Isaiah 11:1-10 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
The Second Sunday in Advent Sunday, December 4, 2022 “A Shoot Springs Up for You”
When we purchased our house, there was a surprise in the front yard. It turns out that the landscaping rock in the front yard covered over the stump of a tree that had been cut very close to the ground. The surprise was that all of a sudden, shoots started growing from that stump. I have no idea when the tree was cut down, but there was clearly life in the stump and the roots of that tree. The problem was that those shoots did not make a beautiful tree, they made a rather ugly addition to the front yard and one with which our homeowners association was not happy. There is no longer life in that stump or in those roots. God’s Old Testament prophet Isaiah described God’s people using a similar picture. He compared the people of Israel to a tall and majestic tree. God had blessed that nation and made them his own people. And then they rejected him. They didn’t obey his commandments. They turned to other gods. They did whatever seemed right to themselves instead of listening and serving the one true God. And so he brought judgment on them. He brought punishment. He brought powerful enemy nations that destroyed and carried away the nation and the people. And so instead of a forest of beautiful trees, the people were reduced to stumps. Even the line, the dynasty, of the great King David was cut down and was dead. And I am not talking about the kind of stump that we had in our front yard that clearly had life in it. I am talking about the kind of stump that remains there today. It was dead and done. Nothing remotely resembling a king was seen from it. It's dangerous to speak in absolute terms about the future, but there are few things I am more certain about than my expectation that nothing will grow from the stump once again hidden under rocks in our yard. And it was just as improbable, even impossible, that anything great would come out of the stump of David’s line, also called the stump of Jesse, referring to David’s father. But the true God, who brings life from the dead, prophesied. He had Isaiah rejoice in a shoot that would spring up from that very stump. He foresaw a branch and even fruit. And that is a prophecy that we rejoice in together today, because that promise is for you, too. Borrowing that picture from Isaiah, a shoot springs up for you. About that shoot, Isaiah says some amazing things. He talks about a man on whom rests the Spirit of the Lord. And this servant of the Lord brings righteous judgments. This is a judge who will not be swayed by personal opinion. This is a judge that will not be corrupted or in any way unfair. His decisions will be perfectly just and fair. They will be right and righteous. And for many, they will be harsh and consuming. “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 is a powerful figure, and it is a powerful warning about him. You do not want to cross this judge, because he will repay you what you deserve. And this warning comes on the heels of Isaiah’s previous warning, that of God’s chosen people being devastated like a clear-cut forest. That same warning came to God’s people centuries later as prophecy reached its fulfilment. The forerunner of the shoot of Jesse warned about what the Judge would do to the wicked. The shoot, the Branch, the Judge, is none other than Jesus. And in preparing his way, John the Baptist stood and called for repentance. He called on people not to continue in their actions of death and destruction. He warned that trees that did not bear fruit already had the axe of the mighty and powerful Judge Jesus ready to strike them down. That warning ought to ring in our ears, too. We would love to think of our lives as beautiful fruitbearing trees, and thank God that he has made it so. But at times it’s as if we want to be the dead