Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; 11:1-9
The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.... For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.
God's chosen people were walking in darkness, living in the shadow of death, when Christ came to earth. Even though they had the Scriptures, their religious leaders and traditions had led them so astray that most of them did not recognize their Wonderful, their Counselor, their God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, and the Prince of Peace. That is heartbreaking.
Today the Scriptures have gone out to nearly the whole earth. And yet so many of us who have this immeasurable privilege of reading and studying and searching them also do not recognize our God, clothed in humanity. We do not take advantage of the immeasurable opportunity to search God's word, and we are blinded by so many things of our own choosing, searching after wealth, health, and happiness in all the wrong places. I pray that I will not squander the treasures I've been given in the Word.
I love how Isaiah's prophecies weave together the Jesus who came to bring God' love to the world in his life and death in Palestine, and the Jesus who will come to bring God's peace, judgment, justice to the world again (soon, I hope!) It is the same Jesus.
This verse really stood out to me:
He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.
I frequently judge by externals, by the "obvious," but I do not look deeply enough to see people as precious creations of God or listen deeply enough to hear situations as a place where God's Holy Spirit is working to bring healing and truth.
I am amazed by the descriptions of the character of God: wise, understanding, of good counsel, possessing of fortitude, knowledge, godliness, just, and equitous. I pray that God will see fit to begin growing some of those characteristics in me.
I was struck by 11:3 in the Contemporary English Version:
His greatest joy will be to obey the LORD.
That must be the way to developing the character of Jesus!
What really warms my heart are the descriptions of the Recreation God has promised: “there shall be no end of peace,” with graphic descriptions of mortal enemies in the world as we know it living together. It also says: “for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.” I often long for that day, and I know that it will not arrive until Jesus visits us again.
*The first passages are from the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
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