Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
December 8, 1985
Jesus: The Branch of Jesse
Isaiah 11:1-10
Christmas has got to be my favorite holiday of the year. Our surroundings are brightened up by all the decorations and everyone is in a good mood.
The good feelings of Christmas have occurred in some bizarre situations. During World War I the battles were fought from trenches that were only a few hundred feet apart. To gain territory a side would cram hundreds of thousands of men in their trenches, then have them climb over the top and charge headlong over to the enemy's side.
The invention of the machine gun made these tactics suicidal. As soon as they climbed out of their trenches they were cut down but their generals were too set in their ways to stop the madness. In battles like Verdun and the Somme, literally millions of young men lost their lives and the battle lines hardly moved at all.
The only relief from the blood and carnage came at Christmas. The generals from both sides agreed to have a cease-fire on Christmas Day. Sure enough, in the morning the guns were silent. The common soldiers went one step better. They laid down their rifles and crawled out of their trenches, meeting their enemies in the no-man's land. Most of them were cold, hungry and lonely but they exchanged small presents and sang Christmas hymns in each other's languages.
Our world is torn by hatred and violence but Christmas has always offered a hope of peace. A lasting peace, not just an uneasy absence of warfare. This kind of peace seems to be more and more remote. After the horror of World War I, World War II followed within a generation. Two bombs dropped toward the end of the war killed 220,000 people. At the end of World War II once again the world tried to bring about a lasting peace.
The United Nations was organized with the idea that words would replace bullets. International summits like the recent one at Geneva have been held on and off for forty years now. But still we have no peace. The summit that resulted in the Salt II agreement did not reduce the number of weapons - it only let the Russians catch up. For all our good intentions and lofty words, we just don't trust each other. The differences between us are too deep.
Every Christian should have a deep desire in their heart for peace. We are not trigger-happy war-mongers. At least we shouldn't be. We should seek, pray and work for peace in the world. But as Christians we should be aware that true peace can only come to our planet when Christ returns again. Isaiah 11 is a prophecy about this very event. It talks about the character of the Messiah, what his government will be like and how the world itself will be changed.
Verse 1 gives a cryptic description of the Messiah. It says a rod will come out of the stem of Jesse. A better way to put it is that a shoot will grow from a tree stump. The key to the verse is the name "Jesse". Jesse was the father of King David and the ancestor of every king who ruled the nation of Judah. In spite of wars, insurrections and economic collapse, one of David's descendants was always able to keep the throne. It was the second most important promise God had made to David: he would always have a son on the throne. But in 587 BC, long after David and even Isaiah had died, the throne became vacant. The nation of Israel itself was destroyed.
God let Isaiah know this would happen by saying that David's royal line would be cut off, like the dead stump of a tree. But this leads to the greatest promise God ever gave David - his final descendant would be the Messiah. This is the shoot that grows up from the stump.
This prophecy has already been fulfilled in part when Jesus was born. Every single gospel records that Jesus belonged to the royal line of David, the son of Jesse. It is interesting to note that if Jesus was a fake and not the Messiah, it had to be someone else in his generation. Because soon after Jesus was crucified the Jews caused so much trouble for the Roman Empire, that the Romans hunted down every Jew of royal blood and killed them. That way no new Messiah could arise and start a war. To this day, there are Jews who say they can trace themselves back to the tribe of Levi and even to the priestly line of Aaron. But none of them can trace themselves back to King David. Verse 2 describes what will give the Messiah power - the Holy Spirit will be on him. Notice first that the Holy Spirit is described as a separate being.
The gifts of the spirit fit into categories. Many people find in this verse the 7-fold Spirit mentioned in the book of Revelation. But it is better to see three pairs of gifts here.
Wisdom and understanding are gifts for government. This was beautifully brought out by King Solomon. God had granted him one wish. Solomon could have asked for money or power but instead he asked for wisdom. So God tells him -
"Behold, I have done according to your words, lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart."
These are gifts more rulers could use.
The second pair is the gift of counsel and might, which prepares him for war. The third is for knowledge and the fear of the Lord, which prepares him for spiritual leadership. The last pair is the most important because verse 3 adds emphasis to it. The Messiah shall have quick understanding - actually this means he will delight in the reverential fear of God. Other kings were given some of these gifts. Only the Messiah will have all of them.
The rest of verse 3 describes the policies of his government on earth. Two key ideas stand out - justice and compassion. As Isaiah says,
"...and he shall not judge after the sight of the eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears but with righteousness shall he judge the poor."
Many Americans think a crummy justice system is something we have invented. Every day we hear about vicious criminals who are set free because of minor technicalities or stupidity by the police. In reality most criminals are not let off the hook because of mistakes. They are let off because we can't catch them to begin with. For some crimes, only five percent of the criminals are caught. Of these, only five percent are brought to trial and still fewer actually serve any time behind bars. What is really amazing is that these statistics are not just recent. They have been this way for years. I am convinced most judges and police want to put criminals away. But they lack the evidence.
For absolute justice there must be absolute knowledge. Isaiah is showing us that the Messiah not only has supernatural gifts but that the Messiah himself is a divine person.
The concept of justice in the Bible goes beyond distinguishing between right and wrong, it also involves delivering people from oppression. So when verse 4 says he judges the poor, his is not condemning them. He is giving them what is owed to them and what they need.
This concern for the poor is not shared by a lot of people. Especially when the economy is tight, we want to look out only for ourselves. And when we associate with other people we want to be on the side of those who are successful and strong. Jesus Christ ministered to anyone who needed him. They tended to be the outcasts. He said these are the ones God has a special concern for.
The most dramatic aspect of Isaiah's prophecy concerns the change that will come over nature. The wolf lives with the lamb and the leopard lies down with a kid goat. Lions will eat straw. This is a beautiful way to portray the blessings of the millennium. The greatest aspect will not be the abundance of food and material things but the reconciliation of nature. All violence will be removed. Nature is very violent.
Some scholars believe this prophecy has a two-fold meaning. It describes the pacifying of nature but it may also describe the pacifying of nations. The name of each wild animal here is applied to other nations somewhere in the Old Testament. Maybe God is telling us that the day is coming when hostile countries will be able to set aside their differences and live in peace.
The blessings of the Messiah are not just for one country or ethnic group. Verse 10 says the Messiah will be a banner that will even bring very distant groups back to God.
The prophecy of Isaiah 11 has been fulfilled only in part. Jesus did come to earth and God's Spirit rested on him. We don't know if animals changed in Bethlehem. Did you know that the cow and donkey you put in your manger scene are not mentioned in the gospels? They are only mentioned here.
God wants the Church to be like the contented animals in your nativity display. We can be a foretaste of what God's kingdom will be like. We shouldn't just judge by what we see or hear. We should dig deeper and seek understanding and wisdom. The reconciliation of nature should also be seen among us. Be able to reconcile. Set an example.
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Typed on April 10, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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