Hearing God's Voice in DreamsA–Z symbolsBiblical Objects in dreams
44 symbols · biblical meanings from Hearing God's Voice in Dreams by Apostle Nicholas V. Mbanjwa
Altar of Incense
The prayer of a righteous person rising to God.
✦ Positive: Prayers that are a sweet fragrance to God; Prayers received and answered
⚠ Warning: Incense rising together with thunder, lightning or earthquake, representing prayers of the saints that God has turned to judgment because of the world's continued unrepentance
Anchor
Hope; that which is steadfast and immovable.
✦ Positive: Stability; Assurance and security; Hope that holds within the veil
⚠ Warning: An anchor cut loose or dragging, representing hope that is not fastened to anything sure; An anchor that prevents necessary movement
Ark
The Ark of the Covenant represents God's presence under the Old Covenant; Noah's ark represents safety, protection and salvation.
✦ Positive: The Ark of the Covenant, representing God's presence; Noah's ark, representing safety God Himself provided
⚠ Warning: The Ark of the Covenant, representing a way of approaching God that has been superseded; Noah's ark, representing God's judgment on what is outside it; The ark on a cart instead of carried on shoulders — approaching God's presence by human method rather than by obedience (2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 15:15)
Balance and Scales
The economic system; finance, trade and business.
✦ Positive: Honesty in business; Economic accountability; Divine justice rightly applied
⚠ Warning: Economic scarcity; Character weighed and found wanting; False weights, representing dishonest dealing
Breach in a Wall
A vulnerable spiritual state in an individual or a nation.
✦ Positive: Someone repairing a breach in a house wall, representing an intercessor standing for a person or family; Someone repairing a breach in a city wall, representing intercession for a community or nation
⚠ Warning: A breach in a house wall, representing a spiritual condition that leaves a person or family exposed to attack; A breach in a city wall, representing a condition that leaves a community or nation exposed to the enemy
Bread of the Presence
Intimate fellowship in God's presence.
✦ Positive: Christ as the dreamer's sustenance; Continual fellowship rather than occasional visitation; Bread lawfully eaten in need, as David ate it
⚠ Warning: Presuming upon what is holy; Bread set out but never eaten
Bronze Serpent
Christ on the cross, made sin for the world.
✦ Positive: Christ's atonement; Substitution; Healing received by looking to what God provided
⚠ Warning: The same object kept and worshipped, becoming Nehushtan — an idol made out of a past deliverance
Burning Bush
Man's fallen nature under God's redemptive judgment — burning, yet not consumed.
✦ Positive: God's redemptive dealing with the sinful nature; A place of calling and commission; Ground made holy by God's presence rather than by its own nature
⚠ Warning: Fire that consumes where there is no mercy to restrain it
Censer
Devotion in prayer.
✦ Positive: Devotion in prayer; Intercession that stands between the living and the dead, as Aaron's censer did in the plague
⚠ Warning: Religious practice without commitment; Strange fire — devotion offered on the dreamer's own terms
Chaff
Moral worthlessness, human fragility, and final divine judgment.
✦ Positive: Chaff blown away by the wind, representing God dealing with the fallen nature and man's weakness
⚠ Warning: The burning of chaff, representing divine judgment against moral weakness and failure; The dreamer identified with the chaff rather than the wheat
Coat of Many Colours
Favour, love, and a mark of distinctiveness.
✦ Positive: Favour; Distinction given rather than earned
⚠ Warning: Favouritism and the division it causes; A coat stripped away or stained with blood, representing favour attacked
Cornerstone
Christ, and Christ as the foundation.
✦ Positive: Christ as the foundation; Christ as the measure and precise alignment of the Church
⚠ Warning: A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to those who reject it; A building set out from the wrong stone
Covenant
A solemn, binding promise and relationship between God and people.
✦ Positive: A binding promise between God and man; A faithful agreement between two people; The new covenant written on the heart rather than on stone
⚠ Warning: A covenant broken or profaned; A covenant entered with what is not God; An agreement the dreamer did not knowingly consent to
Cross
God's power, the victory over sin, and the wisdom of God.
✦ Positive: Death of the old sinful nature; Death of the flesh and of personal desires; Victory, reconciliation and power
⚠ Warning: A place of shame and defeat where the cross is seen without Christ; A cross carried unwillingly or laid down
Ephod
The priestly garment, representing the work of a high priest.
