House of Hope Online

October 22, 2023

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In the Book of Acts, Peter quoted the prophet Joel:

Acts 2:

 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

 17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;

 18 EVEN UPON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.

For context, Peter was explaining to the men of Judea, and all of Jerusalem, the great move of the Holy Spirit which had just occurred on the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit had manifested as the sound of a violent, rushing wind and tongues of fire descended on the men, and they began speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  The men were speaking in other tongues, yet the international multitude was able to understand, each in their own native language.  What a miracle this was!  And it was also fulfillment of what Jesus promised, that when He went to be with the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit and He would disclose to us what is to come.

John 16:

 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

And so, we can trust that when the Lord gives an old man a dream, that it is fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel and the promise from Jesus that He will disclose what is to come.

At 69 years of age, I qualify as an old man.  Earlier this week, the Lord gave me a dream.  Now I am notorious for not remembering my dreams, but in this one, I began speaking loudly in my sleep, so much so that it woke my wife Nancy, who heard what I was saying and later wrote it down.  Nancy said I spoke very clearly and with the voice of authority. Here is the essence of what I said during my dream:

“You will not disrespect the Lord our God.  You will learn to honor Him.  You will spend every Sunday with us until you learn to honor and worship our dear Lord.  Then I will teach you what you want to know.”

So, Nancy and I were trying to figure out to whom I was talking in the dream, when the Lord told me to receive it as a word for ourselves.  In other words, we are to honor the Lord and worship Him as “dear Lord.”  Thinking of Him as “dear Lord” is significant.  He is a loving Lord, not just one who rules over us, but a dear Lord indeed.

The other point of significance is the promise: “…Then I will teach you what you want to know.”  The Holy Spirit’s disclosure of what we want to know is dependent on our honoring and worshipping Jesus as our dear Lord.  If we worship Him and His loving nature, His lovingkindness, then He will teach us what we want to know.  In Jeremiah 33:3 God said:

Jeremiah 33:

 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Wow!  Great and mighty things He will tell us, things which we do not know – that is the disclosure that Jesus is talking about.  Disclosure means telling someone something they do not know – something important, something great and mighty!

We have an awesome example of this truth in Daniel 2, when King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and his spirit was troubled by it.  The king gave orders to call in all the wise men of Babylon and among the Chaldeans and demanded they tell him the dream and its interpretation. If they were unable to do so, they would be killed, but if they did, they would receive rewards and great honor.

When the wise men told the king they could not interpret unless he disclosed what the dream was, he became angry and issued orders for all the wise men, including Daniel and his friends, to be killed.  Here is what Daniel did:

Daniel 2:

 17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter,

 18 in order that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;

20 Daniel answered and said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him.

 21 “And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, And knowledge to men of understanding.

 22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.

 23 “To Thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee, For Thou hast made known to us the king’s matter.”

In verse 18, Daniel honored the Lord by requesting compassion from the God of Heaven.  He did not disrespect the Lord by thinking he could figure out the dream on his own.  After he honored the Lord, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.  Notice His praise and worship beginning in verse 20.  In verse 23, he acknowledged that the Lord taught him what he wanted to know.

Daniel hurried to visit the king and disclosed the dream and its interpretation.

Daniel 2:

 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, [nor] diviners are able to declare [it] to the king.

 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.

Notice in verse 28 that Daniel gave all glory to the Lord.  Daniel’s willingness to honor God in this way is why the Lord revealed what he wanted to know.

That is the Lord’s promise to us today.  If we humbly honor Him, then He will teach us what we want to know.  If we call to Him, He will tell us great and mighty things, which we do not know.  If we do not disrespect Him by doing things ourselves, and by worshipping our mind and our intelligence and our other abilities, then He will respond to our humble spirit by disclosing what we need to know.  In the case of Daniel and his friends, God saved their lives because the king was planning to have them slain.

Proverbs 3 reinforces the instruction of humbly trusting our dear Lord in all things, rather than our own understanding. 

Proverbs 3:

 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.

 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

 7 ¶ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

 8 It will be healing to your body, And refreshment to your bones.

 9 Honor the LORD from your wealth, And from the first of all your produce;

 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

 11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, Or loathe His reproof,

 12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father, the son in whom he delights.

 13 ¶ How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding.

 14 For its profit is better than the profit of silver, And its gain than fine gold.

This teaches us how to respect and honor the Lord our God.  Acknowledge Him and do not trust in your own wisdom.  Honor Him by tithing on your income and He will make sure your barns are filled to overflowing.  Accept His discipline because He loves you, and search for His wisdom and understanding.

We talked last week about Jesus’ word that He has placed before us an open door which no one can shut.  We said even if it looks like the door is shut, it is really an open door because that is what Jesus said it was.  That is an example of not leaning on your own understanding, and not being wise in your own eyes.  When you trust the word of Jesus, instead of what your eyes see, that honors Him and leads you to the Holy Spirit’s disclosure of what you want to know.  When we believe Jesus that the door is open, we walk through it into the Spirit realm where the compassion of the Lord reveals the mystery.  Daniel’s door looked shut, but he trusted the compassion of the Lord, and the Lord disclosed the dream and its interpretation, which turned a closed door into an open door for Daniel. 

Praise Jesus and His most holy name!

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for giving dreams to old men, visions to young men, and prophetic utterance to sons and daughters.  We honor You and humbly submit to Your wisdom and Your ways, not our ways, not our understanding.  Thank You for open doors and compassion.  Draw us, Lord, to respect, honor, and worship You, as You teach us what we want to know.  All glory to Your Son, our dear Lord, Jesus, in whose name we pray.  Amen.