Peaceable Kingdom

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will like down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them" (Isaiah 11:6).

This verse from the Bible, and a couple more following it, is one of the indications we have that God intends for his creation to live peaceably. The painting done by Edward Hicks of the Peaceable Kingdom (copyright laws prohibit duplication here) is one of the most prominent ones based on this verse from Isaiah.

In our home we have several different lion and lamb creations sitting atop our entertainment center with this theme, and an applique wall hanging made by my wife done in the same format as Hicks' painting hangs on our living room wall as well. It took her quite some time to make this in her spare time, but its beautiful and draws a lot of comments from people who visit our living room. We also have a picture of a lion and lamb, and a numbered cross stitch which Clara did, hanging on our living room wall. I guess you would have to say its a theme in our house.

We do like what this verse projects, even after it was brought to our attention that the popular peace symbol of the lion and lamb was not biblical. A reading of the verse above indicates that, to be sure. But we still like the lion and lamb idea. For us it represents the peace that God would have us as his creatures show in all our human relationships. This idea stands in stark contrast to so much of what we see being done in our world.

Its somewhat easy to pray for peace where there's war and strife and encourage national leaders to work for peaceful solutions, which is all well and good. But its another thing to find peaceful ways of settling disputes with family, friends, and neighbors. We are part of what is often called a "peace church," meaning that part of our heritage and belief system calls for actions that are in harmony with the teachings of Jesus, in the sermon on the mount specifically, and in other places as well. My personal belief system calls me to "follow Christ in life," which in many every day life experiences means finding ways to be a peacemaker instead of engaging in actions of retaliation and/or other such ways of settling disputes.

In our world today this position is not necessarily the most popular. But more and more, it seems, those who have not been taught this from little up as I was are finding their way to accept the concept of peace as taught and lived by Jesus. An example of this is Greg Boyd, founder and pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN. He has authored several books, one being The Myth of a Christian Nation, in which his views on this subject are the projected focus. Check out his blog site also for some interesting comments on various subjects.

Whether you believe that God intends for us to live in peace now or if that is to wait until some later time, it is obvious that the Peaceable Kingdom is somehow in God's plan for our world. I pray that the words, "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," will become a reality for all of us. I remain -

Pilgrim on the way