home > articles > The Lion Shall Lay Down Together With the Lamb – Explained
- The Lion The Lamb The Hunted
- The Lion The Lamb And The King Chords
- The Lion The Lamb The Hunted Summary
'The lamb with the lion' – often a paraphrase from Isaiah, and more closely quoted as 'the wolf and lamb', 'a child will lead them', and the like – are an artistic and symbolic device, most generally related to peace. The Lion and the Lamb is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy thriller film directed by George B.
What does the Bible mean by the expression the lion and lamb shall lay down together?! Written by Dr Andrew Corbett, President of ICI Theological College Australia, and author of the popular commentary on the Book of Revelation- The Most Embarrassing Book In The Bible
The Lion Shall Lay Down Together With the Lamb – explained.
Lion And The Lamb Bethel Music, Leeland (Have It All) Download sheet music for Lion And The Lamb by Bethel Music/Leeland, from the album Have It All. Arranged by Dustin Loehrs/Dan Galbraith in the key of B, Bb, A, Ab, G. Products for this song include chord charts, lead sheets, choir parts, and the orchestration. B Our God is the Lion, the F# Lion of G# m Judah He’s roaring with power and F# fighting our ba E ttles Every knee will F# bow before Him B Our God is the Lamb. Lion and the Lamb. Praises (Be Lifted Up) Heaven Come. Sweet Praise (Spontaneous) Son of God. Greatness of Your Glory. Glory to Glory.
The “lion and the lamb shall lay down together” is often cited a prophecy speaking of a literal utopia on earth to come – a Golden Age – referred to as ‘The Millennium’. It is argued that since so many of the prophecies regarding The Christ’s first appearing were fulfilled literally, surely such prophecies of a Golden Age will also be fulfilled literally. This yet-to-come Golden Age (“The Millennium”) is spoken of as “Paradise Restored” – an age of Paradise on earth where there will be no death, sorrow, pain or sickness. The prophets described this era with the expression, “the lion and the lamb shall lay down together…” But there is a slight, ever so slight, problem with this: the expression, the lion and lamb shall lay down together does not occur in the Bible! The closest we can get to it Isaiah 11:6.
¶ 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.
Isaiah 11:6
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.
Isaiah 11:6
I was with a group of pastors recently in Sydney where one of them quizzed me about the prophecy in the Old Testament referring to the lion and lamb laying down together. I gently pointed out that this expression doesn’t appear in the Bible. They immediately challenged my assertion. I quoted Isaiah 11:6 and pointed out that it refers to the wolf and the lamb not the lion and the lamb. I pointed out the significance of this prophecy and its most probable interpretation. They said that they would check this out when they returned home to their computer and I presume correct me if they could prove me wrong. After 7 years, I haven’t heard from them.
It’s interesting how many things are cited as if they are in the Bible. Like, one shall put a thousand to flight and two shall put ten thousand to flight is often quoted by leadership teachers about the power of an individual being exponentially multiplied when in a team. But how many realise this citation refers to what Israel’s enemies could do to them if they broke Covenant with God (not what they would do to their enemies)? (Deut. 32:30)
The particular almost-biblical-expression in question is used to promote “Pre-Millennialism” which is the idea that Christ will return and set up a Golden Age on earth for a thousand years where even normally carnivorous animals will become vegetarian. This idea has gained much popular paperback-theology endorsement. But I am proposing a quite different view for your consideration.
In Tom Wright’s book, “Justification“, the master exegete and Biblical scholar describes the difficulty in challenging a view of Scripture which is almost universally accepted and taken for granted, in the same way that it must have been difficult for Copernicus to convince the world that the Sun did not revolve around the earth – but rather, that the earth revolved around the Sun. “Look” Copernicus’s objectors and scoffers might have contested, “Each morning the Sun comes up then each evening it goes down. There you have it! The proof! The Sun goes around the earth.” But despite the objective data presented by Copernicus, the general perception continued and his objectors preserved the status quo, at least for a while.
Perhaps in a similar way, what I am proposing might meet with similar Copernican-type objectors. I am going to attempt to show that Isaiah 11:6 should not be taken in a wooden literal sense. Having already shown that the expression the lion shall lay down with the lamb … does not occur in the Bible, I am going to argue that neither is the very concept proposed – a Golden Age on earth, called the Millennium – to be what the Bible teaches.
“The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the LORD.
