Our Righteous Messiah

HBI - We anticipate Messiah’s rule of righteousness, Justice and ultimate peace for those that dwell in His Kingdom.

Intro

How many of you like stumps? they are so hard to get rid of. I remember when I lived in Midale we had some carrigana trees that I wanted to get rid of. I didn't like the looks of the trees. So I cut them all down but the next year they started to grow again. The stumps where there and the trees roots where still there and the annoying things just came back again. A tree that is cut down, if there is a stump left and the roots are healthy then shoots can come back up from the stump and roots. in order to get rid of the tree you need to kill the roots as well and It gets so annoying to try and completely kill a tree, unless you have a big tractor.

As we anticipate the celebration of the birth of the messiah, we also look to the second advent, the second coming of the messiah. The birth of the messiah ushered in the second coming of the messiah when He would come to reign as the conquering king. This is what we are going to look into today, the anticipation of Jesus which we need to celebrate as we celebrate His birthday. He is coming again.

The stump of the line of Jesse, the kingly line of David had been reduced to a stump, it looked like all was lost and the people where in despair. But like we learned last week there is a light in the darkness, a shoot has come out of the seemingly dead stump and that offers us great hope. so today we are going to look at the anticipation of the messiah’s reign and what that means for our lives.

Anticipation of the Messiah’s Reign

This is a continuation off the last passage that we went through last week. but this is focused on a different aspect of the coming of Jesus. The messiah we anticipate is going to come to rule over us, to be a conquering King and we see what this is going to look like and why it should be something that we anticipate. This is something we may not completely understand as we do not have monarch’s here anymore. Sure we have a new king in England but that doesn't affect us all that much. We anticipate good people in government for once but that is about it.

Isaiah 11:1 (CSB) 1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

We Know all about King David but the Israelite's did not always have a king. - A bit of an aside to provide insight, God had set up Judges originally over the Israelite's to guide them but the Israelite's saw that the other nations were different and had kings. They wanted to be like the other nations and have a king. But they were warned in 1 Sam 8 that a king would not be good for them, a king would take their stuff, take their man and demand a lot from them. But they insisted. God was to be their king.

Eventually David was to be there king, from the line of Jesse.

2 Samuel 7:16 (CSB) 16 Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”

Once David became King of Israel it was promised that Line would reign forever. But the problem was that the line of Jesse had been reduced to a stump. Not completely uprooted, there was a promise that it would come back. A shoot was growing from what everyone thought was a dead stump.

but the idea of it being from the stump of Jesse is a reminder that it is not from pomp and glory but rather from the faithfulness of God to create a royal house from a peasant family. God’s promises will always come to pass.

Not only was Jesus from the kingly line of David, an everlasting reign, His rule will be divinely endowed. From God and God’s power. Godly wisdom, godly strength, Godly knowledge.

Isaiah 11:2 (CSB) 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Divinely endowed, Jesus reign is by the power of God for He is God. These aspects remind me of the names that where given to Him back in chapter 9. We have been given gifts from the spirit that resemble the aspects of the character of our God. They reflect what we are supposed to be, though imperfect. But Jesus has these in perfection. It is what we have to look forward to when we go to see Jesus again.

Isaiah 11:3 (CSB) 3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, he will not execute justice by what he hears with his ears,

Jesus purpose was for the Glory of God and so will His second coming. This first bit deals with what the reign of the messiah will look like. The fear of the Lord will dictate Jesus reign. Wayne Grudem describes fear of the Lord and how it starts the wisdom of God well in this way. If we fear dishonoring God or displeasing him, and if we fear his fatherly discipline, then we will have the motivation that makes us want to follow his ways and live according to his wise commands.

His rule of us will look to and search our hearts. We will not be judged and ruled by our outward appearance but by what is in our hearts, how we have feared the Lord. This should cause us to want to live our lives for Him because He will judge us based on all we have done, nothing can be hidden from the Lord as much as we would try.

The absolute justice of His Reign -

we are used to kings and rulers who do not do what they should, who are not just, who annoy us and do bad things. sometimes we shake our fists at them and thin, man I could do a better job then that. Well maybe you could but we are all still imperfect.

but Jesus will be a perfect King. He will be a just king. This seems great until we realize what true justice is. That means that even though God is love and God is mercy He will only let injustice last for so long before he does something about it.

Isaiah 11:4 (CSB) 4 but he will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with a scepter from his mouth, and he will kill the wicked with a command from his lips.

