Our Advent theme, God’s Peaceable Kin-dom, is inspired by imagery from Isaiah. Advent devotionals featuring reflections written by First Baptist folks are available in print version and on our website. Below is an extended version of Michael McEntyre, Minister of Engaged Aging’s devotional. —Carol
The book of Isaiah finds the prophet calling out the nation of Israel for its idolatry and treatment of the poor and warning of a coming judgment. Yet Isaiah also offers hope to the people, speaking of one who is to come who will bring peace. This peace will extend beyond humanity, extending to all of creation. In chapter 11, Isaiah says this peace will be so complete that, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,” a fascinating and confusing passage. It is easy to assume this kind of peace is only accomplished in eternal life, but Isaiah consistently speaks of God’s peaceable Kin-dom being here on earth. If that is the case, it leads me to wonder what it would take for such creatures to live in harmony.
Growing up near the end of the Cold War, when I thought about the Soviet Union, I pictured people who hated all Americans. If there was a villain portrayed on TV, you knew they were going to speak Russian, or at least broken English with a poor Russian accent (think Rocky IV, Red Dawn, or James Bond). I wasn’t worried about war, but annihilation. In elementary school, we had drills to simulate what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. In short, if you asked me as a 9-year-old to describe the most prominent foe to God’s Peaceable Kin-dom, that person would have inevitably been Russian.
Then, in college, I had the opportunity to take part in a mission trip to Moscow. With the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Iron Curtain, the church I attended felt called to send multiple teams to Russia to work with our partner missionaries who had been serving there. It was with much fear and trepidation that my family supported my decision to go, and underneath my bravado, I was preparing for a hostile encounter. The experience didn’t match my expectations.
Over several weeks, I attended worship services, stayed in host homes, attended small-group Bible studies, and got to know people from our sister congregation in Moscow. One night, I had a conversation with our interpreter that changed the way I understood the world. I told her, “When I was growing up, I was taught that Russians hated Americans and that you were consumed with trying to figure out how to destroy our way of life. We were always worried about what you all might do. Was it the same for you? Did you grow up despising Americans?” She looked at me a bit funny and said very matter-of-factly, “No, I was too busy looking for food to worry about you.” I started laughing, then realized she wasn’t joking. She continued, “I guess if you were in the army, you thought about the US, but we had enough to worry about on our own.”
It’s odd to say, but those few sentences broke my worldview. That moment was the first glimpse for me of the incredible bias that influences all of us (meaning all of humanity) every day. My lens of Good vs. Evil was cracked, breaking my “us” vs. “them” mentality and revealing, instead, someone for whom I had compassion. It was a moment when the kingdom of this world became the Kin-dom of our God, and I am forever grateful.
Regarding Isaiah, my time in Russia made me wonder who was the lion and who was the lamb. As I’ve grown, I’ve learned that life is far more complex. Stereotypes make things simple, but they keep us from really seeing one another. In Isaiah 11, the lions, wolves, lambs, and calves don’t stop being who they are. They don’t give up their identities to make peace. Instead, they recognize their shared Creator and choose to act in ways that honor God’s image in themselves and in each other.
In a similar way, Kingdoms are loyal to a King. The focus is singular, “What does the king desire of me?” A kin-dom makes kin, family, the focus. “We are all connected and related, how do we (including our King) do this together?”
This does not devalue God; instead, it elevates God’s desire. John 3:16 tells us that Jesus came because of God’s love for the world. Through Christ, the Bible says we are children of God and co-heirs with Christ. We are family with Christ and with each other, all of us. Recognizing that is the only way God’s peaceable kin-dom can be established, “On earth, as it is in Heaven.”
May it be so in us.