My mentor passed away after I was in my early 30s. We had a detailed relationship, and he invested a terrific deal of time and wisdom into my life, shaping me as a person, Christian, and minister.
In the years that followed, I’d have dreams during which he spoke to me. These dreams seemed very real, they usually significantly encouraged me. As I spoke with others, discussing these experiences, I noticed only a few people could relate. And I had questions of my very own. Did my mentor truly visit me in dreams or was it my overactive imagination resulting from grief and missing him? Even more importantly, what does the Bible say about this?
Do family members visit us in dreams?
What Do People Experience When Loved Ones Visit in Dreams?
While I didn’t get much response after I shared my experience, many Christians and others do have family members visit them of their dreams.
Many people, no matter their religious beliefs, find comfort and encouragement through dream experiences. Since these are family members who’ve passed away, seeing them again in such a vivid dream can bring strong emotions, and these experiences feel more real than atypical dreams. Commonly, the family members appear healthy, glad, and at peace, which lessens grief. In some cases, which is even rarer, the dream can include a way of closure if the connection with the loved one had some unresolved conflict.
Psychologists and others who research dreams suggest these experiences come from the subconscious mind through the grief process. Dreams turn into a secure place for the mind to specific deeper emotions or feelings of wanting to stay connected indirectly through the pain involved in separation. It helps people to think the loved one stays involved, even in death.
When Christians have these experiences, they interpret the dreams with spiritual meaning or a present from God. For example, a loved one might appear in a dream with a message of encouragement, and believers place spiritual value on their words. In addition, Christians see these visits as evidence that there’s life after death, giving people hope they’ll see their family members in heaven after death. For these reasons, visits from family members in dreams can provide people hope and luxury. Along with the comfort and hope, these visits can motivate people to proceed to honor their loved one’s memory and even reconcile with other members of the family with whom they’ve unresolved conflict.
Ultimately, having a loved one visit in a dream happens across cultures and spiritual beliefs. Despite how a person might view it spiritually or psychologically, or a mixture of each, these dreams have strong impacts.
What Bible Verses Specifically Show Loved Ones Visiting in Dreams?
The Bible doesn’t have any examples of family members entering someone’s dreams after death. At the identical time, Scripture gives clear support that God uses dreams to speak with people. These dreams might be for general revelation, guidance, or prophecy. God spoke to Joseph in dreams, including warning him to run to Egypt with Mary and Jesus (Matthew 2:13). God revealed the long run through dreams to people like Jacob (Genesis 28:12) and Daniel. Interestingly, with loads of examples showing God using dreams to interact with people, at no point does a dead loved one appear in a single.
The Bible provides some interesting details about what happens when people die. The Old Testament expresses death as being “gathered to at least one’s fathers” or “resting with the ancestors.” In Genesis 25:8, Abraham dies and is “gathered to his people.” Similar phrases are used for Jacob, Moses, and David, implying some type of life after death. Jesus speaks to this concept in Luke 16:19-31 within the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Lazarus exists, resting in “Abraham’s bosom” after his death, a style of reward and luxury. However, the wealthy man suffers in a spot of torment. The wealthy man actually requests to be raised from the dead and visit his family members to provide them a warning, but he’s denied.
With this in mind, the New Testament often describes the dead as being asleep, a style of metaphor illustrating the temporary nature of death for believers awaiting a later resurrection, which Jesus taught would occur. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “We don’t want you to be uninformed about those that sleep in death, so that you just don’t grieve like the remaining of mankind, who don’t have any hope. For we consider that Jesus died and rose again, and so we consider that God will bring with Jesus those that have fallen asleep in him.” Jesus used the identical idea in John 11:11 when he tells his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I’m going there to wake him up.” This symbol of sleep expresses some existence after death, but not energetic or engaging, perhaps not even conscious; although if we take Jesus’ parable at face value (possibly a stretch), Lazarus and the wealthy man were aware of their state.
While Scripture doesn’t give any direct support regarding family members visiting in dreams, it teaches the truth of life after death and offers hope through faith in Christ to live eternally in heaven and the Kingdom of God in the brand new heaven and earth.
