Isa 65:21-25 The Wolf and the Lamb Shall Feed Together…and Dust Shall be the Serpent’s Meat

[Study Aired October 11, 2020]

Isa 65:21   And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

Isa 65:22   They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Isa 65:23   They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Isa 65:24   And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

Isa 65:25   The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Which stage of ‘the kingdom of God’ are these words describing? When will the wolf and the lamb eat together? When will the lion eat straw like the bullock? When is dust the serpent’s meat?

When we finish this study, I hope we will have answered all of those questions.

There are three stages of the “kingdom of God” which are all expedient to accomplish the Lord’s goal of bringing all things together in Christ so the Father will be “all in all”.

1Co 15:22   For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Co 15:23   But every man in his own order: [Stage one: the Passover season, in the spring of the year] Christ the firstfruits; afterward [Stage two: Pentecost, the summer wheat harvest, also called “the feast of firstfruits”] they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1Co 15:24   Then [Stage three: the Feast of Tabernacles “in the end of the year” when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ”] cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Before we proceed to the goal and purpose of God’s will, which He is working through His Son and His Son’s children, let’s look at how the Lord’s plan for mankind is typified for us in the Old Testament:

Exo 23:14   Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Exo 23:15   [1] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

Exo 23:16   [2] And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Here is scripture’s second witness to this Truth:

Deu 16:16   Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; [1] in the feast of unleavened bread, and [2] in the feast of weeks, and [3] in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Just as the Passover is the integral prelude to the days of unleavened bread, so the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day of the Feast are the essential and integral prelude to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death which is the destruction of death. Death is distinguished in scripture as “the last enemy to be destroyed”.

Now let’s continue with this revelation which Paul was blessed to give to us:

1Co 15:25   For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

1Co 15:26   The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

1Co 15:27   For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

1Co 15:28   And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

If we simply consider that these verses here in Isaiah 65 conclude with “dust shall be the serpents meat”, then we will know that these verses are not speaking of the thousand-year reign, because “that old serpent” the devil [is] bound for a thousand years:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

If we consider that we are being told, “They [the wolf, the lion, and the serpent] shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” then we will know what stage of the building of the New Jerusalem is being spoken of here in Isaiah 65.

The wolf, lion and serpent will be permitted for “a little season… after [the] thousand years [to] hurt and destroy” again. It is very significant to know that the wolf and the Lion will be attempting to ‘hurt and destroy’ the camp of the saints at that time:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Nothing is more hurtful and destructive to any man than to ‘come up against the camp of the saints and to withstand the Lord’s beloved city’.

So it is in the first two stages of the Lord’s kingdom in which all these words can and must be applied, and those stages are: 1) “Christ the firstfruits; 2) afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” During these two stages “the Lord and His Christ” have the kingdom of God within them and have all the beasts of the earth within them, but those beasts are all subdued like all the beasts within the ark of Noah. In Noah’s ark the wolf and the lion ate grass with the  lamb, and the serpent ate dust, and there was no hurt in all of Noah’s ark. There was the promise of a typical new world, but it was not yet realized. Life in the ark of Noah typified our lives in Christ. We have the promise of the kingdom, but the fullness of the purchased possession is not yet realized:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Eph 1:10   That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Eph 1:11   In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Eph 1:12   That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Eph 1:13   In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Eph 1:14   Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Christ and His kingdom are within us, and the serpent and all other beasts of the field are subdued and have no dominion over us. Christ is supreme, the beasts within us come willingly to Him. However, that is not all there is to it, and the best is yet to come.

Gen 6:20   Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Here are just a few of the promises given to incentivize those to whom it is given to endure to the end:

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Rev 2:10   Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil