1. Jesus’ royal Person prophesied (11:1)
2. Jesus’ royal power prophesied (11:2)
3. Jesus’ royal purpose prophesied (11:3-5)
ISAIAH 11:1-5
Statistics say that if you or I was to list one hundred things predicting what a person was going to be like— It would take two hundred billion earths as full of people as ours to come up with a person who fully fulfilled those prophesies. That blows your mind, doesn’t it? But Old Testament Scripture records not just 100 prophesies about Jesus, it records 300 that were fulfilled in His first coming alone. By man’s standards, 100 prophesies are impossible—much less three times that amount. That’s why Satan works so hard to discredit the Bible. Because he knows that what it says is Truth. He knows that God told the prophets to tell about the coming Messiah. And they did. And they did it accurately. So, since Satan can’t discredit the prophesies, all he can do is cast doubt on the text itself. He says the Bible is full of mistakes. He says it was written by men with an agenda. He says it was written by men other than who the Bible identifies as the authors. But Satan’s attacks on Scripture don’t hold water. When you study Old Testament prophesy and see how true and accurate and detailed it is, there is no doubt God is the author. God is the author and He doesn’t lie. In the Old Testament, the prophets described everything about Jesus, including the fact that He would come as our King. The Israelites understood that. They understood He was coming as a King, but they misunderstood what kind of a king He would be when He came the first time. Today, we can look back and see how the prophesies concerning Israel’s Messiah were accurately fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ. By looking at those prophesies, we can get a better understanding of Jesus’ royal nature and what He came to do. Tonight, as we look at Isaiah’s prophesy about Jesus’ royal nature, I want each of us to begin to see Jesus as more than our Savior. I want us to begin to see Him as our King. And as we see Him as our King, we will have no choice but to worship Him as King. In order to see Jesus as King tonight, we’re going to look at three aspects of Jesus’ royalty that Isaiah prophesied. The first aspect is Jesus’ royal Person was prophesied.
ISAIAH 11:1
Jesus’ royal Person prophesied. Up until this point, Isaiah had been prophesying about the things that were going to happen to Israel as a result of their constant rebellion. History records that Isaiah’s prophesies were 100% accurate. That’s why many theological liberals say Isaiah wasn’t written by Isaiah. And that it was written many years after he actually wrote it. See, they can’t stand the fact that God makes promises that actually come true. The fact is, the prophet Isaiah wrote these words many years before the events happened. God inspired him, he wrote what God told him to, and the things happened just like he said they would. So, in the chapters and verses leading up to our passage, when Isaiah prophesied that Assyria would invade Israel, it actually happened that way. Then in chapter 10, when he prophesied that Assyria would be laid waste by Babylon, that’s the way it happened. In his prophesy, back in chapter 10 verse 34, Isaiah likened Assyria to a thicket of forest that God was going to chop down. Have you ever seen a forest that has been clear cut? When we used to live in Mississippi, it seemed like Georgia-Pacific owned half the state. They would have these huge forests of pine trees and would clear cut hundreds of acres of them at a time. The thing about it was that you could never tell what was going on from the main roads. They would always leave 50 feet or so of pine forest between the roads and the clear cutting. They did that so people couldn’t see the devastation of the land and how utterly desolate it looked when they were finished. It was barren and ugly. It looked like what you would picture the surface of the moon to look like. Once you would break through that wall of woods off the road, all of a sudden there was nothing living. Acres and acres of deadness. That was how Isaiah described God’s coming judgment on Assyria. He was going to clear cut them and leave nothing standing. Utter deadness and desolation. But then he gets to verse 1 that we just read. All throughout Old Testament prophesy, God promises judgment. But He always shows the light at the end of the tunnel. Because His judgment is to turn hard-hearted people back to Him. Now, picture the scene—a huge clear cut field of utter destruction. And you look. Off in the distance. A sign of life. A beautiful, living twig. Shooting out of an apparently dead stump in the ground. But, of course, we know the stump isn’t dead. The roots in the ground represent God’s chosen people—the house of Israel. This morning we talked about the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. God made those promises to the Jews and He never backs out on His promises. So even though the Jews would look like they had been destroyed in God’s judgment of Assyria, they weren’t. The stump still lived. And out of that stump, a King would come from the line of Jesse. Now, remember that Jesse was David’s father. He wasn’t a king, but his son was. Jesse was just a simple shepherd. A nobody. Just like the line of David was when Jesus came. I mean, think about it—who was Joseph? In the grand scheme of things, he was a nobody. Israel’s kings weren’t on the throne because of the curse of Jechonia that we talked about. Rome was in the process of trying to take over the world and were ruling Israel. Herod was somebody—Caesar was somebody. Joseph was just a carpenter. A nobody. Just like David’s daddy—Jesse the shepherd. But just like Jesse, because of the royal bloodline, God made Joseph the legal father of a King. God promised a King would come from the desolate and clear cut roots of Israel. Life out of apparent lifelessness. He promised a King would come from the most insignificant person in the lineage of David. The King of kings from an insignificant nobody. But that’s the way God works. He brings hope out of hopelessness. He uses the nobodies of the world to be somebodies for Him. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus’ royal Person would come from a desolate nation and an apparently insignificant line. A stem and a stump. But not only did he prophesy Jesus’ royal Person. He prophesied His royal power.