Isaiah 65:25
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the LORD.
Isaiah 65:25
The Book of Isaiah employs metaphors. Metaphors are word pictures. The Promised Messiah is described in Isaiah as a “tender shoot” or a “root” (incidentally, both metaphors occur in Isaiah 11). These word pictures of the Christ paint Him as the hope of Israel and One who would be born as a child and grow. The particular metaphors in question: the wolf, is frequently used in the Old Testament to speak of Israel’s enemies. For example, Jeremiah speaks of Israel’s enemies as a lion, a wolf, and a leopard.
¶ Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great.
Jeremiah 5:6
a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great.
Jeremiah 5:6
Similarly, Israel is frequently described as lambs, or sheep. To speak of wolves and lambs laying down together, is to describe the effect of the New Covenant. That is, the largely ethnically-centred Old Covenant, would one day be replaced by the for-all-the-world-New-Covenant where Jew and (the previously hostile enemy) Gentiles are brought together under the same Covenant.
¶ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Ephesians 2:11-14
Ephesians 2:11-14
The context of Isaiah 11 is the ministry and achievement of the Messiah. The resultant New Covenant would make peace between formally hostile enemies. There are some beautiful prophetic metaphors in Isaiah 11 which describe this. Such as verse 18, The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. This is not a picture of a Utopian Golden Era, referred to as The Millennium, rather it was a prophetic picture of the resultant peace from the spread of the New Covenant. How far will this New Covenant spread?
…for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9b
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9b
Of course, these various ideas come to affect how we understand the Book of Revelation. Some will continue to think that the Bible forecasts an earthly Utopia just as some continued to think that the Sun went around the earth in Copernicus’s day. To be sure, one day Christ will return, as the ancient creeds say, to judge all people and bring our dimensions to an end. In a sense, the New Heaven and the New Earth speaks of the New Covenant but it ultimately speaks of a time to come when –
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
Revelation 21:4
The Lion The Lamb The Hunted
In the meantime, the wolf lays down the lamb every time an Arab and a Jew find a common bond in knowing Christ as the Promised Prophet, Messiah and Saviour. And this is happening today perhaps more than people realise.
-Dr. Andrew Corbett
POSTSCRIPT
Several people have written to me asking about this issue and whether I have heard of ‘the Mandela Effect’. This, they claim, is some kind of supernatural force which has dramatically changed certain Biblical passages (such as Isaiah 11:6, the one I have discussed here) plus certain other facts of history. For example, I received this feedback January 5th 2019-
If you research the phenomenon known as “The Mandela Effect” you will understand why so many Pastors knew the different wording of the Biblical passage about the lion and the lamb.
The Bible appears to be under attack by forces beyond our comprehension but the problem may go further down the rabbit hole than demonic forces, if that’s possible.
Study CERN and quantum computers for other possibilities. Also, study the multiverse nature of reality which seems to be moving or floating, which changes, and repeatedly alters everything from famous quotes to geography.
The idea of so many people having a failed memory of the same quotes or events does not withstand the scrutiny of statistical analysis.
Specifically, it is statistically impossible for millions of people to share the same false memory of only certain events.
The Bible appears to be under attack by forces beyond our comprehension but the problem may go further down the rabbit hole than demonic forces, if that’s possible.
Study CERN and quantum computers for other possibilities. Also, study the multiverse nature of reality which seems to be moving or floating, which changes, and repeatedly alters everything from famous quotes to geography.
The idea of so many people having a failed memory of the same quotes or events does not withstand the scrutiny of statistical analysis.
Specifically, it is statistically impossible for millions of people to share the same false memory of only certain events.
