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.
This text from the book of Isaiah is so amazing, maybe we should get to know the Prophet Isaiah better – that is, all three of him. Bible scholars tell us there were three Isaiahs.
The book of Isaiah is named for Isaiah ben Amoz, who prophesied in the middle of the eighth century, B.C., about the time of the Assyrian invasion of Israel and Judah. Scholars tell us that Isaiah ben Amoz wrote Chapters 1 – 39, but the book of Isaiah contains two more collections of prophecy after his death.
The anonymous author of Chapters 40-55 lived nearly 200 years later, during the Babylonian Exile. He was prophesying an end to the Exile, and a marvelous homecoming of the exiles to Jerusalem. This author is called “Second Isaiah”.
Chapters 55-66 are attributed to another source, known as “Third Isaiah”. This author wrote about the end of the Exile and looked forward to the restoration of Jerusalem.
You will note that the title of our Study Book is “The Sovereignty of God”. When you hear the word “sovereignty”, what images come to mind? Maybe a ruling authority figure, like a president or prime minister? A monarch or a dictator?
The word “sovereignty” implies power. Someone who is sovereign over us has the authority and power to rule over us. If you go looking for synonyms in your Thesaurus, you’ll find supreme, dominant, absolute, superior. These all indicate that a sovereign has great power to demand compliance if not obedience to his or her will. Now, we know that earthly sovereigns vary a great deal in how they exercise their power. Some are dictatorial and demand absolute obedience from those they rule. Others, like an elected president or a prime minister, have checks and balances on their power.
So if we are going to talk about God’s sovereignty, a related question is what kind of subjects are we called to be? In today’s text, we see a hoped-for sovereign who will usher in a peaceful kingdom in which harmony and security reign. Traditional enemies in the animal kingdom will coexist in peace according to this vision. Even the most vulnerable of human beings – babies and toddlers – will not need to fear danger in this kingdom. Our challenge will be – how do we live into this vision?
So let’s start at the first verse of Chapter 11 and see what we can learn.
You see the start of those first verses are very different from most of what you will find in Isaiah. While most of the prophetic writings of Isaiah ben Amoz concern God’s judgment on Israel and other nations, these first passages are one of hope for the future.
The image here is of a tree stump, likely connected to the previous verses in Chapter 10 that describe God’s judgment against Assyria, where the Assyrians are about to be “cut down and laid low.” Out of the stump of Jessie will come a “shoot,” a future ruler who will restore Israel’s fortunes and establish God’s reign.
Any gardeners here? If so, you know that if you cut down a tree or a large bush, after some time you get a “green shoot”. The roots are still alive and growing.
In this case the Jessie that is the stump was King David’s father, and the “shoot” would be a Davidic monarchy.
In verse 2 we find out that the hoped-for monarch is described as endowed with the Lord’s Spirit. The characteristics of this ruler are listed as: wisdom, understanding, planning or counsel, strength or might, knowledge, and fear of the Lord.
As a young Christian it used to bother me when I read about “fear of the Lord.” How did God’s love for me fit with me being afraid of Him. But the “fear of the Lord” as used here does not mean to be afraid of God, but rather to live with a deep and profound respect toward God. The words “reverence” and “awe” are good synonyms for “fear of the Lord.”
The “fear of the Lord” theme continues into the third verse and expands upon it. This coming ruler’s fear of the Lord will not be mere duty but will be his “delight.” The word “delight” as used here can be translated “to take pleasure in.” The fear of the Lord will be at the heart of this ruler’s relationship with God and will be a joy rather than a burden. This ruler will not judge by superficial appearances or by words alone.
As a matter of fact, this ruler will issue judgments based on righteousness and equity. The poor and the meek will receive justice based not on their status or their bank account but on their relationship with God. Wouldn’t that be a different type of legal system?
As we read on, graphic verses of prophesy, metaphors and poetry describe the differences in justice, contrasting the treatment of the poor and meek with that of the wicked.
By verse 6 through verse 8, Isaiah begins describing the “peaceful kingdom”, where traditional enemies actually dwell in harmony. These verses read like the restoration of God’s divine purpose for creation; the Garden of Eden.
You remember the Garden of Eden, that’s where God introduced Adam to Eve. And after Adam and Eve had talked, Adam was almost overcome. He said, “God, she’s beautiful! Why did you make her so beautiful?” God said, “So you would like her, Adam.” And Adam said, “Yeah, but she ain’t exactly a genius, God.” And God said, “That’s so she would like you, Adam.”
One more Garden of Eden story ….. It seems Eve and their first son were standing outside the Garden one day. The little boy was looking at the gate across the Garden entrance, and the angels guarding it. And he asked his mother, Eve, “What is that, Mommy?” Eve replied that they used to live there. “Why don’t we live there now, Mommy, it looks beautiful.” Eve said, “Oh, it is beautiful, my son, but your Father ate us out of house and home.” (But you won't find either of those two stories in the Bible.)
Okay now, two words that highlight this narrative of the kingdom of peace are “harmony” and “security. We’ve all seen images on TV of the cheetah or the lion chasing down an antelope or a gazelle. Natural enemies. If it’s an antelope at the watering hole when the big cat appears, you’ll see that antelope break and run for all its worth.
