SERMON TITLE: Come, King, Come
TEXT: Isaiah 11:1-10 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 12-7/8-19
It’s great to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
This Christmas season we’re spending time in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah has some great passages that remind us of what the season of Christmas is all about. And you may have heard us use the word Advent — and what the word Advent means — is that this is a season of longing — a season of anticipation — a season full of expectation as we wait for the coming of our Savior. And at Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ first coming — but we’re also reminded about how we’re to be longing for his second coming — his return to earth.
Thus the title for this Christmas series — come. Where we’re anticipating the coming return of our Lord and Savior. And each week — in this series — we’re looking at different ways Isaiah speaks of the coming of our Savior. And today, we’re going to see how Isaiah describes Jesus as our coming King — the One who will bring peace to this world of conflict.
Now our world has a lot to say about peace. But the basic message we’re told is that we’re the ones who will create peace — peace is all up to us. So we should all be working towards making peace a reality because it’s up to us to figure out how to end wars and conflict and racism and prejudices so we make peace happen. We’ve got to use our intelligence, our strengths, our ingenuity, our talents, and so on...in order to make this world into a place full of peace.
Now the fact that peace is a concern for so many in our world is noble. Peace is something we should all be concerned about and working towards together.
Yet I do wonder if the way that so many think peace is to be found — I wonder if the foundational beliefs underlying how peace will be achieved — what I wonder is if it can handle the pressure we put on it. What do I mean? Well — as I said a moment ago — the foundation of many people’s thinking — is that establishing peace on earth is solely up to us. And — so far — our track record isn’t all that great. Sure we have moments in history where there’s relative peace — at least in our neck of the woods — but war and conflict seem to go on and on despite our best efforts to bring an end to them.
And this leads some to think that the reason for our continual conflict is that others aren’t as committed to finding peace as they are. So when a tragedy strikes — when a horrific act is done — they ask questions like, “Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t those people — or groups — try to understand one another? If they’d just listen to each other then there’d be peace!” And that all sounds nice — but if things were really that simple don’t you think we’d have figured out a way to stop the violence in the Middle East or the bickering among politicians in our country? I mean, if the only reason we lack peace on earth — is simply because we haven’t listened to one another or understood each other — if we humans are capable of making peace happen all on our own by things as simple as that — well then — what’s taking us so long?
Well what may be taking us so long is that we’ve built our peace-making efforts on the wrong foundation. And this is where the Christian faith comes in. For the Christian faith suggests that — instead of trying to accomplish peace all on our own — peace is found by being built on a more firm foundation. A foundation that’s been called a Solid Rock. And this Solid Rock is actually a person — and even better — they’re a King. And this King — who’s come to earth once before — has promised to come again. And when he returns he will establish his Kingdom of Peace on earth.
So let’s turn to our passage for today and learn more about this King who is coming and the Kingdom of Peace he will establish.
If you have your Bible please turn with me to Isaiah 11. We’ll be looking at verses 1-10.
And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions that we answer on our podcast — just know that we’re taking the month of December off from recording any new episodes — but keep sending in questions as we’ll get to them in the New Year. So if you have a question, you can text it in to the number printed on the bottom of the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.
Here are the words found in Isaiah 11 — beginning in verse 1 — where we read about the King who is to come.
The prophet Isaiah writes, “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 (the meek — here — are the afflicted — the exploited — 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… (And skip down to verse 10.) 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples — of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:1-5, 10 ESV)
So let’s talk about this King who will come again. Five things I want you to notice about this coming King.
First, he’s called the stump of Jesse. Now that sounds weird. What’s a tree stump have to do with Christmas? Well this idea of a tree stump shows us that this King — who will bring peace on earth — comes from humble beginnings. The picture of a tree stump — not a flourishing tree — but a tree cut down all the way to the stump — puts the idea in our minds that not much is going to come out of this. That’s why when you cut down a tree — if the cost is too high — you’re like, “Just go ahead and leave the stump.” Why? Nothing comes out of a stump.
But this King is described as a shoot — a branch — life coming up out of this stump. And this takes us back to a promise given to King David — whose father was named Jesse. You can read about God’s promise to David in the book of 2 Samuel, but the cliffnotes version is that God promises David that he will always have an heir as king. But fast forward to Isaiah’s day — and things are bleak.
