Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid… It is an eminent mark of regeneration to have the violence and fierceness of our cruel nature taken away. The signs of regeneration contained in our text are — I. HARMLESSNESS. This, though it runs along the body of the text and is last mentioned, may be named first, for it is implied in all. How can a man say he is renewed unless in some sort he be like unto God in mercifulness? It is a prime quality in the wicked to do mischief; it is a property of God's child to be harmless. There are two signs of this sign. 1. If we would not do evil, though we might do it unseen of any creature: as when a little child shall lay his hand on the cockatrice's den, the serpent might sting, and yet, unseen of any, pull in the head again. 2. Though we have provocation, we will abstain from doing evil. The little child plays on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child lays his hand upon the cockatrice's den. Is not here provocation? "Bless them that curse you," etc. II. SOCIABLENESS. With whom is it that this society holdeth? Not of wild beasts with wild beasts; but there is implied here not only a simple society, as among wild beasts, but a sociableness, as it were, among those of another generation. Naturally all of us have been lions, bears, and wolves, and unsociable haters of goodness in others. This sociableness with those former servants of God, who have been called thus, is a very sure mark of this change in us (1 John 3:14). 1. No man can love a saint, as a saint, but a saint. A true trial of sociableness is when men will joy to sort themselves with those with whom formerly they have been most unsociable, and whose company they have most loathed. 2. A second sign of this sign is, to love every brother, yea, though it were to lay down our life for a brother. III. CONSTANCY. How is this implied! By dwelling and lying together. You shall have many companions go with a man for fashion's sake to the church, and yet leave going ere it be long. You shall have some men sick, and then like a serpent frozen in winter, which casts his skin, you shall have them cast their skin a little; that is, send for s preacher, make confession of their sins, saying, "Oh! if God will spare me, I will become a new man." But when he is well, within a month after, you will find him not with the lamb, but with the bears and the wolves. IV. INWARDNESS. Their little ones — dear unto them, and of whom they are so jealous and tender — shall lie down together (Acts 4:32). V. TRACTABLENESS. A little child shall lead them and rule them. It is a true sign of grace when we become easy to be ruled, and brought in compass (Job 31:13). VI. SIMPLICITY. "The lion shall eat straw like the ox." Cain was bloody, and fed upon blood; therefore, as it is (John 4:32) when a man is come thus far, that he hath meat which one seeth not. Uses — 1. For consolation. Look which religion makes a man most mild, and tames his fierce nature — there is the Church. If we be fierce and savage, let us not deceive ourselves; we are not come to the mountain of which it is said, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain." 2. For exhortation. There is yet a little of the lion and the bear remaining in every one of us — our tree yet bears, on one side of it, crabs. See what minds we must have if we look for a habitation in God's holy mountain. ( Sibbes, Richard, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. |
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