Isaiah 11:1–16 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 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. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. 12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. 15 And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals. 16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

The Ideal King

When King Uzziah died, God gave Isaiah the tremendous revelation that God was the true King of the Covenant People. Current and future kings would fail, but God will never fail. He was king over all the earth. Isaiah 11 predicts a coming king that would be the perfect King. For the Christian, we recognize that Jesus has fulfilled this role, and we look forward to the future predictions given in this prophecy.

A Descendant of Jesse

Even though God would discipline His covenant people through invasion and exile, He limited their destruction to preserve a small group. From this remnant, God would continue His plan. A new king, symbolized by the shoot and branch from Jesse, would arrive. These terms refer to a thin or even dry growth from a tree. One might imagine that God would use something greater or stronger than a shoot/branch, but it fits with God's history. He often chose to reveal His strength through perceived weakness. Do you recall the story of Samuel being sent to anoint the next king for Israel? God directed Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of the sons. His stronger and older sons all appeared to be likely candidates, but God decided to pick the youngest, David, who was not invited to the dinner. David was deemed most insignificant. His job was to do the menial tasks of tending the sheep. But David was God’s choice, and in time, God made the shoot of Jesse to be the beloved King for Israel. And in the same way, Jesus, the branch of Jesse, appeared at first glance, to be rather insignificant. His death upon the cross appeared to be weakness, but it provided the greatest victory that brought our peace with God. Jesus is this True King for all people.

The Picture of the Perfect King

Today we await the confirmation of various leaders across our country. When we consider the potential outcome, both men fail our vision of an ideal leader. And some people finally commit to vote for the least problematic leader, or the one who will move the situation closer to their vision for America. How does Isaiah describe the Ideal King?

The Ideal King has the Spirit of God upon Him. First, the presence of God is the reason that this King rules with perfect wisdom and understanding so that He sees things as they truly are and perceives the heart of an issue. Second, His counsel and might are rooted in God so that all His decisions are correct, and He has the power to see those decisions through. Lastly, this king has the knowledge and fear of the Lord. He knows the mind of God intimately and always responds with perfect obedience.

The Gospels reveal that this is the case for Jesus Christ. The Spirit rested upon Him at Baptism, and he declared in Luke 4 that the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him for his mission.

Luke 4:17–21 ESV

17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus always did the will of the Father and he lived in perfect obedience to God’s covenant commands. He was never swayed by rumors, threats, nor any other thing. His delight was in the in fear of the Lord. Through Jesus, all things will be made right; even the effects of sin (curses) will be broken and restored to a right state with God.

Eden Restored

Isaiah 11:6-9 gives us a surprising result of the reign of the Ideal King. Alongside the arrival of justice, righteousness, and the defeat of evil, the natural world is transformed from its current state. Isaiah describes the incredible reversal of animal instincts. The animals that are "naturally" hunters or the hunted will be able to dwell peaceably. Those creatures which are wild will be so tame that a young child will not need to fear being near them. Isaiah predicts a restoration of the world back to the original state in Eden. Imagine what life was like before sin, and you will see what God intends to do through His King. But this is more than Eden, it will be the holy mountain of God. In the Old Testament, God's mountain was a symbolic location where God revealed himself to Moses and the Covenant People after coming out of slavery. God intended to be present with His people and have them live in a covenant relationship. Through the Ideal King, all creation will be made ready to dwell with a Holy God and they will be filled with His knowledge.

Jesus is the Root of Jesse

Isaiah prepares for us the picture of the coming King. But in verse 10, he is described as the Root of Jesse. This may seem like a contradiction. How can he be both a root and a branch? These descriptions point us to Jesus Christ, who was not simply a descendant of David. Jesus preceded David. Jesus pointed to this challenge in Matthew 22:44-46. This description is part of the evidence for us to recognize that this King is more than a mere human being. There is a divine and eternal quality to this King. He does things with perfection and unity with God. His kingdom rule reverses the curse of sin upon the whole earth. Only God alone can deal properly with sin.

