Peace & Bitterness - Day 25

Our King of Peace

I was struck by the last verse in O Come O Come Emmanuel, one of my favorite Christmas hymn:

O come, Desire of nations, bindIn one the hearts of humankind;O bid our sad divisions cease;And be for us our King of Peace.

And what kind of kingdom does this King of Peace rule? We find the answer in Isaiah 11...

Peaceable Kingdom, John August Swanson

The Peaceful Kingdom

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear; 
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them. 
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea. 

What images from this passage stand out to you? Where have you seen glimpses of this peaceful kingdom?

Look again at the painting. 

I wonder, what is the most beautiful part of the painting? 

I wonder, what is the most important part of the painting? 

I wonder, what can we take away and still have all that we need? 

I wonder, what would you like to add to the painting to make it complete?