By Rev. Henk Poot
We see in church history that the prophetic images of the reign of peace are generally explained symbolically. But Isaiah speaks about a peace that is literally restored. Isaiah says that with the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the reign of peace:
- The age-old conflict between Judah and Ephraim will disappear
- The promised land will have rest from all surrounding enemies
- The return of the people to the land, the Aliyah, will be brought to completion
The opening verses of Isaiah 11 are well-known and offer splendid sermon material for Advent: “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 …” A Dutch Hymn sings: “And David’s ancient line is blossoming again, in the middle of the night.” Dr. L.A. Snijder writes in his commentary on the prophet Isaiah: “His talent is as the menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum, of the Divine spirit.” And justly so, for in the Gospel we hear how Christ is saturated with the Spirit of God. When the young Jesus talks with the scribes in the temple, we read: “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (Luke 2:47). And in the High-priestly prayer we are moved by his knowledge and fear of the Lord (John 17, Isaiah 11:2). We see Isaiah’s words crowned in the worship of the Lamb, who is seated at the Father’s right hand: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12).
Isaiah goes on to describe how the Messiah appears, comes to the help of the meek and judges the world with his judgements: “He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked” (verse 4). These are words that we read again in Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica: “then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). At which Isaiah traces out the peace of the coming kingdom: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together” (verse 6). God’s goodness permeates the whole of creation and the nations seek the Messiah and bow down and pay Him homage (see Romans 15:12 and Revelation 5:5).
Spiritual interpretation
We see in church history that the prophetic images of the reign of peace are generally explained symbolically. For example, the marginal notes of the Staten translation (the Dutch equivalent of the King James version of the Bible) state: “The wolf with the lamb: These are the angry, bad, wild, fierce people, both Jews and gentiles, who will be so transformed by the preaching of Christ and of his servants and the inner working of the Holy Ghost, that, laying aside their evil affections, they will be clothed with the spirit of love and of meekness.” When Isaiah says: “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain” (verse 9), the same expositors comment that this is to be understood as referring to the mount of the sanctuary, i.e. the temple, by which the church of the believers is meant. If the prophecy is not spiritualised, it is interpreted universally. It refers to the peace that will reign in the world. The Prince of Peace will indeed come from David’s line, but that is further of little relevance and the mount of the Lord, together with Revelation 14, is even bestowed heavenly characteristics: “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000.”
Israel restored literally
However, if you read further, you notice that the Messiah does more than this. Only this is something that is seldom referred to in Advent preaching. Snijder remarks in this respect: “It is generally recognised that the content of this passage does not correspond with the vision of the Messianic king and his reign of peace” (p.150 of his afore-mentioned work). But is this really the case?
What Isaiah says is that with the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the reign of peace:
a. The age-old conflict between Judah and Ephraim, i.e. between the Kingdom of the South and the Kingdom of the North, will disappear. That is also what the prophet Ezekiel saw happening in the future: “I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms” (37:22). And it begs the question whether that is also what Jesus meant in the first place when He told the Jews: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
b. The promised land will have rest from all surrounding enemies and the land will truly expand to encompass what God originally promised: “from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates” (Joshua 1:4, Isaiah 11:14-16).
c. The return of the people to the land, the Aliyah, will be brought to completion. God will raise his hand “Yet again” (verse 11). The return has already started but it will achieve its ultimate fulfilment through the Messiah. There will be a new exodus in the end-time finale. I believe we should read the words of Jesus in this light when He says that the Messiah, at his coming, will send out his angels to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth (Matthew 24:31). After all, the elect are, in the first place, the children of Abraham in the New Testament too (see: Luke 18:7, 2 Timothy 2:10 and Titus 1:1).
Isaiah’s perspective of the future is thus not only simply universal and definitely not only simply spiritual: the reality is that Israel will be restored to her ancient glory and more than that. That is what Zacharias sings and what Mary testifies of:
“salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us [...]to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace [...]He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful” (Lucas 1:71,79 and 54).
It is against this prophetic background that the last question posed by the disciples to Jesus becomes understandable: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
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Tags: advent, coming of Christ, Isaiah, Kingdom, peace, Prophecy
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