INTRODUCTION
How optimistic are you about the future? For a number of years, a market research company, IPSOS, has been doing a survey at the start of the year. One of the questions they ask is whether people expect the coming year to be better for them than the previous year. In Britain, about 64% of people expected that this year – 2024 – would be better than last year.
I think if IPSOS asked me if I expect 2025 to be a better year FOR ME than 2024, I’d say yes. 2024 has been a good year for me but I’m naturally optimistic so I expect 2025 to be even better.
But if I extend the time horizon, and make the question not about me, but about the world, then I would give a very different answer. If I look ahead to the next fifty or a hundred years then I’m not optimistic at all. I expect that the world will suffer enormous environmental damage. I expect that persecution of Christians will increase. I wouldn’t be surprised if a devastating war breaks out somewhere.
That is all assuming that Jesus doesn’t come again in that time. But at some point, I expect that Jesus will come again.
Today is the first Sunday in Advent – the first Sunday in the Christmas season. At this time of year, churches usually pick Bible readings about the birth of Christ and that is very logical. But almost from the start of the church, churches have also seen the FIRST COMING of Jesus as an opportunity to remember and look forward to his SECOND COMING.
The passage I chose for today relates to both Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. It’s a passage which has been used in Advent for a very long time. The earliest record I could find of this was a list of set readings for the church in Georgia which went back to about 600 A.D. This passage in Isaiah was one of the readings for December 24th.
Our passage is one we should enjoy because it gives us a beautiful picture of the world which Jesus came to establish. Isaiah prophetically foresees a world founded on justice and righteousness in which there is peace not just among humankind but also peace between humankind and the rest of creation.
We don’t see this now. But we can be very encouraged when we see what we have to look forward to. We may also feel we need to reflect on what we are striving for. Isaiah’s vision reflected God’s vision. As we see God’s vision, we may feel that our own vision doesn’t align with it very well. An adjustment may be in order.
I’m going to look at the context, then at what Isaiah says about Jesus, and then consider what it means for us.
THE CONTEXT
Isaiah starts by saying, ‘There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit’ [Isaiah 11:1].
Who was Jesse? And what’s all this about a stump of Jesse? We need some background.
Jesse was the father of David. David was the second and probably the greatest king of Israel. He built up Israel as a nation. But after him, the Kingdom of Israel split into two: Israel and Judah. Both nations declined. The people of Israel fell away from God. 250 years or so after David, when Isaiah was prophesying, Israel was about to be invaded by Assyria. The people of Israel would be carried away from their land and that would be the end of the Kingdom of Israel. Perhaps 170 years after that, much the same happened to the Kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon attacked. He besieged Jerusalem and captured it. He captured Zedekiah, the king of Judah, put his eyes out, and took him to Babylon where he remained a prisoner until he died. FROM THAT TIME ON, THERE WERE NO MORE KINGS OF THE JEWS FOR 500 YEARS. About 30 or 40 years before Jesus was born, the Romans appointed Herod as king. But he was only ever a puppet king.
David, son of Jesse was a great king. But his line declined until we reach Zedekiah. After Zedekiah there were no more kings over Judah for the best part of 600 years – and we can hardly count Herod as a king. So, what remained of David’s line? Next to nothing. It would be generous to call what remained a stump.
When Isaiah was prophesying, he knew that God was about to punish the northern Kingdom of Israel. He’d just talked about it in the previous chapter [Isaiah 10]. Isaiah also knew that later on, the same would happen to the Kingdom of Judah [see e.g., Isaiah 39:5-6; 2 Kings 21:13].
Isaiah's prophecy that David’s line would end up a stump fitted with what he knew would happen to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But I feel sure that Isaiah also knew that God had made a promise to David. I feel sure he knew what was written in the Book of Samuel. There, it was recorded that God told David, through the prophet Nathan: ‘When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever’ [2 Samuel 7:12-13].
God would raise up someone from David’s line and establish his kingdom FOR EVER. He would be a remarkable king, whose kingdom would last forever! For God’s promise to be fulfilled, a new king would have to come from the stump of Jesse. That’s the context. Let’s now see what Isaiah has to say about this king who would come. This isn’t a long passage. It’s just nine verses. In those verses, Isaiah tells us:
One thing about Jesus
One thing Jesus does, and…
One result
ONE THING ABOUT JESUS
Isaiah prophesied that a shoot would come from the stump of Jesse. A person would come from Jesse’s line. What would this person be like? Isaiah focuses on just one characteristic. Here’s how Isaiah starts to describe him [verse 1]:
‘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.’
There’s no confusion about what Isaiah is saying!
[N.B. the Spirit here has seven characteristics. Revelation 3:1 talks about the seven spirits of God.]
This is a great description of Jesus. Over and over again we see Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is baptized and the Holy Spirit descends on him. The Holy Spirit sends him into the wilderness. He starts to preach and quotes Isaiah:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor’ [Luke 4:18 quoting Isaiah 61:1].
