At one point in the conversation I asked him: “Can you imagine for a minute what a world at peace would look like?” The thoughtful look he gave me was priceless. I seemed to have sparked his imagination, if not for a brief second.
The Biblical prophet Isaiah possessed an imagination that ran wild. He shared that imaginative vision with us in this stunning vision:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD-and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The Biblical prophets were more than mere predictors of the future (as so many assume they are); they were most of all men who allowed their imaginations to be captured by the Spirit of God. They used their prophetic imagination to see a world others could not see.
Author and activist Shane Claiborne suggests that God desires for us to participate with him in the “restoration of our world” and imagination plays a crucial role in how we do this. Yet we must first and foremost imagine what God may be doing.
For example:
Imagine a world in which everyone had enough to eat.
Imagine a world driven more by compassion than it is by competitiveness.
Imagine a world in which justice means more than revenge and flows down the social ladder like a river.
Imagine a world in which war is categorically rejected, let alone justified.
Imagine a world in which guns are no longer necessary for personal protection.
Imagine a world in which we begin treating health care as a moral issue rather than as a political issue.
Imagine a world in which we didn't kill people to teach them killing people is wrong (capital punishment).
Imagine a world in which religious intolerance is anathema.
Imagine a world in which income disparity is unacceptable.
Imagine a world in which skin color or sexual orientation or gender are not reasons for exclusion.
Imagine a world in which we could learn to be self-critical of our own views.
Imagine a world in which the care for the earth is second nature and not a political hot potato.
Imagine a world in which Christianity and nationalism are not bedfellows.
Imagine a world living in peace!
It’s not too far a stretch for us humans to imagine a much better world and then act on our imagination. Unless we can imagine what God can do through us the world in which we live may be in grave danger.
Yes Isaiah’s vision looked forward to a better world. His vision was not intended to be understood as some “other worldly" kingdom that occurs after the end of time. Isaiah’s vision has real world and real time implications.
Is it too much of a leap for us to share in his vision for a better world?
We had better hope and pray that it is not an impossible leap.
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