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"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11: 9).
These words are repeated in Isa. 65: 25, and the context of this second reference
helps our understanding of the first. It should be observed that the promise in the first
place is not universal, but is limited to "all My holy mountain". So, in Isa. 65:, the new
creation is limited at first to Jerusalem (Isa. 65: 17, 18), and the nations that go up to
Jerusalem to learn of the law of the Lord (Isa. 2: 3-5) see with their own eyes what full
surrender to the Lord's will means and to what it leads.
The words: "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea" (Isa. 11: 9) are liable to be misunderstood. "The waters" here are those living
waters that shall flow out from Jerusalem, "half of them to the former or eastern sea (that
is `the Dead Sea'), and half of them toward the hinder sea" (Zech. 14: 8). These living
waters are described at length in Ezek. 47:, and the reference to Engedi
(Ezek. 47: 10) shows that the Dead Sea is intended. Wherever this water comes it
brings "healing", and so, as we look back to Isa. 6: 10, we realize that at last Israel shall
perceive and understand, and be healed indeed. What a beautiful figure of blessing this
verse reveals:
"The earth shall be full of life-giving knowledge of the Lord, as the living water shall
flow down and completely cover the Dead Sea."
The Branch and Root of Jesse is to be, in that day, "an ensign of the people" and "an
ensign of the nations" (Isa. 11: 10, 12). Out of the twenty occurrences of nes, the Hebrew
word translated "ensign", ten are found in Isaiah. The first is in Isa. 5: 26:
"And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them . . . . .
whose arrows are sharp" (Isa. 5: 26, 28).
Here we have a "banner" or "ensign" lifted up for judgment. In Isa. 11:, on the other
hand, it is lifted up for blessing. The next reference, in Isa. 13: 2, is again a message of
judgment, this time judgment upon Babylon.
Passing over several intervening references, we come to Isa. 49::
"Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up
My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters
shall be carried upon their shoulders" (Isa. 49: 22).
The last reference is in Isa. 62:, where Israel's blessed restoration is in full view:
"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up
the highway; gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people . . . . . thy salvation
cometh . . . . . A city not forsaken" (Isa. 62: 10-12).
The "Gentiles", as well as "the outcasts of Israel", are all, in that day, to be gathered to
this Ensign. It is to this that the Apostle refers in Rom. 15: 12, where the hope of the
church during the Acts is seen to be the realization of the prophecy of Isa. 11: