Isaiah 11:1-9
1
Isaiah 'Twas Foretold It: Unreasonable Hope
Isaiah 11:1-10
Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins
Georgetown Presbyterian Church
December 8, 2013
This past week I read an article about a man named Mark Skiba. I'll bet most, if not all
of you, have no idea who he is. He is a 1998 graduate of Auburn University. Last January his
parents were in Las Vegas, and Mr. Skiba got a phone call from his dad. His dad told him that
the oddsmakers had put 500-to-1 odds that Auburn would win the BCS championship on
January 6, 2014. Now remember, this was January of 2013, and Auburn had just finished a
season with a record of 3-8, 0-8 in the SEC.
And so Mark Skiba did what any rational, logical human being would do: He told his
father to put $100 down for Auburn to win the championship. His father told him he was crazy.
I'm sure everyone else also told him he was crazy.
And yet, thanks to a somewhat amazing catch to seal a victory against Georgia, and
thanks to what some have said was the most incredible game-ending touchdown last
Saturday, and thanks to an awesome display of offensive power yesterday to win the SEC
championship, suddenly the bet doesn't seem so crazy after all. Granted, the votes and the
computers still need to confirm a #2 ranking so that Auburn can go to the title game, but what
was unthinkable on January 30 of this year has all of a sudden fallen into the realm of
possibility.
The gap between vision and reality suddenly became smaller, didn't it?
I think there's something of a “you must be crazy” response to Isaiah's vision in the text
I just read. The reality in which Isaiah found himself and the people of God was destruction
and devastation of their homeland. The armies of Assyria had invaded and pillaged and
destroyed the nation, all the way up to the gates of Jerusalem. God did defeat the Assyrians,
but the aftermath was desolation all around.
It wasn't too different from the scene in the movie, Patton, when General Patton
“surveys a battlefield where the Germans and American forces fought to a draw; neither side
won. Both sides suffered appalling casualties. The field itself was a scene of utter devastation
—smoky ruins, not a building, not even a tree left standing. Patton says, 'God forgive me, but
I love this.'”1
Such would've been the scene that the prophet surveyed at the end of the 10 th chapter
and the beginning of the 11th chapter of Isaiah. A countryside leveled by slash-and-burn
tactics, nothing but smoldering ruins. Trees reduced to stumps.
And yet, in the midst of the devastation, a sign of hope: “A shoot will come up from the
stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” 2 From a scene of death and
destruction appears a sign of new life. And of course it is a sign of much more than just the
reforestation of the land; it is a sign of new life for the people of God, the vision of the Messiah
arising out of the ashes to usher in a new kingdom.
1
2
The description of the scene from Patton comes from a sermon delivered by Rev. John Buchanan, Fourth Presbyterian
Church in Chicago, December 9, 2007, www.fourthchurch.org
Isaiah 11:1
Isaiah 11:1-9
2
It is a vision of a Messiah who will govern with wisdom, power, might, understanding,
and knowledge that only comes by the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. The Messiah will
not be like other kings, whose wisdom was lacking or failing, whose power fell short, whose
authority did not promote justice and righteousness. The Messiah in this vision that God gave
to Isaiah will govern with righteousness, will act with justice, will slay the wicked and will serve
with faithfulness.
The vision presents two scenes, as if two paintings were hinged together side by side
and opened to complement one another. Under the scene on the left would be the title,
“Justice,” for that is the way the Messiah will govern: with righteousness judging the for the
needy, with justice giving decisions for the poor, with his word slaying the wicked. He will be
clothed in righteousness and faithfulness. That's what justice looks like.
The second scene would have the title “peace” written underneath it. It is a startling
image of enemies in the animal kingdom living together in peace and harmony, without the
desire to devour and without fear of being devoured.
Both images are startling in their contrast from reality: a ruler who governs with justice
and righteousness, and a kingdom whose hallmark is the peace and harmony of the original
creation.
