A Glimpse of the Kingdom of God
Read Isaiah 11:1-10
"A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots."
We see here a vision, a glimpse, of what the Kingdom of God is supposed to look like. This might have been what the world was supposed to look like prior to the entrance of sin into the world. Perhaps this is what our world should look like? What do we see here?
We see that enemies, hunters and their prey, live together and share food. Hurt and destruction will not exist. See here that all of the potential harm and destruction in this passage could only come from people and animals. These living things no longer inflict harm and destruction on one another because, in the words of Isaiah, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” How does this vision of the Kingdom challenge you? How does it challenge us today? How does this vision give us hope?
Maybe our hope is that the world we live in, while filled with destruction and harm, does not have to stay the way it is? Perhaps our hope is in that such a Kingdom exists? Perhaps our hope is in the return of Christ, the shoot of the stump of Jesse? Perhaps our hope is in all of this and more? Read this passage…but do not say, “How wondrous a vision of the Kingdom!” Instead, read this passage and say, “Oh, we have gone astray of the vision of the Kingdom! Only one can help us find our way back to this Kingdom, and he will return!”
Weston Pendergrass
God of Advent, kindle within us the flame of hope. Help us be your beacons of hope for people and places weighed down by hopelessness. As we enter with you into this Advent journey, help us to be your mind, heart, and hands in the world. For we pray in your name. Amen.
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