In the sermon 'Meditations in Times of Discouragement,' Peter Allison explores the themes of hope and restoration as depicted in Isaiah 11, focusing on the imagery of harmony among animals as a metaphor for peace and reconciliation in the world. He draws parallels between the hardships faced by naval ship crew members and the Israelites of Isaiah's era, highlighting how disappointments can lead to anxiety and depression. Allison emphasizes the importance of a renewed perspective, as taught by Apostle Paul, to overcome such challenges through gratitude and meditating on what is noble and just. He argues that the reign of the Messiah will ultimately bring about a transformation of the natural world to its pre-fall state, symbolizing the complete restoration in the new heavens and new earth. This transformation includes peace among nations and within the animal kingdom, as well as the prevalence of truth and the eradication of rebellion. The sermon concludes with a call for faith in the promises of God and a focus on the joy and hope that come from trusting in His word.

Our scripture reading is Isaiah 11. I'd like to just read verses 6 to 9. Hear God's word. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. May Jehovah give us understanding according to His word. Gracious Father in heaven, we lift our hearts up to you. Please instruct us out of your word and sanctify my sinful lips, that they may proclaim the riches of your grace and the glory of your great salvation and preserve me from error.

Through Jesus Christ we ask, Amen. Well, the military news in The past few days has been reporting on the deteriorating mental health of some of the naval ship crew on one of the aircraft carriers that's been deployed to the Middle East for nine months with only a very few short two-day port visits. Their return home has been extended many times and to expect to be going home only to be told that the ship is being expended at sea is disappointing. Very disappointing. And those of you that have been gone a long time from home know what that is.

To be anticipating to go home and be told you can't. And in addition to the disappointments of not getting to go home when you've expected to go home. Extended deployments like that also bring their own pressures and disappointments and trials. And when these types of disappointments and trials are not handled properly, it can and often does lead to anxiety, to discouragement, and even depression as it's evidenced in the lives of the few of the crew members who have either jumped overboard or attempted to jump overboard and were restrained by their shipmates because they were simply too depressed to deal with another day of life. But Of course, I think we all know that extended naval deployments aren't the only thing that can depress people.

Nearly any disappointment or distressing circumstance can bring anxiety, can bring discontentment and discouragement, and that can lead to depression. The mere feeling of being overwhelmed with the circumstances of our lives can bring anxiety leading to depression. And in cases of severe depression, It may be as extreme as losing all hope and even the desire to continue living as these people jumping off a ship are showing. While the believers in the land of Israel in the time of Isaiah also faced some rather hard and uncertain times. Isaiah has been bringing repeated messages of coming judgment on their land, of invading armies that will decimate their land.

He's prophesied of the land being reduced from glory to being a stump, of being reduced from a people as numerous as the sand of the sea to just a remnant, reduced from this extensive forest to a few trees that a young person could count. And I think it's easy to see how this could generate anxiety in many hearts. When will this happen? What will happen to me? What will happen to my family?

To my house? The Bible tells us in Proverbs 12 verse 25 that anxiety in the heart of man is one cause of depression. The feeling that life is hopeless or the feeling too of being too overwhelmed to want to continue living. And in the apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians he gives the tools to leading a victorious life over anxiety, discontentment, discouragement, and depression. And what Paul focuses on in that section, in that letter to the Philippians, is our thought life.

How we think about what is happening and what we are to think about. What are right thoughts and what are wrong thoughts? Paul says we are to rejoice or as James puts it to count into joy when we fall into various trials and of course we are to pray and ask the Lord for what we need but what's added is how we are how we are to pray we're to pray with thanksgiving with a grateful heart for all the things that we have been given, with gratitude for what the Lord has already done for us. And so the first key there is remembering, which is to say we have to think about what we've already been given and be grateful for while we are asking for what we need in that moment. And of course to do that means we have to shift our thoughts from dwelling on what we don't have, the lack, the circumstances that we are in, and we have to focus on thinking what we do have.

And that Holy Spirit enabled change in perspective is huge. See, it's the difference between anxiety, discouragement, depression, despair, and living in a state of contentment and joy, which is how we ought to live even in our sorrows even in the times of trials and it's how we can live by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and only by that power And so Paul then tells us directly what our minds should dwell on. We are to meditate on what is true, what is noble, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is a good report. I think we probably have that memorized. And so after giving the Israelites these fumbling judgments in chapter 10 and all along the book so far, and this is going to continue.

We are about to get into a section of 20 or 30 chapters of judgment, one after another, nation after nation. After these judgments of chapter 10, Isaiah also gives to the Israelites the other side of the story in this chapter 11. And this is how we ought to think about the times in which we live. These are the promises. These are the facts that we ought to keep in our mind and meditate on.

This is the lens that Isaiah gives us here, through which we need to view the world. This is the framework Isaiah is giving here, through which we need to understand everything that the Lord brings to pass in our life. Now when we look at these declarations here, And we looked at a few of them last week. This week we have some very direct ones. I think there are two questions that probably come to mind.

And that is, when will these promises come to pass? The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze together, their young ones will lie down together, the lion will eat straw like an ox, and the nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole and the weaned child shall put his hand in the vipers den and they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Well, the time frame for the fulfillment of these promises is provided by the New Testament's interpretation of this passage. We go back to the beginning of the chapter which tells us there there shall come forth a shoot from the stem of Jesse and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

And Jesus applies this passage to himself when he read from it in the in the synagogue discourse declaring in Luke 4 today after he'd read it today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing And verse 10 ties itself to that day as well. In that day there shall be a root of Jesse who will stand as a banner to the people. And then it speaks of the Gentiles seeking him. Verse 11 also ties itself to that day. It speaks of God recovering the remnant of Israel that had been scattered around the world and we know that that happened at Pentecost and it continued after Christ ascended.

There were many Jews who believed under the Apostle Paul's ministry throughout the Roman world as well as many who did not. And at Pentecost the list of nations of Jews that were gathered together there is given. And God continues to draw the Gentiles to Himself such that the Gentiles continue to seek Him. That's us. The Jews also continue to seek Him.

And they're hardening because their hardening is only in part meaning that they are also converted but it's through the labor of the Gentiles who have been converted and who now testify of their the Messiah to the Jews. Isaiah said that the increase of his government would have no end. And Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that Christ would reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet. And verses 4 and 5 here give us the character of Christ's reign. The Messiah is reigning now, and His reign is righteous and effectual in verse 4.

But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins. All that he brings to pass is just and equitable, as we saw last week. His reign is also effectual. It will succeed.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. With the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked, and faithfulness will be the belt of his waist." Faithful means that he will do as all that he has promised. His people will not be disappointed in him. He is faithful. He is faithful even when we are not faithful to him.

And Calvin points out that when the prophets says, quote, when the prophet says by the breath of his lips, this must not be limited to the person of Christ because it refers to the word which is preached by his ministers, those whom he has sent to proclaim his word. So when they faithfully declare his word, their mouth is to be considered as his mouth and their lips as his lips. Jesus told the disciples in Luke 10, he who hears you hears me. He who rejects you rejects me. He told them as he was sending them out.

And so the gospel will always accomplish its purpose. It never returns void without having fulfilled what it was sent for. It will harden the reprobate, ripening them for destruction, or it will convert the elect. Not one wicked person will ever go unpunished. Not one of his children will ever go unpurified.

Either way, the gospel will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. So when we hear about cases like Andrea Shaw, We can be tempted to feelings of hopelessness or of defeat. She is a 23-year-old Idaho mother who was arrested for the murder of her twin toddlers days after giving birth to another daughter. That was last month. Her twins had died eight days after receiving vaccines at their 18-month visit.

Andrea and her mother-in-law had warned the doctor about a family history of adverse reactions and they'd been dismissed. They had adverse reactions and the next day in the emergency room to which they went diagnosed these two little twins 18 month old boys with postimmune immunization reaction and a week later they were found unconscious and the mother not only gets arrested and separated from her nursing newborn, to add to the injustice she is even denied bail. And that's a double cruelty as any nursing mother knows, to be separated from your nursing child. This is when we need to remember and meditate on the promise the Messiah is reigning in righteousness now. The Messiah will slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

And so That doesn't mean we sit back in indifference. It means we can pray with confidence that God will slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. That we can act to defend the innocent and testify to the truth of His Word, knowing that the Messiah will slay the wicked with the breath of his mouth. When we read about the tremendous inroads that Islam has made across our nation, especially here in Texas and in Michigan, of all of the mosques that are being built, hundreds across our state, or all the Christians that are being attacked and accused of blasphemy under their laws, under their wicked laws, We can be tempted to hopelessness or discouragement. And this is, see these are the times when we need to remember, most remember, that Christ is reigning and will slay the wicked with the breath of his mouth, with his gospel.

And that is the truth that we need to fill our minds with to meditate on. We're to think on these things that are true, noble, and just. This is what is truth. This is what is just. So we can confidently say that these prophecies of Christ's reign are being fulfilled today, and they will continue to be progressively fulfilled until Christ returns in glory with the defeat of that last enemy, which is death.

Of course, what the scriptures don't tell us is when that day will be. The scriptures did teach about when his coming in 70 AD would be, that they gave the signs of when it would be near at hand so that the Saints would know exactly when it was coming and when they needed to flee. But the Lord hasn't seen fit to tell us when the end will be or what the signs will be that it's and is imminent. Instead he tells us only the father knows that day. Jesus said in Matthew 24 but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven but my father only we are simply instructed to continue watching and praying and to be ready because the day will come without warning if if and if we're not always ready we will be unprepared.

But the second question I think is a little bit harder question and that is how should these prophecies be understood what does their fulfillment look like are are they mostly fulfilled not fulfilled at all Or in what sense should we expect them to be fulfilled? Most of the reformers at the time of the Reformation understood these as strictly allegorical or figurative in the sense in which the animal kingdom was being used to speak of a change in people. Luther says, but these are allegories by which the prophet intimates that the tyrants, the self-righteous, and the powerful ones in the world shall be converted and be received into the church. And Calvin is only slightly less stigmatic, saying, by these modes of expression he means nothing else than that those who formerly were like savage beasts will be mild and gentle for he compares violent and ravenous men to wolves and bears which live on prey and plunder. Well while it is true that the scriptures do use animals to describe people, I think there is a significant difference between those figurative passages and this passage.

One of the places that animals are used to describe vicious people is in Psalm 22 where Christ is pictured on the cross as being surrounded by bulls encircling him. So verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bation have encircled me, they gape at me with their mouths like a raging and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. The Jewish powers are called strong bulls and they're described as raging and roaring line and that analogy is very applicable. But if this passage here is speaking of people who are being converted then what does it mean for a little child to lead them?

The gospel makes even the simple wise. In Isaiah 3, it was a judgment on the land that they were led by little children and women. It wasn't a blessing. What would it mean for a lion to eat straw like an ox? You know, the millennial blessings are typically given in terms of a banquet, a marriage feast.

It was a judgment on Nebuchadnezzar that he was made to eat straw like an ox. It wasn't a millennial blessing. But what we do see is that this description here is an exact description of the pre-fall world in which Adam and Eve lived. There was a cessation, an absence of conflict throughout the entire created order. And what Isaiah tells us is that the rain of the Messiah, the result, the fruit of the rain of Messiah on the earth will bring a beautiful and glorious restoration of the sin-cursed world in which we presently live.

The effect of his righteous and just reign in which he strikes the earth with the rod of his mouth and slays the wicked with the breath of his lips. The result of that will restore the creation to what it was before sin destroyed its peace and brought fighting and murder and strife and toil and bitterness and pain and sorrow and death. All of the things that tempt us to discouragement and depression. Christ's reign will bring another complete cessation and restoration of what creation was before sin. Of course, the rod of his mouth, right, and the breath of his lips is the gospel.

And so the Word of God, under which every enemy is subdued underneath his feet either in grace or in his wrath through the Messiah see God is reconciling the world to himself and this restoration is so thorough and transformative that it even includes the natural world and the animals that are in it as well as us but he says in Hosea 2 18 in that day I the Lord will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field with the birds of the air And with the creeping things of the ground, bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely." The natural world is waiting for this restoration. And Paul speaks of this exact same thing in Romans 8. It says, the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. For the earnest Expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Why what are they waiting for?

Because the creation was subject to futility Not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope Because the creation itself The animals the lion the bears that fight the wolves that eat sheep, the leopards that eat fatlings, The creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. See, God is not only bringing an end to Wars between nations, but he is ending conflicts of every kind even in the animal kingdom And to do that he has to he's going to change Our nature he has to change our nature and he's going to change the animals nature, too the natural world that Darwin so hopelessly described as a brutal struggle for existence. What Lord Alfred said was red in tooth and claw. That's not the final answer. And yes, this knowledge doesn't make the sufferings of this present time easier or easy.

But it does enable us to put the sufferings of this present time, the sorrow or the awful consequences of war, the attacks of enemies, whatever those sorrows are, it enables us to put the sorrows of this present age into their proper perspective and Enables us to think rightly about them And so that we can say with Paul that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us. This is the perspective that these facts, these promises enable, brings to us. The second truth to meditate on is that Christ is eradicating all insubordination and rebellion. Ultimately, there won't need to be a civil government, because there won't be a need to punish rebels. There won't be any to punish.

They will all be in submission, and that will even extend to the animals. A little child will be able to lead these animals that used to be very ferocious. There'll be certainly the abolition of all killing. The lion shall eat straw like an ox. The bear will graze with the cow.

That's the abolition of not only killing of humans, but even the killing of animals for food, something which God has authorized in this age. And so before the fall, there was no shedding of blood. Animals did not kill each other for food They they were all herbivores. Yes, even the lion and the dog and the wolf Genesis 1 30 says also to after God had given to man every herb bearing seed for food he says also to every beast of the earth to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so." God didn't give the animals to each other for food. That only happened as a result of the curse of sin.

That is a part of the futility, the bondage under which creation labors and groans today. You see, there's a difference between a cow eating grass and a cat killing a bird or a dog killing a squirrel. Because there's a degree of sorrow when we see an animal killed, even if it is for food. But that's completely absent when you watch a goat eat grass, because the grass doesn't have life like an animal does. There's no blood in it.

That's why we have a desire to save animals from being killed, even by other animals, because there's a degree of sorrow in that. But there's no desire to stop an animal from eating grass, because the grass is not alive. And there's no loss of life, there's no sorrow in seeing grass get eaten. And so for a lion to eat straw like an ox means that God will restore the creation to its pre-fall goodness And glory just like it was in the original creation Before the fall lambs were not afraid of wolves and could lie down to them and be as safe as if they were lying down next to their mother. And the wolves didn't want to eat the lambs.

Snakes weren't venomous. There were no nursing children before the fall, but if there had been, a nursing child could have played next to a cobra. And mama would not have been the least bit afraid. Because they will not hurt or destroy. But there are children today, and that day is coming when snakes will no longer be poisonous, mosquitoes will no longer bite, babies will no longer die or even be killed in their womb by their own mothers.

This is a restoration of the creation to its original purpose. Man was given authority, dominion, over the created order. And that's what It speaks of that when it talks about a little child being able to lead these animals. That's the exercise of dominion over a created order that is compliant, not rebellious. So the purpose of creation will be restored to its original purpose, which all of that is ultimately for the glory of God.

And of course, All of this change requires a change in the very nature. It's a nature of a wolf to eat a lamb. It's in the nature of cobras to attack and bite. And so when God is speaking of this restoration, There's got to be a change in nature and it's a change in the nature of people to to bring an end to war change that only the Holy One of Israel the Messiah can't accomplish Truth will also prevail Truth will prevail throughout the entire force. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as waters cover the sea.

People will know the Lord. When we hear the fake news of the government propaganda machine, we need to remember this promise. The knowledge of the Lord, the truth, in the person of Jesus Christ is covering the earth as the waters cover the sea and it will remove all these lies and half-truths and distortions But these the completion of all this work is only in the consummation of the new heavens and the new earth. These promises that the cow and the bear shall graze, The young ones lie down together, the lion eats straw like the ox, the nursing child played by the cobras hold, a weaned child puts hand in the viper's den is something that is applied in the new heavens and the new earth and this exact exact wording is used in Isaiah 65 in describing the new heavens and the new earth and I'll just read that passage for behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people a joy.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and Joy in my people verse 19 the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her nor the voice of crying No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit.

They shall not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree so shall the days of my people be. My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bring forth children for trouble, for they shall be descendants of the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. And while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like an ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord." The description of the new heavens and the new earth ends with the exact same description here. The wolf and the lamb feed together. It's a little bit compressed, but it uses the same language.

It takes the first line of verse 6, the wolf and the lamb will feed together. Then it jumps down to the lion in verse 7, the lion shall eat straw like an ox and dust shall be the serpent's food. So there it's something added that wasn't in this passage. But that's speaking of the final destruction of Satan, right? The serpent who would be crushed by the heel of the Messiah, will be destroyed, eating dust.

And they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. But this is said to be in the new heavens and the new earth. This mountain of the Lord is another phrase that speaks and points to the new heavens and the new earth. It's used 16 times in the Bible, if my count is correct, and half of them are in Isaiah. And it is applied here in Isaiah 66 to the new heavens and the new earth.

And if we look at how this phrase, the mountain of the Lord is used, one, it begins in numbers as the literal Mount Zion, or Mount Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments, where God's presence dwelt. It then is the tabernacle, or the temple of God's portable dwelling. It becomes the prophetic image of God's kingdom where pure worship and worldwide blessing go forth from Zion. And finally, it is the church and the heavenly Zion, the redeemed people of God in the New Testament, God's mountain. And so in the New Testament and Revelation, we see the new heavens and the new earth also described.

And here I think is the thing to grasp in how do we understand this, Because it isn't easy to fit all this together. And many saints and scholars have wrestled long over this. But one thing I think we can say, and it's true in Revelation, and we see the same thing here, and that is when the new heavens and the new earth is described, the view is given standing where we are and looking forward into eternity. And so we see where we are today. We're not there yet.

These promises are not consummated yet. They're not fulfilled in their entirety. But they are fulfilled in their entirety and fully and completely in the new heavens and the new earth. And so this picture we see even in Revelation, it's the same thing. It looks right through the second coming.

Because remember the climax of history was Christ's death on the cross, his advent. That is what secured this victory. That is where Christ gave Christ a legal right to his messianic reign, from which he has begun to reign. And his reign continues forever. And so these descriptions, they just go from the now, where everything is not yet consummated, into the consummation.

And they look right through. And so we see there's a mixing of things where we don't have everything yet, but we know that one day we will just as certainly as the Saints in the Old Testament knew that Christ would come in the flesh and and as certainly as they could wait for him in faith, we also standing here can wait in faith knowing that these things will be consummated that these things will happen these aren't just mere symbols these not just mere figurative language but these things will be accomplished in their final form in the new heavens and the new earth. And until then, until then we walk by faith, because We hope for what we do not yet fully see. But with confidence we know that it is coming. And it is that confidence in the promises of God as we meditate on these realities, because this is the truth, that we are able to have joy in the midst of trials, to avoid despair and discouragement in the midst of the injustices and the imperfections of the day in which we live.

So may God give us faith, faith to see, to see now the reality of these promises. Almighty Heavenly Father, We ask that you would strengthen us, encourage us, equip us by your word. You've said that it is able to equip us for every good work. That you are able to keep us from stumbling. And that you will present us faultless before the presence of your glory with great joy.

This is our hope, this is our confidence Father. We ask that you would sustain us in that hope. Through Jesus Christ we ask, Amen.