The Good News of Jesus Christ from Isaiah 11:1-5
The Good News of Jesus Christ from Isaiah 11:1-5
The Gospel is the good news of reconciliation with God.
The Gospel is the good news of redemption and rescue.
The Gospel is the good news of righteousness.
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.
Using Isaiah 11:1–5 as a backdrop, let’s look at some of the good news of Jesus.
Isaiah 11:1 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.” (NASB 2020)
I love this picture. This week online I saw a picture of the stump of a tree that had been cut down. Out of that stump there was a small tree growing in the sun. That is the way I see this verse.
Jesse was the father of King David. The David who killed Goliath, the enemy of the people of God. The David of whom God said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart.” But, despite God’s promise that David’s line would be on the throne forever, David’s line was cut off.
God keeps His promises. He knew that at just the right time, the One True King would come as a child. Born of a woman. Born in the line of Jesse and David.
Jesus was not like the other children. He was born of the Spirit of God, not by the will of man, but of God. Luke 1:35 records that, “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.” (NASB 2020) Jesus is the Son of God. He is God in human flesh.
In John 15:5 Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (NASB 2020) He is righteous and holy and Romans 11:16 tells us, “if the root is holy, the branches are as well.” (NASB 2020) That is good news indeed because 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (NASB 2020)
Jesus is the holy Root.
Jesus is the righteous Vine.
Jesus is the “shoot from the stem of Jesse” through whom:
We who are branches in Him bear much fruit.
We who are branches in Him are righteous.
We who are branches in Him are holy.
Revelation 5:5–10 gives us a glorious view of the majesty and power of Jesus.
5 And one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
10 You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” (NASB 2020)
This is Jesus who, by His Spirit, lives in us.
This is Jesus in whom we live and move and exist.
This is Jesus in whose life we are safely guarded in God.
This is Jesus who has made us a kingdom and priests to God who will reign upon the earth.
Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (NASB 2020)
Isaiah 61:1 gives us insight into this truth “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD anointed me To bring good news to the humble; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to captives And freedom to prisoners” (NASB 2020)
We were those captives. We were prisoners; enslaved by sin, as we read in Romans 6:17
“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (NASB 2020)
Jesus is both the messenger and the message of God. He is the bringer of the good news and He is the good news. Through Jesus God was reconciling us to Himself and not counting our sins against us. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17 and following.)
John 1:32–34 records a unique event. “And John (the baptizer) testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (NASB 2020)
The Spirit of the LORD rests upon Jesus because Jesus is God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus. John 10:30 records Jesus saying, “I and the Father are one.” (NASB 2020) Then in John 17:11 He prayed, “I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are.” (NASB 2020)
More than that, the Spirit of God who is in Christ Jesus is wisdom, understanding, counsel, and strength.
Regarding wisdom:
In 1 Corinthians 1:30–31 we read, “But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written: “LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” (NASB 2020)
Regarding understanding:
In 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 we find, “But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” (NASB 2020)
Regarding counsel:
John 14:16–17 tells us that the Spirit is our helper, or counselor. There we read, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever;
the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.” (NASB 2020)
Regarding strength:
We find in 2 Timothy 1:7 that, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (NASB 2020)
Now picking up our background text with Isaiah 11:3 “And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make decisions by what His ears hear” (NASB 2020)
The picture painted here by the phrase “He will delight in the fear of the LORD” is a beautiful one. The phrasing in Hebrew is literally “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.”
This brings to mind other passages that use similar phrasing. One example is Amos 5:21. There we read that the Lord does not “smell with delight” (or get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies. I think there is merit to the thought that Jesus got joy or delight from obeying (fearing) the Father, in much the same way that incense is a sweet smelling and pleasing aroma.
I think that as we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, we also find the obedience of faith, the dependent life, brings joy and delight. It is a pleasing aroma to us as well.
The text also says that Jesus does not judge by the way things look on the outside.
1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that, “…God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (NASB 2020)
Hebrews 4:12 reiterates this thought in saying, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (NASB 2020)
Jesus is the Word of God, as John makes clear in John 1:1–2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NASB 2020)
Jesus judges righteously.
Jesus judges the heart.
Jesus judges justly.
Isaiah 11:4 “But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the humble of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.” (NASB 2020)
We have seen that Jesus makes decisions and judges accurately and righteously. Now we move, as Dr. Andrew Farley puts it, “from our friendly neighborhood Jesus to the Lord with a sword.”
In Hebrews 4:12, which we just read, we saw that “the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” In our text we get another picture. Here we are told of “the rod of His mouth.” Here, the Hebrew reads, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” This is an accurate image because we are talking about Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
One of my favorite things about the book of Revelation is the way it pictures the majesty, righteousness, and power of God.
In Revelation 19:11–13 we find this, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” (NASB 2020)
Righteousness will prevail in the earth.
God will be vindicated.
Justice will win.
I like to say that the enemy is a declawed toothless liar and truth is his kryptonite. Verses like Colossians 2:15 are where I get that idea. There we are told, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” (NASB 2020)
Jesus has conquered that old serpent from the garden. In 1 John 5:18 we find that the evil one does not, indeed cannot, touch those who are in Christ. Verse 19 there goes on to say, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (NASB 2020)
This temporal world is the valley of the shadow of death because it is ruled by our defeated foe. It remains because as we read in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” (NASB 2020) The enemy still holds this temporal terrarium under his sway. Nevertheless, it is not going to end well for him.
Hebrews 10:12–13 reminds us, “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.” (NASB 2020)
When the time comes, we can be sure that “at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” As we read in Philippians 2:10–11 (NASB 2020)
Finally, Isaiah 11:5 reiterates the righteousness of Jesus and points out His faithfulness. It says, “Also righteousness will be the belt around His hips, And faithfulness the belt around His waist.” (NASB 2020)
Because Jesus is the faithful and righteous champion of our faith, we can count on His armor, His defense, and His readiness to keep us safe in Him. Ephesians 6:14 comes to mind when thinking of Jesus wearing righteousness. It says, “Stand firm therefore, HAVING BELTED YOUR WAIST WITH TRUTH, AND HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” (NASB 2020)
Father wants everyone to be saved. He is patient, not wanting any to be lost. But He is not pleased about the way things are on the earth.
Isaiah 59:15–17 provides insight in saying “…Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no one, And was amazed that there was not one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head…” (NASB 2020)
Father saw that there was no one who could intercede on our behalf, so He did it Himself through Jesus Christ. He makes available to us the same armor with which He is clothed.
As only the great God who is love could do, Father saw to it that His rescue mission would include not only His chosen people, the Hebrew nation, but you and me too.
Listen to what He said to Jesus in Isaiah 49:6 “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (NASB 2020) “The nations” is the Hebraic way of referring to everyone who is not an ethnic Jew—the Gentile nations—you and me.
So magnificent, glorious, righteous, holy, and loving is Jesus, that simply rescuing Israel was too small a thing. Thank God that He is who He is. The great I Am.
Isaiah 54:9–10 leaves us with a glorious promise. There we read, “For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor rebuke you. “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My favor will not be removed from you, Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken,” Says the LORD who has compassion on you.” (NASB 2020)
That seems like the perfect ending to me.
There is nothing more to say.
