What would it take to truly change the world?
We look around us and see conflict, pain, division, and destruction, and it is easy to imagine that the answer must be found in something equally enormous. We think of governments, armies, movements, or great changes in society. Yet Isaiah gives us a surprising answer. He describes a day when violence will cease, creation will know peace, and no one will “hurt nor destroy”—and then tells us what will fill the earth when that day comes.
“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 11:9
Not simply the awareness that God exists, but something far deeper: the knowledge of God Himself.
And hidden within the Hebrew is a beautiful truth about what it really means to know Him—a truth that doesn’t only belong to the future Isaiah describes. It can change our lives today.
In Hebrew, the word translated as “knowledge” comes from yada (יָדַע, pronounced: yah-DAH)—to know. Throughout Scripture, this word can carry the sense of a deep, personal, experiential knowing. It is not merely collecting facts or understanding theology. God invites us to know Him relationally—to walk with Him, experience His presence, hear His Word, and allow His truth to reach deeply into our hearts.
There is a great difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing them. We can know many things about a person—their history, their accomplishments, even the words they have spoken—and still never have a relationship with them. In the same way, it is possible to know many things about God without allowing that knowledge to draw us into deeper fellowship with Him.
Throughout Scripture, God continually calls His people beyond information and into relationship.
Jeremiah writes:
“But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me.”
Jeremiah 9:24
What an extraordinary statement. Of all the things a person might pursue or take pride in, God points to one treasure above them all: to understand and know Him.
This helps us understand the extraordinary picture Isaiah gives us. Chapter 11 speaks of the reign of Messiah and a world where violence and destruction have given way to peace. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the young goat. Even the hostility we consider part of the natural order has disappeared.
Why such a profound transformation?
Because the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth “as the waters cover the sea.”
Think about that picture for a moment. The waters do not merely touch parts of the sea. They fill it. They surround it. There is no corner of the sea untouched by water. Isaiah is describing a day when the knowledge of God will no longer be pushed to the edges of human life. His ways, His truth, His righteousness, and His presence will fill the earth.
What a glorious hope we have in Yeshua.
Isaiah begins this chapter by speaking of a “Rod from the stem of Jesse” upon whom the Spirit of the Lord will rest. It is through the reign of Messiah that this promised peace comes. And through Yeshua, God has already opened the way for us to know Him personally.
Yeshua Himself prayed:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah whom You have sent.”
John 17:3
Notice how Yeshua describes eternal life. He does not speak of it only as something we receive one day in the future. At its very heart is knowing God.
That means the promise Isaiah describes has a deeply personal invitation for us today.
We do not have to wait for the whole earth to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord before asking Him to fill our own hearts. God has revealed Himself through His Son, given us His Word, and placed His Spirit within us. Every day He invites us closer.
And the more we truly know Him, the more something begins to change within us.
His Word reshapes the way we think. His presence changes the way we respond. His character begins to challenge our own. Where there is fear, we learn to trust Him. Where there is bitterness, He teaches us forgiveness. Where there is pride, He teaches us humility. Where there is anxiety, we learn again that He is faithful.
Knowing God is not simply adding something spiritual to our lives. The more deeply we know Him, the more His presence transforms who we are.
This is why knowing God can never remain only intellectual. If I truly come to know His mercy, it should make me more merciful. If I know His patience, it should change the way I treat others. If I know His faithfulness, it should strengthen me when circumstances are uncertain. And if I know His love, that love should begin flowing through me toward the people around me.
Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful connections in Isaiah’s prophecy. The earth is transformed when it is filled with the knowledge of God. And in a smaller but very real way, our lives are transformed in the same way.
The more room we give Him, the more His ways begin to shape ours.
Perhaps that is the invitation of Isaiah 11 for us this Shabbat. We rejoice in the glorious day when the knowledge of the Lord will fill the whole earth, but we also ask Him to fill us today.
Not simply, “Lord, teach me more about You,” but: “Lord, help me to know You more.”
May we make room to fellowship with Him, remain in His Word, listen for His voice, and continue growing in the knowledge of the One who has made Himself known to us through Yeshua.
And perhaps this Shabbat we can ask ourselves a simple question: Am I only learning more about God, or am I growing in knowing Him?
May our knowledge of Him move from our minds into our hearts, from our hearts into our choices, and from our choices into the way we love and serve those around us.
And as we grow closer to Him, may His truth continue to change our hearts until the day when what we now know personally will be known throughout the earth:
“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
