It’s MLK Day, a time to remember the importance of taking care of the poor and oppressed.
The good news is we don’t have to break stride in our walk through Isaiah to talk about Dr. King’s goals. Here’s the opening of Isaiah 11:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and 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 of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Isaiah 11.1 – 5, ESV)
The “Branch” – Jesus – shall judge the poor with righteousness and the meek with equity. I think Dr. King would agree with that approach. Jesus will “kill the wicked.”
And there will be a day when predators and prey will live together:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf 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 cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11.6 – 9, ESV)
There’s every reason to think that this paragraph will be literally true, some say in a literal Millennium (see Revelation 20.1 – 6), others believe it will happen on the New Earth (see Revelation 21.1 – 4), or both! But as I read this paragraph on Martin Luther King Day, I’m thinking it’s a nice metaphor for a time when oppressors and oppressed will live together without the oppression.
Jesus will make it happen, also from Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor… (Isaiah 61.1, 2, quoted by Jesus in Luke 4.18, 19)