Isaiah 11:1-10 Midweek Advent – Advent with Isaiah Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Wednesday, December 18, 2019 “The Root of Jesse: God’s Kingdom Comes with Righteousness” Jesse was a plain and ordinary man. He lived in the small town of Bethlehem. Sure, he had eight sons, which seems like a lot by our standards, and sure, those boys in general were big and strong. But that wasn’t anything unusual. This was a family of soldiers who served the king when that service was needed and who raised sheep in Bethlehem and who went on with their own relatively normal lives there. So Jesse was as surprised as anyone when Samuel, the prophet of God, came to him. As recorded in the sixteenth chapter of the book of 1 Samuel, the prophet had come to anoint a new king for Israel. This would be the king to serve after the current king, Saul, who had disobeyed God and would be replaced. Samuel was impressed when he met the oldest son of Jesse, a tall and strong and handsome man who had the look of a king. But God hadn’t chosen this one to be the king. One by one, seven sons of Jesse came to the prophet, and one by one they were turned away. But there was one more, only he had to be summoned from the field where he was still tending the sheep. This one, the youngest, was the one God had chosen. Samuel anointed him by pouring oil on his head, indicating his position as the chosen king. God blessed this young future king with his Holy Spirit. His name was David. David did eventually become king after Saul, and David was highly regarded as perhaps the best king that Israel ever had. Under David’s rule, Israel enjoyed its golden age as a unified kingdom. Neighboring enemies and their military forces were pushed back so that the land controlled by Israel was expanded. Under David, preparations were made for the building of a beautiful temple for the Lord, a project his son Solomon would undertake. And with that son, Solomon, ruling after him, David had a dynasty, a legacy, the line of king David would continue and would continue to be known in that land. This was a pretty impressive accomplishment for a plain and ordinary man like Jesse. It was many years later when a different prophet, the prophet Isaiah, mentioned this same Jesse in the eleventh chapter of the book that bears that prophets name. But Isaiah doesn’t mention Jesse in order to discuss his famous son David or to reminisce about the good old days of the kingdom of Israel. Instead, Isaiah talks about a stump. He talks about a tree that has been cut down so only a small stump remains. And that tree was the dynasty of David and his descendants. Because of the spiritual deterioration of both the kings and the people they ruled, the line of David would be cut off by their enemies, cut down completely. They along with the people would be captured and carried off. And that tree would be just like the enemies of Israel who had been and would be likewise cut down by God’s judgment. But there is so much more to the prophecy of Isaiah. Listen to what he says about this stump from Jesse in the first ten verses of Isaiah 11: A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will be delighted with the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears, 4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death. 5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his hips. 6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze together, and their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the cattle. 8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. This is what will take place on that day. The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious. 10
Isaiah’s prophecy here is really not about the judgment of the tree being cut down—that came earlier in the book. What Isaiah discusses here is actually looking ahead to something new, something exciting, something amazing. He looks at this stump of Jesse, with its humble start and with its ultimate destruction, and he sees a shoot, a branch that grows out of it. The other stumps that had been cut down, the enemies of Israel, didn’t have any life left. They wouldn’t return in any way. But the stump of Jesse? A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. Just like a lowly king had once come from the family of Jesse, so again a lowly, humble king would come from that long-dormant stump. The prophecy would be fulfilled long after Israel had been ruled by King David or any of his descendants. Instead, a new and even more significant and important descendant of David would come—the Messiah. This one would be anointed not with oil by a prophet but by and with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord. This is the one whose coming we now celebrate at Christmas—born in Bethlehem, the town of David, born of Mary, a descendant of David, whose earthly adoptive father Joseph likewise came from David’s line. And listen again to what the angel Gabriel announced to Mary concerning this one: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.” Today and throughout our Advent with Isaiah midweek services, we are preparing once again to witness and to welcome the coming of this king. Today we see that the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas, the work that he accomplishes, brings God’s kingdom with righteousness. The Messiah is described in our verses as one who will judge with righteousness. It says of him, “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth.” And this doesn’t mean that he will see one thing and come to a different conclusion in his judgments. It means he won’t be swayed by arguments and impressions, but that he will judge rightly. His judgments will be reliable. Part of the problem that had plagued Old Testament Israel was that their kings did not maintain true justice. They did not always demand righteousness. This new Messiah-king was going to be different and better than what had been. But that is also a scary prospect when we hear threats like this: “He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death.” This righteous king knows all. He knows every wrong that his subjects have committed right up until this very day. It cannot be overstated that our preparation to celebrate his coming and our preparation for his coming again must be rooted in repentance. We have failed to live up to the righteous standards that he demands. But there is good and amazing news. This king does not only demand righteousness. He is the one who provides righteousness. Righteousness will be the belt around his waist and faithfulness around his hips. “He will be delighted with the fear of the Lord.” This lowly shoot that springs up from a virgin peasant woman in a dirty Bethlehem stable, will be the greatest king the world has ever seen, because he has come to rescue his people and to provide for them the righteousness they need. He is going to live like none of them ever could, and he is going to suffer and die in their place—in your place. And the results are amazing! We won’t spend a lot of time on the second half of our reading today, but you can easily hear in those verses the peace and the joy ushered in by the Messiah. Those concepts of peace and joy will be the focus of other midweek Advent services. But here is the message that brings peace and joy: you have in Jesus Christ the righteousness that you could not have without him. That is why Isaiah can announce: “The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.” In the coming of the Messiah, we find the coming of righteousness. In him we have a glorious resting place, an eternal home in heaven. May our Advent with Isaiah draw us closer to him, and may it truly prepare our hearts for our celebration of Christmas and for our Savior’s return as judge. In Christ Jesus we have righteousness. Repent and believe the good news.
Prayer Lord Jesus, you came as the righteous Messiah to provide righteousness for us. Help us to prepare our hearts to celebrate your coming at Christmas, and to be likewise prepared to meet you on the Last Day. Lead us to repent of our sins and to trust in you for our salvation as well as for every blessing you graciously provide for us. Thank you for faithful prophets like Isaiah and for those who follow in his footsteps by sharing the message of good news and great joy. Lead us to cherish that message more and more each day. In your holy name we pray and join in the prayer you taught your disciples: