His Place of Rest Will Be Glorious

When was the last time you heard this passage? I imagine it was last December. Perhaps at a service of Lessons and Carols – usually one of the Lessons comes from Isaiah 11.

Reading from Isaiah’s prophecy we marvel at the glimpse the Lord gave him. Isaiah could see way into the future and recognize the coming Messiah, the Saviour who was coming as the final Son of David, the Christ.

Looking back at Jesus’ coming as we do, we see how this passage is fulfilled in Jesus’ birth. Jesus is a descendant of Jesse. David’s line of kings was cut off, leaving just a stump.

But one night long ago in the town of Bethlehem, a new shoot came up from that stump. Jesus was born. The Christ arrived.

When he grew up, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him. He taught and he worked in the power of the Spirit, finding delight in the fear of the Lord. We can see why this passage strengthens our faith as we celebrate Christmas each year.

But these verses from Isaiah 11 do not point just to Jesus’ first coming. During his life on earth, Jesus proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom has come and is still coming. We are waiting for Jesus to return so we can enjoy the fullness of the kingdom of God. We long for a judge to set things straight.

Many of you have memories and hurts from things in this world not being the way they should. Your memories go back further than mine to wars, to the challenges of immigration – the hurts and betrayals you experienced as immigrants in a new land.

Sadness of people dying – parents, children, your husband or wife.

I have sat and talked with seniors in my own congregation who have told me how worrisome it was to raise children in a world that was so mixed up and frightening. There was so much going on in the world, so many dangers. Watching TV, we so many things wrong in the world. I doesn’t seem that our world is as a very safe place to raise children – some people suggest it is much more dangerous and confusing than when your generation raised your families.

So we look for and need the comfort of the image God presents through the prophet Isaiah. To recognize that the shoot of Jesse came with wisdom and fear of the Lord, to judge with righteousness – that is something our world needs sorely. Isaiah’s prophecy is full of the assurance that the Lord will bring about that restoration. The Messiah will come, not just as a little baby, not just as a teacher in the land of Judah, but as the Messiah, the Saviour of the World. He will come and judge with righteousness. He will bring justice and mercy.

He has come, paid the price to redeem the world from sin and Satan’s hand. He has gone back to his Father’s throne, but he now rules. He will return as judge. His justice will set things straight for the poor and for the wicked. Jesus will come with mercy and with justice.

Under Jesus’ rule peace will come. The brokenness of creation will be healed. No more will Mothers die while children depend on them. No more will husbands be called home thirty years before their wives. Everything will be set straight.

Isaiah gives us a glimpse of that. What we see as natural enemies will live in peace together. Wolves and lambs will live together. The leopard will curl up to sleep beside a goat and a young child will bring them out to pasture and bring them back home again.

I recently heard of someone’s experience, a vision that the Lord gave them. This was a woman whose father, her brother, and her husband all died within 6 years of each other. One night, shortly after her husband died, she had a vivid dream. In the living room she saw her father, her brother and her husband. But there in the centre of the room was an enormous animal – a lion. Sitting close to the lion was a little child, just a baby.

This lady found great comfort in that image. She took it to mean that these men she loved had entered into eternal rest with Jesus. Already now they experienced what Isaiah saw:

Isaiah 11:6–8 NIV

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. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

It is a picture of the peace that God intended: no harm, no destruction; complete trust and safety. It is what we are created for, what we long for.

We will not find it in our world. It makes us uncomfortable. It makes us concerned for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But in Jesus Christ, the world is being restored. The Kingdom of God has been established and will come in all its fullness when Jesus Christ returns. Forgiveness is possible because of Jesus death and resurrection.

It is not just something Isaiah saw. Paul also wrote about it in his first letter to the church in Thessalonica:

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.[1]

That is our comfort. In Jesus we have forgiveness and life forevermore.

[1]I Thess. 4:14.