this style in operation.

Zechariah 4:2-10
2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps which are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 

4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”  
6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerub′babel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 
7 What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerub′babel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” 

8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 
9 “The hands of Zerub′babel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerub′babel.

Alright. So look at something here. Zechariah sees a lamp-stand and olive trees and oil which are all symbolic of something. When he asks what are these, the answer that comes is a prophecy based on the things that he has seen.

He is not told what the symbol of the lamp-stand represents, he is not told what the oil is or what the olive trees are. But he is given a message of prophecy based on these things.

The prophecy was a word of exhortation and comfort for Zerubbabel, that he would finish the temple and nothing would be able to stop him.
But how does that relate to the symbols? We don’t know.

Let’s leave this for now and go to the next style of interpretation.

Interpretation by Understanding

This is the most recognised form of interpretation. In this form you receive an understanding of what each symbol means, and from there you can form a picture of what is being said.

Daniel 7:2, 7, 82 
2 Daniel said, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.  

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful and exceedingly strong; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 

8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The passage is rather long, so I just skipped to the parts that I thought were essential. Daniel sees four beasts, one like a lion, another like a bear and another like a leopard and the fourth one with ten horns. He then asks for an interpretation. And this is what he is told.

Daniel 7:16-17, 23-2416 
16 I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made known to me the interpretation of the things. 

17 ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.
23 “Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces.

24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings.

Understanding Vs Prophecy

Essentially, in his vision, Daniel received a breakdown of the meaning of the different symbols and how they relate to each other. A beast represents a kingdom, a horn is a king, the stars are saints. etc

This means, if Daniel was to have another vision where he sees a beast with a horn, he would have a basic understanding that this is a kingdom and a king being referred to. He would actually be able to give a basic interpretation of that dream based on the understanding he was given in the past.

However, If Zechariah receives another vision of a different Lampstand, with slightly different details, he would not have any understanding of what it means. He would have to wait to receive another prophecy.

On the other hand, Zechariah received a clear message of exhortation and comfort for a specific person, such that he can be rest assured that God is in support of the work that Zerubabel is doing, and that God will ensure that the building is completed.

But after Daniel knew that there are four kingdoms that are going to arise and there will be ten kings who would come and fight the saints. He was left puzzled and confused. There was no message for him on what he should do about it. It was just raw information.

It would require Daniel to have a good understanding of the word of God and therefore his eternal will, and he would know from that what to do. Fortunately, Daniel knew the scriptures and was in regular fellowship with God.

Bringing it Home

The are people who are more like Zechariah, and others who are more like Daniel. Both have different graces that compliment one another. We need a Daniel and we need a Zechariah.

Daniel later fasted and prayed and the Lord sent an angel to give him further understanding.

I have noted people who will go to a prophet and tell him their dream, and he will respond by giving them a word of prophecy, based on the dream. This is not something that everyone can do. You need to be a prophet to be able to interpret that way. And usually a prophet who also sees symbolic visions, will have greater grace in interpreting dreams.

There are prophets who mostly see symbols like Zechariah, Daniel and John and there are prophets who mostly receive direct words like Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Learning To Interpret by Understanding

Interpretation by understanding is something that everyone can learn, even those without the gift of prophecy. The Holy Spirit has already given the world, a lot of symbols that he has interpreted already in the scriptures. Once you learn the prophetic language in the scriptures you can begin to understand you dreams and visions even more.

The more you begin to look at the symbols that are in the bible, and how they were interpreted, the more your dreams will begin to take the form of those symbols, and the easier it becomes for one to interpret their own dreams.

Even those prophets, who intepret by prophecy, will also benefit by learning to intepret by understanding. There are aspects of symbolic visions that can only be revealed through this method.

For example, let’s take Zechariah’s vision of the Lamp-stand with the two olive trees pouring oil into the lamp-stand. We can receive further meaning of his vision by looking at the meaning of the symbols. We find some meanings in the Book of Revelation 1, Romans 11 and Acts.

