Ladies and Gentlemen: today s menu is steak, and not pudding. I warn you upfront.

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1 The Root of Jesse Isaiah 11:1-9 Englewood Baptist Church Sunday morning, Nov. 27, 2011 Open your Bible to Isaiah 1. Ladies and Gentlemen: today s menu is steak, and not pudding. I warn you upfront. The book of Isaiah is stout! We will study the writings of this major prophet deeply over the next 4 weeks. The book is intimidating in size, confusing in its language, but extremely rewarding in its truths. Many people believe that Isaiah represents the height of Old Testament Scripture. Isaiah is called The Book of Salvation. The name Isaiah means the salvation of the Lord. Christmas is about salvation for men. What a fitting place for us to be these days. Isaiah himself is often referred to as the Prince of Prophets. (Isaiah image) His mastery of the language, his rich and vast vocabulary, and his poetic skills have earned him the title, Shakespeare of the Bible. Unlike some of the other prophets, Isaiah was highly educated: brilliant, distinguished, and privileged, and yet, he remained a humble and deeply spiritual man. He was committed to obeying the Lord over the long haul of his year ministry as a prophet. Strong tradition suggests that he finished well: dying a martyr s death under the reign of King Manasseh by being placed in the hollow of a tree and being sawed into two pieces. That s what we call commitment. Isaiah came of age in a season of appalling political turmoil. (Divided Kingdom Map) He watched Moses promised land sliced down the center, almost like America nearly was in the Civil War. The North retained the name Israel; the South became Judah. They both flew their own flags and went their own way. Isaiah was called by God to the southerners of Judah. The Lord told him to go to these people and to urge them to turn back to God and to stop turning their backs on God. He was to warn them of the trouble they were bringing upon themselves. You can t ignore God and get away with it. That was true then; it s true today. You know that, right? And so, the book of salvation begins on a sour note... Read vv.2-4 Isaiah was called by God to sound the alarm. When you turn your back on God, you turn back to Egypt to misery. It s never good to go your own way. And so Isaiah begins

2 propehesyin about judgment after judgment after judgment. This is what will happen, he says, if things don t change soon. Now let s talk for a second about prophecy because this is often misunderstood. The prophecies of Isaiah were both forthtelling and foretelling. Forthtelling in that some of the things he said had to do with the here and now. Other things he said related to events in far off in the distance, that is, foretelling. The funny thing about prophets is in the Old Testament is that they do not feel obligated to tell you when they are switching from forthtelling to foretelling, from the now to the future. Sometimes it s clear; sometimes its fuzzy. We are left to figure it out. Let me give you an example of forthtelling Example Look with me at 3:1. Isaiah seems to be speaking of the immediate threat of judgment should the people fail to repent. He is bringing forth information that pertained to that moment in history. That s forthtelling. Now, look with me at 7: Do you recognize those words? Of course you do. That s Messianic prophecy. With our New Testament eyewear, we now see that this was a prediction of Jesus. Isaiah looked ahead and said, I see a woman with all her innocence pregnant with a boy. And the boy s name is God With Us. 700 and some years later, it would happen. This is foretelling. Simeon would hold that boy in the temple and say, You may dismiss me now in peace. For I have seen your salvation. So here in chapter 7.Isaiah is foretelling the way of salvation. Again, Isaiah means the book of salvation. It has to do with judgment, yes. But it ultimately leads us to redemption, and hope, and restoration. Now, before we dive into one of Isaiah s Messianic prophecies, let me share a truth that I see as profoundly interesting: The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible has 66 books. Isaiah The first 39 chapters of Isaiah focus on judgment to those who reject God. The first 39 books of the Bible (the Old Testament) carry a similar theme. The last 27 chapters of Isaiah focus on the restoration of God s people and the creation of a glorious future kingdom. The last 27 chapters of the Bible (the New Testament) focus on the restoration of people and the creation of a glorious future kingdom.