Ever since the fall of the human race into a state of sin, there has been a stark contrast
between the way the world is, and the way that God intends it to be. It certainly was that way
in the day of Isaiah, and it is that way for us today, as well. Nevertheless, God's vision is
there, and the challenge for us as the people of God is whether we should live resigned to the
present reality, or live into the moral imperatives that God's vision implies, knowing full well
that one day God will fulfill his vision whether we cooperate or not.
It is not something reasonable that Isaiah puts before us. Wolves and sheep, leopards
and goats, calves and lions and yearlings, little children and venomous snakes, all dwelling
together in peace. It is not something reasonable, but it is our hope. It is our hope, because it
envisions a world transformed by the spirit of God, conformed to God's will.
In your bulletins this morning you find a copy of a scene painted by 19th-century
Quaker artist Edward Hicks. It is called “The Peaceable Kingdom.” Hicks is said to have
painted this vision from Isaiah anywhere between 60 and 100 times. If you look at the picture,
there is a collection of animals existing side-by-side. Predator and prey together, with no sign
of hostility. It is a surprising image; if you look at the lion and the leopard, they appear wideeyed, almost as with surprise that they aren't attacking the sheep and cows beside them. It is
an unlikely scene, indeed, for it requires the transformation of the nature of the beasts in order
for them to live peacefully with one another. It is a scene that implies that something in the
very nature of the beasts has enabled the predator to live alongside the prey without a desire
to devour the prey, and for the prey to live alongside the predator without the prey fearing the
predator.
Such a vision requires a change of heart, a transformation of one's very nature.
In his paintings, Hicks transfers the spirit of the vision from the animal realm to the
human realm. Notice in the background you will see two companies of humans portrayed: the
original founders of American Quakerism, including William Penn; and a tribe of Native
Americans with whom the Quakers are signing a treaty. As with the animal kingdom, so shall
it be among people—peace.
It is a vision that speaks of the hope that fills the human heart. It is a vision that
captures the longing in our hearts—a day when the justice and righteousness of God will rule
Isaiah 11:1-9
3
in the hearts of all people, ushering in a kingdom of peace, restoring the world to a scene
much like the Garden of Eden.
It is a vision that also makes us wonder if such a world will ever be possible. For, as in
the day of Isaiah, the reality in which we live is in stark contrast to the picture painted by the
vision. In our world, I would venture to bet that it would be easier to make a lion lie down with
a lamb, than it would be to get the donkeys and elephants in Washington to sit at table
together. In our world, forget children playing alongside venomous snakes—many times they
can't even play safely in their own neighborhoods for fear of violence, or drugs, or malicious
strangers. In our world in which there are some 38,000 Christian denominations around the
world, most of which were formed by splintering and disagreement, unity in the animal
kingdom seems like a piece of cake.
The peaceable kingdom is not something that is easily within reach.
Edward Hicks began to realize this as time went on. With the passage of time, his
paintings continued to portray hope, but also indications of dashed hopes. There are
instances in which the animals bear their claws, where divisions are more prominent, the eyes
of the animals looking older, more sunken-in; there is still a docility, but one borne of fatigue,
not peace. The slight embankment that separates the animals from the human depiction in
later paintings becomes a deep and wide ravine. It was a reflection of Hicks's disillusionment
even with his own Quaker movement, where conflicts erupted and peace was tenuous at
best.3
There is a gap between the vision of peace and justice and righteousness, and the
reality of the world in which we live.
But does that mean we simply resign ourselves to the present reality, and give up on
the hope of the vision? Not for us, it doesn't.
You see, 700 years after Isaiah's vision, the shoot from the stump of Jesse came alive,
born in Bethlehem. He came to demonstrate the power of God to transform the world, and to
declare that the kingdom of God was near. In his life, and death, and resurrection, Jesus
showed us that the vision of Isaiah is not simply a dream, but a promised reality that finds its
fulfillment in him.
