What if?

There are approximately 122 references about dreams in the bible. They range from “dream”, “dreamed”, “dreamer”, “dreamers,” “dreamt” and “dreams.” The first scriptural mention of a dream is found in Genesis 28:12. It’s the account of Jacob traveling from Beersheba to Haran. He stopped for the night and lay down to sleep. “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Other popular mentions of dreams can be found in Genesis 37, Joseph’s dreams, Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41, Daniels dream in Chapter 7 and Acts 2:17 about your old men will dream dreams. They are perhaps a few of the most quoted scriptures about dreams.

There is one verse about a dream in the New Testament however that rarely prompts discussion but it is one verse that is most perplexing. It is found only once in Matthew 27:19. It appears in the context when Jesus stood before Pilate as he was being interrogated prior to his going to the Cross. Pilate’s wife is then mentioned in verse 19; “While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” The verse prompts several questions. Why did she get this dream? What type of suffering did she experience because of the dream? Was it simply directed to reveal Pilate’s character? What if Pilate paid attention to the message? What if? Yes…very perplexing.

There a several lessons to be learned from this account. First we must pay attention to our dreams for they are messages from God that can determine our spiritual destiny. Second, Pilate and his wife had to make decisions. His wife has to decide to speak, which she does, and Pilate cannot allow a riot during the Passover, which he does. Matthew27:24.

Many Christians today hold back at times from making decisive decisions. However we live in a world where neutrality is impossible when Jesus is concerned. Every decision ultimately is either for him or against him. Like Pilate we can wash our hands of having anything to do with Jesus and Pilate’s wife reminds us that to come to terms with Jesus you will ultimately experience some degree of suffering. Two things are certain though Pilates wife spoke the truth about Jesus and Pilate took his wife’s advice quite literally washing his hands of the entire situation.

Pastor Stephen M. Kotch DreamLab7 (C) 2016