Q. If you have a human King – do you pray for him?
Or if you are from a republic, do you pray for your president?
What do you pray for these leaders? And how do the promises in scripture shape your praying?
The Promised King
‘’A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a Branch will bear fruit…’’ 11:1.
Jesse was the father of King David, Israel’s greatest king.
So the stump of Jesse is David’s family. A new David is coming…
That is the promise…
It is helpful to look back into Israel’s history.
Saul, first King of Israel, rejected God’s commands.
God then sent Samuel to anoint a replacement.
Now the key event for an Israelite King was not the crowning, but the anointing with oil.
The king was known as the anointed one.
The Hebrew word for that is Messiah.
The Greek word is Christ.
David was the christ – small c.
He was God’s anointed king.
The king was outwardly anointed with oil but what really mattered was his anointing with the Spirit of the Lord.
Listen to final words of the anointing by Samuel of David.
13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. (1 Samuel 16).
That is what equipped the King to do the work of God – the Spirit.
David went on to become Israel’s greatest king, despite various failings and sins. He defeated Israel’s enemies and he brought rest to the people in the land.
But his successors, in general, were not of the same quality and faithfulness to the Lord God.
In the end, the kingdom was lost. The house of Jesse reduced to a stump.
But there was the promise. From that stump would come a new king. Anointed not with oil but with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would enable this new king to rescue and to rule God’s people…
The work of the King.
Isaiah 10:2 says a key reason why God judges Israel.
‘’Woe to those … who deprive the poor of their rights, and withhold justice from the oppressed …
Compare that to the description of King Jesus?
With righteousness he will judge the needy
With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth…
In his earthly ministry, we get a flavour of his coming reign.
He fed the hungry, he healed the sick, set the oppressed free, he denounced injustice, he condemned corruption.
Jesus was committed to justice.
In the power of the Spirit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— Isaiah 11:2
When he is baptised, the Spirit descends and rests on him. He is anointed not with oil, but with the Spirit of God. Luke tells us that Jesus ministry was ‘’in the power of the Spirit’’ – luke 4.
That means Jesus did his ministry with wisdom, understanding, counsel and might. Through the Spirit’s empowering, Jesus was able to turn his commitment to justice, into reality.
Think what that means about the reign of Jesus over your life, for he is or wants to be your king.
He cares for you with wisdom, understanding, counsel and might.
We can feel misunderstood by those in authority over us.
But Jesus understands you and me better than we understand ourselves – before a word is on our tongue he knows it completely Psalm 139 reminds us.
Jesus never puts a foot wrong, or speaks a word out of place as he counsels you.
As you read his word, Jesus desires to shape your life with Spirit enabled wisdom…
Note v3 – he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
What are some of the reasons to pervert human justice? Often it is fear of man.
People often do the wrong thing because they fear upsetting those with power.
We want to be accepted, we are afraid of being rejected, we do what we must to fit in.
But not Jesus.
What determines his behaviour – is the fear of the Lord.
In other words, there is only one person that Jesus will please at any cost – that is his Heavenly Father.
It is this desire, that frees him to bring justice to the poor.
Universal!
I don’t know if you like or hate the Minions. Personally I like them. Each movie begins differently, with them trying to work out how to sing or say Illumination or Universal!
Universal is the word describing all the things the King will do. God has a universal vision – for creation, the nations and for the Jewish people.
- The earth is renewed.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6
These are creatures who should be hostile to each other.
Under Jesus, hostilities will end. Isaiah 9 says that his kingdom will be one of peace.
V9 says ‘’ they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain…’’
In these words Isaiah takes us back to the Garden of Eden. The coming reign of Jesus is restoring paradise. The kingdom work done by Jesus has a cosmic dimension and not only a personal dimension to you or me. The cross, the work of the King, is about everything being made new. Creation restored to how it was meant to be. Romans 8 says ‘’in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.’’
V9 – the earth will be full of the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea. That was the vision in Genesis 1. Humanity to fill the earth. And that filling would have included living out a correct relationship with the Creator God. The world was intended not only to be filled with humans but with the knowledge of God…
- Gathering of People
V10-16 Isaiah reveals who will enjoy this glorious reign.
The root of Jesse – king Jesus – will be a banner for the peoples.
This is universal again – king for all. Not only for the Jews, but for all. The vision in Revelation states it so beautifully.
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
Yet all nations does not exclude the Jewish people. Despite the judgement that has fallen on them, going into exile – he will gather them again.
The words are like the Exodus. The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea, with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. … There will be a highway for the remnant of his people…
These words remind us of the crossing of the Red Sea. ‘’A scorching wind…’’ a wind was sent to create the highway through the red sea.