What Bible Verses Could Support Loved Ones Visiting in Dreams?
Taking the entire Bible into consideration, some passages suggest some level of engagement is feasible between the afterlife and this one.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we’re surrounded by such a terrific cloud of witnesses, allow us to throw off the whole lot that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Remember, there have been no verses or chapters in the unique writing, and this verse follows the famous Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith” chapter which listed heroes of religion within the Old Testament. Therefore, the nice cloud of witnesses points to the saints which went before, watching believers today on earth, and root for them to live the Kingdom as a part of the greater redemptive story of religion. However, the passage doesn’t mention any interaction or dream visits.
In the Old Testament, King Saul tries to get guidance from the prophet Samuel, who had been a mentor to Saul while he lived. Saul visits a spiritual medium, or a witch, breaking his own religious law. The witch conjures Samuel’s spirit, who speaks to Saul and further condemns the king for consulting a medium. While the event revealed the dark and forbidden participation in witchcraft, Samuel does appear and communicates with the living. At the identical time, this story shows an exception, and one which led to disastrous consequences for Saul.
Other places within the New Testament portray the concept of ghosts in a more positive, accepted way. When Jesus walked on water, the disciples cry out in fear and consider him to be a ghost (Matthew 14:26). In Acts 12:15, Peter was miraculously released from prison and shows up at a house church meeting, knocking on the door while they prayed, probably for him. The believers thought it is perhaps Peter’s “angel” or spirit. While the concept of ghosts might need been accepted in that culture, it doesn’t affirm the actual existence of them, especially since in these two incidents, they were flawed.
These passages give a touch to the opportunity of some awareness and engagement of the dead with the living. At the identical time, it becomes a stretch for Christians to consider the Bible supports any idea of family members visiting us in dreams.
What Does This Mean for Christians Today?
We can’t know needless to say if family members actually visit us in dreams. These dreams can feel essential and meaningful, but as disciples of Christ, we don’t operate by feelings and what we would like to be true. Therefore, we must treat these experiences with skepticism and discernment.
We do know the Bible only tells us how God himself speaks to us in dreams, possibly using an angel, but never a dead person. Job 33:14-16 declares that God speaks in other ways, including dreams. “For God speaks in a method, and in two … in a dream, in a vision of the night.” It’s notable how God’s messages are given through creative and various means, but biblically, never through the dead.
Christians should use discernment when interpreting a loved one visiting a dream. 2 Corinthians 5:8 expresses how believers who die are “at home with the Lord,” and Deuteronomy 18:10-12 clearly prohibits any interaction with the dead, speaking on to the account of King Saul and Samuel. With the psychology of our mind and the need for these experiences to be real, we even have a spiritual enemy who could use emotional moments to guide us astray in doctrine or motion. We must remain committed to what God has revealed to us through the Spirit and the written Word of God.
In love, we don’t need to sentence ourselves or others for having the experience. They can function examples of God’s comfort and love toward us. We needs to be glad for a glimpse of peace. However, we are able to’t elevate a loved one’s visit as communicating absolute truth. The Scripture tells us to check all of the spirits, even prophecy, by the Holy Spirit and the Bible (1 John 4:1), and this includes experiences we’ve biblical evidence for, like visions and oracles. Without any biblical support for family members visiting us in dreams, we definitely can’t use them as any guide.
God calls us to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of Jesus, not personal experiences. John 16:13 reminds us that “when the Spirit of truth comes, he’ll guide you into all truth.” While a dream might give some inspiration, directly hearing and responding to the voice of God within the Spirit should be the last word priority.
So, how should I approach my experiences with my mentor? I definitely appreciate having a time to see him again, to interact with him in a glad and inspiring way. Feeling such love and luxury was great. At the identical time, he taught me to follow Christ alone, and I honor him by ensuring I hear God’s voice and test every spirit and experience through the Bible, the Spirit of truth, and the spiritual wisdom of the religion community with whom I live life.
Peace.
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