Isaiah 11:1-10

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.And the LORD God had planted a garden in Eden, and the Lord God took the man he had created and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

So at the beginning, God's world was, in every way, very good: all his creatures – both man & beast – lived at peace with one another and with God.

But it didn't last.

Adam & Eve gave in to the Serpent's temptation, rejected God, and ever since, the whole of creation has suffered the consequences of man's rejection of God. And a quick survey of the news this week shows just how bad it is:

• Drunken man bites a huge chunk out of girlfriend's lip.
• A surge in female violence is linked to binge drinking.
• Armed student shoots himself after holding teacher and 23 pupils hostage for five hours
• Man gets life for mother and baby murder

And so it goes on. In Genesis 6, God sums it up, 'The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time'

But God did not give up on us. He had a plan, and gradually he revealed his plan to us through people like Isaiah. In Isaiah 11, God pulls back the curtain and reveals a little more of his glorious plan for his creation.

Here, God gives us a vision of the long-term future and goal of his creation. And he also shows us that none of this can happen without one critical character.

But before we delve into that, we need to see where God's big plan has got to.

Way back, long before Isaiah was written, God had chosen one man through whom he would raise up a special people for himself – he would be their God & they would be his people.This was Israel.

And when Israel had grown and settled in the promised land, God allowed them to have kings to lead them. And under David and then Solomon, Israel became a great nation. But it didn't last. Successive kings rejected God and were thoroughly evil. Israel degenerated into civil war and chaos.

In the midst of that chaos, God spoke to Isaiah. And God gave serious warnings of terrible consequences for sin, and also wonderful promises of a glorious restoration.

Here, we're looking at that glorious restoration and the new king who will oversee that restoration – a restoration that is so amazing it's like a completely new creation.

And we begin, in vv1-5 with the promised perfect king

Verse 1: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

One of Israel's great enemies was Assyria. And in the closing verses of the last chapter, Isaiah has said the Lord Almighty will cut down the mighty, proud tree of Assyria, 'The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones brought low.' And Assyria was indeed overturned by the Babylonians, never to rise again.

But Israel too has been felled. But this stump is not dead. If Israel was a tree, then it was in a bad way – diseased, fruitless, out of shape, tangled up with other trees. The only solution was to cut it right down to a stump and start again.

And we're told that two shoots will appear: One shoot comes from the stump itself, and one – a fruitful branch – comes from the root.

What does this mean?

The stump is Jesse – father of king David. So the shoot from the stump is another king David. A descendant of David. The old weak and faithless kings will be replaced by a specially Spirit-filled king who will bring unparalleled blessings to his people.

But this new king is also coming from the root of the stump of Jesse – in other words, this king is also the source of King David. It's not just that this new king comes from David, but that David came from the new king!

This is an extraordinary insight into the plans of God. He's going to send an anointed king who comes from the royal household, but also pre-exists David – you might say he is the root cause of the whole royal house of Israel.

This person is quite unlike any normal human. And the only person who fulfils this prophecy is the LJC. And each of the gospel writers draw attention to this: Matt & Luke include genealogies to show how Jesus was descended from David & Jesse. And John reminds us that he was, 'with God in the beginning'.

So we know that Isaiah is talking about none other than Jesus.

Now when a king is enthroned, they're anointed with oil. And in the OT, some of the kings were anointed with the HS – God's Spirit filled them so they had the wisdom & authority to rule for God. But, says Isaiah in vv2 & 3, this new king will be uniquely anointed with the HS.

And we remember that when Jesus was baptised, the HS came upon him like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, 'Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.'  Jesus is uniquely filled with the HS.

So, says Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding – when this king rules, he will be able to see beneath the surface of things, to the very heart of the matter. And he will have the insight & wisdom to deal with the foundational problems.

And he will have the Spirit of counsel and of power. This king will not only understand the problems, he will have the strategy & the power to carry out his plans to their fulfilment.

There'll be no unwinnable wars for this ruler.

And he'll have the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

This king won't be afraid to bring religion into politics – in fact that's precisely what he will do – he will bring his perfect knowledge of God to bear on his world.

This king will know God so well that he will perfectly reflect all God's perfection – his perfect justice and mercy; his complete faithfulness and his ethical integrity.

And because this is what he's like, vv3-5 tell us what he will do.

What's perhaps surprising here is the emphasis on justice and righteousness – and since we know that this is all about Jesus, we must face the fact that one of his main jobs will be to judge the world – each and every one of us. At first, we might not like that idea. We like to think of Jesus as a good teacher, a healer, as non-judgemental. But here it's quite clear, he is the judge of the world.

But then we think about the state of the world. If it's ever to be put right, there has to be judgement. There has to be justice. And Jesus is the only person who can be entrusted with this job – he doesn't judge by what he sees with his eyes – by outward appearances. He doesn't even judge according to what he hears with his ears – from biased or forgetful witnesses. No, Jesus is entrusted with jdgt because he judges justly – he sees to the heart of the matter – righteousness is his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist – he wears righteousness and faithfulness as we wear clothes.

So Jesus says, 'my judgement is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.'

Jesus' judgement is essential if evil, sin and all their consequences are to be overturned. And when they are, Jesus ushers in a completely transformed creation – a new creation where there is no space for evil or rebellion against God. Isaiah's description of this is breathtakingly beautiful:

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. The lamb invites the wolf for lunch! A little child exercises leadership over fearsome animals – wild animals that are wild no more.

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Animals that had been enemies – killing and being killed – are now snuggled up together in the straw!

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. A helpless child plays near the cobra's nest, and his parents don't worry; the toddler reaches into the viper's nest, and plays with the once-venomous snakes!

All-in-all, this is a picture of Eden restored.

And surely the peace within the animal world is symbolic of peace in the human world – there is no longer oppressed or oppressor; no murder and no war. The weakest and most vulnerable members of society are safe - 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.

In this new creation, everyone truly knows God – which, yes, means being reconciled to God, but also willing and enabled by the Spirit to do as God does.

And at the centre of this new creation stands Jesus, and everyone flocks around him: 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

Of course all this is still future. We don't know when it will happen. But we do know through whom it will happen.

And as Spirit-filled believers, we can begin to show the world what this new creation will look like – we can begin to create a community here and now in which we treat each other with the mercy and wisdom of God.

Equipped with the wisdom and knowledge of God we can begin to deal with sin in our own lives and ensure that the weakest and most vulnerable are safe.

But this is only possible when we rally round the Lord Jesus, know God, and experience the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

And as we do that, as God works in us, the future comes into the present, and the new Jerusalem is built in Hawkenbury's green and pleasant land.