Good News for All People

In the New Testament, we find an instance where the Apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 11 concerning Jesus as the Root of Jesse or David's offspring. In his letter to the Romans, Paul strived to make it clear that both Jews and Gentiles need to be restored back to God. Jews may have a covenant heritage, but they need to entrust themselves to Jesus Christ of the New Covenant. Also, the Gentiles are given a unique opportunity to be a part of the New Covenant even though they do not share in Israel's covenant history. Paul taught that Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel. God's faithfulness to Israel is a joy for the Gentiles because the overflowing result was the Gentile invitation to Christ, just like the Jews. Romans 15:8-13.

Romans 15:8–9 ESV

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Romans 15:12 ESV

12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”

For Paul, God's faithfulness to Israel was the "signal for the people." The "signal" described was a banner, standard, or flag-like device used to direct people. It was used to gather the tribes into one place, especially in a battle. Without a standard, there would be much confusion, but with it, there was clear direction. Today much of the church is made up of Gentiles, and we ought to recognize that we have the privilege of God's faithfulness to Israel, which goes back to his covenant with Abraham to bless all the people of the earth. God is still calling all people, Jew or Gentile, to come to the signal of Jesus Christ. He is our only hope.

The Final Picture

When we studied Isaiah 9, we recognized that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prediction. Isaiah 11, likewise causes us to look past the time of Isaiah to the 1st century for fulfillment. We know that Jesus has come and has defeated the biggest enemy of sin and separation from God. Because of Christ, we have access to God that resembles Eden and the temple. But when we look at the world's current state, we recognize that leopards can't resist relaxing with a goat unless the goat is dinner. So how do we make sense of fulfillment when some things are still not as described here?

We must recognize that there is more to come. Isaiah spoke these words approximately 700+ years before Christ came to earth. Jesus completed will of the Father and was full of the Spirit. But after finishing the work of salvation, he left and promised to return. That was long ago, well, at least from our perspective. One thousand years is as a day to God according to 2 Peter 3:8. So we, who entrust ourselves to God in Christ, live in the tension of "already, but not yet." The Kingdom is here, and we have a King, but we await a greater expectation that we currently don’t see except through faith. That seems to be the main point of the book of Revelation. Even though the book is written in the symbolic and mysterious apocalyptic style, it gives us one clear picture. The picture is of the fulfillment of Isaiah 11 in a completed state. John was led to write this letter to encourage believers in Christ to persevere in the midst of unbelief, discouragement, temptation, and suffering. The New Testament scriptures teaches us that God has allowed the suffering and victory of Jesus Christ to be the same path that He chooses to develop a Christian’s maturity and faith. We must not grow weary or give up for we await a glorious future. Our King is still coming. Listen to the encouragement from Jesus, the King.

Revelation 22:6–21 ESV

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” 7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Application

How often do you dream about the ideal situation or future? Those in high school envision the ideal college/career and possibly the ideal mate. Those in their middle ages envision just a few more years of hard work toward an ideal retirement, which may include finally getting to do "fun" things of life. But some today just hope for things to get just a little better than they are. Their "ideal" future may be just set on living life a little bit above "surviving". Whatever your ideal future may be, God has a future in store for those who are in Christ. The future that Isaiah predicts is only available through the Ideal King. Any other path will lead you far from God's hope for you. So entrust your life to Christ. If you worried about the present or the future, God has it in control. He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

The study of Isaiah 11 points us to the truth that we await an amazing future. Even though we experience struggles, difficulty, and suffering, we have a down-payment on the future. Our biggest problem was our debt of sin, but Christ paid for it. But even our struggles have a new purpose. They produce in us the opportunities for greater trust and the accompanying presence of God in the trials. We are people of hope, despite whatever comes our way. All the effects of this sinful world will be one day crushed. The King will come one day. Let's be ready. Live in the attitude of readiness.