ISAIAH 11:2
Jesus’ royal power prophesied. This verse immediately brings to mind Jesus’ baptism. You remember what happened. Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized. Of course His baptism didn’t symbolize the same thing ours does today. We are baptized today as the first step of obedience upon our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Of course, Jesus is God—He didn’t need to publicly profess salvation. Jesus was baptized to announce the start of His public ministry. Today, we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are symbolically buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk with Him in newness of life. But Jesus wasn’t symbolically being buried and He certainly didn’t need newness of life—He is perfect. Instead, His baptism was a very graphic and literal fulfillment of the verse we just read. Remember what happened when Jesus came up out of the water? The Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. Just like it says back in our verse in Isaiah—“the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” Any of the Pharisees who knew their Isaiah scroll and were paying attention, would have immediately recognized the fulfillment of prophesy at Jesus’ baptism. Now, our passage says that the Spirit would rest on Him. It doesn’t say the Spirit would give him anything. Every attribute the Spirit has, Jesus has as well. The attributes Isaiah lists are characteristics of the Spirit. By resting on the King, the Spirit did what He always does. He pointed to those same characteristics in Jesus. Just a side note here. Any ministry that focuses on the Holy Spirit instead of on Jesus is not Scriptural. The entire purpose and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to point to Jesus Christ. He does not exalt Himself, therefore we are not to exalt Him apart from His role in pointing us to Jesus. Our focus and worship should be on Christ. The Holy Spirit illumines Scripture and opens our hearts and minds to Jesus—not to Himself. So, as He always does, the Holy Spirit pointed to Jesus’ royal characteristics. The perfect characteristics He has that enable Him to rule perfectly. Characteristics like wisdom and understanding. Remember the times in the Gospels when Jesus would frustrate the Pharisees because He always got out of the mental traps they set for Him? Remember what the people said when Jesus finished preaching the Sermon on the Mount? The Bible says that the people were astonished at His doctrine. “For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” The Spirit pointed to Jesus’ having wise council and might. Can you imagine a king that didn’t possess wise council? Or one who wasn’t mighty? He certainly wouldn’t be king for long. The plastic headed king in the Burger King commercials would have a more effective reign that him. But Jesus is the ultimate wise council. As a matter of fact, a couple of chapters before our text, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus name would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His council is made effective by His might. Paul speaks of Jesus’ mighty power in Colossians 1:15-17 when he says that Jesus, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth. Visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist.” The Spirit also pointed to Jesus possessing knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” Who better than the Son of God—eternally with the Father and Spirit in the Godhead… Who better than Jesus Christ to display the type of reverence for the Father that the Bible calls fear? Didn’t He display the fear of God in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was so anguished over His mission that He sweat great drops of blood? Or when He prayed, “Not My will but Thine?” So, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus’ royal person would come from a desolate nation and an apparently insignificant line. He also prophesied that the Holy Spirit continually points to Jesus’ royal power. His power as evidenced in His wisdom and understanding. His counsel and might. And His knowledge and fear of the Lord. But Isaiah also prophesied about Jesus’ royal purpose.
ISAIAH 11:3-5
Jesus’ royal purpose prophesied. As the prophesied Messiah—as the prophesied King, why did Jesus come? What did Isaiah prophesy was Jesus’ royal purpose? It was to bring righteous judgment. God is a holy God. He is a righteous God. And as a holy and righteous God, He will not endure the presence of sin. If He were to allow sin into His presence, it would taint His holiness. Remember back to the days of the temple? Anything that came into the Holy of Holies had to be cleansed with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. The priests’ sin had to be covered by the blood. A spotless, innocent lamb had to die in order to temporarily cover the sins of the priest so he could be in the presence of God. The lambs and sacrifices, the temple and the holy of holies were just shadows of Jesus’ royal purpose. Isaiah says that Jesus’ purpose was to bring righteous judgment. He would judge sin impartially. He would smite the earth irrepressibly. And He would slay the wicked unsympathetically. Poor or rich, meek or proud, lowly or lofty. Not one sin would escape His punishment. And He did judge. And they were punished. The judgment was passed as He hung on the cross and cried, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The punishment was issued when He received the lashes. When He took the nails. When He wore the crown. You see, His purpose was to bring righteous judgment. The righteous judgment of a sinful world requires death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ brought that righteous judgment. But out of His love for you and me, He bore the penalty Himself. The Bible says, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for you, so you wouldn’t have to. And as He hung there dying. As He judged your sin. As He bore the nails that you deserve. As He fulfilled His royal purpose, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus extends that offer of forgiveness to you today. He already bore your sins on Calvary. He willingly shed His blood to cover your sins. All you have to do is ask Him. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Turn from your sin and turn toward Him. He’s already done all the work and is ready to extend His gracious gift of salvation to you tonight. Jesus Christ is King tonight. His royal person was prophesied. His royal power was prophesied. And His royal purpose was prophesied. We saw this morning and we’ve seen tonight—He is King. Will you bow before Him willingly now? Or will you be forced to bow later? It’s your choice. Make the right one tonight.
