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| The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks |
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord--
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. Isaiah 11:1-10
Wednesday: Kingdom of Peace; Isaiah 11:1-10; Symbol - wolf with lamb
Today's devotion is a time to reflect on the words of Isaiah. How often do you think about the kingdom that is to come? What about your children?
Today, after reading Isaiah, you may want to spend time just imagining what Heaven will be like, based on Isaiah's words. What will it be like to meet Jesus? Who else do they look forward to seeing? What animals do they want to pet and hug...I know this is one thing my children love to talk about.
A world at peace...we can place our hope and trust in this reality. Oh blessed day when Christ returns!
Joy to the world, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her king
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
The above commentary on Isaiah is part of a 4-week Advent Reflection for the Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree is similar to an advent calendar. Every day you will read a Bible passage to your child(ren), discuss what it means to them in personal terms and color an ornament to hang on your Jesse Tree. A fuller description of this can be found at The Jesse Tree
When you are finished today, you might want to discuss how Christmas is about giving much more than getting. One way that your family can give is through their daily prayers. This might be a good time to pray for a specific country or for a group of people who do not know about Jesus. Today, over 2 billion people, 1/3 of the earth's population, have never heard the Gospel message. They have no understanding of a wonderful world that is to come for those who believe in Jesus. We need to pray that they will hear about Jesus and follow Him.
Two great websites to help you do this are:
Operation World go to Featured Nation and click on Country Profile
Some of the churches in Charleston that are using a Jesse Tree as part of their Advent celebration are: Charleston Sanctuary
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