Isaiah 11 today. Even in the first 39 chapters themed by prophecies of judgment, devastation and inevitable captivity for the ancient people of God over their unwillingness to repent, there are these glimpses of a future so gorgeous and unfathomable, they take your breath away.->

“The wolf will dwell with the lamb & the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion & the fattened calf will be together & a child will lead them... An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit & a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den. They will not harm

or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water...& His resting place will be glorious.” The enmity that burgeoned from sin in the Garden & from soil cursed with thorn & thistle will end.

The theme of that section in Isaiah 11 is safety. When God’s kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, there will be safety. Infants & children will never again be in harm’s way. Carnivorous animals will no longer tear their prey apart. They will eat straw.

All this destruction & trauma will be over. Both Testaments preach this eschatological hope. One day this world will pass away & there will be, Dear Loved of God, a new heaven & a new earth & God’s dwelling will be with us & ours with Him.And grief, crying & pain will be no more.

We will no longer be afraid.
We will no longer hate or be hated or hunted.
We will no longer fear what lurks in the dark for all darkness will be dead.
The Lord will be our everlasting light.
No more bloodshed.
No more violence.
No more suffering children.
We will all be safe.

PS. For my 6th birthday, I asked for a baby elephant complete with beads and plumes that I could ride to school every morning for 1st grade. My parents wouldn’t get me one but I’m thinking under these conditions, there’s eschatological hope for baby elephants with purple plumes.