June 24, 2025 -Everyone Gets it Wrong

ISAIAH 8:1-11:16

Chronological Bible Readings

Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and of might,

    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

    or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 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.

5 Righteousness will be his belt

    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Isaiah is hard to read and try to understand. I can pick out some of the Jesus prophecies like this one, and I have a little understanding of some passages in other chapters because of previous studies but it's a tough one to just read through. I'm glad that the chronological reading plan will break it up some and put it in context with some of the king's stories. But isn't this a power picture of Jesus!

Isaiah 11:6 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.

7 The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

9 They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea.

This feels like it would be talking of Heaven but its right in the middle of a bunch of stuff that sounds like it is talking about Jesus first coming. That doesn't make sense to me. I love the fact that Jesus has already come so we can look at the Messianic prophecies in hindsight. That is why we can read them and see Jesus in them, but before Jesus came it was probably pretty confusing to the Israelites as well. That is why they got it so wrong. And for me any of the prophecies of the second coming are not meant to be understood any more than the messianic ones were understandable to the Israelites. You know that we can be pretty sure that even the greatest scholars don't have it all figured out. In the end everyone who things they understand it will get it wrong. It doesn't matter to me at all. As long as Jesus returns, I am good with whatever it looks like and whatever happens before during or after it. Seeing Jesus face to face is good enough for me. Come Lord Jesus!!