Peace Will Reign (Dec. 4, 2022) Isaiah 11.1-10

We began Advent last week and I said that it was a time of waiting: of waiting for the coming of Christ. Yes, we know what that waiting is like. We await the day of Christmas and the joy that that day brings. We await that day with celebrations of what is known as the Christmas season, a time of parties and music, a time of holiday shows and festive greetings. Yet in these things that bring a smile to our faces this time of a year there always feels like something is missing.

During this time, I have said time and again that we move too fast. There are parties to prepare for, shopping to do, gifts to wrap, Advent/Christmas calendars to attend to, decorations and lights that will compete with the neighbors to put up. It is all so overwhelming. We wonder where the good cheer has gone and we wonder how to get it back.

For the Church that follows the liturgical calendar like we do, that time is Advent. A time to put the brakes on the speeding train of this season even if it is for only an hour a week. A time to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for what is to come.

And we live in a time that many have called the “now but not yet.” An in between time. The time of having Christ come in the first Advent and waiting for the second. Fleming Rutledge says that Advent is not a time for sissies. It is not a time for those who avoid hard times because it is hard. Waiting in our society is not a virtue. If we must wait at the drive thru for our food, there are many who will drive off without getting their food. We despair when there is a long line at the self checkout line. We get cranky if we must wait for the commercials to end on the show that we have been watching on live television rather than streaming it. And God forbid we must wait on a package to be delivered. Yes, waiting is something that we have trouble dealing with. And it has always been this way. Patience may be a virtue, but it is in limited supply.

Isaiah knew something about waiting. He knew waiting for the one who would be the light for the people. He knew the wait for the one who would be called God With Us. He knew what it was like to wait on the LORDto fulfill what the LORDhad spoken. And yet he waited.

The text for last week spoke of waiting for the day when the nations would come to the temple and the holy mountain of God. A time when all would come to know the God of Israel and forsake the gods in whom they put their trust. A time of the coming of the one for whom he was waiting who would set things to rights.

Now, Isaiah is still waiting for the one promised. He has spoken to Ahaz about the one who will be called God With Us or Immanuel. He has spoken of one who will be a great light and lead the people. One on whom the government shall rest.

This one is given a further description in the text for today. To give a bit of context, the preceding verses in chapter 10 speak of Assyria being cut down like a forest, never to rise again. This would have been a great vision for Isaiah as he knew what Assyria could and would do. But in the cutting, there was a problem. Judah had been invaded and the one who was on the throne, the line of David, had been hewn as well.

But God says that not all is lost. There will come from the stump of Jesse a shoot of new life and a new branch will grow. Jesse was the father of David and so what is being said here is that this shoot will not be of the line of David but rather a new David, one who will follow God with all his heart and soul. The text says this about the one coming: “The spirit of the Lord shall 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.”[1] The spirit of the Lord will come upon the one to come and rest upon him. He will also have the spirit that brings wisdom, counsel and knowledge and fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is not terror as we would put it, but a healthy respect for the Lord and the Lord’s ways.

This new ruler will understand the Law and the teachings. He will be able to advise wisely and be mighty in his military functions. But he will also have the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In this he will be knowing what is to be done in all things and will be able to judge and hand out justice. Again, his fear of the Lord would be that he has reverence for the Lord, not being afraid.

Notice one thing about all these things. It is the spirit of the Lord that is upon this one person. The spirit is given to this one. And it is the spirit that makes it all happen, what brings about the shoot that comes from the stump. The stump would be done and all would be for naught if not for the spirit of the Lord. And it is only the spirit that will bring about the new ruler.

But this ruler will be a different kind of ruler as well. The Revised English Bible says this: “He will not judge by outward appearances or decide a case on hearsay; but with justice he will judge the poor and defend the humble in the land with equity…”[2] This ruler will be fair and just. He will not be swayed by beauty and flattering words, but will rule with justice. The poor and the outcast, those who always find that they are on the outside looking in, will now have an advocate, one who will stand up for them. They can now lift their heads up and see the one who will be there for them. Other aspects of this king will make him the ruler that the people have been longing for and even be greater than David himself.

Because of the rule of this coming king, there will be peace on earth. The predator and the prey will live together in peace, children will be able to play around snakes and not be injured by them. There is a painting by Edward Hicks entitled The Peaceable Kingdom in which this scene is depicted. It also shows the meeting of William Penn and the Native Americans in a depiction of how peace could be possible between humans as well. This peaceful scene is one that would seem impossible to those hearing this oracle for the first time and to our ears as well. But John D. W. Watts has this to say about this scene: “But when “righteousness, faithfulness, and the knowledge of YHWH” control the palace, even predators are tamed (obviously otherwise well fed) and the reptiles are no threat. Under God such a scene is possible.”[3]

There will come a time when a new king will come and peace will reign. For us Christians that person, that ruler, has come in Jesus Christ. He came and stood for justice, for the poor and oppressed. He was not swayed by flattery or outward appearances. He declared that the spirit of the Lord was upon him and the day that was prophesied was now here. Now, we await his coming when he will set all things right. When the world will be renewed and made whole once more. When there will be the rightful king and the branch of from the stump of Jesse will be proclaimed as the true ruler of the world. But until that time, we are to hold onto hope that peace will come and we are to be the ones who work for peace in every aspect of our lives but also knowing it is only by the grace of God that peace will come. May we know this and may we look forward to the day in which it comes. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. [3]Watts, John D. W. Isaiah 1–33. Revised Edition. Vol. 24. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2005. Print. Word Biblical Commentary.