IN THE HEBREW Bible, our “Old Testament” there are three great images, of “the best yet to be.” These images have enabled the Christian Church to speak, at least a little less incoherently, about the Advent hope. The prophets looked forward to “the once and future king”, to the garden, and to the city. So do we. With Isaiah, we watch and pray for the coming of “great David’s greater Son”. With him, we pine for paradise. With him, we long for the New Jerusalem.

The coming king — here is the first startling picture — will be “a shoot from a stump”. Matthew Henry comments: “Both the words here used signify a weak, small, tender product, a twig and a sprig (so some render them), such as is easily broken off.” (Matthew Henry published his mighty six-volume commentary on the Bible in 1706. Evangelical students were once urged to sell their shirts to get hold of it.)

A later poem, also attributed to Isaiah, will speak of one who “grew up like a root out of dry ground” (Isaiah 53.2). “The Messiah was thus to begin his estate of humiliation,” says Matthew Henry.

“The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him.” Again, Matthew Henry: “The Holy Spirit, in all his gifts and graces, shall not only come, but rest and abide upon him; he shall have the Spirit not by measure, but without measure, the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him.”

We duly say Amen to that, but not without first noting that, in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God is invariably given for a specific task. So here the promised king will come with a particular mission. His royal role will be to “judge the poor”.

Judgement in the Old Testament is not the deliverance of a verdict. It is the deliverance of people. It is setting wrongs right. Christian readers of Isaiah’s prophecy will hear words that startled the back row of the synagogue in Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4.18).

Once the king comes, the conditions of paradise will be restored. On that day “the wolf shall live with the lamb.” This will come as good news for the lambs around at the time, but, unless we believe in the resurrection of mutton, it will be little comfort for all those previously savaged by wolves and butchered by us.

This is not a facetious point. Few issues are more troubling to the Christian conscience and to Christian faith than the pain of animals. In Helen Waddell’s novel, Peter Abelard, Abelard’s heart is broken by the screams of a rabbit tortured in a trap. He releases the rabbit, but it dies in his hands.

“Do you think there is a God at all?” he asks his companion, Thibault. “Whatever has come to me, I earned it. But what did this one do?”.

For Tennyson, too, it was too all too much. Nature “shrieked against his creed”. Even before Darwin, nature’s message from the fossils was clear. “I care for nothing” (In Memoriam A. H. H.).

Now that we know something of the waste and pain that has brought us to our stage of evolution, we can perhaps begin to sense the magnitude of Isaiah’s vision. Paul shared this vision. He spoke of the whole creation obtaining “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8.18-25).

Where do we stand? Are we as convinced as Paul was that “the sufferings of this present time” — the lamb’s, the kid’s, the calf’s, the sufferings of Abelard’s rabbit, and of all those preyed upon by wild animals such as ourselves — are “not worth comparing” with the glory to be revealed?

What kind of a coming Kingdom, we wonder, could possibly compensate for aeons of animal anguish? We cannot begin to contemplate what such an order of existence would be like. But we must not walk away from the prophetic and Pauline picture of a paradise large enough to embrace all God’s creatures. We may be brighter than the beasts, but we are no better than they are. The hope of glory embraces them. If that is too much for us to take in, all we can do is — yet again — to pray: “Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.”

“A little child shall lead them.” The text means more than Isaiah meant, though surely he, too, rejoiced when the servant king he had seen from afar gave to a child the highest standing in his Kingdom (Mark 10.14).

Isaiah pictures little children playing safely and with great delight (that is what the Hebrew means) in the garden of God, just as Zechariah saw them playing on the streets of the city of God (Zechariah 8.5). The boundaries of that city (“my holy mountain”) in the prophet’s inclusive vision are the ends of the earth, for, at the last, all shall know as they always have been known.

This — although we have yet to turn to our reading from Matthew — is the Gospel of the Lord.

Text of readings

Isaiah 11.1-10

1A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2The 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.
3His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

10On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Romans 15.4-13

4Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
and sing praises to your name’;
10and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
11and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples praise him’;
12and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3.1-12

1In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.”’
4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’