Remember, the focus of the season of Advent is not on the birth of Jesus, but on how
to live as people who have seen Jesus and who await his return in glory. And so we are not
simply to wish for a time when all will be like the vision of Isaiah; rather, we are to live as
people who know that in Jesus Christ that vision finds its fulfillment. The waiting in which we
engage is active waiting. It is a waiting that claims that the justice and righteousness and
peace of the vision of Isaiah can be experienced today, at least as a foretaste of the ultimate
peace and justice and righteousness of the kingdom of God. It is a waiting that does not sit
idly by and watch the world go on fighting and oppressing and dividing and conquering one
another; rather it is a waiting that cries against the injustices we encounter, and struggles
against evil, and seeks to move toward the vision.
Not long after the terrorist attacks of September 11, former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright spoke at a Presbyterian church in St. Paul, Minnesota. She spoke about
waiting, and what it means to wait with hope. She said, “There are different ways of waiting.
There is waiting without carrying hope within ourselves, sitting—waiting for salvation to come
from the [somewhere else]... and there are those who wait with faith and who fight for truth
3
Several sources cited such a trend in Hicks's paintings. See, for example, John Braostoski, Friends Journal, February
2000, http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/Hicks_Peaceable_Kingdom.htm
Isaiah 11:1-9
4
even when they are defeated and beaten back a hundred times. This is the kind of waiting
that sends forth seeds out of which change and progress may one day grow. The difference is
between waiting for lilies to appear that have never been planted, and doing your utmost to
help good seeds find nourishment in rocky soil.”4
On Thursday the world noted the passing of Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a
remarkable person, arguably one of the most influential people in the world in recent
generations. He lived in a world where one's rights of citizenship, one's privileges of
ownership, one's status of employment, one's possibility of economic success and stability
were determined solely by the color of one's skin. Mandela was a man who quickly
recognized the injustice of the system called Apartheid, and he was a vocal and influential
critic of the oppressive system in place in South Africa.
Mandela first sought peaceful means of dismantling Apartheid. But eventually he saw
the futility of peaceful means, and he began to engage in and lead underground armed
resistance of the South African government. Eventually, he was imprisoned, and later put on
trial for sabotage. At the trial in 1964, Mandela gave a speech which would become famous
by his declaration that he would be willing to die for the anti-Apartheid ideals for which he was
on trial. His speech before the judge and jury lasted for nearly four hours, and ended with
these words:
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African
people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which
all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal
which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I
am prepared to die.”5
It was an ideal for which he spent 27 years in prison. Upon his release, he modeled for
all the world an amazing testament to the power of forgiveness, which will be his legacy as
much as the breaking down of the walls of Apartheid.
Nelson Mandela was a man who had a vision of a South Africa that was far, far
different from the reality of the world in which he lived. Yet he did not allow the unreasonable
nature of his vision to deter him. He was a man who waited, patiently, determinedly, actively,
for more than three decades.
My friends in Christ, that is the kind of waiting in which we are to engage as we await
the return of our Lord. It is a waiting in the face of an unreasonable hope, a waiting that is
informed by our knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that there is nothing—not death, not violence,
not injustice, not immorality, not inequality, not conflict, not any form of evil—there is nothing
that can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a phrase at the end of our text from Isaiah that sums up, not only the content
of our hope, but also the attitude of our hearts as we look for the fulfillment of our hope: “they
will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”6 You see, your heart cannot have the
4
5
6
John Buchanan, citing Madeleine Albright, in “The Peace of God,” December 9, 2001, www.fourthchurch.org
I suppose that the text of his speech is found all across the internet. This particular excerpt was quoted from
http://www.businessinsider.com/nelson-mandelas-i-am-prepared-to-die-speech-which-put-him-in-prison-for-27-years2013-12
Isaiah 11:9
Isaiah 11:1-9
5
knowledge of the Lord without your life being changed. As soon as the knowledge of the Lord
fills your heart, your reality changes. No longer do we settle for the status quo; instead, we
live into the vision of the glorious kingdom of God.
And so here we are. There is a gap between the Peaceable Kingdom, and our current
war on terror, and our current political climate, and inequities that define the socio-economic
classes of our society, and the racial-ethnic tensions that mark our communities. It's actually a
pretty large gap.
But the question that Advent poses to us while we wait for the return of the Lord, is,
“How will you live in the tension between the vision and the reality? What are you going to do
about it?”
Amen.