"And a little child shall lead them." As we see and hear these words so often quoted, a little study of the passage and its context may be of service. The first nine verses of the eleventh chapter of Isaiah contain a prophecy of what was to come to the "seed of Abraham."
The "seed of Abraham" included—not the children of his loins alone — but those who, through his faith and through demonstration, should discern and accept the "Most High God"— Principle. All discerners of the one Lord — the "King of kings," who have obeyed, or been governed by that discernment, from Isaac to the present generation, are "children of Abraham." Jesus, the "shoot out of the stock of Jesse," the fulfilment of the first part of the prophecy, and the complete demonstration of Abraham's faith, was the example which, if followed, would bring to the senses the fulfilment of the wonderful and prophetic picture which begins with the sixth verse.
Paul read the same prophecy in the light of Jesus as the beginning of its fulfilment; "For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope; because the creation itself also shall be delivered from bondage to corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain with us until now."
