The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
3 sermons cite this verse
… It was Jesus. Isaiah 11 verses 1 and 10 says, And there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Verse 10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place or land shall be glorious. Remember what that resting place is? Remember that place? Zion. Look at you. You're amazing. Let's all stand for the last verse. Last verse. In fact, let's raise our hands for the last verse. I can't believe I made it. We have three minutes and 30 seconds left. That should, any unbelievers, that should prove to you there's a God in heaven. Now, hey, how about if we do this? You want to repeat this? This is unrehearsed, so be nice. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. …
… and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like an ox. They won't harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain. Some of the early church fathers, they believed that when Adam and Eve turned away from God, when humans rebelled against God, it actually had an impact on all of creation. All of creation pays a price for human rebellion against God. And so somehow that affected the animals on our planet too. This was the thinking both in the Hebrew Bible, certainly when you get to the New Testament period and the church after that, was that the animal, the creation was affected. The animals were affected by what humans had done in disobedience. Paul says that all of creation groans for the redemption of human beings so that we can be changed and the world can be changed. And so when we think about that, John Wesley, who followed some of those early theologians of the church, the founder of Methodism said, and he cared deeply about animals, and he said that he believed that when humanity was finally restored, when paradise was restored, and this is, I'm quoting from a sermon that he wrote called The General Deliverance. …
A general view of this is given us in the twenty-first chapter of the Revelation. When He that “sitteth on the great white throne” hath pronounced, “Behold, I make all things new;” when the word is fulfilled, “The tabernacle of God is with men, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God;” — then the following blessing shall take place (not only on the children of men; there is no such restriction in the text; but) on every creature according to its capacity: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away.” 3. To descend to a few particulars: The whole brute creation will then, undoubtedly, be restored, not only to the vigour, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree of each than they ever enjoyed. They will be restored, not only to that measure of understanding which they had in paradise, but to a degree of it as much higher than that, as the understanding of an elephant is beyond that of a worm. And whatever affections they had in the garden of God, will be restored with vast increase; being exalted and refined in a manner which we ourselves are not now able to comprehend. The liberty they then had will be completely restored, and they will be free in all their motions. They will be delivered from all irregular appetites, from all unruly passions, from every disposition that is either evil in itself, or has any tendency to evil. No rage will be found in any creature, no fierceness, no cruelty, or thirst for blood. So far from it that “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” (Isaiah 11:6.) …