Many texts of the Old Testament, especially specific predictive
prophecies, help humanity to fully confirm without any doubt, the true identity
of prophesied Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth:
DANIEL 2:44 And in the
days of these [final ten] kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which
shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people;
but it shall break and crush
and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever. 45 Just as you
saw that the Stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke
in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great
God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. The
dream is certain and the interpretation of it is sure.
Unlike Daniel in this chapter, Isaiah the prophet has
communicated to us a deeply personal human picture of this symbolic Stone cut
without hands, Who was yet to come forth as the Messiah.
Isaiah also revealed specific aspects of life in God’s
Kingdom, and the final outcome of its absolute destruction of the other great
imperial powers, as it grows and spreads throughout human history, until the
end of this age.
These personal aspects and qualities, representing the
spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God, revealed to the prophet Isaiah, are
completely connected with his highly personal portrait of Jesus Himself, in his
description of His fully synchronized and integrated interactions with the Holy
Spirit.
In Isaiah 11, we encounter a description of what has been
titled by many as “The Peaceable Kingdom,” and which has been interpreted as an
ideal eschatological state of being. Some scholars believe
that it has its exclusive fulfillment in the eternal New Creation future, or in
an interim Millennial Kingdom on the earth according to others, while many see
it as being partially fulfilled in the present age, being completed in either
of these later stages of redemptive history.
“The Peaceable Kingdom” is certainly idyllic and will
definitely have some form of ultimate fulfillment in the Kingdom manifestation,
which will be directly and eternally ruled by Jesus when He is once again physically
present in the New Creation.
It also serves as a spiritual template, a picture of
possibilities for God’s people living together in supernatural harmony, even
while yet in this Church Age, loving one another in the koinonia fellowship of the Holy Spirit. (2 CORINTHIANS 13:14) and
the love of Jesus. (EPHESIANS 3:14-21)
This is exactly the ideal of loving community that David
himself longed for centuries before, as he penned Psalm 133: 1 Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It
is like the precious ointment poured on the head, that ran down on the beard,
even the beard of Aaron, that came down upon the collar and skirts of his garments [consecrating the whole body]. 3 It
is like the dew of [lofty] Mount Hermon and the dew that comes on the hills of
Zion; for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore
[upon the high and the lowly].
Such a beautiful sentiment and passionate desire for peace
has been, in some form or another, given voice by many generations of people,
all over the earth, as they were facing violence, upheaval, and chaos in their
own time, and in their own personal experiences.
Neil Uniacke
Executive Director
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