Frank Jamerson
Isaiah said: “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 a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den” (Is. 11:6-8). Hal Lindsey, writing about the theory of a thousand years reign of Christ on earth, said “Even the animals and reptiles will lose their ferocity and no longer be carnivorous” (The Late Great Planet Earth).
Look at the context of Isaiah’s prophecy. First, the thing he described was to be when the Root of Jesse would stand as a banner for the people (Jews) and the Gentiles would seek Him (Is. 11:10). This is quoted in Romans 15:12 and used to show that Gentiles can be saved. If that has not been fulfilled, none of us are in the Lord’s kingdom. Look at another statement Isaiah made concerning the highway of holiness: “No lion shall be there. Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there” (Is. 35:8). How can it literally be true that wild beasts will be tamed and that there will be none there?
Ezekiel, speaking about the same subject, said the son of David (Christ) would be a prince, and “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods” (Ezek. 34:23-25). Furthermore, he said, “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes and do them...Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them…” (Ezek. 37:24-26). Christ said “I am the good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11), Paul taught “there is another king—Jesus” (Acts 17:7), and that Christ removed the enmity by “breaking down the middle wall of partition” (the Old Covenant) and making peace through the preaching of the gospel to both Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:11-17). The gospel was never intended to influence wild animals and vipers, but to tame the wildness and viciousness in men. That’s how both statements of Isaiah—lions will be tamed and there will be no lions there, are true.
The kingdom of Christ was never intended to be a worldly kingdom. The Jews of the first century rejected Christ because He was not the worldly deliverer they expected. Premillennialists make the same mistake. Jesus said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (Jn. 18:36). Pilate understood that Jesus was no rival to his rule, but the Jews had Him killed because they were looking for an earthly King and earthly Kingdom.
Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). Paul said, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13). It exists!