✦ Positive: Representing the people of God before God; Priestly intercession and mediation
⚠ Warning: The old system of approaching God; what has become obsolete in Christ; An ephod made into an object of enquiry, becoming a snare
Firstfruits
The first of an increase, which sanctifies the whole.
✦ Positive: Honouring God with provision; Increase, plenty and abundance; A first sign of a larger harvest
⚠ Warning: Withholding the first portion; Treating the first as the whole
Grafting
Inclusion by grace.
✦ Positive: Grafted into the vine, representing partaking of Christ's life with Christ as the vine; Being brought into a covenant one had no natural claim to
⚠ Warning: Branches broken off through unbelief; Presumption on the part of the branch that was grafted in
Jacob's Ladder
Heaven's influence over the affairs of men; divine ascension and a heavenly portal.
✦ Positive: Spiritual connection between heaven and earth; Angelic activity; A place discovered to be the gate of heaven
⚠ Warning: An ascent the dreamer cannot reach; A ladder set against the wrong place
Lampstand
The universal Church as the light of the world.
✦ Positive: Believers as the light of the world; The Body of Christ as one unity drawing from one central shaft
⚠ Warning: A lampstand with no burning lamps, representing a church without influence or testimony; A lampstand removed, representing a testimony withdrawn
Laver
The Word of God — the only vessel in the tabernacle given no measurements, representing the unbounded reach of God's Word.
✦ Positive: A place of cleansing; Washing of water by the Word; Preparation before service
⚠ Warning: Approaching ministry unwashed; A laver empty or dry
Leaven
Sin, and the nature of fallen man.
✦ Positive: Leaven as the Kingdom of Heaven hidden in three measures of meal, representing quiet and pervasive Kingdom growth
⚠ Warning: Sin and corruption spreading unnoticed; The fallen nature; The doctrine or hypocrisy of religious leaders
Manna
Daily provision, and fresh revelation measured for each day.
✦ Positive: God's supply and provision; Fresh revelation; The daily Word of God
⚠ Warning: Longing for the old diet of Egypt while despising the provision at hand; Stale manna, representing a spiritual diet that has not been renewed
Mantle
A spiritual office, or a spiritual assignment being handed over.
✦ Positive: Being entrusted with or made steward of a spiritual ministry; Being handed, or putting on, a minister's jacket, suit or shoes — an impartation of their grace or assignment; Another person wearing the same garment as the dreamer — someone who will follow the dreamer in Christ
⚠ Warning: A mantle taken from one person and given to another, representing a spiritual mandate lost or disinherited
Millstone
A trade, a skill, or the ability to earn a living.
✦ Positive: Earning a living; The ability to supply one's own needs; A trade or family trade in operation
⚠ Warning: Something hard to break; Resistance; A hardened heart
Net
A fishing net represents the Kingdom of Heaven gathering all kinds; an ensnaring net represents a trap.
✦ Positive: A net cast for fish, representing the Kingdom gathering and the work of drawing people in; A net full and drawn to shore, representing fruitful labour
⚠ Warning: Inescapable divine judgment; Traps set by enemies; A net spread for the dreamer's feet
Pillar of Salt
Divine judgment for longing after the past, disobedience, and clinging to material gain.
⚠ Warning: Being judged for holding on to the past and to material things; Turning back after being brought out
Plumb Line
A standard being set, or a standard already set.
✦ Positive: A standard set in the dreamer's favour by someone prominent, representing God setting the standard; The dreamer setting a standard, or recognising the need to set one
⚠ Warning: God concluding judgment over something that has been measured and found crooked
Potter's Wheel and Clay Vessel
The potter's wheel represents God's process of shaping a person; the clay vessel represents divine mercy to reshape; the potter's house represents a place where one is being built or remade.
✦ Positive: A process of being built and reshaped; Mercy extended so that character can be reformed
⚠ Warning: Clay as the fragile nature of man; Marred or spoiled clay, representing unrepentant sin and a work not approved
Pruning
Spiritual refinement — cutting away dead branches so that what remains becomes effective.
