Well good evening everyone and welcome to my fifty fourth episode. So we’ve been journeying through some rather dark chapters and witnessing God’s wrath being poured out on the land. Tonight we get a nice break from that. Tonight, I want to work through the first 5 verses of Isaiah chapter 11. I want to take time and work through these verses deliberately and intentionally. It’ll take longer to cover more material this way, but I don’t see any sense in rushing this project. I think it’s beneficial to read the Scriptures for depth. Let’s begin with chapter 11, verse 1:
A Branch from David’s Line
11 Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
So remember in chapter 10 how Isaiah said the Lord would cut down Assyria at the height of its power? He likened them to a mighty tree that would be brought down, never to rise again. This same symbolism is being used here to represent Judah and the royal line of David. But with Judah, God has promised that out of the stump a new shoot would grow and He would be the Messiah. He would be much greater than David, he would bear much fruit, and he would reign forever. In 2 Samuel 7:16, God says that His house and His kingdom will continue for all time and his throne will be secure forever. Jesus is the fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy.
In Revelation chapter 5, there is this scene where John has a vision of a sealed scroll. John is very distressed because he doesn’t think there is anyone who can open this scroll. Listen to what he says:
4 Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne,[b] has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
I’ve actually heard some theologians say that this passage is a symbolic representation of how it is impossible to understand the Bible without Jesus. That everything found in Scripture, from beginning to end, must be read in light of Christ and the ultimate act of love He gave to us on the cross. According to this scholar, it’s only once you come to terms with the cross that you can truly unlock the rest of the mysteries found in the Bible.
So Isaiah is predicting the coming of Jesus and this is also a prediction that Jeremiah makes in chapter 23 when he says that the time is coming when God will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He says this descendant (who is Jesus) will rule with wisdom and will do what is just and right throughout the land. Let’s see what Isaiah has to say about this in verse 2:
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
So here we see this idea of the Holy Spirit coming to rest on Jesus. This actually happens to Him in the Gospels during His baptism in the Jordan river. Matthew’s account says that when He came up out of the water the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and settled on Him. We see the Spirit of God indwelling people throughout the Old Testament when God uses them to do a great deed or to lead His people effectively. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Advocate and the Comforter. All of us have access to God’s Holy Spirit today, the only requirement is that we trust in Jesus and open our hearts to the Spirit’s residency within us. Humility is a big thing when it comes to the Spirit. God’s Spirit will not indwell you until you step down from the throne of your own heart.
I want to take a minute to expand on this idea of Jesus ruling with wisdom. It’s actually impossible for us as human beings to say exactly how God sees someone. This is why it’s so critical that we judge actions and ideas, but not individuals. We just don’t know what someone has gone through or is going through. But God does. God is omniscient, meaning He sees and knows everything about everyone. He is the only one who is qualified to judge individuals, His judgment is perfect, and He will not share that job with us.
The best we can hope for is Spiritual wisdom for ourselves and for others, and this too comes from God. In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul prays that the church in Ephesus might be given spiritual wisdom and insight so they can grow in the knowledge of God. This should be a part of our private prayers as regularly as possible – because so much of what God wants you to do He is going to do through you. But He’s only going to give you what you can handle. Most babies who learn the mobility associated with crawling will grow and mature until one day they are driving cars. But there’s never been a baby whose first form of mobility was driving a car. If you’re not at the right level of understanding He’s going to wait until you are. If you’re unwilling to go to the place He wants to bring you, then He’s not going to give you what you aren’t ready for.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
Notice how it says Jesus will delight in obeying the Lord. God doesn’t want our grudging obedience as an ultimate end. Heaven is not going to be some place where we spend all of eternity bowing down to a tyrant. Our obedience to God is for us, not for God. He doesn’t need us to worship Him or obey Him – ultimately we will do these things joyfully out of our unending love for Him. Just imagine finally being able to see exactly how sinful you are in comparison to the perfection of God the Father. And then, with this stark awareness of your broken condition, you see that Jesus has reached down into the muck of your life and pulled you up into a place that is so wonderful it cannot be expressed using human language. When we pass into the Kingdom of Heaven, this process will result in a sense of peace, security, and thankfulness that will be without end.
