A Shoot from a Stump—A Sign of Hope

An Advent Sermon on Isaiah 11:1-9

Theme: God has a King who will set all things right and bring justice to our world. Live and walk in this truth.

Image: A shoot growing out of a dead stump.

Need: Trust that the King is coming.

Mission: Live knowing that the King is coming to bring justice and restore his world.

ME: When life looks like a stump

Sometimes all you see is what has been cut down.

Life, nations, institutions, and even our own spiritual lives can look like stumps—spent, dead, hopeless.

It’s easy to look around us at the world and see how it is unjust, broken, chaotic. And you don’t have the power to fix it.

Transition: If we feel this, we’re in good company. Judah felt it long before us.

WE: We all feel the weight of what’s broken

People want a leader who won’t disappoint, a justice that isn’t selective, and a peace that actually changes things.

Yet every human attempt at fixing the mess keeps failing.

Like Judah, we long for someone righteous, faithful, and wise—but we can’t produce that leader ourselves.

We know the stump. We’re living in it.

Transition: And right when all they saw was a stump, Isaiah says, “Look closer.”

GOD: God reveals the King we need (Isaiah 11:1–9)

A shoot from a stump — God brings life where we’ve brought ruin

The “stump of Jesse” is judgment. Israel’s kings failed. The dynasty was hacked down.

But God isn’t finished. A fresh shoot breaks out from dead wood.

This is Christ: not produced by human power, but raised up by God’s promise.

Transition: If he is God’s King, what kind of King will he be?

The Spirit-filled King who rules with perfect righteousness (verses 2–5)

The sevenfold Spirit rests on him.

He judges with wisdom, not appearances.

He defends the vulnerable and confronts injustice.

This is the King human rulers can never be.

Ancient kings were judged by their justice. This King surpasses them all.

Transition: And the world under his reign? Isaiah shows us a picture nearly impossible to imagine.

A restored creation where peace is normal (verses 6–9)

Wolves and lambs, leopards and goats, lions eating straw, children safe where danger used to be.

This vision is the vision of creation restored. It’s the undoing of every consequence of sin.

When the King reigns, the world becomes what it was meant to be.

“The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”

The brokenness we see now is not the final word.

Transition: So if this is the King and this is his Kingdom, what does that require from us now?

YOU: What God requires of us

Trust the King is coming

This is a promise from God.

You cannot fix the world’s injustice or your own unrighteousness, but trust that Christ can.

Trust the King God has given, not the false saviors you’re tempted to cling to.

Live in light of his justice and peace

Don’t mimic the world’s anger, fear, or political messianism.

Live with the character of the coming King: righteousness, faithfulness, peace.

Embody the justice he will bring.

Show the world what kingdom you belong to.

Remember God has been faithful before

Isaiah spoke this during Israel’s darkest days—before the exile, centuries before Christ.

God kept his promise then. He will keep his promise again.

It is obedience rooted in God’s proven track record.

Transition: And this doesn’t stay personal. Isaiah’s vision is global.

WE: How can we live in this obedience as we wait for Christ’s return?

We live as people who see the shoot in the stump when the world sees only ruin.

We become a community shaped by the justice and peace of the future King.

We do not despair. We do not panic. We do not place our hope in lesser kings.

We lift our heads because we know who is coming.

We live now in the world he is bringing soon.

Summary Sentence:

Live with confident hope because God’s King is coming to set all things right—so trust him now and walk in the justice and peace of his coming kingdom.