He is a righteous judge not out for political power for his focus is also on the poor. At the time this was supposed to happen but to keep power you had to appease the rich. But for the messiah even the poor and downtrodden would be worthy of His righteousness. The poor had no say really in anything but all would be ruled by the righteousness of the messiah.

we all seem to want justice and righteousness but if we have not been covered by the blood of Jesus then we will be held accountable for all of our sins. This is what Justice means. As followers of Jesus shown in the way that we live our lives, the blood of Jesus covers our sin and our sins will not be held in account. We need Jesus.

justice and the rod of His mouth - The force of the truth He speaks is undeniable. The word itself becomes the weapon of the messiah to execute justice. What he speaks is authority from God and no one can stand against it. The word of God is all Jesus needs to execute justice in the land. to live in this time will be amazing.

Isaiah 11:5 (CSB) 5 Righteousness will be a belt around his hips; faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.

righteousness - like the armor of God we are to put on constantly, His righteousness is absolute. completely dependable ultimately righteous. it is who He is. Faithfulness will be the same. Always faithful ultimately dependable. to wait for the messiah for over 700 years, to know God will do what He says and is dependable is a big thing. this will be a part of who He is.

The peace of His reign

We anticipate the rule of the messiah, who unlike today's leaders, will be one endowed by God alone for the glory of God. A rule of justice and faithfulness. It will also be one that will end in peace. But how can this be. We just read about the justice and righteousness of the messiah. All those who are not under the blood of the Messiah will be held accountable for their sin. How does peace line up with that anyways? People see this as a conundrum, it doesn't make sense to them. God has to be a just God or he wouldn't be a loving God. Those who refuse to accept the sacrifice of the son of God will only have so long to do something about their sin. But for those of you who have become children of God we get a glimpse into the peace that awaits.

Isaiah 11:6–9 (CSB) 6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together, and a child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle. 8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den. 9 They will not harm or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

It seems as if there will be a reversal of the fall of man back to what it was meant to be. There will be a security and safety in the rule of the messiah for those that follow Him. A holistic peace that goes back to its proper place, will be established under the reign of the messiah. Messiah will change the very nature of these predators. Now understandably there are different views as to what this could mean. According to the NICOT There are three ways of interpreting such statements. The first is literalistic, the second is spiritualistic(animals represent various spiritual states in people) and the third is figurative.

I have read a few different commentaries on this and I have heard the three different approaches to this passage. According to the greater context of scripture I would take a literal approach to this. Yes I know this is a big leap of faith. The earth will go back to what it was meant to be in the Garden of Eden when there was no shedding of blood until man sinned.

Genesis 1:30 (CSB) 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

It talks of animals that would generally eat each other lying down together; carnivorous animal’s now eating hay alone. No normal parent would let their baby play with a cobra or any other poisonous animal but during this time it will no longer be a problem for us. Under His rule their natures will change, they will come under His rule. There seems to be a reversal of the effects of the fall, turning it back to what it was meant to be. Will no longer need to fear Satan.

What a great joy to think about what life is going to be like, I can’t wait to see How God is going to do this, to see the removal of anxiety and fear being replaced with the joy and fear of the Lord. All people at this time will know God and worship Him.

So What?

This passage anticipates the future reign of the messiah His rule will come to pass. Historically though they would have seemingly been without hope with all they where going to face. The everlasting kingly line of David reduced to a stump but the promise of Hope that it was not dead but that in the future there would be a new king, the rightful king. But in the meantime it would be reduced to almost nothing. But all is not lost, there is hope and that is what we anticipate, the hope of the reign of the messiah. 3 things we learn from this.

We are not without hope.

It seemed hopeless back then and it seems hopeless these days as well. And it is going to get worse if that is at all possible. But we look forward to the second advent when Jesus will reign and as children of God we will be with Him. How great will that be!

The Justice of His reign

It does not matter who you are or what your status is in society or what actions you have done. The Lord will judge all justly. Only so long will Jesus let the refusal to follow Him slide. You are given a short time now to choose to follow Him but this will not last forever. The word of the Lord is undeniable and none will be able to withstand His justice and righteousness. You need to turn back to Him today.

The peace of His reign

But for those that have decided to follow Jesus with their lives, oh what a day that will be. Our sin will not be held against us for we have placed them on Jesus as He died on the cross once for all people for all time who have placed their lives in the hands of God.It speaks again of anticipation. We anticipate and look forward to a time of peace that will be ushered in with the reign of the messiah.

So this Christmas season remember the joy we have in the birth of a savior that died for your sin so you could have access to God if you accept the free gift of salvation. But also anticipate the time of peace and joy that is going to be ushered in for those that know and follow Jesus when He comes to reign.