For Peace

The Spirit of The Lord Will Establish Peace

12.7.25 [Isaiah 11:1-10] River of Life (2nd Sunday in Advent)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

When you are a known lawbreaker, you can’t expect the law of the land to break in your favor.  When you’re someone who engages in nefarious business, you can’t expect the judge to do you any favors. When you’re a wrongdoer who’s been wronged, you can’t expect the legal system to make it right. Because of this, robbers, gangsters, and murderers tend to take matters into their own hands rather than report them to the authorities. But not always. 

Almost as soon as he ascended to the throne, two miscreants came to King Solomon seeking justice. They were prostitutes who had both given birth to sons very recently—only a couple of days apart. During the night, one of the boys died. The first woman claimed that the dead baby was not hers—that her roommate switched the boys in the middle of the night. The other woman insisted that the living son was hers. You can imagine how heated it would have gotten as they argued their case before King Solomon. It was a classically frustrating case of “she said, she said”. He could Is. 11:3 not judge by what he saw with his eyes, or decide based on what he heard with his ears. In our day, we’d settle the matter with a DNA test, but Solomon didn’t have that scientific advantage. But he had an even greater advantage. He had 1 Kg. 3:28 wisdom from God to administer justice.   

So he gave this shocking order. 1 Kg. 3:25 Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other. The woman who brought the complaint was deeply moved out of love for her son and cried out: 1 Kg. 3:26 Please, my lord, give her the living baby. Don’t kill him. The other woman thought this was a perfectly acceptable solution. 

Then Solomon gave his final ruling. 1 Kg. 3:27 Give the baby to the first woman…she is his mother. Solomon’s shocking order shrewdly uncovered the truth. The real mother would rather see her son live with another than see him cut in two. Solomon ruled with real wisdom.

Since the days of Solomon, wisdom was in short supply. Most of the descendants of David had lived selfishly & wickedly. They did not care about doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. They did as they saw fit. They ruled in whatever fashion was personally beneficial. 

And they didn’t just deny justice to the ne’er-do-wells. The elders and the leaders of the people had been systematically Is. 3:14 plundering the poor—crushing them and then grinding it in their faces. Is. 10:2 They preyed upon the widows. They robbed the orphans. They ruthlessly deprived the poor of their rights. Among a host of other sins, the Lord saw this arrogance and cruelty among his people and raised his hand against all the wicked and the ungodly. They would be cut down, left with nothing more than a stump of their former glory. 

Yet, even in his wrath, the Lord was faithful. He had made a promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Isaac, to David and Solomon. The Messiah would come from the roots of the house of Jesse. That’s where our text begins. Is. 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

Shoots from a stump is not a strange sight. When we cut down trees in our yard, we often grind the stump to prevent anything from growing back. But this would not just be a little shoot. This shoot from the stump of Jesse would become a fruit-bearing Branch. He would produce the kind of justice and peace the Lord was looking for. 

Isaiah tells us that the Messiah would have a different Spirit—Is. 11:2 the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, and the knowledge and fear of the Lord. 

Not only would he judge correctly in all things, but he would also be able to see the heart of the matter, like Solomon did with the two women. He would know what needs to be done when danger threatens, and also have the power to do what needs to be done. 

He would know the Lord and his will. Despite being smarter than everyone around him, and having greater might than his adversaries, he would have a humble reverence, a healthy fear, and even a great delight in Yahweh, the Lord who is abounding in love and faithfulness. 

Compare those characteristics with your own. When you possess wisdom that others don’t, are you always humble and gracious and patient? When you can see the heart of the matter, what’s really going on and why, in ways that others do not, do you ever take advantage of that understanding? When you know what needs to be done, do you ever treat people roughly—like a bull in a china shop? 

