Isaiah 11:6-9 – Peace and Joy
When God made the world, there was no such thing as death. When did death come in? When Adam ate the forbidden fruit. It used to be that man only ate fruits and vegetables and things like that. And that was enough for him. So did the animals. Wolves lived together with lambs, leopards with kid goats, and calves with lions. And a little child could have led them. But all was destroyed, all was put into disorder by the first Adam’s sin. Paul teaches us in Romans 5 that the Lord Jesus Christ, Messiah, of Whom Isaiah is speaking here in chapter 11, is the second Adam. By the first Adam and by his sin, all things fell. Paul later teaches in Romans 8 that all of creation is groaning, waiting for the redemption of all things in Jesus Christ. Christ, the second Adam, is restoring all things.
But there is a picture of something even more wonderful in verse 8. By nature, we’re all seed of the serpent. We are all lost in our sin. But here the serpent is no longer dangerous. In verse 8, we might say that the serpent has become saintly. And that is a picture, the work of the Holy Spirit as he applies the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes snakes in the grass, such as we once were, and makes us to be holy and godly. He takes the fiercest people, the nastiest people – Jesus sends His Spirit to them and He changes them utterly.
There shall eventually be no more destruction within, and there will no longer be any destruction from the outside. And the cause of this is the knowledge of God as we read about here in verse 9, given by Christ. It is in his holy mountain, a picture there of the church of Jesus Christ in all ages. All the earth will be covered with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah that brings about peace and joy, justice and righteousness. This is what Jesus is doing, but He’s not done yet. By the time the Lord Jesus returns, all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Because King Jesus rules. King Jesus reigns. King Jesus is governing all things for the glory of His father and for the blessing and delight of you, His children.
Questions
- Who is the second Adam?
- Who can change the fiercest people?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that Christ is restoring all things.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.