And I received this feedback on March 30th 2017-
I know for a fact tgr Bible use to say the Lion will lay with the lamb. When CERN started messing with dark matter they found in2012 Satan was unleashed and alot of the bible has changed. Look at the Lords prayer. Look up the mandela effect. Please research it
And on March 8th 2019, I received this odd and confused feedback-
In regards to the Lion and the lamb verses Is now saying wolf and the lamb. In Christianity they believe in some future messiah to come save His people and judge the World. Now we know Jeremiah 3:8 states God divorced Israel and in New testament God replaced Israel with Gentiles. But in Isaiah 66 God is pissed off at those who ate pork. In fact, Revelation 2-3 speaks of God judging pergamon Anti Kenti for mixing God’s religion with World and called it synagogue of Satan. Thyatira was given a chance to repent, but didn’t so she falls back under the Iron Scepter. Now Vatican ruled with Iron Scepter and God ruled Israel with Iron scepter. Take your pick. True Christianity lived obediently and by faith they obeyed. So we have a debacle. I remember in 1/2 peter the exact phrase, “Do not forget first generation earth.” But now it’s not there in any translation. I even remember debating my dad over it. And you have the Codex Gigas the huge Book named Satan’s Bible. 10 pages are missing. But here is my thing. Old Testament is proven Accurate, new testament proven accurate. But the Bible actually changed. So are the prophecies still the same has anyone noticed these changes? Right now I keep hearing about Come out of her my people. Revelation 13 if you link Dan 2&7 with it leads you to a time line where Catholicism killed 100 million saints over trying to kill Christ and Christian and Bible. French Revolution killed The Bible for 3.5 years and to some it will happen again in Israel. Now rev 9:11 says they aligned themselves with Abaddon. Abaddon is equal to The Father Is Don. Don translates to Yisrael. So what gives? There are thousands of references to Yisroel and very few to Yisrael. Has the Bible been Hijacked by Satan? We need people searching.
There are several logical reasons why this proposed conspiracy theory is completely implausible. Apart from the fact that we have Biblical manuscripts of both the Old and New Testaments which date back to antiquity – and they exactly match what we have today, including the book of Isaiah – and particularly this passage, which verifies the point I have made in this article. What this all illustrates is that when someone claims that the Bible says something without giving the chapter and verse, it’s best to ask them for the chapter and verse! It also highlights that our memories can distort history. There is no footage of the first World Trade Centre Tower being hit. But there is of the second – I remember being in my hotel room in Indonesia and watching it live on CNN! Yet, even President G.W. Bush referred to the live footage of the first tower being hit because he had confused his recollections of that fateful day. This was not the ‘Mandela Effect’ or any supernatural spell being cast, this was simply what we are all susceptible to when it comes to how our memories work. This natural ability to change what we recollect what we think we just saw is highlighted every time a Grand Slam tennis player calls for a Hawk Eye replay of whether his last shot was in or out. Despite the player or the lines-person being convinced of what they just saw a few seconds ago, the Hawk Eye replay often stuns them with where their shot actually landed.
In teaching hermeneutics, one of the first things I instruct my students to do is to determine what the Biblical text actually says – not what we think it says! This is the point of my bookThe Most Embarrassing Verse In The Biblewhere I discuss how people have read into the Bible what they pre-supposed it said rather than considering what it actually says.
-A.C. March 9th 2019
Isn’t this just ridiculing others? Feedback received from M.M. on June 14th 2019 –
“On the lion and lamb article I have a few comments. When a writer ridicules those who don’t agree with him, that is usually where I stop reading. (Non-Copernicus types). Resorting to that tactic generally means a weak argument.
What about Isaiah 65:25. “The lion shall eat straw like the bullock.”
I also disagree with your adding the word “spiritual” before death where you quote Paul in Corinthians. Where in the Bible does it actually say that Adam died spiritually. Everybody knows what death means. If Paul meant something else he would have said so. Changing the words of Scripture is the sign of a cult.
I know you are Christian from what you have written, but I don’t agree with you. I’m not stupid nor uninformed.” -M.M.
Dear M.,
Firstly, I agree with you that ridicule is a poor and even non argument. I’m not sure where the ridicule is in my argument though. I have made an exegetical argument, not a ridiculous one. The main point, which you have seemed to overlook, is that what is cited as being in Scripture is not there. The closest verse is the one I cite-
¶ 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.
Isaiah 11:6
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.
Isaiah 11:6
Secondly, Isaiah 65:25 reinforces my argument that Isaiah has painted a word picture of what God’s redemption will accomplish. Which is why I cited it and addressed it in the article.
Thirdly, I cannot see where in this article I refer to First Corinthians 15 and “spiritual death” as you have cited. But, the Biblical fact is that Adam did not immediately die physically – but eventually did. This physical death was ensured by the Lord when He barred Adam and Eve from re-entering the Garden of Eden and partaking of the Tree of Life which would have sustained the physical life. Ephesians 2:1-5 describes the spiritual death we are all subject to because of the Fall. Spiritual death, as with any death, is as is described in James 2, a ’separation’.