3 So, the book of salvation, Isaiah, is in some ways, is a microcosm: the biblical world in miniature form. If you can get your mind around Isaiah, you can get your mind around the main message of God: redemption and salvation. For these weeks leading up to Christmas, let s see if we can t get our minds around Isaiah, especially His predictions of the newborn King. Let s jump right in at Isaiah 11:1 the foretelling of Jesus Isaiah 11 begins with a picture of a forest. Can you see this forest? This forest is far from typical. It appears that the people from the paper mill just came through. They have chopped down all the trees. What was once a place teeming with life is now just an open field peppered with the trunks of trees. If you will look back at 10:33, you see that this mowing was God s doing Read 10:33. This is symbolic of God s power over earthly power. God had brought Israel down. He had also brought Assyria, the conquering kingdom down. No super power prevailed. The land was a clean slate. What would happen now? The throne of David? Gone. The Assyrian war machine? Chopped down. It s all over. Right? Wrong But look, over there. From that stump, we see a sign of life. It is the stump of Jesse. Something green is growing. From that unlikely place, we see potential. We are reminded that God delights in humble beginnings. He prefers the ruddy shepherd boy of Jesse over the stout and stacked Saul. He picks the underdog always, just to prove his power. And so here He goes again.it s the shoot of Jesse, is a little green stem sticking 6 inches in the air. God had great plans for that little green stem; it s the Messiah. But notice, this Messiah is not just the shoot of Jesse, but also the root of Jesse. That is, this man did not simply come from Jesse. No. Get this: Jesse came from him. He was before and after Jesse. This man who would come is the root cause of Jesse. And we are reminded of the Gospel of John: Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. John 1:3-4 Life was not over. God was growing a new forest. Let s not forget the context: This was a bad bad season for the southern kingdom of Judah. Life seemed to be over. The future looked bleak. All signs pointed to total loss and failure and despair. It seemed to be an appropriate hour to throw in the towel on this whole kingdom thing, on the idea of harmony and peace.

4 But what does Isaiah say? Hope is still alive. Do you know, that when God is on your side, there is always great reason to believe that things will turn around. No man can stop the prevailing will of God. The root of Jesse was the only hope for these lost people. The next few verses tell us what is extra special about this new born king. And what do we learn about this root of Jesse? What Will Come of This Root? Here is what we learn in the verses that follow 1. From the root will arise a King unlike any previous king. Now, notice again the qualities of this man vv.2-3 What makes this man unique is not royal birth or blood. What sets Him apart is not size or stature or form. What puts him in a category all his own is the power of the Dove the fullness of the Holy Spirit that rests upon him beginning when he was waist deep in the Jordan. This King comes with unlimited Spirit-power! Do you remember this verse in John 3? For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. Jesus (John 3:34) The Spirit without limit! Oh if I could somehow attain that!? Forget Superman s cape, Batman s car, Spidermen s net.this King has unlimited power in the Spirit. And that is not make-believe. That s real. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Col. 1:19) Like no other man in history, Jesus walked in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. King David? Yes, he once possessed a good dose of the Spirit. Gideon? Yes, he had known the power of the Spirit. Samson? Surely he had felt the presence of the Spirit. But here, in Isaiah 11, is a super-powered man, a david-gideon-samson combo and much more. This root of Jesse, this person, would receive the whole sha-bang! And what are those powers? They are listed in three pairs. Here are the three pairs. If only we could elect a president with these stats: He will have perfect wisdom and understanding for government. (Isaiah would later say that the government will one day rest upon His shoulders). Jesus makes perfect decisions. Who do you know that makes the right decision every

5 time? Nobody. Because you don t know anybody that has the full force of the Spirit, except for Jesus. This is why all of creation groans for his kingdom because the world has not yet seen the joy of living under an always right ruler. One day, we shall say. He will have perfect counsel and power for war. When Christ comes again, he comes as a warrior-king, not a suffering servant. He will not be slain again! He will slay the beast, He will establish peace and enforce righteousness. He knows what to do and how. The world will be in good hands. Now, let s talk about the Millenium for a moment. That is, the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, before heaven comes in all its fullness. For your study, this is described in detail in Rev. 20. There are three ways to go with the Millenium. There is premillenial meaning that Jesus will come physically and visibly to set up this glory day on earth. He will show up and start the session. Second, there is amillenial which essentially means that there is no literal glory season on earth, that Rev. 20 is symbolic of what Jesus is doing right now in heaven. And then there is postmillennial, which means that Jesus will return at the end of the millennium and that the world will grow increasingly godly and peaceful over time and enjoy a lengthy season of prosperity and harmony. Sin will not cease, but it will be minimize by the influence of the church. The church conquers the world. Of all these views, the one I have struggled with the most is postmillennialism: the idea that this world is on the up-and-up and that evil is decreasing over time. I certainly hope this to be true, for my children and grandchildren especially, just like I want a pretribulation rapture to be true. I want world peace but what I see in this world is a pronounced presence of darkness. What I see is a war in which evil growing in strength and in power. I see a world now where invisible forces seem to be guiding the ship away from the lighthouse and into the choppier seas. So I am concerned, but I am not worried about the future. Why? Because the root of Jesse. When he comes, he comes with perfect power and he wages war on our hidden assassin. He takes the enemy out. Isaiah says, He will fell the tree. With the spirit of counsel and might. He will have perfect knowledge and the fear of the Lord for spiritual leadership. Scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. This means that we must acknowledge God in our decision making if we will know how to navigate through life. This King has perfect communication with God the Father. He does nothing outside of His will. The first time Jesus showed up 30 years after the first Christmas he said this: The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. John 8:29

