"The Shoot of Jesse" Sermon: Isaiah 11:1-16

“The Shoot of Jesse”

[Isaiah 11:1-16]

September 2, 2018, Second Reformed Church

            My friend, Stan, once said to me, “Hope is unrealistic.”

            How can you live without hope?  If there’s no hope, why should we do anything?

            The war comes to an end, and the Assyrians win – just as Isaiah prophesied.  The land is scorched, homes are burned to the ground, thousands of people lie dead.  Most of the people are taken into captivity.

            But there is the promise:  God will save a remnant.  God will bring a remnant back to the land.  But to what?  A dead land scattered with human bones with small pockets of the people that had been left behind a generation before?

            To look at the news, we are living in a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

            Is hope unrealistic? 

            Sure, Israel would return to the land – a remnant, but to what end?

            They needed to hear that the line of David – the kingdom – the Messiah – the Savior – is still coming – that God has not cut them off.

            And God tells them, through Isaiah, that their hope is to be found in the person of the Messiah.

            “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

            In the last chapter, we saw that God cut down Israel and, soon, the Assyrians, as a tree is felled and a stump is left.  But sometimes – we know this – sometimes, when we cut down a tree and leave a stump, shoots come up – it starts to grow.  And God gives Israel the promise – the hope – that after Jesse is cut down – after Judah has been conquered – the Messiah will rise up from the stump.  God has not given up on His people.  He will save a remnant and He will provide salvation for all those who will ever believe.

            And God tells them that the Messiah will bear fruit.

Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5, ESV).

            Jesus says that the only people that can bear fruit – that can do works that are pleasing to God – are those who are reconciled to God through the Savior.  So, when God says that the Messiah will bear fruit, we understand that the Savior will reconcile people to God – Jesus will save His people and then they will also be able to do works that are pleasing to God.

            “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”

            God the Holy Spirit indwells the Savior.  That means that the Savior is a human.  God the Holy Spirit only indwells humans.  So, the Savior is, indeed, Immanuel, as Isaiah said – God with us – God in human form – fully God and fully human in one person.

            God the Holy Spirit leads Jesus in His humanity – that He would have the wisdom and the knowledge of God to be the Savior, that He would be the mighty counselor to His people, that He would perfectly obey the Law of God by the power of God the Holy Spirit indwelling Him.

            “And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.”

            The Savior will love the Law of God – He will fear the Lord and find His wisdom in Him.

            Humans make good laws, bad laws, and evil laws.  But all the laws that God has given us are good.  They are good because they come from Him, and they are good because they are for our good.  God has not given us laws to weight us down and suffocate us, but to free us to all that He has for us.

            As Jesus says, “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36, ESV).

            The Psalmist writes, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes;           do not utterly forsake me!” (Psalm 119:1-8, ESV).

            Psalm 119, the longest of the psalm, is a song about how wonderful, beautiful, awesome, the Law of God is.  The psalmist again and again invites us to follow the Law of God, to refrain from sin, to see how beautiful it is to walk in the ways of God.

            Jesus loves the Law of God.  Are you learning to love the Law of God – because it shows us Who God is and who we are to be – how we are to live?

“He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

The Messiah is the judge, and on the last day, He will judge all the people of the earth – living or dead – according to the divine knowledge – not based merely on human perceptions.  Jesus’ judgement will be perfect and good and just and righteous.

And those who never believe in Jesus as Savior – those who choose to stand before God based on their own merits – those who reject Jesus – will receive the Wrath of God upon them.  This is ultimately fulfilled in the putting down of the lawless one, as we read:

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, ESV).

The hope of Israel is in the coming Messiah, and our hope is in the same Messiah Who is coming again.

One of my doctors, who is an Orthodox Jew, asked me why Christians believe that Messiah comes twice.  I explained that Messiah – Jesus – came first to live a perfect life under God’s Law, so He could credit us with His righteousness, and to die, suffering the Wrath of God for the sin of everyone who would ever believe in Him.  Now Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, Sovereignly governing all of Creation.  We wait for His second coming that won’t occur until everyone who will ever believe in Messiah has come to faith in Him.  Messiah comes twice so everyone who is predestined to salvation would have the time to exist and believe.