After I retired from the Marine Corps and joined the Woodmen of the World life insurance sales team in Indiana, they used to tell a story about lions and gazelles. The story was that somewhere on the Serengeti Plain a lion woke up each morning knowing that if it was going to eat that day, it had to be faster than the fastest gazelle out there. And somewhere on that Plain a gazelle awoke knowing that if it was going to stay alive that day it had to be faster than the fastest lion out there. But the moral of that story was that whether you were a lion or a gazelle, you better wake up running. No pressure, right?
We do live in a violent society. Each evening the TV newscast right here in Nashville is evidence of that. But by verse 9, the peaceable kingdom our lesson talks about has begun to take hold. No harm or destruction will exist in the reign of this new monarch. The “holy mountain” is not a specific mountain such as Mount Sinai, but it is a metaphorical mountain where God is fully present, such as the Jewish Temple.
Isaiah 2:2 mentions this “holy mountain,” where it is called “the mountain of the Lord’s house.” Isaiah uses the image of the Lord’s mountain throughout his prophecies to refer to the Temple in Jerusalem where God’s people believed God’s presence dwelt.
Now, this transformed kingdom of peace can occur because everyone will have “full knowledge of the Lord.” This knowledge is not simply knowing the laws of the Mosaic covenant but it’s more along the lines of Jeremiah 31:33, which described God’s law, or “Instructions,” being written “within” humans and engraved “on their hearts.” What we are referring to as “knowledge of the Lord” is a relationship of knowing and being known by God.
As I mentioned at the beginning, when we focus on the question of what kind of sovereignty does God exercise, related to that question is what kind of subjects are we called to be?
Because you see, we are not on the outside looking in – as if we were watching some TV program, or like the ancient Romans sitting safely outside the arena watching the combatants, down in the arena. We ARE the combatants in the arena, you and I. We ARE participants in the divine life of the Holy Trinity. Life is going on all around us, and we are God’s part of it. But what part do we play in God’s peaceful kingdom?
Well, let us lay the groundwork for that answer by considering the qualities WE would look for in an ideal ruler. What traits would you want to see? We have an election coming up, so without naming names, what traits are important in a candidate for President? (Honesty, responsibility, intelligence, compassion, skill, and knowledge?) In today’s scripture, verses 2 – 5, we find the prophet Isaiah has listed the qualities of the hoped-for ruler: wisdom, understanding, planning, strength, knowledge, fear of the Lord, true discernment, righteousness and equity.
It’s no wonder the writers of the New Testament Gospels saw this description of the ideal ruler fulfilled in Jesus Christ; seeing Isaiah 11:2-9 as a messianic prophesy describing the coming Messiah and the kingdom He would usher in.
As we’ve noted before, the human propensity for violence is well-documented. Our human history is filled with wars, conflicts, and disputes of all kinds. Job, chapter 5, verse 7 tells us that “…man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” However, since no one person can control history, we need to focus on our daily lives and ask, “How can I live less violently?” What if we were to teach students in school about the merits of ethics and morals, about the sources of violence, such as fear, anger, power, and stereotyping, and how to respond positively with communication, understanding, affirmation, and forgiveness, putting emphasis on creative conflict transformation.
You see, violence is not always physical conflict. Myself and others met with Congressman Jim Cooper last week about other issues, and he shared his own concerns. He talked about conflict at the Federal, State and local level in politics; said he had never seen such polarization.
Many people today still believe that our nation was founded upon the principle of separation of church and state, even though there is nothing in either the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights about it. But they give the church little credit for problem solving. But in fact the Church, Christianity is an “alternatives to violence program” in its own way. It holds up this vision of Isaiah 11:1-9 as how the world should and could be with God’s presence. This is a vision toward which we are called to live. But how do we translate this ideal vision of a peaceful kingdom into everyday life?
Well, I have three suggestions for you to consider.
First, we can become aware of how we overtly and indirectly use or encourage violence in our own lives. Self-awareness is always the first step to change. We should look carefully at ourselves and ask, “When am I tempted to use violent actions or words to resolve a conflict?” Think about it.
Second, we can become aware of the feelings that might lead to aggressive words or action. Feelings such as “fear of the other”, anger, inadequacy, powerlessness, or jealousy can lead to violence. But they don’t have to. We don’t have to act on our feelings. Someone has pointed out that we don’t have to attend every fight to which we’re invited. If we can’t control our feelings, we can release our anger on an inanimate object such as a pillow or a mattress rather than on another person.
And third, we can overcome our tendency to violence with forgiveness and love. As 1st John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.” Since fear is at the heart of many violent urges, love can show us a different way to deal with conflict. The way of love leads to a desire for peace, harmony and security.
Here in Nashville, Tennessee, Dodson Chapel United Methodist Church has had on their sign for the past month the message: “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can drive out hate.”
When guided by the love we see revealed in Jesus Christ, we no longer need to use violent means to achieve who we want to be, where we want to be, and what we want to be.
Singer Todd Rundgren released a song in 1997 titled “Love is the Answer,” and part of the lyrics cried out: “Light of the world, shine on me. Love is the answer. Shine on us all, set us free. Love is the answer.”
I submit that people like you and I know that love is the answer, and someone needs to tell the rest of the world, so we can live into that peaceful kingdom. Tell the world. Love is the answer. Amen?
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“Holy God, You have drawn us into the divine family through Your Son. May Your peaceful kingdom be expressed in our lives, made eloquent by the love of Christ; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen."
