QUESTION: Last night I dreamt of my late father. He was standing at the doorstep and the door behind him was open. I greeted him, “How are you Dad,” and he responded by saying, “I’m fine, I miss you.” I responded that “I miss you too.” What could be the Biblical meaning of this kind of a dream if there is any? It’s making me have lots of thoughts.
ANSWER: Dreams that are mentioned in the Bible did have a “Biblical meaning.” For example, Joseph dreamed a dream and he knew it was from God and he just had to share it with his brothers. In Genesis 37:6-7 he told them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stook upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” In verse 8 we have their response, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” We then read that “they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” We see in this dream that it had a simple interpretation and in time it came true, for if you read Genesis 44;14 and 50:18 you will see that Joseph did become a ruler over his brothers and they did bow down to him. In other words, Joseph’s dream was PROPHETIC. Most dreams in the Bible are of this nature. Later in Genesis, Joseph became an interpreter of other peoples’ dreams which were also “prophetic dreams” (see Genesis 40:1-13, 16-23; 41:1-36). Daniel the prophet was able to interpret dreams that others had (Daniel 2:1-45; 4:1-27) and later he himself dreamed a dream and an angel interpreted it for him (Daniel 7:1-28).
In the New Testament we have the account of the Jewish leaders delivering Jesus Christ over to Pontius Pilate, hoping he would condemn Him to death (Matthew 27:1-18. In verse 19 we read, “While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I HAVE SUFFERED MANY THINGS TODAY IN A DREAM BECAUSE OF HIM.” In this case, Pilate’s wife had been given a dream from God as a WARNING. It was not prophetic in nature, but it was meant to warn her husband not to condemn Jesus for He was a “just Man.” Sadly, Pilate did not give heed to God’s warning and he ended up having Jesus, who was completely innocent, crucified (verses 20-26).
Now as for your dream, I can’t say with any certainty that “this dream was from God.” It seems obvious that you and your father loved each other and that you miss him. Perhaps you still think of your dad often and when we do miss loved ones who have died it is quite natural to dream of them. Both of my parents died years ago and I still have dreams about them at times.
If your dad was a believer in Christ, then he is “absent from the body, and present with the Lord” (2nd Corinthians 5:8). The apostle Paul said he had “a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). If you are a believer in Christ, you can have the absolute assurance of seeing your dad again when Christ comes to take all believers home to heaven. We have that promise given to believers in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
If you are not a believer in Christ, my prayer for you is that you will “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Though your dream may not have been a direct message from God, you said there was an “open door” in it. This reminds me of what Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the DOOR. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” Jesus is THE WAY INTO HEAVEN, as He said in John 14:6, “I am THE WAY, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” If you will simply receive Him by faith as your Savior (see John 1:12), you will have “entered through the door of salvation” (Matthew 7:13-14). “Then you will have the blessed assurance of being with Christ for all eternity (John 14:1-3) where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). (DO) (570.3)