The Israelites are split into two nations. The nation of Israel has been destroyed by the Assyrians. And in about 100 years the nation of Judah will be destroyed by the Babylonians. So if the nation of God’s people is a tree — it’s getting chopped down by foreign nations. And it’s in the midst of this scenario that Isaiah — speaking the words of God — promises that out of a nation that’s been cut down to nothing more than a stump — a King will rise.
And, second, the Spirit of the Lord will be upon him. In the days of kings, oil would be poured on the head of the king representing that the Spirit of God had been poured on him for the task of leading the nation. And Isaiah says that this King to come will have the Spirit of the Lord upon him — he will be anointed with the Spirit. And do you know what the word Christ means? It means “anointed One.” So — spoiler alert — this King to come is the Christ — God’s anointed One.
And, third, he will fear the Lord. In fact, his delight — his joy — will be in fearing the Lord. Why is this important? Well, for anyone in authority — such as a king — or a pastor or husband or parent or boss — the great danger is for them to act in arrogance instead of humility. To act as if they’re the final authority on all things instead of acting as someone who’s under divine authority. And if you read the history books in the Old Testament — the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles — what you’ll find is a history dominated by arrogant kings who ignore the fact that they were under God’s authority. And what’s the result? They mistreat people. They wage senseless wars. They commit all kinds of atrocities because they have no fear of the Lord. But not this promised King to come. He will not only fear the Lord — he will delight in having God as an authority over him. In fact, he will be so committed to obeying God that he will say things like, “I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” (John 5:30, NLT)
Which leads us to the fourth observation about this coming King — he will judge with righteousness — as opposed to the corruption that can take place when we humans play judge and jury. Corruption is what that the nations of Israel and Judah experienced with king after king — yet this coming King will judge righteously — without ulterior, evil-influenced motive. Justice, fairness, faithfulness will be what he judges by. He will judge — not just based on what he sees with his eyes or hears with his ears — this King will make judgments based on a person’s heart. For this coming King will know people — like really know them. Not just what they do — but their motivations behind what they do. And one result of this just and fair and knowing the matters of the heart King — who judges with righteousness — is that the afflicted and exploited will be protected by him.
Now maybe you are the afflicted. If so, it may be hard for you to imagine peace ever being your reality. That’s completely understandable. Our life experiences — especially ones that leave us hurt, in pain, exploited, or worse — these kinds of experiences can make it difficult to imagine peace ever being possible. And it makes sense — for you — based on your experience — to look at the world and doubt the possibility of peace because you’re aware — and this is something that not all of us are as aware as you are — but you’re aware that we humans aren’t going to figure this whole peace thing out on our own. But don’t let that leave you in a place of hopelessness. Instead, look to the King who is coming again — he’s not like everyone else you’ve met — even to say that he’s infinitely better than everyone else is an understatement. But look to the One who’s promised to bring peace on earth — including peace in your life — if you trust him.
And — church — we need to remember that there are afflicted among us and in our community — in our workplaces — in our families. And even we Christians can’t bring about peace in this world if we try to go at it on our own. And the way we show the world peace is by responding to the peace that Jesus has brought into our lives. And we need to show those who are without peace, how Jesus — and the Spirit of God in us — how we’re being transformed into a community of peace. Now I didn’t say a perfect community of peace. But even in our imperfection, God’s peace can be seen and experienced. But only if we submit to Jesus’ Kingship in our lives. Where we listen to and obey him. Where we allow his love for us — as shown in his sacrifice on the cross — to be the means by which we live at peace with one another.
And fifth, people from all nations will seek him — we find this in verse 10. News will spread about this coming King who’s bringing peace on earth. And the news will spread to people of all nations. And they shall come — as we saw last week — people from all nations will come to this King flowing like a river to worship him.
Which brings us to the Kingdom that’s coming with this King of peace. Verse 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 (that’s a nest of deadly snakes). 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.” (Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV)
Isn’t this a crazy picture of a world at peace? Wolves and lambs, leopards and young goats, calves and lions, cows and bears, Foxes and Hounds — wait that was Disney — but all of these animals are living in peace with one another. There’s an infant child playing with a cobra. Another child puts his hand into a nest of deadly snakes without being harmed.
A picture of peace like this — makes our visions of peace — where peace equals us humans getting along — this vision makes our thoughts about peace seem like small potatoes, right? I mean, I know it was weird when Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart became friends but that’s nothing compared to a lion and a cow becoming BFFs. When we think of peace we ask, “How can we humans stop killing and hurting each other” not “How can we get predatory animals to stop attacking their lunch?” Or “how can we make it possible for an infant to have unsupervised playtime with a cobra?” That’s not even on our radar when we think of peace — but this is the kind of peace the coming King will bring to earth when he establishes his Kingdom.