-A.C. 14th June 2019
The Most Embarrassing Book In The Bible, eBook, by Dr. Andrew Corbett
I have written a fuller explanation of the book of Revelation in my eBook – THE MOST EMBARRASSING BOOK IN THE BIBLE (click here to read a preview). The application from the Book of Revelation is that despite what appears to be an impotent Church struggling to serve an apparently impotent Christ, the Church is in reality made up of overcomers who lay down their lives gladly to promote Christ and His Gospel. In so doing, the Kingdom of Christ is extended, prayers are offered and heard, miracles are graced, and the believer can die with infinite hope that their Lord will keep them for eternity and clothe them with a new body which can not be subject to pain, injury, sorrow, or sin. With this knowledge we can endure momentary hardship during the brevity of this life on earth. We can be assured that our greatest delights and deepest moments of fulfilment are yet to come in the life to come.
¶ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
John 5:25
John 5:25
Amen.
Dr. Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, Australia, August 15th, 2011
Eschatology In The First Century
I’ve just finished teaching on a four-part series on the Apostle Paul. I’m now doing a four-part series on his protégé, Timothy. From a research point of view, Paul is a goldmine. He is one of the most written about people in history. But Timothy isn’t. We don’t know nearly as much about Timothy as we do for Paul. Some of the reasons for this are obvious. These include: (i) the nature of Timothy’s ministry (as the messenger and representative of Paul) meant that he was conveying what Paul wrote to the churches he visited and thus there was no cause for him to write anything (because he was physically present); (ii) Timothy succeeded Paul when the Neronic persecution had commenced in which the Apostle Paul was martyred in early 65 A.D. and tens of thousands of Christians were also martyred as it began; (iii) therefore, many of those who knew Timothy directly were unable to record their memories of him because of this violent period of martyrdom. But in my research I came across one of the most novel explanations I’d ever seen.
Ancient Mis-readings of The Book of Revelation
Beginning from the late Second Century, prominent Christian thinkers and preachers have got the interpretation of the Book of Revelation wildly wrong.
Environmental Theology
A world without trees would be a world without bees which would become a world without birds which would become a world without natural pest control made worst by the desperately high rates of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the dangerously low levels of oxygen available which would cause a rise in the rate of global warming and an even bigger hole in the ozone layer thus increasing the rapid demise of the few remaining forms of human life within an estimated period of about 5 years. Should we be concerned?
It’s claimed that the Amazon rain forest is apparently being cut down at an equivalent rate of several football stadiums every hour! In Indonesia there are thousands of acres of old-growth forests being cut down and burned at an alarming rate. Many parts of Australia have now been turned into dust-bowls and salinity-danger-zones due to the belligerent destruction of bushland…
HOW OLD IS THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?
One of the most contentious issues among Christians today is the age of the universe. Is it 6000 years old like 17th century Bishop Ussher calculated, or is it around 14,200,000,000 years old as qualified scientists say? How we determine the answer determines how we interpret the Bible and understand the world around us…
The opening verse of Genesis is perhaps the most famous, and probably the most read, verse in the Bible. It is so plain, so clear, so unambiguous, that nearly every English translation of the Scriptures for the past 400 years has rendered it identically. Of all the statements that God could have chosen to utter first in His revelation to mankind, He gave us this one. Little wonder. If this statement is proven to be false then the entire credibility of the Bible is undermined. But if this statement is found to be true its ramifications are infinite!
Are We On The Brink of Armageddon
Armageddon? Some say it’s just about to happen. But what does the Bible say about it?
Whenever things flare up in the Middle East, especially involving Israel, there are always people who speculate that Armageddon is about to happen. The word “Armageddon” has now become synonymous with “the final battle that ends the world”. So ubiquitous has the word become for the end of the world that Hollywood have titled blockbuster films with it, fictional books have been written about it, and media commentators now refer to it as the catch-all word to describe the level potential fall-out from a Middle Eastern battle.
This is all very staggering considering that it occurs only once in Scripture, in the Book of Revelation, and is not alluded to anywhere else. Added to this is…
Start With Christianity
For those unacquainted with religions, it is often thought by them that all religions are basically the same. After all, every religion offers peace of mind, moral teaching, a connection with the divine, and a means for prayer, ritual, and worship, leading to meaning, fulfilment, and happiness.
To the unacquainted, religion sounds like one of life’s optional extras. It is particularly suited to those who are not scientific, easily intellectually satisfied with mystical answers, and probably already familiar with religion due to their upbringing.
