“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.”
Isaiah 11:6
I want that world! We need that world.
I want the world that ends harm. I want an end to suffering. I want to end racism. I want to end the pandemic of 2019- 2020. I want to end all disease. I want to end all poverty. I want enough food, enough good shelter, enough clean water for every creature. I ache for an over-spilling love for every creature. My desiderata, the desire of so many others too, particularly the oppressed, is the universe of Isaiah the prophet.
Is this peaceable kingdom possible? If so, what volition can make this harm-free world possible?
Our volition must play a role. We must act to bring changes. Justice, fairness, care, sharing provision, choosing good leaders, choosing love can be our choice to make a better world, but we need God to be our agent. He has the power to change hearts, confront evil powers, inspire and lead this change. He is the prime player in all reform, in all justice, in all redemption. Earlier in the Isaiah passage “a shoot … from the stump of Jesse,” a clear reference to Jesus, brings the peaceable kingdom about.
Isaiah writes, “He [the shoot] will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”
I love that world! I love the poor and needy taken care of. I love wickedness trounced. I love righteousness won. I love pain defeated. I choose to believe that world is yet possible. Why? Because it is God’s vision, his intention, his choice. He wants to end oppression, injustice, violence and suffering and he will defy resistance and do just that.
And he can — for he exists as and in his own freedom — and he will do what he says he will do. He is the source of all agency and the creator of all redemption. He is the one who will undo the underpinnings of current harms and make a safe world for his own.
By agentic power — the power that flung the universe into place — God will water his garden and nothing will stop him.
Thrive! 