And the reason why these kinds of things are missing — when we think of peace — is because our definition of peace is to narrow — it needs to be filled out — it needs to become more robust — we need the biblical meaning that comes from the Hebrew word we translate as peace. The Hebrew word — shalom — points us to God’s original design for creation. It’s a word that means wholeness, perfection, prosperity, and peace for all of God’s creation. Shalom is God’s vision for how his creation is to function.
Shalom is what we see in the first two chapters of the Bible. God walking in the Garden with his creation — including Adam and Eve. That’s an incredible picture that should floor us — God walking among us. But with the fall — with the rebellion of Adam and Eve — shalom was broken — it was destroyed. We ruined the peace we long for when we rebelled against God. And after the Fall, instead of running to God — when we heard his footsteps in the Garden — we hid from him. We went from safety and security — in his presence — to being scared and ashamed. His footsteps were no longer a sound that give us joy — instead they sound like that of a tyrant coming to get us.
But in this broken — lacking peace world we live in — we can’t forget that God isn’t the one who’s changed — we did. We hear the footsteps of a tyrant coming for us, but he’s not changed and is still a Father who loves us.
And the Kingdom that Isaiah describes to us is a paradise beyond our imagination. It’s the removal of the original curse brought onto us all by our rebellion in the Garden. The Kingdom to come is a restoration — not just of our relationships with each other — but a restoration and making whole of all of creation’s relationships with each other. Animals that are naturally enemies — now — will one day live in peace with each other.
And this promised Kingdom of Peace makes our efforts to bring about peace — without God’s help — seem so puny. At best, we end up with peace that’s like eating a bunch of junk food when we’ve been invited to sit down and eat dinner with the King of all kings at his table.
And the reason why this “bigger than we can imagine — full on ‘12 course meal’” — type peace is possible — is because the land — all of God’s redeemed creation — the Kingdom — will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. And instead of creating new ways to hurt and harm and to divide and conquer one other — everyone living in the Kingdom will be unified in their loyalty to their King. And we will know — and experience — peace on earth. Peace between humanity. Peace between creation. And — most importantly — peace between us and God.
And how God restores peace — how God restores shalom to his creation — is through his King. For there’s a Hebrew word related to shalom — the word shalem — which means to repay in full, to make restitution, to restore and make peace. And this promised coming King — this stump of Jesse, the one anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, who fears God, and judges with righteousness, the one whom all nations will seek — nearly 2,000 years ago this King was born in a manger — what humble beginnings.
But we cannot forget that this child was born to die. To repay in full, to make restitution, to restore and make peace through his death on a cross. And through his life, death, and resurrection Jesus began the restoration of shalom in his creation. And when our coming King returns, his Kingdom of Peace will be fully established. And men and women, blacks and whites, Democrats and Republicans, wolves and lambs, bears and cows, leopards and goats — even Foxes and Hounds — all of God’s creation living in his Kingdom will live at peace with one another and will live at peace with God through Christ.
This Kingdom of peace can be your future if you put your trust and hope in Jesus. Living forever in this Kingdom of Shalom is yours if you submit yourself to the King of the Kingdom now. What do the footsteps sound like to you? The footsteps of a loving Father who’s calling you to trust him? Do you hear the voice of the One who’s proven his love by giving his life for you on a cross? Do you want to run to the footsteps — or are you running from them? The King has come and he will come again — bringing his Kingdom of Peace on earth for his people to enjoy forever. Run to the sound of his footsteps while you still have time. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for being a God of peace. A God so committed to peace on earth that you promised a King to come and then sent your Son to be our King. Jesus thank you for coming and humbling yourself by being born in this world — by accepting such humble beginnings to your earthly life. We’re grateful for you finding it a joy to submit yourself to your Heavenly Father — doing all that he asked of you — for our sake.
Spirit help us to respond to all that Jesus has done for us by being peace-makers in this world that lacks peace. Not believing that peace is solely up to us — but allowing your peace-making power to work in and through us so that others might hear the footsteps of God walking among them — and not fear or run away — but might hear the sound of your eternal love for them. And for anyone listening today — who for the first time — or for the first time in a long time — is being moved by your love for them — help them to run to you right now in faith. Trusting you — the King of peace — to establish peace in their hearts by making them right with you. And we pray all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go running to the sound of your loving Father’s footsteps. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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