✦ Positive: Spiritual refinement so that one may bear more fruit; Being made ready for a greater yield
⚠ Warning: Branches cut off and burned, representing what does not abide
Sackcloth
Mourning, shame and affliction.
✦ Positive: Sackcloth deliberately put on before God, representing repentance and humbling that precedes mercy; Sackcloth exchanged for a garment of gladness, representing mourning turned to joy
⚠ Warning: Mourning; Affliction and suffering; Public shame
Sacrifice
Giving up something valuable; the offering of a life.
✦ Positive: Giving up what one loves for another; Greater commitment; Honour and worship expressed at cost
⚠ Warning: Sacrifice offered to what is not God; Loss of value with no purpose; Sacrifice offered in place of obedience
Scroll
An ancient revelation or mystery.
✦ Positive: An open scroll, representing a divine mystery or revelation now disclosed
⚠ Warning: A closed or sealed scroll, representing a mystery still concealed from the dreamer
Seal
A signet ring represents granted authority, approved work and ownership; a wax seal represents a message divinely sealed and protected until it reaches the one it is intended for.
✦ Positive: A signet ring received, representing delegated authority and identity; A wax seal, representing a message kept intact until it reaches the person it belongs to
⚠ Warning: A signet ring taken away, representing authority withdrawn; A wax seal on a message the dreamer is not permitted to open
Sheepfold
The whole called-out Church under Jesus Christ, and His protection over her.
✦ Positive: Believers under the Lord's care and protection; Sheep brought into one fold under one Shepherd
⚠ Warning: A fold broken into by another way, representing false leadership; Sheep scattered or left outside the fold
Shofar
A spiritual alert, a prophetic call, and the announcement of a spiritual revolution.
✦ Positive: A call to the people of God to prepare for a coming move or shift; An announcement of release and restoration
⚠ Warning: A war cry; An alarm of approaching danger
Sickle
God's timing for the harvest, and the timing of God's judgment.
✦ Positive: A ripe harvest ready to be gathered; The right season having arrived
⚠ Warning: God's time to judge man and man's work
Staff and Rod
The staff represents strength and support; the rod represents leadership and the authority to guide.
✦ Positive: Leadership responsibility; Support in weakness; Comfort in the valley of the shadow
⚠ Warning: A rod of correction; A staff broken, representing support removed; Authority used to strike rather than to guide
Tares
A wicked person, demonic work, evil, and what the enemy has planted.
✦ Positive: Tares left standing until harvest, representing God's patience rather than His indifference
⚠ Warning: Wickedness planted deliberately by an enemy; Laziness and ruin, as in the field of the slothful
Tithe
One tenth of an increase.
✦ Positive: Honouring the priesthood of Christ; Worship expressed through what is given
⚠ Warning: Tithing while neglecting judgment, mercy and faith; Giving the tenth as a transaction rather than as honour
Veil of the Temple
The barrier between God and man.
✦ Positive: A veil torn apart, representing a way opened to approach God
⚠ Warning: An intact veil, representing a barrier between God and man, or a sin problem that separates
Vineyard
The Kingdom, and stewardship within it.
✦ Positive: The Kingdom of God; Fruitfulness; Labourers called into the vineyard at any hour
⚠ Warning: A vineyard yielding wild or sour grapes, representing human sin and unfaithfulness; A vineyard trodden down or its hedge removed
Watchtower
Spiritual watchfulness, spiritual preparedness and prophetic vigilance.
✦ Positive: Spiritual watchfulness and preparedness; Sharp spiritual perception; Looking out from a watchtower, representing hope and expectancy of God's salvation
⚠ Warning: A watchtower set against the dreamer, representing being monitored by a person or a spiritual entity
Winepress
A place of pressing where what is valuable is extracted under weight — representing both divine judgment and abundant harvest.
✦ Positive: Abundant harvest; Joy, peace and the fruit of labour; A pressing that produces rather than destroys
⚠ Warning: God's judgment and wrath poured out; Being trodden underfoot
Yoke
A burden or heaviness imposed upon a person; spiritual slavery.
✦ Positive: The yoke of Christ, which is easy — discipleship and laying down one's life for His peace; Being yoked with another believer, representing shared responsibility and joint labour
⚠ Warning: Spiritual slavery and bondage; Being unequally yoked, representing a mismatched union