Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

Genesis 37:5-11


5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.



There are some people who think that Christians believe in something unreal. They also believe that the bible is full of myths and fantasies. What do you say to them? We know why some people think so. They basically view their reason and experience as an absolute standard in everything. If there is something that they cannot reasonably understand or experience, they treat it as if it doesn’t exist. If they can’t measure something by the ruler of their reason and experience, they categorically reject it as unreal or fantasy. A lot of biblical truths fall into that category. We cannot measure God, Heaven, eternal life and resurrection and many miracles through human reason or experience. But all the authors of biblical books testify that they simply record what they have seen and heard. They humbly admit that they couldn't fully understand what they have seen and heard. But they simply couldn’t help speaking about what they have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). Were they dreaming? They were! Joseph had a dream. That looked so unreal. He told his dream to his brothers which only stirred anger and hatred toward him. Joseph was eventually lynched by his brothers and sold as a slave to Egypt because of this. Was Joseph too childish and lacking in a sense of reality when he told his dreams to his brothers? Would he have been better if he kept the dream to himself? Some would think so. But we know the whole story of Joseph and how his whole dream became an amazing reality. Joseph wasn’t childish. He wasn’t exaggerating. He was just faithful to the dream that God has given to him. Joseph was a dreamer as his brothers ridiculed him. But his dream was not of his own but of God. And because Joseph’s dream came true, all of his families could be saved. We see so many similarities between Joseph and Christians. In fact, we have to be kingdom dreamers in our generation as Joseph was for his generation. Like Joseph, we have to proclaim the real dream when people are driven by many empty dreams. We might be ridiculed and persecuted by our own. But let it be, for it is the only way to save those who ridicule and persecute us. We will reach the glory of God only through the ridicule and persecution. Are you a kingdom dreamer like Joseph?