A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, / a bud will sprout from his roots.
Isaiah 11:1 NET
Much of Isaiah is doom and gloom. God’s people had largely turned away from following Him, becoming little different than the nations around them. And judgment was coming—first Assyria and then Babylon.
But there was also hope. The coming judgment would not be the end. A shoot would grow out of Jesse’s stump. Jesse was David’s father. This was a promise that a descendant of David, a coming Messiah, would once again rule over God’s people.
A wolf will reside with a lamb, / and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;
Isaiah 11:6 NET
an ox and a young lion will graze together, / as a small child leads them along.
The coming reign of this Messiah would be one of peace. Predator and prey, wolf and lamb, would live together without fear or harm, like a return to the Garden of Eden.
They will no longer injure or destroy / on my entire royal mountain.
Isaiah 11:9 NET
For there will be universal submission to the LORD’s sovereignty, / just as the waters completely cover the sea.
What would the world be like if everyone and everything were in submission to the Lord’s sovereignty? The conflict that is so much a part of life today would be gone.
But that is not just a wishful hope on our part. It is the reality that awaits us. We are living in exile now, dispersed among the nations. In a world where injury and destruction are commonplace–where the strong prey on the weak.
But someday, that will come to an end. Jesus is that shoot that grew out of Jesse’s stump. And one day, he will return and gather his people from around the world to be with him. Then, the wolf will live with the lamb. And “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
