Isaiah 11:1-9

CHAPTER ELEVEN
E. PROGRAM OF IMMANUEL
1.

DIVINE DIRECTION

TEXT: Isaiah 11:1-9

1

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit:

2

and the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah;

3

and his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

4

but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

5

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.

6

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

9

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the shoot of the stock of Jesse?

b.

When will this harmony between children and wild beasts be?

c.

How shall the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord?

PARAPHRASE

Although the tree of David will be cut down with the captivity, from the stump of the house of Jesse will grow a Shoot-yes, a new Branch from the roots of that stump. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight will be obedience to the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay, but will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked who oppress them. For He will be clothed with fairness and with truth. In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among bears; cubs and calves will lie down together, and lions will eat grass like the cows. Babies will play safely among the snakes, and a little child who puts his hand in a nest of deadly adders will pull it out unharmed. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain; for as the waters fill the sea, so shall the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 11:1-5 CHARACTER OF THE BRANCH: The Assyrian king will be felled like a mighty tree being cut down. His whole forest (nation) will be felled and will not grow back. Israel is soon to be felled in the captivity. However, from the stump (remnant) that is left of Israel, a Shoot or Branch will sprout. This Branch will be a supernatural person. He will have a full measure of the Spirit of the Lord. There can be little doubt that the Branch is the Messiah (Cf. Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12). The main emphasis focuses on His character. He will be in complete contrast to Israel's human rulers. He will rule righteously, justly, fairly. He will judge according to facts because He will be filled with divine wisdom, divine counsel and divine power. Israel's human kings, for the most part, delighted in doing their own will. The Branch will delight in doing God's will (Cf. John 4:34; John 5:30; John 14:31; John 15:10; John 17:4). The absolute righteousness and faithfulness of the Branch will bring a change in the character of those who commit themselves to Him. They will be able to trust Him to take care of all judgment. Thus they will be at peace and harmony with one another and with their surroundings. This leads into the next section.

Isaiah 11:6-9 CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER: The condition of the believer is directly dependent upon the character of the Branch. Without the Branch the believer falls into the sinful and decadent condition which Israel finds itself. Social injustice, political anarchy, human enmity and personal fragmentation are the consequences of impotent human leadership. Sinful, rebellious man is out of harmony with the will of God and out of harmony with God's whole creation. He trusts nothing and no one. He hopes in nothing. Filled with despair and meaninglessness he cares for nothing. He is at war with himself, with other human beings and with all that surrounds him. He perverts and exploits nature.

But when man finds he has a Divine Ruler who will judge with righteousness and faithfulness, and commits himself in faith and obedience to that Ruler, life begins to make sense. Man finds wholeness in himself, with his fellow man and harmony with his circumstances and surroundings. Nature becomes a help to him, and even those circumstances which seemed before to be contradictory and meaningless now become aids in the perfecting of his character.

We believe Isaiah is here speaking figuratively of a condition that will be accomplished in the believer at the first coming of the Messiah. When the Messiah has completed His messianic work, peace will be made possible in the hearts of those who believe. When men believe and obey Him they will be regenerated. They will begin the process of perfecting that will fit them for the time when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. Some day even creation itself shall be redeemed (Cf. Romans 8:18-25) and God will create a new heaven and a new earth. But new circumstances do not a heaven make! C. S. Lewis once said that heaven will not be so much the glory that surrounds us as the glory that is in us! Even when God makes a new heaven and new earth with docile animals and a stormless natural order, it will not be heaven without regenerated people. Man had perfect natural conditions to start with in the Garden of Eden! When man listened to a liar (the Devil), he got out of harmony with God and himself and sinful men have been perverting and exploiting everything he can get his hands on since then.

Isaiah is talking here about man's conversion. Potentially, man's dominion over creation, which he once enjoyed in Eden but lost, has been restored through the work of God-Man, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:5-18). Man can now enter into that potential dominion by faith in Christ, for Christ has destroyed the power the Devil formerly had over man through man's fear of death. Thus entering this potential dominion, man begins to prepare himself for the realization or consummation of the dominion which will come at the consummation of the agesthe Second Advent of the Messiah!

The condition described in these verses cannot apply to a supposed millennium. Advocates of a millennial theory maintain that even during the millennium there is sin, for after the millennium the nations will again gather for a battle. The picture before us, however, is one in which there is no sin, but in which the fullest manifestation of peace is to be seen. And right now, within the kingdom of the Messiah, there is peace. Of course, the kingdom is still in the worldnot of the world. And so the world makes war on the kingdom of God. But within the kingdom itself there is peace! And some day, even the world, nature and all its inhabitants will be at complete harmony.

QUIZ

1.

What connection does the idea of a Branch out of Jesse have with the foregoing idea that Assyria will be completely cut down?

2.

What is emphasized concerning the Branch?

3.

How does the character of the Branch tie in with the condition of the believer?

4.

Why must men be made fit to dwell in a new heaven and new earth?

5.

How has Christ restored man potentially to his former dominion?

6.

Why is this section probably not referring to a millennium?