We do love our Isaiah kingdom passages!  As well we should.  The Word contains other descriptions of the kingdom age, but Isaiah is especially rich with them.  It’s to these we turn to reinforce our hope.  Like Jesus, these passages set before us the joy to come.  They keep us going. 

Chapters 2, 11, 35, 62 are particularly meaningful to most of us.  You may have some other favorites:  25, 40, 52, 60, 65, and more.  They are go-to passages when we are feeling low.  We commit parts of them to memory.  They feature prominently in our testimony to others.  As chapter 40 begins, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  These passages convey real comfort!

Or at least, parts of them do.  We turn to, and memorize, and quote to others, parts of most of them. We seldom highlight the surrounding context, including the “other” parts right within some of the chapters.  You know, the parts that aren’t quite as pleasant.

We are people who are all about context, right?  And rightly so—we all know the distortions caused by citing just part of a passage.  So we really should look at the context in which these marvelous kingdom descriptions reside.  As an example, take a look at chapter 2.  (Literally, look at it please. Now please.)

Verses 2-4 are the favorites. They are a crystal clear, unambiguous description of Messiah’s just and peaceful rule over the earth from Jerusalem.  We love them for it!  But how often do we look at the rest of the chapter?

Verse 5 is an appeal to the house of Jacob to walk in the light of the Lord, and it is followed by pictures of corruption and idolatry, and the just judgments that will come on these practices.  If we back up into the later part of the preceding chapter, we find a concise summary in 1:27-28 – “Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.”  In other words, there will be blessings, in fact the kingdom, for those who repent.  And destruction for those who don’t heed.  This is the full picture of Isaiah 2.  And this is the pattern all through Isaiah.

We ought not to think that the context somehow tarnishes the kingdom descriptions.  The context does, however, give us the full picture.  And it’s the same picture we get from the whole Bible.  Our God is so patient, yet there is a limit, and there is a reckoning to come.  Christ must reign until all enemies are eliminated. (1 Cor 15)  The works of unrighteousness will be consumed, replaced by new heavens and new earth. (2 Pet 3)  There will be tribulation beyond anything ever seen, then the Son of Man will appear in glory. (Matt 24)  And many, many more.  It’s all part of the package of the Lord returning and establishing God’s kingdom—it’s a coin with two sides, the goodness and the severity of God. (Rom 11) 

God’s kingdom is blazing glory, unfettered joy, the final victory of all that is good and right, the vindication and deliverance of God’s people.  Yes, by all means let’s hang onto that!  Embrace all the passages that promise it.  And, not dimming the joy but giving it dimension, we realize what the victory means for those who set themselves against it.  If we love those around us we will shout out the good news, and also convey the warning.  It’s one message.  Those Isaiah passages would not be such tremendous comfort, unless they included the promise that all sources of sin, all the violence and falsehood and corruption, will be gone, gone forever.

Loving those glorious kingdom pictures, Paul

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