...on all my holy mountain

Isaiah 11: 6-9

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
⁹They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

...read tonight at the mid-week Advent worship service, a new idea (mid-week worship during Lent? Check. During Advent? Huh?)
Another new idea (new to me... probably not to your theologians and Bible commentators): this text, which is seen in the light of the New Testament as referring to Jesus (the "shoot from the stump of Jesse" in 11:1), lays down a new vision of Original Sin. Remember how God cursed mankind in Genesis 3 (after the apple incident)? Actually, I guess it was the snake he was cursing when he said,

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.

In this story, God MADE the snake and the nursing / weaned child mortal enemies. Our fault; natural consequences of our sinful actions. But then this shoot from Jesse comes along and changes the game. Because we all know him, or know God through him, the child can play around asps and adders, and neither shall harm the other.

Before Jesus: sinners, all.
After Jesus: lions and lambs, cows and bears, children and snakes.¹⁶

From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

I was about to say something else about this revolutionary idea (look! I found it echoed in the second reading, from the first chapter of John-- the [letter of the] LAW was given through Moses, but the SPIRIT [grace and truth] came through Jesus!)-- when I realized that anyone who has gone through Christianity 101 (by which I mean: Bible School. Sunday School. Church Service. ANY of it) could have told you that.

That's the whole damn point of the gospel, isn't it?

So why does it feel like a new idea to me? After countless hours of worship, reading, discussing, learning, singing in churches and academic contexts: I just NOW made the connection that Jesus reset the clock on sin and righteousness?

Jesus.
So to speak.