It is good to be together again as we look into the Word of God and understand what God has to say to us, make personal application and share the good news with others. The title for the lesson is, “The Earth will be Full of the Knowledge of the Lord,” and the text is in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah chapter 11 and the first nine verses. Let’s listen together to the Word of God.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the need, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. With the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat and the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear. Their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is the Word of God.
Undoubtedly today our current events across the earth are exceedingly bad news. We hear of crisis after crisis from Afghanistan and Iraq to Gaza and Israel, Syria and Libya, the whole Middle East seems to be a hot bed of trouble. And from the Ukraine even to our own American southern border death and destruction and hatreds and havoc of all kinds are escalating. It is exasperating. It seems to never end.
Instead of all of the bad news by TV and radio, on the internet or reading in newspapers or books, as Bible believing Christians, we can turn to the Scriptures and find there a future fabulous for God’s people, great news, for example, in our text Isaiah chapter 11 and the first nine verses. In verse one it says: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots a branch will bear fruit. Well, what does this mean? Well, this is obviously figurative or symbolic imagery here for the royal Davidic dynasty that seemed to be have been destroyed by the Babylonians. So just a stump was left of David’s family tree. But in Isaiah’s time, about 700 years before Christ, this Hebrew prophet predicted by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that a shoot or a sprout of life would come up from the stump, that is from the lineage of Jesse who was the father of the great King David. From the shoot will emerge a great branchy of the line of King David and branch is a messianic title. Here we have the imagery of growth from a shoot to a branch as the anointed one, anointed with power, anointed by the Holy Spirit, even Messiah King. And we know him as Jesus the Christ, the greatest descendant of the royal house of David and the lineage of David, the Davidic dynasty and of the tribe of Judah.
Also in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse two, referring back to verse one, branch will bear fruit. Well, what fruit? In verse two the Spirit of the Lord will be of the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding and of counsel and of power and of knowledge and of fear or deep reverence of the Lord, all by the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And even here in this passage we have all of the godhead present. In verse two we read of the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. Then the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that is, Yahweh or Jehovah God, God the Father. On him referring to the branch or the Messiah King.
In verse three it says, in part: He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears, meaning that this one, this judge, this ruler, this Messiah King, will not judge merely by his sense of sight or merely by hearing, by his sense of hearing, but this Messiah King will judge with not ordinary but supernatural perception and power, with wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and the fear, reverence of the Lord, which will even be a delight in the fear of the Lord. Certainly all of these are lacking to any significant degree in the world’s leaders today that are governing. Certainly very, very few, if any, in the fear of the Lord. There seems to be no real reverence for the Lord, only a bent toward retaliation and revenge. And that is reverence for the one true God, the one true Lord of the universe.
In verse four of Isaiah 11 it says: But with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions to the poor of the earth. Today in the world where is there real righteousness, real justice? The needy still go without. The poor still suffer. Coming again is Messiah King who will make things right in Israel and all the nations that go in to this time together to reign with Christ.
In verse four it says—in contrast to the needy and the poor—it says, in part: With the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Messiah need only say the word to destroy the wicked which speaks of his awesome power. And finally righteousness and justice. The wicked will no longer escape or be pardoned or just receive a slap on the wrist, but be slayed.
In verses six through eight we have a glorious glimpse into the golden age that is yet future of peace and prosperity to come to all the Lord’s people on this earth with Messiah King reigning. And that is great news. Imagine, it says in part: The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling—by the way, a yearling, that is an animal that is in its second year. They will all be together. And a little child will lead them. A cow will feed with the bear, the lion eat straw like the ox. The infant playing near the hole of the cobra and the young child will put his hand into the viper’s nest. Really? Is this literally going to come to pass, literally true? Well, it was almighty God that put a curse on this earth due to our sin according to Genesis chapter three verses 16 through 19. So God can certainly reverse this curse with paradise reinstated on this earth. Yet many Christians today claim that Isaiah chapter 11 and verses six through eight concerning predatory animals that are becoming pacified—for example the wolf lived with the lamb—is just figurative language, representing, describing just inner peace among mankind due to the gospel, just spiritual peace with God. And yet only an infant or a young child are even referenced in this passage who are not even old enough to understand or receive the gospel. So that seems to be a real stretch of an interpretation of the Scripture.