6 How many rulers that ever lived said, I will do only what pleases God. He comes with a full knowledge of the way things ought to be. Let me now provide the good news and the bad news of this text. The good news is that world peace will one day happen. There will come a day when the swords will be beaten into plowshares, when weapons are destroyed. Men will no longer train for war. That is a marvelous thought. The bad news, there is no person, no president, no potentate will ever make that happen except for the Prince of Peace. When he comes, he comes in power, to establish his kingdom and rule. There will be a one-world government and this kingdom will have no end. Now you can see why 1 st century people were so confused when Jesus showed up looking like Joseph s little carpenter boy. Jesus came as a peasant, with no education like Isaiah, with no political prowess, no massive group of followers. Just a handful of random fishermen followed him. Now you can show a little grace to John the Baptist who was sitting in jail, and was hearing about the activity of Jesus and sent word to Jesus from the cell saying, ARE YOU THE ONE OR SHOULD WE EXPECT ANOTHER? Isaiah said this man would be powerful, a King like no other. And no person on the planet, including John, ever dreamed that this King had plans to come twice: would come firs in submission and a second time in sovereignty. But that is the King we wait for. And that s why we celebrate his birthday 2000 years after. Now, before we move on to the second portion of this passage, what principles can we glean here? Let me mention two: God works through humble beginnings. Don t miss this point. Jesse was a nobody. Isaiah could have said the shoot of David. Now that would have been some good name droppin. David was somebody. It would be good to say you belonged to David s line. But no, Isaiah says that this man is the root and shoot of Jesse. Jesse was the obscure father of David, who lived in a no-name, one-horse town called Bethlehem. Bethlehem is described as the least of the cities of Judah. It wasn t on the map. But God does his best work with people and places of obscurity. It s his way. So you say: Well, my little old life won t ever amount to anything. I have no flair, no pizzazz, no charisma, no appeal. I m the most ordinary joe in the room. If that is the case, then you would qualify for the first team in God s system. Don t ever underestimate what God can do through the humble obedient servant. God brings greatness from obscurity. He can use you. A second principle we must not miss

7 The secret to your success is in the attainment of the Holy Spirit. This passage is so clear. What made Jesus so special was the sticky spirit, which rested on Him. And you and I have power over how much Spirit we invoke in our life. We make the choice whether we will walk in the Spirit or we will walk in the flesh. How do we walk by the Spirit? By prayer, careful study of Scripture, filling our mind with Phil 4:8, whatever is pure and lovely and admirable, by walking in obedience to Christ s commands. Look at Is. 11:5. When we put righteousness around our waste; faithfulness around our chest, we can get some of that Spirit that Jesus had in full. This is why, it s an excellent request every morning as you start your day, God give me your Spirit. I have got to have your Spirit if I m going to accomplish anything. Lord, send your Spirit and send it in large degree. The root of Jesse would rule in absolute perfection because he was fully endowed with the Spirit. How much Spirit do you seek? How much Spirit do you desire? Where are you lacking righteousness? Where are you not being faithful? Attack these areas and you invite more Spirit. Now, let s move on to the second half of this passage, because this is one of the most heartwarming pictures in all the Bible! Let me read to you vv From this root will arise a Kingdom unlike any previous kingdom. This is a picture of paradise regained. Sometimes I get sad when I consider the limitations my children face. No longer can a boy run along on his bicycle only to return at supper. The world is not safe for the innocent child. The climate has changed since I was a child. Isaiah sees the kingdom that comes when His will is done, and what he sees is paradise regained. The Prince of Peace has trampled the Enemy, and transformed society. The war is over. There is no power struggle between predators and prey. There is no seeking to devour. The whole earth is full of the knowledge of God. Don t you find it interesting, in v.2 we learned that when the King comes, he comes with full knowledge of the God. And when His kingdom comes, he makes certain that every sea and every citizen knows the Good God who set it all in motion. We celebrate Christmas because the King who came as a 6 in shoot will one day come with an iron scepter and sovereignty. Trees don t die in heaven; they just keep growing. The world has never seen a kingdom like the one Isaiah saw. It s foretelling.

International Bible Lesson Commentary Isaiah 11:1-9

International Bible Lesson Commentary Isaiah 11:1-9 International Bible Lessons Commentary Isaiah 11:1-9 New Revised Standard Version International Bible Lessons Sunday, September 4, 2016 L.G. Parkhurst, Jr. The International Bible Lesson (Uniform Sunday