9They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The verses just before this one lays out some very unusual circumstances, a wolf and a lamb living side by side without attack, a leopard and a goat, a calf and a lion, and a small child leading them all. Cow and bear, a lion losing its taste for meat, an infant and a cobra. We read this and say, “That’s impossible! The LORD made them enemies. Its in their nature to kill.” That is what makes these verses so catching. The Lord is going to do something so unusual that it will dumbfound everyone. The unusual thing is to bring Jesus. Only when the Garden of Eden has been restored, the new heaven and the new earth, will peace reign. And the key to this transformation is in this verse. The lack of enemies is due to the knowledge of the LORD. When we really know him we lose our battle mentality. Jesus won the battle, so why do we need to fight. All the peace efforts of our world politicians will not yield peace. They can only hope for a cessation of hostilities, because without peace in the heart, the anger and bitterness will pop up eventually. If we continue to deny the LORD, we will continue to lack peace, both personally and globally. It is only when we have a personal, intimate relationship with Him that peace can engulf us as the water covers the sea.
The Arnold Journey 