Weekly Devotion

August 30 2020

Isaiah 11:1-10

11 : 1

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and strength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 

And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,

And He will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

4 

But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

5 

Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,

And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

6 

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,

And the calf and the young lion [a]and the fatling together;

And a little boy will lead them.

7 

Also the cow and the bear will graze,

Their young will lie down together,

And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 

The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,

And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

9 

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

10 

Then in that day

The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,

Who will stand as a [b]signal for the peoples;

And His resting place will be [c]glorious.

 

Isaiah; the prophet of the lord.  A prophet not of doom and judgement as much as a prophet of hope.  A prophet speaking down through the centuries as much as he spoke to the people of his time.   A prophet that speaks of the coming of Messiah and the triumph of the Kingdom of God. A prophet quoted by the Son of God often in the Gospel Accounts.  In this portion of the book of Isaiah we are gifted with imagery that throughout history has driven our imagination and shaped and formed our understanding of the coming Kingdom of God, including specifically in Milton’s Paradise Lost but even now to this present age; “the wolf will dwell with lamb”, and “a child shall lead them”. It is not a Kingdom marked by anger and strife.  It is not a Kingdom marked by fear and loathing.  It is not a Kingdom marked by despair. It IS a Kingdom marked by hope.  It IS a Kingdom marked by love and courage.  It IS a kingdom marked by radical peace.   As Ambassadors of this Kingdom we are to be so marked as well.  In this season of the world, when so much seems marked as “not the Kingdom”, it is dependent upon us to chart a different course.

 

Prayer:  Lord Make us instruments of your peace and Ambassador’s of a hope that springs eternal.