Isaiah 11:6 – 9

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, 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. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

I am not sure what the Lord, through Isaiah, had in mind here. I see it in terms of the Body of Christ, the church or the fellowship of believers that includes a bewildering array of cultures and nations, traditions and languages, from the East and from the West, poor and wealthy, powerful and powerless, and so forth.

At first glance one wonders at the plan of God, that all peoples will live in peace with one another. How can this be since we are so different?  People tend to hive off and have little to do with “outsiders.”  I was made aware of this when a missionary in Tanzania where the church contains literally dozens of ethnic groups.   They have long histories of survival as groups, each with a language, world-view, history and traditions. It is amazing what happens when people meet Jesus and accept Him as Savior and Lord. Instead of competing with one another, the believers reach out to one another across ethnic lines.

I love the language used here, startling. A wolf who eat lambs will live happily with a lamb. A leopard who will do most anything to eat a goat will lie down with a goat, in peace.  A calf who is trained to fear lions will live together in peace. This is highly charged language.  How can this be?  The answer is clear.

“A little child will lead them.”  This passage is in the context of the message that a child will be born to us, Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus changes how we feel about others, about people who are not like us! It is breathtaking to see this happen.  Because of the love of Jesus at work in them, believers reach out to one another no matter what their social state. I believe this is one of the greatest signs in the body of Christ, that the believers love one another. It is marvelous to behold.

I see a lion nibble at the straw that the cows are eating. Instead of eating them, the lion eats, the best it can, with them. What a sight!

The lion remains a lion, the wolf remains a wolf, the leopard remains a leopard, and the lamb remains a lamb, the calf remains a calf. These animals who always fear or despise one another now, because the child Jesus leads them, experience a completely different life – they love their enemies as Jesus said they would if he is in them.

As unbelievers look on they see this miracle in the body of Christ. I love Isaiah’s excitement, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” V 9 Nothing can explain this miracle other than the new heart that is put into each, a heart that loves in spite of differences, the love of the “little child.”  That is Jesus.