Advent: Peace Isaiah 11:1-10

Introduction: We are in the season of Advent and we are focusing today on the theme of peace. Peace in Scripture can be understood as welfare and wholeness in our relationship to God and one another. It is the absence of harm and hostility, and the pervasive presence of love and goodness.

Described like that, who wouldn’t want to experience peace? And yet, peace seems to elude people all of the time. People are weighed down by economic, political, and social upheaval, job stresses, school busyness, financial questions, an endless list of to-dos, relationships that can go wrong, sports teams losing, even the Christmas holiday. All of these things can rob us of peace if we have the wrong perspective. A couple of weeks ago on a slightly delayed flight out of Denver I had to fight to maintain peace while sitting there on the runway. And please hear that phrase, I had to fight for it. Because isn’t just our natural human disposition. No, peace is supernatural, and God has granted us means to know peace in the life, knowing we will know full peace someday when Christ returns and sets up his kingdom.

MIM:

Worship King Jesus, who will establish a kingdom of peace.

Jesus wants us to have peace now, and in the future, let’s get into Isaiah 11 and see how we can know Jesus and have peace.

Isaiah is a book that depicts both judgment and hope. This set of prophecies comes before the time of the exile to Babylon and Isaiah warns God’s people of their need to repent. Leading up to chapter 11 we see God’s condemnation of His people and then a promise that though the tree of Israel will be felled (exile), He will leave a stump that will be the holy seed (Isa. 6:11-13). It is unclear what this actually refers to , but later in the book we see a new king that will come named Immanuel, God with us (Isa. 7:14). This king will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and prince of peace, whose reign of peace, justice, and righteousness will never end (Isa. 9:6-7). This king is the holy seed, a shoot from the stump of Jesse from 6:13. And this leads to Isaiah 11, which is a further description of this Messiah, this King of kings. Let’s look at this passage and remind ourselves there is only one true pathway to peace, and it’s not through money, position, authority, family and friends, possessions, pleasure, or security. Peace is only found in Jesus Christ.

The Messiah Who Brings Peace (11:1-5)

Explain- God has just announced that He is going to cut down Israel’s enemy, Assyria, as an ax fells a tree (Isa. 10:15-18, 33-34). And now he points to a humble shoot or stem that emerges from a stump.

Illustrate- This is a reminder that while the kingdoms of man may look impressive and God’s kingdom insignificant, nothing could be further from the truth. Looks can be deceiving. One time I saw a start and finish of a marathon that my friend was running in. I looked at some on the start line and thought there is no way they will finish, but sure enough they did. Or at a weight lifting competition, some guys got on the bench press with an immense amount of weight, and I thought there was no way with how they looked that they could lift it, but sure enough they did. Or the time when a person got up to do a musical number in church and I had total skepticism based on the way this person looked that they would present quality music and they blew me away. Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Likewise, God’s kingdom is supreme. Humanity and all their efforts may look amazing, but they are as nothing before Him. And God often works by humble, counterintuitive means to shame the strong and the wise of the world (1 Cor. 1:27).

This unimpressive shoot from this burnt stump is the king in the line of David who is promised to rule and reign forever (2 Sam. 7; cf. Isa. 9:6-7). This shoot is a symbol of hope. As bleak as life may look at this point for Israel (or for us) there is hope and peace of heart we can attain because this King is the one to whom we look. This branch, this King, will bear fruit, it will not die out.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon this one, as he did with kings in the OT (1 Sam 10:6, 10; 11:6; 19:9; 20:23; 2 Sam. 23:2). The Holy Spirit is described here as the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. We see the pattern of the Spirit being given to this shoot/Servant/King elsewhere in this book:

Isa. 42:1 “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Isa. 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God.”

So this coming King would be Spirit-empowered, and unlike the kings of Israel he would reign with justice and righteousness. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord, and therefore he will render right judgments for the oppressed and deal with the wicked, “striking the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall kill the wicked (Isa. 11:4; cf. 2 Thess. 2:8). Justice will be done because this King will possess perfectly righteous character, clothed in righteousness and faithfulness.

And we must recognize that this one spoken of by Isaiah is none other than Jesus the Messiah King. He is Immanuel (Matt. 1:23), the one upon whom the Spirit rested (Matt. 3:16-17; cf. Luke 4:18-19), who would rule and reign as God’s Davidic King (Matt. 12:15-21). He is the Messiah who inaugurates a kingdom and brings us peace.

