MidWeek Advent— Dec. 11, 2024
Notes
Transcript
1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” 5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” 12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
In recent years there has been an explosion of companies that help you trace your family tree. You can go back a dozen generations, uncovering the history of your ancestors. Tracing your family tree allows you to learn more about where you came from. . . who you are.
Interestingly, St. Matthew’s Gospel begins by tracing Jesus’ family tree. There are multiple reasons for this. First, providing the genealogy of Jesus proves that He is true man, exactly what we need our Savior to be if was going to take our place. Second, it demonstrates God’s grace, for in Jesus’ family tree you will find individuals whose heinous sins are recorded in Scripture: murder, prostitution, etc.
Christ Jesus is not the enemy of sinners. He is our brother. And this family tree shows that God keeps all his promises. God promised multiple believers—Eve, Abraham, David—that the Savior would be one of their descendants.
This week, we look at a very different type of Christmas tree—the Tree of Promise. Christmas proves that what God says will happen happens. God promised he would become one of us to save all of us. He did just that! The Tree of Promise proves God shall keep every single promise he makes to us.
Today’s text from Isaiah may come across more like a fable or fairy tale. It is kind of hard to get our arms wrapped around such images. However, God is giving us a very real promise about both Jesus’ coming and the salvation he brings.
In Christ, the Kingdom of Peace Isaiah Pictured Is Here and Now.
I. God Made a Promise
I. God Made a Promise
As with so much of Isaiah’s poetry, the key is context. If we understand the surrounding verses, we’ll better understand what Isaiah is pointing to when he tells of vegetarian lions and domesticated bears. In the very first verse, Isaiah says that “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Is 11:1). What is this but a prophecy of Jesus’ line of descent and birth?
When Jesus was born, the line of Jesse, King David’s father, had been reduced to a stump. The Davidic monarchy had been routed and kept down by the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Yet,
“Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As prophets long have sung”
(LSB 359:1).
On this same Jesus, the Spirit of the Lord rests. Isaiah writes, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Is 11:2).
Jesus, the Son of David, went forth “full of the Spirit” and manifested himself before all Israel. At his Baptism, the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove and came to rest on him.
On Jesus rests the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. And during his humble ministry, he demonstrated a wisdom which had been hidden from the beginning of the world; he spoke and gave insight into heavenly things which only he knows (John 8:14).
On Jesus rests the Spirit of counsel and might. By his suffering and death, David’s Son, the King of Israel, loosed the bonds which held people captive and overcame the enemies of the human race—sin, death, and the devil.
And on Jesus rests the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He was obedient to his Father’s will, even unto death, to lead the lost children of the world back to God. Now through the Spirit, the Lord plants the knowledge of God, true love and true fear of God, into the hearts of men.
His work completed, the Son of David now sits on the throne of his Father.
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
Christ bears the scepter of peace, not judging by what his eyes see or deciding disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness judging the poor, deciding with equity in the interests of the meek. To troubled sinners, Christ gives justice. He makes poor, miserable sinners right with God by covering their sin and presenting them blameless to God the Father.
At the same time, the godless, those who reject the scepter of this king, who reject his peace and grace, are put to shame. They behold him glorified but receive the punishment due their rejection of him. Again as Isaiah puts it, “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked” (Is 11:4).
This is what the first five verses are all about. Some 750 years before the fact, Isaiah foretells the coming of Jesus, the King of peace. What Isaiah now goes on to describe is the kingdom of peace—the domain that Jesus will rule.
II. God Fulfills His Promise
II. God Fulfills His Promise
We read at the end of the passage that the root of Jesse will stand as a signal for the peoples (Is 11:10).
The nations shall inquire of him, and his resting place will be glorious. And here is the wonderful surprise for us: This holy time has already come!
Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, has come. His name and his cross have been set up as a signal on the earth. It is visible everywhere. Those near and far have salvation and peace preached to them. The nations, sinners from all over the earth, acknowledge it. They confess that in no other is salvation to be found, that no other name under heaven is given among men by which they must be saved. They come and kneel before the crucified Christ.
Now not all believe. This same Christ is also a sign that is spoken against, as Simeon foretold in the Gospel of Luke—Luke 2:34 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—”
Christ has been appointed for the fall of many. But many also come—from all peoples and lands. There are always new flocks who stream to the signal on the mountain, to the manger in Bethlehem, to the cross at Golgotha, new flocks who find peace and rest for their souls. They inquire after the one who has redeemed them. And as the waters cover the sea, so numerous are they who acknowledge the Lord and serve him.
