The Humble kingdom
Isaiah 11:1-10
Introduction:
(Mark 7:21–23) “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
– C.S. Lewis
Main Idea: We persevere by remembering our future hope in the coming King and participating in his Humble Kingdom.
I. The Humble Ancestry (11:1)
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1)
(John 1:1–5) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
(John 1:14) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
II. The Humble Anointing (11:2 -3a)
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.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
(Isaiah 11:2–3a)
“Jesus does not need our mechanisms for power. He has another way to build the world of our dreams. He has the Spirit of wisdom and understanding for leadership, the Spirit of counsel and might for war, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord for holiness. Unlike every other human leader in the sorry length of our history, Jesus is literally qualified to rule the world. We have nothing to fear from him. We are foolish to resist him. We can never be too loyal to him.”
~ Ray Ortlund
III. The Humble Rule (11:3–5)
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,
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.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
(Isaiah 11:3–5)
“We think of Jesus as a very nice but, when it comes to real life, incompetent person. We think too much of ourselves, our worship patronizes him, and our lives set him aside. But the truth is, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3). His insight penetrates through appearances (Isaiah 11:3). The Apostle John saw him as having eyes “like a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). How many clever human leaders and judges have been deceived or misled, to the injury of many? But nobody is fooling the Anointed One.”
~ Ray Ortlund
IV. The Humble World (11:6–9)
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.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
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.
(Isaiah 11:6–9)
(Genesis 3:15) “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
(Romans 16:20) “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
~ Isaac Watts, Joy to the World (1719)
Conclusion:
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
(Isaiah 11:10)
Wait, Watch, and Work
