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This brings up a good point: Why can’t the Lord just show you what is going to happen without using all the strange symbolism often accompanying a spiritual dream? I believe I have found an answer to that question.

First, most people dream throughout the night. In dreams we often are with friends or family and others we know—perhaps on a journey, in a church service or on vacation, and it’s just a normal dream. Then one night you have a dream that is quite different from the others. In this dream you see dark clouds slowly crawling in the sky toward your house. As you approach the door, there is a large snake lying in the entrance, looking for a way to get in. You see a sword and attack the serpent until he is dead, and then you enter.


The point is, without the symbolism it would be difficult to know if your dreams were just dreams or a dream from God. One example is Pharaoh's dream, as recorded in Genesis 41:17-32. He saw seven good cows and seven lean cows and seven good ears of corn and seven bad ears of corn near the Nile River.


           While at times it may be challenging to the average believer to know if a dream is natural or spiritual, several important guidelines will determine this difference. First, many natural, or "carnal," dreams have no particular order and jump from scene to scene, person to person or circumstance to circumstance. On the other hand, a spiritual dream usually has some form of order or progression to it. A spiritual dream also will have symbolism, which was also used in both the Old Testament and New Testament.

Biblical Symbols and Patterns

Let’s begin with certain biblical numbers.

The number 4 appears in Genesis when God created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day (see Gen. 1:16-19). Afterward, it is mentioned when Moses wrote that four rivers encompassed the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 2:10). We later discover there are four directions on the earth: north, south, east and west. Thus, from the onset of Scripture, the number four is an earthly number.

Man was created on the sixth day, and the number 6 has always been considered in biblical numbers as the number of man or mankind.

The number 7 is alluded to in Genesis 2. When God completed His creative work, “He rested on the seventh day” (Gen. 2:2). This imagery of the number 7 alludes to a cycle of rest, completion or perfection.


Meanings of Colors and Animals
When Moses was building the tabernacle in the wilderness, God instructed him to use purple, blue, red and white dyed fabrics. Without entering into a detailed study of the fabrics of the tabernacle, blue is heavenly, purple is royalty, red is redemption and white is righteousness.


The first created creature that became prominent in the Bible was the serpent, which was “more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Gen. 3:1). Notice that the Bible does not use a term such as reptile or slithering thing but places the serpent with the “beast of the field.” Today when we think of a beast in a field, we picture a bull, a cow or other large animal that roams in the field. However, the serpent was more than a skinny snake. He was subtle or crafty and was also able to communicate in some manner with Adam and Eve. Because a serpent initiated the first deception, the fallen angel, Lucifer, called the devil and Satan, became a picture of a deceiving serpent.

One of the most commonly mentioned animals in Scripture is the lamb. The word lamb or verses using the word lamb first appear in Genesis 22, where Abraham predicted that God would “provide for Himself the lamb” (Gen. 22:8).






When a dove is attacked, it does not retaliate but simply cries in distress. As believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are instructed never to retaliate against our enemies. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us in prayer with “groanings” (Rom. 8:26).


God can use dreams to speak to us. When a believer experiences a spiritual dream in which the meaning veiled with symbolism, the dream can be understood by using the Scriptures to interpret the symbolism.

About the Author: Perry Stoneis an evangelist and prophetic teacher. He is also a best-selling author whose books include Secrets From Beyond the Grave, Purging Your House, Pruning Your Family Tree and the recent How to Interpret Dreams and Visions, from which this teaching is taken. Visit his ministry online at


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