Okay, so it says that Jesus does not judge by appearance or make decisions based on hearsay. Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves because He designed us. Listen to this passage from John chapter 2:
23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. 25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
This kind of goes back to the idea that God is the only one who is able to be a fair judge of a person’s heart. All we get to see are the actions. Certainly, some actions are so heinous that we need to fill the role of temporary judge and imprison the perpetrator for the safety of themselves and others. But that doesn’t mean we can write them off. It also means that we need to remember to have mercy on people who act in ways we don’t understand. It’s likely that they act this way because they have been subjected to something we haven’t been subjected to. Does that mean anything goes? Definitely not. This is where the culture has been tripping up lately. They’ve been using their misfortune or their traumatic history as a crutch to absolve themselves of the responsibility of improving.
We can’t defeat all sin in ourselves by our own effort. It won’t work. It’s only by God’s grace that we are sanctified. That means we must continue to struggle with sin and remain repentant of it, and continue knocking and seeking God’s help to overcome it. You might think, what’s the difference between a sin that is committed and followed up by repentance over against a sin that is committed without repentance? I’m going to suggest the difference is everything. If you sin without repentance, then you become incredibly susceptible to pride. And once you become proud of your sin, then you integrate it into who you are as an individual. And that’s not good because God judges individuals. But if you sin and you know that it’s wrong, and you don’t try to justify it but instead you continue to struggle with it – all the while seeking God’s help – you’re in a whole different camp. And I believe that if you faithfully seek the Lord He will give you what you need and He will rescue you from the sin.
You know, there’s a good example of this in the story of a man who could not overcome his alcoholism. This guy lost everything to alcohol – his family, his house, his career. He tried and failed at his recovery meetings over and over and every Sunday he would go into his church and sit down in the pews. Every Sunday he would confess his sins and ask for the strength to overcome them. And every week after church he would fall right back into it. This process went on for years but the man never stopped going before God in confession and repentance. Then one Sunday morning he was back at it again, confessing and seeking. The next day, Monday, came and went with no drinking. Then Tuesday. Then the rest of the week. Then two weeks. Then two months. Then two years. The desire for alcohol left this person and never came back. He didn’t know how, and neither did anyone else. As far as he knew, he remained repentant and kept his faith that God would show him the way out some day. And that’s exactly what happened. I wish I knew his name, but this was a story that was told to me in Indianapolis and his name is lost to me. The point is that some sins are harder than others to let go of. But you are not called to have perfect adherence to the law by your own devices, you are called to have perfect love for God – so that by His grace He will make you perfect.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
So we see that the coming of Jesus is good news for the poor and the exploited. Isaiah talks more about this in chapter 61 when he says that Jesus will be sent to comfort the brokenhearted and proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. And in the Greek version of that passage it also says that the blind will see. It’s interesting how one theologian puts it: he says the righteousness God values is not only refraining from sin – it’s also actively turning toward others and offering them the help they need.
Okay, so there’s also this idea of Christ shaking the earth with His speech and destroying the wicked with the breath of his mouth. Isaiah expands on this in chapter 30 when he says that Christ’s hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies. That He will sift out the proud nations for destruction and that He will bridle them and lead them away into ruin. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul talks about the man of lawlessness being revealed and Jesus slaying him with the breath of His mouth and destroying him by the splendor of His coming.
I think this idea has something to do with the way that truth exposes lies. If you ever meet someone who is a pathological liar, you can actually make them incredibly uncomfortable by reflecting the truth about themselves back at them. There are many people walking around whose only coping mechanism for surviving the guilt they feel is their generating of fictions about themselves or about past events. Usually these fictions take the form of them being the victim and God, life, another person, or a set of people being the perpetrators who have leveled unfair treatment against them. This was Cain in the Cain and Abel story. That’s one of the reasons why Cain killed Abel and blamed God for his own offering being rejected. Cain had to walk away from the truth and generate a deception so that he could live with himself. And that’s exactly where his story ends in Genesis – him living with himself and not with God. And he said this punishment was more than he could bear. You see, we can’t walk away from the truth without also walking away from Jesus.
So you can imagine the impact on the deceived and the deceivers when the holy embodiment of truth Himself shows up. Everything that is a deception, everything that is a lie, will not be able to coexist with God’s light. And you know, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that what He offers us is forgiveness – because what we need in order to live with the honest truth of who we are without spinning off a fiction is exactly that: forgiveness.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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