Archives

Advent Dreams

Do you remember what it was like to be a kid and dream about what was going to be under that Christmas tree on Christmas morning? And do you remember what it was like to have dreams of what you hoped to become when you grew up ?

I had some outlandish dreams as a child. I wanted to be a professional baseball player as a kid. I was dreaming about new baseball gloves and new equipment and all things baseball. I would sleep with my baseball glove under my pillow. 

The season of Advent is a time when we can recapture what it means to dream and begin to have new hopes for our families and for our churches and for those that we serve.

The Bible is full of dreamers. In the Old Testament, we have Jacob who wrestled God or an angel in a dream. We have Joseph and Solomon who are just a few of the many people that had dreams in the Old Testament.

We have the New Testament. We have Paul and Barnabas — they experienced a dream in Acts 12 where the Spirit of the Lord took them a different direction from where they were going. That changed the history of modern missions! They were going to go into Asia and the angel took them through a dream into Europe. God works so many ways through dreams.

And we have people who dreamed in the Christmas story. We have Simeon in the temple. We have others around the Christmas story that have had dreams. 

There is a dream recorded in the book of Matthew that has always captivated me; it's the dream of Joseph. Matthew 1:18-25: 

"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."

I like Joseph's dream, and part of it is because my mind starts to wonder about Joseph. You know, he had to have some dreams of his own. What was he hoping for his future? What was he expecting his future to look like with Mary as his wife? I wonder, did he have dreams of a particular type of family that he wanted, or did he have dreams about where he wanted to live? 

That night the angel visited him in the dream, the plans got changed. He was given a new dream. They had to go to Egypt. 

The last part of this passage is important: When he awoke, he did exactly what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do.

Joseph received a totally new dream, a totally new future hope for his family, and for the future of his family. That dream came from God, and it was so much better than what Joseph could have possibly envisioned.

You know, I think about my dream of being a professional baseball player. While that would have been great, God had such better plans and a better vision for my future than that, and it was perfect for me. I would have never in a million, million years thought that God had a different plan for me than being a professional baseball player as a child. But He did, and I'm thankful for that dream, for a new dream that He gave me.

Advent is about looking forward, not looking back. And as we think about the second coming in Advent, it's a time for dreaming. It's time for allowing God to dream in our lives. And as we look forward, we ought to consider the dreams and visions that God has for our lives. He can change the dreams that we have. 

So I ask you: What is God asking me to be and do at this time in this place for the sake of those I'm serving?

Allow God space in your life to give you a better dream.

Dr. Scott Marsee serves as Vice President for Learning and Innovation at Southern Nazarene University and adjunct professor at Nazarene Bible College. 

Published: 12/20/2024

Archived News