6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
When I read verses like Isaiah 11.6ff it tells me that the God of Love who is unwilling to be God without us also urges us to learn to live together in love and kindness towards one another. That we, God's children, are unwilling to be called such if we refuse to love one another.The biblical hope in Isaiah 11 s for predatory people to stop destroying their fellow vulnerable members. To hold, rather, a vision of living rightly together with one another in supportive communion, grace, forgiveness, mercy, equality, and fairness without slander, harm, gracelessness, thoughtlessness, or hate.The heavenly communities we envision here on earth must first begin here, on earth, with us, everywhere. Otherwise we have not done our job disobeying Jesus to live peaceably with one another.And if you think about it, there is no magic formula in heaven which brings people together, as so many people here on earth believe. If Jesus is the magic formula than the possibility of heaven lies also here on earth with us, and it is we, Jesus' followers, who are not allowing this to happen.So many say, "God wins." Which is not true, God wins ONLY when "Love wins." Otherwise the formula is backwards. Fear, hate, racism, ends when love wins, not God.
God works through us to create the possible. If we refuse then God cannot work. The God of Love is the God of the possible who has enlivened His love in us. Submit, therefore, and be enlivened to God's Spirit of love.Love is relational. It relates to all things - from earth to people. Live love, be love, seek love-and-reparation with all. Be the lion that humbles itself to live with God's lambs. Those without hope. Of a different color. Who believe differently (not toxically like so much of the Christian religion bent on "overcoming evil with evil").
Be the dove of peace, the sacrificial Lamb of God, the Servant of El Shaddai, who whispers, "Peace be still." God wins when Love wins.R.E. Slater
November 7, 2021
— “Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn” (Martin Amis)
— “No absolute is going to make the lion lie down with the lamb unless the lamb is inside.” (D.H. Lawrence)
— “The lion will lay down with the lamb, but the lamb won’t get much sleep.” (Woody Allen)
Isaiah has painted a deliberately provocative scene. Nature, as Tennyson reminded us, is red in tooth and claw. How absurd to think that nature itself could be tamed! What could possibly bring about such a cosmic reversal?
Well, as ever, Isaiah answers by pointing us to the Messiah. In the face of warring nations and warring nature, Isaiah continues to set our hope on a miraculous birth. He will be called Immanuel or the Prince of Peace, or here in chapter 11 He’s called “the Branch.”
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them… 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1-9)
When the true King reigns in righteousness, the world is set to rights. This is not a spiritual truth divorced from historical and physical reality. There will be a day when actual wolves and actual lambs graze together contentedly. When seals will swim happily with great white sharks. When children will play with crocodiles.
Impossible! Ridiculous! Fairytales! you might say. Yet Isaiah refuses to live in a double-decker universe. We often think that Christian truths apply to a spiritual realm while the real business of life occurs on some irredeemable physical level. We might concede that Jesus has spiritual power but, we imagine, it has no bearing on the way of the world.
But Isaiah cannot believe in such a divorce of spiritual and physical. He believes in a very earthy Messiah. He believes in God with us. A God who becomes a Child. A God who really enters into our world – to be born as a human king. The power of heaven will enter into this world from the inside. Not simply to grant spiritual benefits to spiritual people, but to remake His own creation.
We know that the false king, Adam, brought spiritual and physical death. Well then, is Christ less powerful than Adam? Is His victory less decisive than Adam’s fall? No. Therefore Christ, when He comes again, will bring spiritual and physical redemption to the ends of the earth.
The believer in Christ has a physical hope – death defeated, wars vanquished, disease abolished, nature itself brought to peace and prosperity:
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:6-9)