Devil Dream

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

Acts 2:17

 

We all dream every night, whether we remember our dreams or not. It is believed dreams are a way for the brain to process data that has been received during the waking hours. It is also true that dreams have been used by God to communicate truth, give warnings and offer instruction to His followers. Numerous scripture passages demonstrate that God can come to people in their dreams to communicate with them. Genesis 20:3, 1 Kings 3:5, Mathew 1,2 are only a few examples. Sometimes the dreams mentioned in scripture tell of future events, warn of impending danger or communicate truth that needs to be acted upon. While dreams are not a common method that God uses, we need to understand that dreams can have spiritual significance at times.

 

I have had a few dreams in my life that I believe were from the Lord. In such instances there was no doubt in my mind that God was communicating something to me that I needed to know. One night I had such a dream and wish to share it with you. I will share with you the dream itself and then what I believe is an appropriate interpretation of it. I must explain that the dream was rather frightening in many regards for it dealt with what I believe was an imagined encounter with the devil.

 

In my dream I was sleeping on a bed in a room of some sort. I was lying on my back and I opened my eyes and saw the ceiling. I began looking around the room. Over in a corner on another bed was a large human-size figure. It appeared to be a doll or mannequin of some sort. It was male in appearance, dressed all in white except for a large black hat upon its head. The only other significant feature I noticed was its bright green eyes. They appeared to be looking at me, glazed and lifeless. Then something changed. The head turned and one eye winked at me.

 

I was taken aback and a certain amount of fear began to creep into my senses. I got the impression that there was something evil in my midst. The creature rose to its feet and moved towards me. What ensued next was a struggle or battle of sorts. I began fighting this creature dressed in white with the deep piercing green eyes. I tried to hit at it but my punches were easily absorbed. I bent his legs and arms every which way but they simply flexed back into shape. We wrestled and rolled on the floor. We bounced against walls as I struck out in desperation against my enemy. My frustration grew, for no matter how hard I hit or how desperate I fought my foe was unhurt and unaffected. He simply smiled at me and winked that green eye in a mocking manner.

 

Finally I gave up and decided if I couldn’t win, I would run. I would remove myself from the useless battle and leave my oppressor behind. This in some ways was a good idea for I no longer was caught up in a battle that could not be won. But, my tormentor followed me. I had the sensation that as I tried to leave him behind, he continued to follow me attempting to whisper something in my ear. I continued in my attempts to flee but he persisted in trying to speak to me, being ever so close to my right ear. I could almost feel his breath breathing down my neck.

 

Suddenly I found myself in a room that looked like a small church cathedral of sorts. It had a high vaulted ceiling and a stone table in the middle with a dead body on it. My tormentor seemed to be uneasy about being in the presence of this dead body. He grew restless and eventually left, never to torment me again.

 

I looked at the body on the cold stone table and my eyes were opened as to who this was. It was Jesus. He lay there before me a representation of the sacrifice that had been made for my sins. His side was pierced and bloody. His wrists and feet were bloody from the nails that had held Him to the cross. His forehead bore the marks of the thorny cross He had worn. While I knew it was Him, in some sense I also knew it wasn’t really Him. He was alive and this was a vision of sorts. It was a vision to explain the dream. I then woke up.

 

As I thought about this rather disturbing dream I attempted to try to understand it. As I thought about the feeling I had upon seeing Jesus’ body on the table and that it held the key to the interpretation of the dream the answer came.

 

My struggle and battle in the dream represented my fleshly struggle with Satan in my daily spiritual life. Too often we focus on our battles with our fleshly nature and the temptations with the world. We forget that there is a living being called Satan that seeks to frustrate and oppress our lives. He has an evil horde of fallen angels that do his bidding. He seeks to foil the plan of God by doing whatever he can to attack us in our lives as Christians. My mistake in the dream was to seek to fight him on his terms.

 

In Ephesians 6:10-18 we are instructed to put on the full armor of God. This armor is for our protection. It includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes that represent the gospel of peace, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation are included. Most importantly we are to carry the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And last but not least we are to pray in the Spirit. In my dream I had no armor on whatsoever. I was fighting this evil demon in my flesh. That is why I was so ineffective in achieving any victory with my efforts. The armor of God spoken of in Ephesians is for defensive warfare, not offensive. I don’t believe we are to seek Satan out to do battle with him; we are instructed in scripture to stand our ground, clothed in our armor, stand firm in our faith and resist him.

 

I wondered why Satan was dressed all in white, but then remembered 2 Corinthians 11:14. This scripture tells us that Satan will masquerade as an angel of light to obtain our approval through his deception. White, though a symbol of purity can also be used by Satan as a disguise.

 

My tactic of running was commendable for we are told to resist Satan. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

 

James 4:7-8 tells us to, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” I did resist Satan and attempted to flee him, but he did persist in his attempts to influence me with his evil whispers. Satan will flee when we resist him, but this may not take place immediately. In our resistance as James 4:7-8 states, we are to submit to God. Resistance alone will not work unless we are submitting to Christ. That is where the key to interpreting the dream seemed to be in the body of Christ. His body represented the sacrifice He made for me. His body lying on that cold stone table symbolized the power of God. That is why Satan left me in my dream. He could not be in the presence of Christ, dead or alive. While Jesus body was lifeless, I knew He still lived. Christ’s body that lay before me was a symbol of my inheritance in Christ, of my identity in Christ, of my reliance on Christ for everything.

 

I wondered why I was only shown a dead Christ in my dream? I would have loved to have a living Christ appear to me in this dream to drive off Satan. It would be wonderful to be able to reach out and hug Him or fall at His feet in worship, but God did not choose to show me this. Possibly this is also revealing in some way of the dreams meaning. If Christ were to appear physically in my dream possibly it would detract from the message of His death and the significance of it to me as a Believer. We know as Christians that Christ is alive in heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. We know He is our advocate and intervenes daily for us. This is what faith is all about. His death paid for our sins. Our faith and hope are birthed in Christ’s death and will be fulfilled when we see Him face to face. It was not my time to see Him face to face in a dream, but to be reminded that I need to remember what His death gave me. As I interpreted my strange dream I was convicted that I need to put on the full armor of God, resist the Devil, stand firm in my faith and live for Christ so that one day I will see Him face to face.

 

I don’t believe every dream has spiritual significance and would warn against dwelling on dreams to try to find spiritual applications. While God has and will use dreams to communicate to His saints, God’s Word is more stable. Remember the words of Jeremiah 23:25-29

 

“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?…Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?’ declares the LORD. ‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’”