But not only that, there are other Scriptures that clarify that this literally will be a curse that will be lifted yet future on this earth, here regarding the animal kingdom. For example, in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 28 it says, in part: Jesus said to them: I tell you the truth. At the renewal of all things when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne… Other translations translate it in this way. In the regeneration of all things or in the restoration of all things, that is, that time is coming yet future on this earth. And that is good news. And God can and will do it. Also consider in the New Testament Acts chapter three and verse 21 where it says that he must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets, that is, for example, prophets like Isaiah in our study passage in Isaiah chapter 11 and verses one through nine. That is, Jesus Christ must remain in heaven until he comes from God the Father to restore all things as he promised and sends his Son back to this earth to restore as in to bring back to a previous existence, back as to the… and similar to the original. All things, everything, including the animal kingdom that is referenced here specifically in verses six through eight of Isaiah 11. Renew, restore, regenerate. And when will this happen? At the second coming of Christ to this earth. And as it refers to in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 28 when he is to sit on his glorious throne. The Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God and he is reigning from heaven, but he is sitting on the Father’s throne. Eventually he will come to this earth and sit on his glorious throne, even the throne of David. And that is good news.
But also consider Romans chapter eight and verse 21 where it says that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. This renewal, this regeneration, this restoration begins on this earth when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. And all of this will be permanently fulfilled in the new heaven and the new earth when there will be a completely new earth as has been prophesied in Scripture. The new earth, for example, in Revelation chapter 21 verses one through five.
And so we have a fabulous, a double fabulous future for all believers, Old Testament saints, New Testament saints and those that are allowed to go into that fabulous future according to the judgment of the nations, the beginning of this time.
In Isaiah chapter 11 and verse nine it says here that we have the crowning truth that all of this passage in Isaiah chapter 11 and verses one through nine will literally, physically, tangibly come to pass yet future when the Lord Jesus returns to this earth. Notice verse nine, again. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain. What holy mountain? Mount Zion. Jerusalem. There where the temple stood and where the temple will stand again. That did not come to pass with the proclamation of the gospel and the beginning of the Church age. That did not happen at the first coming of Christ. In fact, a great deal more harm and destruction came to Mount Zion and to Jerusalem just a few decades after the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.
In the year of our Lord in AD 70 the temple on Mount Zion and Jerusalem were completely and utterly destroyed in spite of the gospel, in spite of the Church age or in spite of the establishment of the Church some 50 days after the empty tomb on that first Pentecost Sunday after the crucifixion of Christ.
Also in verse nine it says: For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This also did not happen at the first coming of Christ, nor when the gospel was first proclaimed. The imagery here in verse nine was not just about information or about knowledge about the Lord, but here the earth full of people living in the knowledge of the Lord, that is saturated with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And this will not happen until the Lord reigns in righteousness on this earth. This will not happen until, as it is revealed in Psalm 98 and verse nine where it says, in part: He comes to judge the earth. He goes on to say: He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Finally, when Jesus Christ rules and reigns on this earth no more appeals, no more mistrials, no more technicality reversals of sentences, because Jesus Christ will reign and rule in perfect, omniscient righteousness. Finally, justice, harmony, prosperity and peace for a thousand years according to Revelation chapter 20 and verses four through six. This will be a time of tremendous tranquility that will replace today’s crisis after crisis that goes on and on and on. Great news and a fabulous future from the rising of the sun to the place of the sun’s setting across all peoples and all the nations that will be on the earth at that time. But, of course, you and I need to be in Christ today, now in this life now as we sojourn through this life we need to receive Christ. We need to make a decision to accept Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We need to belong to God’s family now, to be able to have a part in that reigning, in that time with Christ, with Messiah King on this earth for a glorious thousand years we need to receive him by faith, repenting of our sins, confessing him as our Savior and Lord, being immersed into him, persevering in him, being part of his family as we look forward to a fabulous future.
David Johnson is minister of the Sellersburg Church of Christ in Sellersburg, IN.