“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 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. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 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.”
Isaiah 11:1-9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.11.1-9.KJV
A Faithful and Just God
One of the central aspects of the gospel message is that every human has fallen short of God’s moral standard. We've all sinned, or missed the mark of living rightly. We’ve all messed up, made mistakes, and acted in a way that goes against God’s design for our lives.
Sin separates us from being in a right relationship with God. But while we were separated from God, Jesus made a way for us to return back to Him through His death and resurrection. Now, we can be in a relationship with God again!
But even though we’ve been forgiven for our sins, it doesn’t always feel that way. We can still carry around the guilt and shame from our sinful actions—even though we’ve been forgiven by Christ.
That’s why 1 John 1:9 is a great reminder: when we confess our sins to God, He is faithful to forgive us. Our forgiveness is not based on our own faithfulness— it’s based on God’s faithfulness. Since we know God is faithful and cannot lie, we can trust that He will ...