The word used for ‘WIND’ is ruach. Same word for Spirit. The use of that word – ruach – points to the Spirit – suggesting God came in the person of the Spirit, to rescue his people…
What God did before, Isaiah says he will do again. He will send his Spirit, he will create a highway, but it will not just be through the Egyptian sea but also through the Euphrates River… Those routes needed clearing because God’s people are going home from every direction – from every quarter of the earth.
v12 ‘’He will raise a banner for the nations.’’
Ever been at an airport, the person with the big piece of paper saying the ‘group from X’ And the people gather around that person.
Jesus raises a banner so everyone can come to him…
John 12 ‘’And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Jesus when he commissioned his disciples, he sent them to go and make disciples of all nations. 2000 years ago, Jesus involved his followers in helping to raise that banner…
To go to every unreached people group, language and nation, so that everyone has a chance to come to him… We raise the banner. That is what mission is about – we hold up the gospel so people can see the way home, through the chaos of life…
Anger of God
In Isaiah 9 and 10 we often hear the words ‘’his anger is not turned away.’’
‘’Yet in that day – although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.’’
What was God’s anger at?
Sin.
How could the anger of God be turned away?
These chapters are all about King Jesus.
Isaiah 53 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 11 v4 said the King would judge with righteousness, he would make decisions of justice, and he would strike the earth and slay the wicked… This tough language is about judgement.
When did judgement of God fall in Jesus ministry?
The answer – at the cross. God’s judgement fell on the King himself. ‘’The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.’’
The LORD – see 12:2 – God is my salvation … the LORD has become my salvation…
Tim Chester says: ‘’Salvation is not simply something God does. Salvation is something God has become. God in the person of Jesus has become the sacrifice. God’s anger at sin, has fallen, but he turned it away from us – from the world – and directed it onto himself in the person of Jesus…’’ (Chester, Tim. Isaiah For You: Enlarging Your Vision of Who God Is (God’s Word For You) . The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition).
Worship and Mission (slide)
To this the response we read:
“I will praise you, LORD.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation. ”
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
There is worship and praise at salvation. But see what happens next…
4 In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. Isaiah 12:4-6
So is Isaiah talking about worship or mission here?
When we see the salvation of God in Jesus, as someone said, do we burst into song or do we burst out the door?
The answer is both… Mission is worship and worship is mission…
Again Chesters: Mission is God’s people extolling his worth to the nations.
(Chester, Tim. Isaiah For You, ibid).
If we think something is worthy you want to tell everyone about it.
I met someone recently, who had learned that that they were going to have their first child. He said he just couldn’t keep silent about it… even if they wanted. It would just burst out of them…
This changes how we see worship, and it changes the way we see mission.
Our worship cannot be inward looking. We gather each Sunday to retune our hearts, so that we can worship Christ as living sacrifices throughout the week as Romans 12:1-2 reminds us.
We gather here on a Sunday to ‘’draw water from the wells of salvation’’ as v3 put it.
As we do so, it fills us with songs of joy that we proclaim to the world. Hearts that are filled with the joy of salvation, will want to proclaim ‘’his name is exalted.’’
This changes our way how we see mission. Worship and Mission.
See the words in those verses, put alongside each other.
Give praise – proclaim
Make known – proclaim
Sing – let this be known
Shout alout – sing for joy.
Worship and mission.
In marriage there are many things couples learn about themselves. They thought that was the only way to it and then they learn another way. One example for Jolanda and me it is toothpaste – well actually when we come to the end of a tube. Jolanda will see the tube is flat and get the new one out. I’ll come into the bathroom, see the flat one, the new one…
“Toothpaste” by Kristopher Avila is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
I will roll up the tube to get that last piece of toothpaste out…
That is how evangelism can feel isn’t it? I wrap and roll myself up in guilt or pressure until a bit of Jesus squeezes out to someone.
Wouldn’t it be so much more fun and better if we were like a champagne bottle, that has just gone off and is pouring out, down someone’s arm, down the bottle, onto the floor, into a glass, just bubbling out…toothpaste or champagne.
Someone said
Perhaps some of us need to spend less time thinking about evangelism and more time thinking about Jesus.
Perhaps some of us need to spend more time drawing water from the wells of salvation.
To rediscover our enthusiasm for Jesus…
Then maybe we will not be like empty toothpaste tubes, we will be like bottles of champagne, fizzing about Jesus and when the opportunity comes, pop!
Conclusion.
The promised Spirit anointed King.
What he will do –
His work is universal – every people and nation, and creation restored.
His anger turned away – taking it on himself on the cross…
Our response – worship and mission, not one or the other but together.
Maybe some of us, we need to think more about Jesus, than what we do for him…
Shall we pray…