Do you look down on those who lack your wisdom? Do you dismiss them because they ignore your counsel? At times, do you think your physical, intellectual, or financial might makes you right, regardless of what the Word of God says? We may not live as sordidly as Samson, but is that because we don’t share his desires, or because we don’t possess his power? And who among us can confidently say, I know and fear the Lord as I should? Not when we flirt with temptation and accommodate our sinful nature when we think no one is the wiser. 

This encounter with the shoot from Jesse’s stump gives us a grave warning. He hears everything we try to hide. He sees right through our masks of goodness. The Lord knows our ruthless and reviling thoughts. He hears every lie we peddle, every juicy bit of gossip we whisper, every boast we make, and every promise we break. The Lord witnesses every single angry, lustful, vengeful, greedy, and selfish action we’ve ever taken. He has also seen how we have sidestepped opportunities to do good—making flimsy excuses about our busyness or how we’re just not the right person for that task. 

Is. 11:4 With the breath of his lips, he slays the wicked. With the double-edged sword of his Word, the Lord cuts us down to size. With his piercing stare of wisdom & understanding, he exposes our sin. Yet, he has not come just to undo us. He has not sprung up just to leave us ruined. Is. 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord has rested upon him Is. 61:1 to proclaim good news to the poor in spirit, to those who have been humbled and led by his Spirit to repent of their evil ways and live. 

Jesus came so Is. 11:9 the whole earth would one day be filled with the knowledge and fear of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

One day, a difficult case was brought to Jesus by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They found a woman who, much like those two prostitutes, had been caught up in the sin of adultery. Apparently, she had been caught red-handed. So they dragged her before Jesus and demanded that he give them a verdict. Jn. 8:4 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?

Jesus bent down and began to write upon the ground with his finger. We don’t know what he was writing, but as they continued to press him for his answer, he straightened up and said: Jn. 8:7 Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.  

Slowly but surely, her accusers withdrew, until only Jesus was left. He straightened up a second time and asked her: Where did they all go? Jn. 8:10 Has no one condemned you? 

Jn. 8:10 ‘No one, sir’, she answered. 

‘Neither do I condemn you’, Jesus declared. ‘Now, go and leave your life of sin’. 

In this declaration, Jesus wasn’t downplaying the seriousness of sin. He was deepening our definition. Sin is not just the obvious iniquities like when a person is caught red-handed in some gross sin. It is the hidden wickedness that wreaks havoc on our hearts. Our sin poisons our words. It darkens our minds. It distorts even our attempts at righteous deeds. We cannot leave a life of sin behind unless God puts it to death. 

And that is what he did for us. Christ was righteous in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. He was faithful to the Law in thought, word, and deed. Though he perfectly delighted in the fear of the Lord, he endured the righteous wrath of God against sin. Christ was put to death for our sins. The shoot of Jesse was condemned in our place. The Son of God died so that we might be set free from our slavery to sin. But he is not just one who comes from Jesse’s line; he is the One who gives Jesse’s descendants and all sinners peace. The Root of Jesse, the cursed tree of the cross, stands as a banner for sinful people. The nations rally to him, to his death and his resurrection. His resting place, the grave, is a glorious site of God’s wisdom and might. 

Even though we are lawbreakers, we have received God’s favor. Even though we have done what was wise in our own eyes, Wisdom has been righteous in our place.  The Mighty One has done great things for us. The Holy One who delights in the fear of the Lord delights to redeem us. And he makes this promise. He will not judge us based on what his eyes see or what his ears hear—but instead according to the faith God has Rom. 12:3 distributed to us. Mk. 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. As waters cover the sea, so the waters of Baptism have covered over our sins and washed them away. The Lord had filled us with a knowledge and fear of him, and it is glorious. He has given us his Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. You know what is right and what is wrong. You know when this sinful world tries to disguise ungodliness as useful or virtuous. You have God’s Word as your counsel, directing your steps. You have his Spirit of power. You have not been given a spirit of timidity. You have the Spirit of his love and self-discipline. You can guard the good deposit of faith God has given to you with the power of the Holy Spirit. You also know that your eternal resting place, heaven, will be glorious. Amen.