The Wolf Will Lie Down With The Lamb

Sermon Text for Dec. 17: Isaiah 11:1-10

In Tel Aviv a suicide bomber blows himself up in a crowded cafe killing dozens of his enemies. "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid."

In Afghanistan a dozen children die when a wall falls on them as U.S. troops launch an attack against the enemy. The children are the unintended victims. "The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together."

In Baghdad, insurgents – possibly Al Qaeda loyalists – attack American troops with rocket propelled grenades. Two U.S. Army Rangers are killed; others are wounded. "The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall put it's hand on the adder's den."

In North Dakota, a young woman is abducted from a shopping center. Her DNA is found on a suspect’s knife. Friends, police, and even the National Guard, spend weeks searching the frozen ground for any signs of her remains. "They shall 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."

God's vision for humanity is very different from the reality that we live, and sometimes our reality can be very discouraging. God may seem distant and uninvolved in human affairs. Sometimes it feels as if God created us and just set us free to wreak whatever havoc we want on one another and the environment. And yet believers have always held out the hope for a time when the peace of God will reign on the earth.

Years ago my wife and I were a part of Presbyterian Marriage Encounter. Though I am not musically inclined, I have always remembered these words to the theme song: "There's a new world somewhere, they call the Promised Land. And we'll be there someday if you will hold my hand. ..." The song, like the scriptures, looks forward to a better tomorrow, and invites people to enter the Promised Land together.

The song reminds us of many of the promises in scripture around the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah and other prophets look forward to a time when profound peace will come over the world and hatred and destruction will become a thing of the past.

In today's lesson God tells Isaiah about someone who is going to come and bring about this profound peace. The new world according to Isaiah will look very different from the old world and everything we think we know about the natural order is turned upside down. Even natural enemies will discover peace with each other.

Isaiah probably thought he was prophesying about the immediate arrival of a Messiah. He could not have known that twenty-six hundred years later we would still be waiting for the prophesy to be fulfilled.

According to the prophecy, God will revive the house of King David to whom God promised an everlasting kingdom. But by the time Isaiah lived the House of David was already in a shambles. It must have seemed irretrievably damaged. So the prophesy goes all the way back to the foundation of the family – to Jesse – David's father, to find something worth building on. In effect God was beginning again.

“A shoot will come out of the stump of Jesse. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord."

The One who ushers in the new world is from the family of David and he is filled with the Spirit of God. In the Spirit he will exhibit wisdom and understanding. It is no surprise that the early Church decided that Isaiah was foretelling the coming of Jesus. Jesus lived the power of the Spirit and his wisdom and understanding often left his opponents and his friends dumbfounded.

Isaiah went even further in describing the One who was to come. Isaiah describes him as one who judges with righteousness and equity. And the result of his ministry of justice on earth is profound peace that the Hebrews called "shalom".

Shalom is more than the absence of conflict. It is a profound harmony – a special coming together of parts of life that seem to be forever at odds with one another. "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid. ..."

It is a wonderful vision but we need to acknowledge a kind of "disconnect". All of the characteristics of the One who is to come are parts of Jesus' life. In faith we can say that Jesus of Nazareth is the One whom Isaiah foretells. Yet the passage leaves us feeling incomplete. The prophecy has not come true, the job isn't done. So far, chaos has overcome Shalom. In the new world the "wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid ... and they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." And we are still waiting.

Some commentators dismiss these prophecies as utopian, pie in the sky, impossible dreams. Maybe so. But it is hard to deny that the promise of a new world based on harmony, is gripping. The promises allow us to believe that even when we experience conflict and anxiety, God's plan for us is quite different. We are created for shalom and the promise is that one day the world will experience peace and harmony.

Two things keep the promise from being impossible. First God can do whatever God chooses and second, you and I have something to say about the prophesy coming true. I don't believe that we can do anything to usher the new world in, but we can live our lives without adding to the conflict. We can claim for ourselves what the gospels call the "peace of Christ which passes all understanding." And we can begin living in that peace.

We can also help to bring shalom by telling others that it is possible. According to the prophecy peace comes through knowledge of the Lord, and when we help others know him we become partners with God in bringing the ancient promises to fulfillment.

So it's decision time. Let us decide that so far as it depends upon us the Messiah's shalom will be a part of our lives and help us join hands with one another and walk confidently into the future God has prepared.

Copyright © 2006 by Dwight R. Blackstock