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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Is. 9-10
I think the reason the Jews up to Jesus’ day had misplaced expectations about the promised Messiah is because they interpreted the prophecies physically rather than spiritually. Not that I blame them. The language is definitely of physical things and there actually is some strictly physical fulfillment in them. In addition, they didn’t have the advantage of Jesus’ teachings to show them the spiritual applications of the physical representations of scripture. Even now we often miss that point. After all my years of learning about and reading the Bible, I’m just now beginning to understand some of it.
When you read prophecies like these in Isaiah through this spiritual lens, though, it gives you a better perspective on what God really did and does for us. It ties in with Jesus’ extensive teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven. The oppressive yoke He shattered was not one of any human government. Rather, it was the yoke of our human condition. And the vast domain He brings us into is His upside-down Kingdom, which is the Body of Christ. In that Kingdom we love one another because God loves us. We serve those under our authority and surrender to those in authority over us. We stop trampling each other in an effort to be first and instead joyfully put ourselves at the back of the line. It is our circumcised heart and God’s presence in us about which these prophecies speak.
Even the judgments God declares against Israel, Judah, and the surrounding nations speak of the change He makes in us. They call out the pride, arrogance, selfishness – all the wickedness that consumes us because we are human. God’s fire is intended to burn that out of us. “Israel’s Light will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.” (Is. 10:17). God’s promise and our hope is His provision for us to pass through that fire under the cover of Jesus’ righteousness.
Is. 11
This chapter is yet another example of what I noticed in chapter 9. “He will strike the land with a scepter from His mouth, and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips.” (Is. 11:4). It is Jesus’ teaching – the sword of Truth – that kills the wickedness in those who turn to Him. It is His righteousness that frees us from the way we were. Isaiah 11:6-7 are the verses that somehow get translated into, “the lion will lie down with the lamb”. While that isn’t a direct quote, it does capture the essence of these verses. Among other things, there will be peace where enmity once was and safety in the place of danger.
I do believe there will come a day with a very physical fulfillment of this prophecy. However, when reading it while thinking about God’s spiritual kingdom, I saw something else in it. I saw the body of Christ. If you have ever watched the series, “The Chosen”, it really gets you thinking differently about Jesus’ group of disciples. They were a collection of people who never would have been caught dead together apart from Jesus’ presence in their lives. Some were wolves, some were lambs. Some were cows and some bears. There were infants and cobras among them. Such is the make-up of the body of Christ. Yet because of Jesus, “They will not harm or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.” (Is. 11:9).
Is. 12
How fitting this song of praise is in light of the thoughts I just expressed! “Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust Him and not be afraid” (Is. 12:2a). God is with us! Our very lives should sing with the joy of it.