9-5-21 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Isaiah 11:6-10 God’s Zoo #14

Pastor Ron Koehler

Grace—Tucson, AZ

September 5, 2021

My Friends in Christ, What would you give right now for all the scammers to stop scamming… for all the internet trolls to stop trolling… for all the mean people at school or at work to knock it off… for poverty to end… for all the environmental damage to cease… for all the terrorism and all the wars to stop… for all the physical suffering in this world to disappear … for death to stop its constant assault on people?

What would you give?

Wouldn’t peace be nice for a change? Peace in our lives, peace in our families, peace in our church, peace in our community, our country, our world?

You know, we’re only 16 weeks away from Christmas, a time when we sing about peace on earth, peace which came from heaven in Jesus, and a peace pictured in the words from Isaiah before us today. You might recognize the verses just prior to these as Isaiah wrote of a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a descendant from the line of David. Those verses and those in our lesson today even end up on some Christian Christmas cards. Though we are a bit away from Christmas still (although when you say only 16 weeks I feel like I should get shopping), today we consider Isaiah’s words because of the animals used by God through Isaiah to impress upon us a certain peace that God’s people have—and a peace that we will have. And so today, we hear about PEACEFUL ANIMALS. In Isaiah chapter 11 a King is described who rules in a way this world has never known: The Spirit of the Lord resting on him, wise and understanding, mighty, a righteous judge, one with power to strike the earth and cut down the wicked. There is only one King this pointed to. It was Jesus. Isaiah proclaimed that this is what he would be like, and he proclaimed what effect his rule would have. Our lesson today announces a kingdom of peace, brought by Jesus Christ. Animals are used for us to picture this peaceful kingdom in a way that is very different from what we observe in this sinful world.

In this world we see chaos, strife, suffering, and death. To put it into animal pictures, we see wolves preying on lambs. Leopards love to eat goat! What does a lion do with walking veal? Well, you’ve seen National Geographic—you know! But what we see when Christ rules will be so very different! If you were to picture it using animals, you

would describe the amazing changes like Isaiah does here. It will be like a wolf and a lamb hanging out together, a leopard and a goat napping alongside each other. Lions and cows and bears—oh my!—will have no problem with each other. Vegetarian lions and children playing around snakes and vipers—things like this can happen because hurt and destruction will not be a thing, God says. Perfection and peace will be.

We might call these “pictures of ‘natural enemies’ coexisting,” but they aren’t really “natural enemies,” are they—the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the baby human and the viper? Oh, the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet might tell you that that they are, but I would tell you to look back to the Creation of all things—the very subject we began this summer series with back in June. Were the animals devouring each other at Creation? Did God say, “Let there be,” and the gloves came off and all of the sudden crocodiles and anacondas starting going at each other? Did God have to muzzle the tigers and wolverines so that Adam could get close and name them without fearing their fangs? No! Everything was literally perfect. Everybody got along. None of the animals was hurting or harming. Adam and Eve didn’t have to be afraid of any of the animals at all.

Things changed, of course. Earlier this summer, we also considered the Fall into Sin, the first damaging human-snake encounter. The fallout from Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God was disharmony and destruction—not only for every person who would follow them, but to the creation itself. In so many ways, the earth, the animals, the plants—everything—felt the devastation sin brought. So much changed from the perfect Eden that was God’s creation. And all of it for the worse. Human beings faced an unraveling of their lives that God never wanted. All of creation began a downward spiral toward destruction too—eternal death and ultimate annihilation of everything.

What an impactful moment that was in the Garden when God’s people disobeyed him, thinking they could be like him.

What could be done about this disaster that turned everyone and everything against God and each other? Well, animals weren’t going to fix this. And the crown of God’s creation—the man and the woman—were damaged and completely incapable of helping to turn things around.

No, God would have to intervene. And you know that he did. He promised right away that he would send One who would destroy the deceiver, pay the bill for the damage he did not cause, and provide restoration between God and people. Jesus did that. He did all of that. It wasn’t in a flash, with a quick word of indictment of Satan and a sweeping away of the sin that he had pushed into a perfect world. No, it was a life spent toiling as a human being under the divine law that he, as true God, had revealed to people. It was a judgment brought upon him that contained no justice. It was a torture and death so cruel that people would turn away from it in horror. That’s how the reversal came. That’s how things got turned around so that gloom and destruction and eternal devastation would not be the future of all people.

Just two chapters before our lesson, Isaiah introduced the vision of Jesus, who would come to bring eternal peace. You remember these words from Christmas cards and Christmas services: For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no limit to his authority and no end to the peace he brings. He will rule on David’s throne and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from now on, into eternity (9:6-7). As we are seeing this morning, this picture of PEACEFUL ANIMALS comes shortly after that message of the Prince of Peace who was to come.

Though we’ve all been thinking it, I’ve purposely not yet said that this is a picture of heaven because I’d like you to think just a little bit about Christ’s rule in the hearts of God’s people. When Christ rules in your heart, is there not a measure of peace within you? As you talk with and work beside your fellow Christians, is there not a peace that permeates the relationship? As you are in the world—at school, at work, in your home—do you not, with your Christlike behavior bring a little peace to it? Peace with God produces peace within Christians and puts peace out into the world through them.

And yet, sin remains, doesn’t it? We aren’t always peaceful people, faithful representatives of the Prince of Peace. There are scammers sending you emails and calling you on the phone, trying to steal from you. There are toxic trolls lurking under internet bridges looking to upset you. There are people who are mean to us in the classroom, on the playground, in the office. People are suffering in poverty. The created world is suffering the effects of sin as things simply wind down and as careless people abuse it. There are terrorists and wars. People are suffering in many ways. And death continues to stalk every person. No, this planet is not a peaceful place.

What would you give to take all of that away? We don’t have anything to give for something like that, do we? But we know the One who did give what was needed. And that good news of Christ, the victorious King who grants forgiveness and promises eternal life, brings peace to our hearts and minds right now.

All the peace we hold in our hearts and the glimmers of peace that we live in our lives are a little taste of what will be one day. There is going to come a time when there will be no more hurt and no destruction There will be no sin and pain and frustration and anger and tears. It all goes away. Peace and safety like that in the picture of PEACEFUL ANIMALS will replace those things. Peace is all we will know as it fills us and all things. It will happen on the LORD’s holy mountain. When God talks like that, he’s talking about heaven, the high and holy place where he dwells. On the day of our Lord’s return, all of God’s people will be released from a restless world full of danger and upheaval—and they will be given full and lasting peace. We will see before us the Root of Jesse, Jesus. We will rally around him in heaven…we will find peace and rest there…and it will be glorious. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 11:6-10 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze together, and their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the cattle. 8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den.

9 They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 10 This is what will take place on that day. The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.