A Description of the Kingdom of God 35
A Description of the Kingdom of God, 35
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. (Isaiah 6:9)
Isaiah. The Prophet Isaiah also was given the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. It may be true that Isaiah has more to say concerning the Kingdom of God and Christ than is true of any other of the Hebrew Prophets. This is fitting, because the one who cried, "Here am I, send me!" was denied the satisfaction of being able to awaken the interest of his own people.
So often God crushes our immediate hopes in order that He may enable us to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to a universe of people of whom we are not aware during our travail of soul. But later we understand and are satisfied.
Isaiah beheld the city of Jerusalem exalted as the head of all nations and the peoples of the earth going up to be taught the righteous ways of the Lord.
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)
Isaiah proclaimed the coming of Christ, the King, the Servant of the Lord, the Anointed One who is to rule the earth forever:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6,7)
The merging of the spiritual life of Paradise with the material creation can be viewed in the following passage. Here indeed is Heaven come to earth, the doing of God's will in the earth as it is in Heaven:
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp [cobra], and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' [viper's] den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Notice that the wolf does not become a lamb nor does the leopard become a kid. Rather, the compulsion to destroy one another is taken out of them. They are willing to be led in peace by a child.
Jesus is as a lion, a powerful, kingly animal. He also is as a lamb, a tame, gentle animal. But His heart is that of a child. Why else would He come "leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills" (Song of Solomon 2:8)? Skipping is the action of a young boy, a youth, not of a bilious emperor or an eminent theologian. Truly, we must become as a little child if we are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if we would skip with Jesus on the hills.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. (Luke 10:21) (from The Kingdom of God)