Our hope is in Messiah – Immanuel – Jesus, our God and Savior.

Second, all of Creation will be restored and perfected.

            “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

            In the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned, all of Creation – including all of the animals – lived together.  They didn’t kill each other or hurt each other.  Yet, there was the possibility that they would become what they did become after our first parent’s sin.  Now, we would not house wolves and sheep together, calves and lions – and we would not let our children – babies – play with poisonous snakes. 

But when Jesus returns, all of the animals will be changed and made eternally at peace with one another.

            And if God does this for all of Creation, how much more will we be changed and perfected?

Paul writes, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:19-25, ESV).

What does Paul say?

The Creation – all the critters – all the living things ever in existence – are waiting for the last day when all believers are glorified.  Because, the Creation has suffered for our sin – they were corrupted as part of the punishment humanity received.  Now, the Creation is waiting to see Jesus return and every believer throughout time and space receive their glorified bodies, because when that happens – the animals will be at peace with one another, and we who have believed will be at peace with Creation and with God, Himself, through his Son.

The squirrels and cats and dogs and camels and horses and whales and great Leviathan, himself, are all waiting – longing – as in the pains of childbirth for the day that Jesus says, “Well, done, good and faithful servants, enter into your rest.”  Because they will no longer be suffering as they are.

Can you imagine something of the scene – when Jesus returns – all the animals will stop and hold their breaths as we receive our glorified bodies, and then they will be set free – never to be in bondage to suffering again!

            Paul writes, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:51-57, ESV).

            “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

            Notice, Messiah is referred to as the shoot of Jesse and the root of Jesse – indicating that the line of David was continual to Jesus.

            On that day when all things are reconciled to Jesus and perfected so they can’t fall again, everyone will be drawn to Jesus to hear His Wisdom and to rest in the glory that He will share with us in the Kingdom.

            It boggles the mind to try to conceive what it will be that all of the Creation is restored, and we are restored and changed and glorified – in the Kingdom – before the face of our God and Savior – and we will be at peace – filled with joy.

            All of Creation will be restored and perfected.

            Third, the battle is the Lord’s, and He makes the Way.

“In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Here, we see nations that had conquered Israel in the past and nations that would conquer Israel in the future – and we see a world-wide dispersion of the people of Israel – over the years – the people of Israel were conquered and scattered over all of Creation.  And God says that He will bring back all those who are His people from every one of those nations.

God is able to gather every person who will ever believe in Him from every spot on the globe – even throughout the universe.  Nothing can or will stop God from bringing all of His people back together “in that day.”

“The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.”

Again, just as all of Creation will be restored and reconciled to each other – all believers will be reconciled to one another.  Any grudges or jealousies we may have will be washed away and we will all be satisfied in Jesus and not be at each other.  Rather, we will work together to accomplish God’s justice.

“And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals. And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.”

And yet, salvation is the work of God.  Just as God delivered His people from Egypt, God will deliver His people from the Assyrians, and God will deliver all of His people throughout time and space, having made the Way Who is Jesus.

Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30, ESV).

God is reconciling His people to Himself.  And no enemy, no nation, no battle, no conflict will keep Him from gathering His people to Himself.  God has made the Way through His Son, Jesus, and He will not allow anyone to snatch us away. 

So, let us be comforted.

Jesus, the Messiah, has come.  Jesus will come again.  He will glorify us and bring us into the fullness of His Kingdom.  All of His enemies and ours will be put down and the Creation will be restored and perfected.  And all these things will happen because God has willed it and He has made the Way by which all these things must happen.

So, be comforted, brothers and sisters.

Let us be about the work that God has given us to do.  Let us be pursuing holiness with all our strength.  Let us look forward to the coming of Jesus.  And let us do all these things with hope.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You chose to create and all things are happening according to the plan that gives You the greatest glory.  We thank You for the gift of Your Son and His salvation of us.  We thank You for the promises and the assurance that Your people can never be lost.  Comfort us and assure us by the indwelling of God, the Holy Spirit, and lead us on in all things that are pleasing to You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.