Apply- Are we looking to Jesus as our King, as the only one who can bring us peace? He is the one prophesied of and he is the one who inaugurated a kingdom and will one day bring it to completion. We pray for that day (your kingdom come, your will be done; Matt. 6:10), we fast for that day (Matt. 9:15), we long for the fullness of God’s peace to reign among us. We long for Jesus who brings about this peace. We will come back to Christ and his connection to peace, but let’s look now at the kind of peace King Jesus will bring about at his second coming.

The Kind of Peace Messiah Brings (11:6-9)

Explain- This future kingdom is described as a paradise of peace, with the curse of sin and death removed. Enemies in the animal kingdom will together in harmony, and predatory and poisonous animals will not harm anyone.

Imagine this to be the case. I have been to the Columbus Zoo with my family many times, and you always have animals caged up and separated. We all understand that if they let the animals loose that would not be a good day for the zoo. But when Jesus’ kingdom comes in its fullness you can unlock those doors with no fear from the lions, tigers, wolves, gorillas, komodo dragons, or bears. They won’t harm each other and they will be of no danger to us or our children and grandchildren. Peace will reign.

If this is the case, fear and danger will be gone, and harmony and peace will replace it. And this is not just harmony for animals; humanity will experience a new creation where sin, Satan, and death are banished. Isaiah speaks elsewhere of this final peace.

Isaiah 2:2–5

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,

and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Isaiah 4:2–6

In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

No one will hurt or destroy in this kingdom, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 9:9) The whole earth will be full of His glory (Isa. 6:3), there will be no more sin, sorrow, pain, or death, and we will dwell with our God and He will dwell with us (Rev. 21:1-4).

Apply- What kind of peace will Jesus our Messiah and King bring? Total. Any peace you have experienced in this life is a mere shadow of what is to come, and everlasting state of rightness between ourselves and God and with one another. And so we respond today, and everyday, by worshipping our King.

Worship the God of Peace (11:10)

Explain- In that day, the day of Christ’s coming and the setting up of his kingdom, Messiah, the root/shoot of Jesse will stand as a signal for the peoples (a flag to which the nations will rally; movies where some courageous man charges forward carrying the flag of the country and the rest of the army rallies to him), the nations will inquire of him, and his resting place will be glorious.

This kingdom of peace is not just for Israel, but for all peoples and nations who would look to Him by faith as their Lord, Savior, and Treasure (see Isa. 11:11-16). And their faith in him will not bring any disappointment, because King Jesus provides a place of eternal peace, rest, and glory, a kingdom where they will dwell together (cf. Deut 3:20; 12:9; Josh 1:13; 2 Sam 7:11; Ps 95:11; 132:14).

Apply- All of this being the case, the call is to worship our great God right here and right now. And daily we are to worship God by offering ourselves as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable worship. We join with people from this region, this state, the midwest, this country, and this world. Whatever ethnicity, whether male or female, rich or poor, young or old. If we hold to the truth of the gospel, then that allegiance to Jesus overrides any man-made separation. We worship King Jesus, knowing He will come and set up a kingdom of peace.

Conclusion:

Worship King Jesus, who will establish a kingdom of peace.

So yes, we worship, but where does that leave us now as it relates to peace? What kind of peace can we have presently as believers in Jesus? There is so much we could say from Scripture, but let me offer you two concrete applications.

First, consider John 16:33.

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Notice there is peace available because Jesus has granted it. We can have peace in him, and he spoke to us so we can have peace. So, if we want peace in this life we need to believe in him for salvation (GOSPEL) and we need to mediate on his Word day and night (Ps. 1). Are you believing in him? Are you giving yourself to the Word, or more to the distractions of the world (EMPHASIZE)? If we want to know God, we must know Him through His Word and this is a pathway to peace as we trust in Him (Isa. 26:3).

Second, consider Philippians 4:5-9.

Philippians 4:5–9

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Notice the word “peace” shows up in the midst of prayer, thinking, and obedience. If we want peace in this life we must give ourselves to casting our anxieties on God because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), taking every thought captive to obey Christ (inputs; 2 Cor. 10:4-5), and obeying His commands (Matt. 28:19).

Peace will be fully ours when Jesus returns. We enjoy Christ’s first coming during this Advent season, and we anticipate his second coming. Then will be fullness of joy, hope fulfilled, and peace forever, and in the meantime, we pursue Jesus’ promised peace in this life as we face difficulty and trials. Let’s be a people who live with peace in the midst of hardship, who fight for it by the means God has given us (faith, Word, prayer, obedience), and let’s continue to pray for and anticipate the perfect peace that is to come.