The book of the prophet Isaiah is fertile material for people of faith. Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament. Passages from Isaiah set the stage for our Christmas celebrations. This prophet helps us focus on God’s judgement, righteousness, and redemption. Scholars believe that chapter 1-39 recount the story of God’s people in the time of this prophet (and this section of biblical material is often referred to as First Isaiah.) chapter 40-66 tell of God’s work with the people in later times (and it is often called Second Isaiah and Third Isaiah.) To quote the editors of the New Oxford Annotated Study Bible “together these theologically significant sections present a moving vision of the assured hope of God’s people in a world whose times are in God’s hands.”
Isaiah 11:1-9
11 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow[a] out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed[b] together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Prayer
God of my life and time, let me share your vision and trust in your wisdom as I live as an obedient follower of your Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus, in whose name I pray.