And now watch what this entails for the community that trusts in Jesus.
6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
You see, in the kingdom of Christ, there is no malice. Those who acknowledge the Lord renounce the works of the devil. And although we sinners still sin, there remains an ever-flowing fountain of mercy that defines who we are in Christ. Day to day, we receive from Christ grace, as well as peace and strength for all good works.
This then is what Isaiah means when he says the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and so on. The prophet is painting a picture of paradise. Wolves, lions, and bears dwelling alongside lambs, calves, and young goats. The wild animals not feeding on flesh and blood but instead going into pasture and eating straw like the oxen, no longer feral and ferocious but tame. What a beautiful picture this is of Christ’s Church.
III. We Now Live in God’s Promise
III. We Now Live in God’s Promise
This is no fairy tale. Nor is it a description of what life will finally be like in heaven. No, this is the kingdom of grace in which we live now! And God is making good on His promise.
This is what the Church of Christ, even now being assembled from out of all the nations, looks like now! These scenes from the natural world are a metaphor, an allegory, for the peace that the Christian Church enjoys this very moment—a peace in sharp contrast to the world’s lack of peace, its continual conflict and war, where everyone looks to take advantage of his neighbor, where the people do not know the way of peace and forgiveness, are quick to shed innocent blood, and have poison on their lips.
Lions eating straw and wolves lying down with lambs?! The Gospel makes possible even greater things!
The wild beasts are a picture of how human beings really are—just as given to sin by nature as a wolf is to eating meat.
But a lion deciding to go vegan is nothing compared to God taking a sinful human being, releasing him from the guilt of all his sin, and giving him a heart that no longer wants to sin but wants to do only the will of God!
Then as new creatures in Christ, united with the One who shares his holiness with us, we love one another instead of devouring the other like a ravenous wolf.
This is exactly what has happened to us. God has created in us new hearts so that, while sin still clings, we truly want to please God and love and forgive our neighbor. This is completely unnatural from the perspective of our old sinful selves!
The disciples who out of fear abandoned Jesus in his hour of need did what came naturally. But transformed by the power of the resurrection and by the risen Jesus’ own word to them, “Peace be with you,” they went on to suffer persecution and imprisonment and even martyrdom for the sake of His name. You and I likewise have been transformed by the Holy Spirit’s intervening in our lives and making us into the kind of people we would never possibly be without him.
To be sure, even the Church, the Bride of Christ, still has her spots and wrinkles. But Christ washes us daily in the blood of the Lamb and is made a new creature. We who have been won by the Gospel, who believe in Christ and serve Christ, deny our worldly lusts; we lay aside our wild nature and habits and daily strive to put down our inborn anger and bitterness and jealousy. With the help of the Spirit, we are careful to maintain unity in the bond of peace. Instead of harm to one another, we do good. For here there is no more Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Gal 3:28). We are all one in Christ.
This peace will be perfected in the world to come. At that time, Christ’s kingdom and reign will become true glory and honor. But the kingdom of peace has come already and is now, just as surely as the King of peace has come already and now lives and reigns to all eternity.
God grant that we recognize anew and afresh the great blessings he has already bestowed on us in his kingdom! Come, Lord Jesus!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Textual Notes
V 1: geza‘, “a stump.” From the all-but-extinct Davidic line, a shoot will come forth. The kingdom of Israel will be reduced to its humble origins. (Jesse was from Bethlehem [1 Sam 17:12].)
V 2: The shoot from the stump of Jesse is a man on whom the ruach, “Spirit,” of Yahweh will rest. At his Baptism, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove and came to rest on him (Mt 3:16; Jn 1:32).
Vv 3–5: The Messiah will judge according to the standard of the Spirit of God. Toward the meek and the poor, he will be as Jesus in the Beatitudes (Mt 5:2–12). Toward the “earth” and the “wicked,” he will strike and slay “with the rod of his mouth” and “with the breath of his lips” (see 2 Thess 2:8).
Vv 6–9: A poetic description of the peace that prevails in the kingdom ruled by the previously described “second David.” The inherently savage and malicious are tamed and made peaceable and friendly.
V 10: menuchah, his “resting place,” is a term of glory, referring to the king’s dwelling place or palace, not a tomb or grave, as Jerome’s rendering, sepulchrum, would lead one to think.