“God has a Dream” (Isaiah 49:1-7)

Isaiah 49:1-7
John 1:29-42

Listen to Sermon

Pastor Tom Johnson, January 19, 2020

1963 March on Washington

God is speaking to his people. They are scattered throughout the known world. Israel has just suffered a tragic and devastating blow. They were conquered by foreign armies. Friends and family died. Others were taken as slaves. They are defeated, in exile, and humiliated. They fear genocide and annihilation as a people. Their hope now is for survival. They dream of a time they could return home to their homeland—Promised Land, Israel.

Tomorrow we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Some institutions are closed. Some of us have the day off. We remember that about 57 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a people who also felt defeated, scattered, and humiliated. Dr. King stood at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke words of hope and vision. His words summed up in the phrase “I have a dream.” In that monumental speech, King laid out his dream for the United States of America. It was a dream for all to believe that “all people are created equal by God.” He dreamed of a nation where the grandchildren of slaves and the grandchildren of their masters will eat at the same table of brotherhood and sisterhood. He dreamed of an America where his children could grow up and not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. And just like the people of Israel long ago, the years that followed that King’s speech became a nightmare. There were church bombings. Authorities sent dogs and fire hoses on people who were demonstrating peacefully. Many lost sight of the dream and simply wanted to survive—to make it to another day.

We too can find ourselves in a living nightmare in our struggle with illness and bad medical news. We live a nightmare when we see the mounting bills before us, experience broken relationships, or when we experience the death of loved ones. Even as a nation, we can collectively experience a living nightmare because of an energy crisis, the threat of war, the threat of a terrorist attack any time, any place, anywhere. And sadly, prejudice and racism still threaten us as a people. We may also think our greatest hope is to simply survive—to just make it another day. We don’t want to lose our lives or livelihood any more than the people of Israel did in their day. We dream and long for a brighter, new day.

But thanks be to God, that when he speaks to us in our text this morning, he give us the encouraging word we need by challenging our limited vision. He tells us that our dreams are not big enough. He tells us in our text that “it is too light a thing—it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel.” It is too limited a vision to bring redemption to just one people and one nation. This is good news! Our dreams are not big enough. Our dreams are not weighty enough. Our dreams are merely for a safer and better life. Our dreams are to just live another day. Our dreams are to restore what we once had. Our dreams are to simply be what we were—not what we could be and what God has called us to be. Notice that our dreams are mostly for ourselves.

But God has a bigger dream. It’s not a dream that began after things went bad. It’s a dream that began, as our text says, even before we were in our mother’s wombs. It’s a dream that God’s Son makes into a reality. God’s dream is far greater, better, and weightier than we could ever imagine. This is God’s dream in our Scripture: he says, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation will reach to the end of the earth.” People are coming to John the Baptist to deal with their own personal and individual sins. John points to Jesus who comes not just for them but every tribe, language, people, and nation. He cries out and points to Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

God’s dream is not just that we would make it another day. But that we would reach out globally. It’s a dream that we would clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit the fatherless, widows, the sick, and the imprisoned in their distress. It’s a dream for the whole world to hear the good news of salvation that is found in the Jesus. He comes to us as a sacrificial Lamb of God but deals with our sin and the evil of this world as the Lion of Judah. God has a dream for every living soul. And his dream is for us—the people of God—to be that light for the nations so that his salvation will reach to the end of the earth and every human soul.

In Martin Luther King’s last speech “On the Mountaintop,” he said it was a joy to simply pursue his dream. As he marched for peace and justice, and when the authorities sent their fire hoses and dogs, he said that the fire hoses were like a holy Baptism and the dogs became the audience of their songs. King likened himself to Moses who would never enter the Promised Land where God’s dream is fully realized. He said, “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” The next day, King entered into the glory of his Savior.

It’s still a dream. But we are God’s light to the nations now. And one day, the Lamb will come again and bring us into his Holy City where there is no need for sun or moon because its lamp is the Lamb. Nothing unclean, detestable, false, or accursed will be there. We will, in all our diverse humanity, worship the Lamb in peace, unity, and joy. God’s dream will be our reality.