“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. – Isaiah 65:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 8, 2014): Isaiah 65

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered what may have been his most famous speech – the one that we know as the “I Have a Dream” speech. The speech was delivered to over a quarter million civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. And King begins his speech by referring to the Emancipation Proclamation – a war measures act put into effect by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, freeing the slaves of the rebellious states and effectively ending the practice of slavery in North America. The date of the proclamation was January 1, 1863. Just over 100 years later, Martin Luther King spoke to the crowd declaring that the slaves were still not free, that the dream of Abraham Lincoln still had not been accomplished.

But the most famous part of the speech is when King begins to speak about his dream. Repeatedly King says that he has a dream – a dream of a different world, a dream where the effects of racism are a thing of the past - a past that we can hardly believe was ever real. At the climax of this part of the speech that Dr. King spoke these words

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!”

With a single phrase Martin Luther King changed the landscape of American politics.

Isaiah also speaks of a dream. A time in the future when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah’s speech might have originally been intended as poetic hyperbole, although the New Testament writers pick up on this idea in a very literal sense. But in the mind of Isaiah, the dream of God would be a time when all of the things that are important to God would take center stage in our world. It is a time when all people are considered equal, a time when peace reigns, where all of the people of the earth finally come together with one peaceful purpose in mind. I believe that Martin Luther King’s dream and Isaiah’s God dream are not all that far apart. If King’s dream could just become true, we would be living on a new earth.

But Dr. King’s dream is still just that – a dream. It has been just over 50 years since Dr. King spoke his words, and just over 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln – and yet still we have slaves in our world. Still we seem to be more concerned with the color of a person’s skin, their socio- economic status or even their religion than we are of the character that resides inside. The United Nations estimates that there are currently between 27 to 30 million people involved in slavery currently – a figure that is the highest it has ever been and still moving upward. And absolutely none of this is a part of Isaiah’s New Heaven and New Earth.

But I have dream of a day when a New Heaven and a New Earth are a physical reality in our world. When the dream of God is a reality and equality and peace reigns I have dream, today.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 66