Isaiah doesn’t mention any other characteristics of the Messiah here. So, it looks like a really important part of this person’s character is that the Spirit of the Lord rests on him. Isaiah got it exactly right. This person who came from the line of David definitely had the Holy Spirit resting on him. Since it’s very clear that Isaiah is looking forward to Jesus, I’m now going to simply refer to the person Isaiah is talking about as Jesus.
ONE THING JESUS DOES
Isaiah focuses on just one thing Jesus will do. He will judge. I’ll read verse 3 and the first half of verse 4. Listen out for the words and phrases that relate to judging.
‘And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
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…
Isaiah is talking about judging, isn’t he? Isaiah doesn’t mention any other jobs which Jesus does. That means that judging must be one of Jesus’ most important jobs. The New Testament agrees. It makes it VERY clear that Jesus will judge the world.
Let’s go on to the second half of verse 4. The judging is over. Now comes the time for carrying out the sentence.
‘and he SHALL STRIKE THE EARTH with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips HE SHALL KILL THE WICKED.’
We’ve identified the person in Isaiah’s prophecy as Jesus. And here he is, killing the wicked. Isaiah got it right about the Holy Spirit. But we may think, well, Isaiah hasn’t got THIS right! Jesus doesn’t kill the wicked! He welcomes sinners! That’s true. Jesus welcomes sinners and calls them to repentance. But what if people don’t repent? What if people continue in rebellion against him? Then, regrettably, the day will come when they will be killed. This is what Isaiah tells us and it’s what the New Testament tells us. Think, for example, of the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19. Some people oppose the nobleman who is being made king. After he is made king, he has those people slaughtered in front of him. Or think of Revelation 19. Ten kings gather together against Jesus. John sees Jesus on a white horse, leading the armies of heaven against them. He kills those who have come against him [Revelation 19:11-21].
The ONE THING JESUS DOES which Isaiah speaks about is that he judges. We know Jesus saves. But he also judges. If there was no judgment there would be no need for him to save us. We can’t forget that this is something Jesus will do.
ONE RESULT
Let’s move on to the one result. We see it in verses 6 to 9. We can move on from the rather chilly thought of Jesus judging to something we’re much more comfortable with. Isaiah describes a world in which the wolf and lamb are getting on. So are the leopard and the young goat, as are the calf, the lion and the fattened calf. The animals are all at peace. Then Isaiah comments, ‘and a little child shall lead them.’
Isaiah continues in a similar vein for several more verses. There are more animals and more children getting into what would normally be very dangerous situations.
After Jesus has provided justice peace breaks out.
But what exactly does Isaiah’s prophecy mean? Is his picture of the wolf dwelling with the lamb literally true? Or is it an allegory of peace between people? Most people would probably say that it’s an allegory of peace between people.
But I would argue that it’s a picture of the world to come. In Isaiah’s vision, animals and humans are getting along. They’re in a great relationship. When we look at the big story of the Bible, that’s what we should expect. God didn’t create animals for humankind’s benefit. He wanted humankind to function for animal’s benefit. He put humankind in charge of the world to look after it. It isn’t just humankind who will be saved. Romans talks about the redemption of the whole of creation. And, if it was not the case that the wolf and lamb are getting on then God’s declaration, ‘They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain’ wouldn’t be true. If wolves are gobbling up lambs there would definitely be some hurting. I believe that Isaiah is showing us the big picture. The world which Jesus will establish will be the kind of world God wanted when he created it, a world in which humankind and the rest of creation live harmoniously together. That is certainly not the case at the moment.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR US
There are at least three things which Isaiah’s prophecy means for us.
The one thing Isaiah said about Jesus was that his ministry would be characterized by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would be vital to Jesus. He’s vital to us too. Let’s long for the Holy Spirit to fill us more and more. Let’s ask God to pour out his Holy Spirit on us.
The one thing Isaiah said Jesus would do is to judge. If we imagine that Jesus won’t judge, Isaiah says otherwise. So does the New Testament. If we are in any doubt about our relationship with Jesus, now is the time to sort it out.
The one thing Isaiah pointed to as the result is a healed world. Isaiah’s vision of the world which Jesus will establish is very different to the kind of future world most people today imagine. When people today imagine the future, they usually imagine a future based on technology. Animals really don’t have a part in it. But Isaiah’s vision is the opposite! In his vision, animals are present and technology is absent. Not only that, there are children with the animals, leading them and playing with them. Isaiah’s vision reflects God’s vision. And if this is God’s vision, it should be ours too. We, as humankind, have a vital role to play towards the non-human part of God’s creation. Let’s ask ourselves if our values align with what we see in Isaiah’s vision.
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 1ST DECEMBER 2024, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE
