How God Revealed Himself to His Prophets

Very early in the history of the Hebrews, God gave explicit instruction as to how He would reveal Himself to His servants the prophets. We read:BSPC 128.6

“If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Numbers 12:6.BSPC 128.7

An improvement in the rendering of this text would read, “If there be a prophet of the Lord among you, I will make myself known.” God is not speaking of any prophet, but only of His own prophets. Here, however, reference is made to both visions and dreams as the channels by or through which the Lord communicates His message to His servants. Usually dreams come in connection with the hours of repose, and in the main we should associate them with the night hours. Visions, on the other hand, might take place at night, but quite often in the Scriptures they were given to the prophets during the day.BSPC 128.8

It is true we read that “God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night” (Genesis 46:2); that the secret was revealed unto Daniel in a “night vision” (Daniel 2:19). And Daniel himself tells us what he saw “in the night visions.” (Daniel 7:11) The apostle Paul also had the experience as recorded in the book of Acts: “A vision appeared to Paul in the night” (Acts 16:9); and later the Lord spoke “to Paul in the night by a vision” (Acts 18:9). So there had been some visions given to God’s servants in the night watches, but generally it was dreams that were given during the dark hours. We read expressions like “in a dream by night” in many places. Note the following: Genesis 20:3; 28:11, 12; 31:24; 40:5; 41:7, 11; 1 Kings 3:5; Psalm 73:20; Daniel 2:1, 3; 4:5; Matthew 27:19.BSPC 129.1

Visions were quite often given to the prophets during their waking hours, and naturally they would come, in the main at least, in daylight. The following are a few of such visions:BSPC 129.2

Given to Daniel in the Palace

He was surrounded by the officers of state in the palace when he had this vision. He says:BSPC 129.3

“And Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision.” Daniel 10:7, 8.BSPC 129.4

Matthew Henry, in his commentary, in narrating the effect of the vision on the officers of state who were with Daniel, gives the following graphic description:BSPC 129.5

“Though they saw not the vision, they were seized with an unaccountable trembling.... Now the fright that Daniel’s attendants were in is a confirmation of the truth of the vision; it could not be Daniel’s fancy, or the product of a heated imagination of his own, for it had a real, powerful, and strange effect upon those about him.... He himself saw it, and saw it alone.”—Volume 2, p. 985.BSPC 129.6

Given to Paul on the Damascus Road

This was given at the time of his conversion, when he was known as Saul. It was a vision of the day. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute the members of the early Christian faith when he was arrested by the Lord in broad daylight. In this vision “the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” Acts 9:7. Later in telling of his experience he said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Acts 26:19.BSPC 129.7

Given to Ezekiel Before the Elders

On one occasion Ezekiel had a vision when he sat in his own house in the company of the elders of Judah. It seems as though they were gathered in conference, counseling about the work of God. At that time, right in the presence of this assembly, he was given a vision of the Lord. (Ezekiel 8A, 2, et cetera.)BSPC 130.1

Given to Cornelius in the Afternoon

This godly officer in the Roman Army was given a vision “about the ninth hour of the day.” (Acts 10:3.) This would be about three o’clock in the afternoon. Here again is a vision given in full daylight.BSPC 130.2

Evidently at times that which was given to God’s prophets partook of the nature of both a dream and a vision. We read, for instance, concerning Nebuchadnezzar: “Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed” (Daniel 2:28); also the statement of Isaiah about “a dream of a night vision” (Isaiah 29:7).BSPC 130.3

Generally, however, we might regard a dream as an occurrence of the night, whereas a vision is something granted during the day.BSPC 130.4

The visions that came to the prophets during the day were known as “open” visions, and that, doubtless, because they were quite often in the presence of others, as was the case of Daniel in the royal court and of Ezekiel in his own home with the elders of Israel. Some translations, instead of the word “open,” convey the idea of something that was “manifest” or “distinct.” The original Hebrew word here rendered “open” is rendered quite generally by expressions like “to break forth,” “to pour forth,” et cetera. It is rendered just this once by the word “open.” Hence, we conclude that an open vision was one not necessarily experienced during the light hours but one experienced in full view of other individuals.BSPC 130.5