Isaiah 11:9 tells where we can find a peaceful ocean of understanding.
“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 11:9 (ESV)
In what ways can the knowledge of God change you and those with whom you live and work? The knowledge of the Lord can bring peace.
Supernatural peace
Isaiah 11:9 begins with a great promise of peace. A day is coming when people will not hurt others nor destroy others nor destroy the earth.
The preceding verses describe a peace that extends even to the animal world:
“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.” (Isaiah 11:6–8)
God’s mountain
The place of perfect peace will be God’s holy mountain. This is the New Jerusalem that in the New Creation will come down out of heaven and forevermore be the capital city of the newly recreated earth. (See Revelation 21 and 22, Isaiah 65:17–25.)
2 Peter 3:13 says, “According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Peaceful holiness
The mountain is “holy.” Holiness is good and desirable for every reason, including that it is the precondition of peace. Unholiness is what makes our world a painful, frightening, dangerous place to live. Unholiness ruins friendships, marriages, families, workforces.
Galatians 5:22–23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit [that is, the Holy Spirit!]is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
The hinge
The conjunction “for” is the hinge of Isaiah 11:9. Something will happen that will transform our world from a place of much evil and suffering to a place of perfect peace: “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
What transforms the world is the knowledge of the LORD. The world is broken because people do not know God, the Holy One. They have false conceptions of God, idolatrous understandings of God, or worldviews that deny God and make man the touchstone of reality. The result is divisions, endless confusion about right and wrong, and continual struggles for control and selfish gain.
A. W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
An ocean of knowledge
What will someday turn the world into a paradise of peace is an exponential increase in the knowledge of the LORD. Someday the knowledge of the LORD will cover the earth as water fills oceans. How much water is in the Pacific Ocean? How well does that ocean of water cover the ground beneath it? That analogy quantifies how much knowledge people will have of God in the New Creation.
Two other translations help us with the analogy. The NLT says: “Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.” The CSB says: “They will not harm or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.”
So the earth will be filled with people who are filled with the knowledge of God. No one will be ignorant of or have fragmentary knowledge of God. The entire earth will be covered with an ocean of the true knowledge of God, and the result will be perfect peace, blessed shalom.
A peaceful you
Do you need peace? Pray for the knowledge of God that is lacking, for you, and if needed for others.
For example, Lord, I ask you to give Edward the knowledge of God that will bring him peace in his relationship with Mark, and do the same with Mark.
Or, Lord, cause me to know you in a way that will bring peace to my worried mind.
In the knowledge of God is your peace.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)