The Wolf and the Lamb
Isaiah 65:25 – A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” says the LORD.
I really want to see this! Among the new things Jesus will create in the new heaven and new earth – there will be animals that we will recognize and identify but there will be something significantly different with them. There will no longer be predators and prey. Injury and destruction will not be in their nature. It was never there to begin with – it only appeared after Adam and Eve sinned. We will have to discard everything we’ve been taught about eco-systems and cycles of life. Everything will be new!
About 5 years ago we found a new home for one of our cats – we had too many (we still have too many). Recently, however, the person we gave her to contacted us saying she could no longer care for her and had difficulty finding someone who would take her – she wanted to know if we would take her back – so we did. Things had changed for our little cat over the 5 years that she was away from us. She was no longer the timid kitten that was found and rescued from my wife’s workplace 10 years ago. She had become a force to be reckoned with among the rest of our cats – but she had also become sick with diabetes.
Just a couple days ago a cat-fight broke out in the house and it sounded like a literal whirlwind of screaming and claws was moving from room to room until the chaos finally settled down. Our cats were trying to work things out by injuring and destroying each other! Can you imagine we presently have people in the world who are trying to do the same? Control, dominance, predator, prey, slavery, trafficking, war? None of these things are going to happen in the new heaven and earth. There will no longer be power struggles in the home, workplace, or church.
The animals will be different in the new world – but the people, what about the people? We must learn to be different if would ever hope to be part of the new world. We will not be bringing our conflicts into it. Those who’ve abandoned the LORD in favor of their own self-interest in this world will not find a place in the next.
“Never again will one of her infants live just a few days or an old man die before his time. Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed. They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the LORD will bless their children and their descendants.” – Isaiah 65:20-23.
The wolf, lamb, lion, ox, snake – and most of all people – will all live in harmony without injury or destruction. I want to do more than just see it with my eyes. I want to live it. I want to be there. But first, I need Jesus in my heart. I need His work of creating all things new to begin with me.
“God, create a pure heart in me, and renew a right attitude within me. Do not cast me from your presence; do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and let a willing attitude control me. Then I will teach transgressors about your ways, and sinners will turn to you. Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood, God, God of my salvation. Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” – Psalms 51:10-15. Amen!
Where two are gathered 