DOES BIBLE PROPHECY MATTER ANYMORE?
Does Bible Prophecy matter anymore? With so many Bible Prophecy teachers making so many wild interpretations of what the Bible supposedly teaches will happen in our near future, who have time and time again been proven wrong, the believer could be forgiven for simply abandoning the Bible as being prophetically credible. But being convinced in the inerrancy of Scripture and aware that much of what is taught in Dispensational churches inadvertantly attempts to undermine the inerrancy of Scripture by its false prophetic interpretations, I set about to study the subject of Bible Prophecy and learn for myself what the Bible really says and predicts.
About The Book of Revelation
Much damage to the credibility of the Bible has nearly been done by those who twist the contents of the Book of Revelation to force it to sound like it refers to the events of our present day. Time and time again, so called Bible-Prophecy teachers have been left with egg on their faces as their ridiculous speculations have proved to be completely wrong. Our Administrator forwarded onto me a copy of an email we were sent claiming that our understanding of the Book of Revelation was wrong and that we would be humiliated by the Lord when the Rapture took place on October 17th 2009.
You’ll notice that I am writing this brief article after this ‘day of humiliation’. But still the sillyness continues to be rolled out by many TBN preachers who (even inadvertently) misrepresent the Book of Revelation by claiming that it is written to us about our day. (I have compiled a small list of such of failed interpretations.) In the unlikely event that you are a now cynical believer reading this article, or even in the more unlikely event that you are a complete skeptic about Christianity and the Bible reading this article, I hope to take just a few minutes of your time to offer an alternate understanding of the Book of Revelation that will actually present a credible case for Christianity and the Bible.
The Lion The Lamb And The King Chords
What’s The Deal With The Millennium?
Where is human history going? Many people believe that the Bible has not only accurately predicted human history to this point, but that it predicts a coming ‘Golden Age’. This possibly impending event is called: “The Millennium”. But there are very devout Bible readers who think this kind of reading of Scripture is actually a gross misreading of the Bible, and that what the Bible really says about the future may surprise – and even shock people today.
The “Millennium” is the touchstone for how people label themselves when it comes to interpretting Bible prophecy. Depending on how they regard the Millennium, they will classify themselves either as, (i) Premillennial; (ii) Amillennial; or, (iii) Post-Millennial. Within these Millennial categories there are people who take a “fundamentalist” view, generally known as “Dispensationalists” and there are others who take a “Reformed” view, generally known as “Historicists”, or the position I will argue for- “Preterist”.
The Tide Is Turning When It Comes To How We Understand Bible Prophecy
I remember as a young boy going to church on a Sunday evening and hearing the Bible Prophecy teacher give his end-times-chart-on-the-bedsheet-on-the-wall talk and feeling both excited and scared.”Excited” because it was reassuring to hear how accurate the Bible was in matching prophecy with history. “Scared” because the Bible apparently said that the ‘last days’ were going to be hell-on-earth! I was taught that the USSR was the bear of Ezekiel and also described as Gog and Magog. I was told that the Anti-christ was alive today in America and already plotting his world take-over. I heard that a time of Great Tribulation was coming on the earth to punish Israel for rejecting their Messiah and forming an alliance with the Anti-christ who will eventually rebuild Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. This would all lead to the battle of Armaggeddon where millions of people would be killed in the mother of all battles. But most evangelistically I was told that I could escape this coming doom by committing my life ot Christ and therefore qualify for being “raptured” just before this final seven year period began.
The Lion The Lamb The Hunted Summary
Like my interstate pastor friend, I just thought this was the traditional, orthodox doctrine. I mostly ignored the inconsistencies this understanding presented. I just let the questions mount. Then one day when I was still young, I heard another pastor teaching about end times who seemed to suggest that not only wasn’t this the traditional way of understanding Bible Prophecy, it was also not orthodox! That is, he said that the Bible couldn’t teach this. He called it “Dispensationalism”. Back then, Hal Lindsay was the paperback champion of Dispensationalism while Dr John F. Walvoord (of Dallas Theological Seminary) was the hardback champion. In my boyhood church no-one questioned these Bible authorities. Dozens of Bible Prophecy teachers were spawned by these authors. Each one reiterated the Dispensational interpretation of the Bible and too few of us realised that we weren’t just being told how to interpret Bible prophecy…