Words of Hope Daily Devotional
START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE
Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read his Word, and meet with him in prayer. Available in print and email.
START EVERY DAY WITH HOPE
Get the Words of Hope Devotional and get daily encouragement to love God, read His Word, and meet with Him in prayer. Available in print and email.
Know God, Know Peace
Read: Isaiah 11:1-9
The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD. (v. 9)
Maybe you’ve heard the saying: “No God, no peace. Know God, know peace.” That’s a helpful summary of our Scripture reading from Isaiah 11. Isaiah provides a picture of the future reign of the Messiah and of the peace that will come through his reign. Indeed, when Jesus Christ ushers in the new heaven and new earth, we’ll experience a peace like we’ve never fully known because “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (v. 9). Know God, know peace.
Isaiah 11 uses some surprising pictures to portray the peace we’ll experience in the new heaven and new earth. We think of the wolf and the lamb as enemies. In Isaiah 11:6 they dwell together. The last place we’d put a nursing child is near the hole of a cobra. In Isaiah 11:8 the nursing child plays there.
Today, peace in the animal kingdom and in the human kingdom seems illusive. Will there ever be genuine peace between the nations of our world? The good news is that we can experience God’s peace now as we anticipate the peace that awaits us in our promised land. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). May this peace with God whet your appetite for the peace that will spread to all of the created order in the new heaven and new earth.
As you pray, thank God for the peace you have with him through Jesus.
Rich Bawinkel is a retired pastor who has served churches in the Reformed Church in America and the Kingdom Network. He is married to Anne and serves as a musician in their local church, as the administrator of the Kingdom Network, and on the Words of Hope Board of Directors.