Examples of Interpretation

Example 1

If I dream of me throwing up lots and lots of water from my stomach.
I can have a basic understanding of what it means based on this scripture:

John 7:38-39
38 He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” 
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

So from this I can understand that the water represents the Holy Spirit flowing from me as a result of my faith in Christ.

But you would need further understanding of the scriptures and eternal word and will of God, to then know what to do about it.

A person who mainly flows in Interpretation by Prophecy may hear your dream and say, “You have a strong healing gift, God is saying you need to start ministering in the church”

Example 2

Let’s say you have a dream where you are holding a piece of bread and you are eating it.
You can have a basic understanding what God is communicating to you based on these scriptures.

John 6:33-35
33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? 

63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

So from this scripture you know that Jesus is the bread that God gives us to eat. And we eat of him by partaking of his Spirit and of his word. So this dream means God is giving me a new impartation of spirit and word. This may be a new revelation or teaching.
So you already have an understanding of what God is saying.

Example 3

Let’s say you have a dream of a snake coming to bite you on your right hand.
From the following scriptures you can receive an understanding of the message.

Psalm 140:1-3 NIV

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. 
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.

2 Corinthians 11:13
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

So you can see from these scriptures that serpents are people used by Satan to attack you by the lies and cunningness of their words. 
But since you were bitten in your hand, you can look through the scriptures and find that the hand symbolises your work.

Thessalonians 4:11
11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands,just as we told you,

So you know, that Satan has used someone to speak lies to you or against you, in a way that will bring your work down. It doesn’t always mean that the person used is an evil person.

For example, when Peter rebuked Jesus, telling him that he was not going to die. It was a lie from Satan. Peter was not an evil person, but he was used by Satan in that moment because though he genuinely cared abut Jesus, he was operating in fear.

This gives you a starting point for your prayers. And as you pray about it, the truth will open up to you.

It may be that you believe that God does not want you to go outside of the country, and so you are refusing an offer to go work there. Yet it’s not true. 
Or it maybe that someone has offered to do some work for you, saying they can do it, yet that person actually just wants to steal from you.
An interpretation by prophecy may simply say, “Be careful who you work with”

Why Does God Speak In Symbols?

From Genesis to Revelation, God has always spoken in types, symbols and shadows. We see this in The Law, in visions and in dreams. Even the gift of tongues came as a symbolic language that needs to be interpreted.

I can’t speak definitively on why he does this, but I can share my understanding. Let me start with this scripture

Proverbs 25:22 
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
    but the glory of kings is to search things out.

This scripture is showing how God receives glory through hiding things, and how we then in tern receive glory when we search those things out.
I believe the illustration can be understood by looking at the earth and everyday life. We have valuable minerals such as Diamonds and Gold.

These valuable minerals are valuable because they are hidden and hard to find. If they were easy and everywhere, we would not value them as much.
If you find gold and diamond, you will keep it safe and take care of it because you know it’s hard to find. When you find Diamond, you praise God. And when people see you with it, they praise you.
God receives glory because he hid the treasure. You receive glory because you found it.

Such is the word of God, it is the greatest treasure in the spirit world.

Proverbs 2:1-5
2 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

The journey that we go through in searching out the mystery of God, brings us into closer fellowship with God, and we end up learning more about him, that we would never have thought of asking.

Thats why God wants you to seek him, and seek his things. The journey brings us closer to him, and we grow through that process. I believe that the 9 months, and the pain of delivering a child, are what create the special, intense mother to child bond. If women picked up babies from trees, with all the work that a baby requires, they would not be as ready to care for that child.

Those that have embarked on the journey of seeking out the meaning of the mysteries of the word of God, will hold the revelation of God as a great treasure, because they know it’s not easily found. And their journey will have brought them in closer and deeper fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
So yes, a picture speaks more than a thousand words. Yes, parables and symbols speak a universal language that is easier for all people’s to get what God is saying. These are also other benefits of symbols.

So next time you see a symbolic dream or vision, either personally or in the scriptures, take it as God’s invitation to you, to embark on a journey of love. Through this journey you will grow closer to the Holy Spirit and at the end of it, you will walk out with a treasure of his precious word revealed to you.

And guaranteed, you will value that word for eternity, because the journey will reveal to you how special it is.