The Wolf and the Lamb: Isaiah 11:1-9

 

I confess that this is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. The picture it paints leaves no question regarding God’s wishes for God’s children:

1A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
9They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

The human trait of self-centeredness may be the greatest single deterrent to world peace. Beginning with Abram (Abraham), God’s people always have been called to be beacons—essentially to share God and God’s love with all nations [God said to Abram, “Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3)].

Moreover, Jesus of Nazareth taught that seeking the realm and reign of God and making it one’s top priority was a sure path toward a fulfilled life (Matthew 6:33).

Instead, God-related human activities too often have focused on accruing God’s blessings, protection and affirmation to ourselves. God’s people have no sustained history of reaching out and becoming a channel for God’s grace for others.

The application of today’s reading generally has gone something like this: God will send a special Messiah who will make all these wonderful things happen—for us.

After the Babylonian exile Israel’s messianic hopes increased in intensity and took on apocalyptic qualities. Again, the hope was that Messiah would do everything for them.

Jesus, who Christians acknowledge as the Messiah, came teaching that Messiah had come to empower God’s people to bring about all they had hoped to receive from Messiah. But he and his teachings were rejected by his generation. Many today who claim him as savior still miss his claim upon them as Lord, and reject the gift of empowerment he offered.

And now, many who have accepted Jesus as Messiah wait for his return, and their hope as they wait is essentially the same as Israel’s hope in post-exilic times. Even having received the witness of Jesus’ life and teaching, and the gift of the Holy Spirit as God’s empowering agent, we continue to expect Jesus to return at some future date to do everything for us.

And so, Isaiah’s prophecy in today’s reading has yet to be accomplished, even though in Jesus all the law and prophets were fulfilled.

We are called and empowered to be and do what God created us to be and do, a calling nowhere better and more clearly described than:

(1)  Jesus’ Beatitudes: “Blessed are . . .

a.     …the poor in spirit

b.     …those who mourn…

c.     …the meek

d.     …those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

e.     …the merciful

f.      …the pure in heart

g.     …the peacemakers

h.     …those who are persecuted because of righteousness

i.      …you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”

(2)  Philippians 4:8 ~ “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

(3)  Galatians 5:22-23 ~ “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

We are empowered to be and do all of the above. And if we would, Isaiah’s prophecy would be accomplished.

That’s how it looks through the Flawed Glass that is my world view.

Together in the Walk,

Jim

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