Sermon26-2 Is11 Guide

Isaiah 11:1-9 theme verse Isaiah 11:9

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this second Sunday of the Advent, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, on the first Sunday of the Advent, we looked at the kingdom of peace of Messiah where we walk in His way to follow the Word of God, yet this week, on the second Sunday of the Advent, we would like to meditate on the qualification of Messiah, the way He reigns and the result of His reign through Isaiah 11:1-9 together.

1)    To summarize today’s text of Isaiah 11:1-9, first, in verses 1-2, Isaiah describes the qualification of the Messiah, I mean, the Messiah will be clothed with the Spirit of the LORD who is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And then in verses 3-5, he describes the way the Messiah rules. I mean, the Messiah will not rule over based on outward appearances, but will judge with righteousness and equity, as He will be clothed with justice and truth. And finally, in verses 6-9, it is said that the nation governed by justice and equity will become a nation of peace. I mean, it will no longer be a nation of the law of the jungle, but a nation where the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fattened beast will live together. As such, the original creation order of peace will be  restored, and even lions, that is, carnivorous animals, will eat grass and children will play with snakes. As such it will be a nation of peace which will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

2)    Through today's text, we would like to look at more deeply on several key points. First, it is said that the Spirit of the LORD descends upon the Messiah. By the way, in the Old Testament, the descendant of the Spirit of the LORD meant that a person was granted divine power beyond human ability and acted accordingly. For example, in Exodus 31:3, Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of the LORD and crafted the tabernacle with exceptional skill. And in Judges 14:6, when the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson, he was able to demonstrate superhuman strength. And also in 1 Samuel 10:10 and 16:13, Saul and David who received the Spirit of the LORD demonstrated great leadership in carrying out their missions. And also in Ezekiel 36:25-27, the Spirit of the LORD grants us the ability to live ethical lives, I mean, to live according to God's will. As such, the Messiah, by receiving the Spirit of the LORD, was granted all the powers necessary for his reign as king.

And it is said three pairs of virtues. As the first  pair, wisdom and understanding will be given as the fundamental qualities required of a king. Here, wisdom enables a king to make clear judgments, while understanding provides a deeper intellectual insight into human events which is necessary for policymaking. And the second pair is counsel and might. Here counsel is the quality necessary for strategic planning, battle planning, and establishing policies for the kingdom, while might is the quality necessary for leading battles as Chief commander of his army. And finally, the third pair was knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Here knowledge signifies a true understanding of God’s will which results in the relationship with God, while the fear of the LORD describes the king's fundamental reverence and obedience to God, who is worthy of worship in His incomprehensible mystery. As such, the Spirit of the LORD enables all these qualities possible.

3)    And then, secondly we need to look at how the Messiah who was filled with the Holy Spirit will reign His kingdom. I mean, it is said that he will not reign based on the human appearances, I mean, economic ability or social status. Rather he will judge justly the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized with righteousness and equity. This is possible because his kingship transcends human standards and is rooted in divine power. And then it is said that with the rod of his mouth and the breath of his lips, he will judge the world and punish evil, I mean, with truth, he will judge the world and evil. And it is said also that all of these will stem from the essential qualities of the Messiah, I mean, righteousness and faithfulness.

4)    And then thirdly, it is said that his rule, founded on this righteousness and faithfulness, will ultimately establish a kingdom of justice and peace. I mean, since true peace is founded on justice, it is said that when human sin is corrected and justice is realized through the ministry of Jesus Christ the Messiah, true peace will come. In other words, since justice and peace created by God was marred by human sin, filling the world with injustice and losing true peace. Therefore, when the Messiah, the Son of God, came to this earth and resolved the problem of human sin, by observing God's law of peace perfectly, and creating a new humanity within Him, we could be regenerated and live again in justice and peace. Therefore, we will live in it, not only there in the heaven, but also we have to start to live it in this side of world.

5)    By the way, the verse 6 saying “A little child shall lead them”, can be understood as that a little child can lead all creatures because all creatures were recovered into the original peace as they were created. yet, today's text seems to have a deeper meaning to me. In other words, typically in the world, we assume that all kingship presupposes strength and power, aren’t we? However, Christ's leadership has a different characteristic. I mean, even though He came to this earth as a king, but he did not respond to Satan's tyranny with violence. Instead, he died on the cross like a lamb, as Isaiah 53:7 says, "When he was oppressed and afflicted, he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he does not open his mouth." As such through this passage, we can see what true strength is and where it comes from. I mean, as 2 Corinthians 12:9 & 10 say, true strength comes from only God who is Almighty. So, when we become weak, I mean, when we become humble and depend on God totally, we can be clothed in His power. Furthermore, it is said that when we face insults, hardships, persecutions, and hardships, we can learn humility. Therefore, it is said that when we are humbled through suffering, we can be strong by wearing the power of God. That’s why Paul says, "When I am weak, I am strong, because when I am weak, the power of Christ rests upon me.” And that’s why the messiah is called a king of humility so that He could be fully empowered by the power of the LORD through His Spirit.

6)    And in the verse 9 saying “At that time, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea," since the Hebrew word “דֵּעָה (deah)” for "knowledge" has the root of the Hebrew "ידעy (yada)" meaning "to know." So this Hebrew word refers to experiential knowledge, signifying a relationship with the LORD and devotion to His ways and also righteousness in the Bible also has a relational meaning, indicating a right relationship, therefore, “the knowledge of God will be full at that time” means that in the new world which will be brought by the Messiah, the relationship of His people with God will be restored and His people will devote to the ways of the LORD.

7)    And also the reason why in the beginning of the verses 3-9, it is said that ”The Messiah will delight in the fear of the LORD" is firstly, since in the Old Testament, the fear of the LORD typically means worshiping or serving the LORD. So, the Messiah who delights in worshiping and serving the LORD, may rule the kingdom of God in justice and truth which is one of the principal attributes of God. Yet, in addition to that, since the fear of the LORD means ”coram deo” which means the consciousness of being and living in the presence of God or before the face of God. Therefore, as the Messiah continuously remind himself of God's will and way, we can imagine that he will rule with justice and truth of God. Anyhow, since all goodness and righteousness comes from God and also the Messiah lives always before God, as he could live in His will, while worshipping Him, we also have to live with the heart of coram deo, we not only worship and serve Him, but also serve the world with that heart. And then I believe that we can live the life of justice and peace even in this side of the world, proclaiming His kingdom. That’s why Romans 5:1 says, "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, and also with our neighbor as Eph 2:15.

8)    So, even though it is not easy to live as His disciple of peace in this world, following God's way, God wants to change this world through us so that He bestowed us His Spirit in power. Therefore we are enabled to live the life of obedience to God’s will and His way. In that perspective, I believe that our mission is not only to establish His churches here, but also to become His disciples who live out the gospel, overcoming the challengers in faith, not just becoming casual churchgoers. Therefore, on this morning of the second Sunday of Advent, I hope we may all live out the gospel according to God's will, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the kingdom which our Lord, Jesus Christ inaugurated is the kingdom of righteousness and peace so that the Messiah had to be filled with the Spirit of the LORD, I mean, the Holy Spirit is the enabler of the life of righteousness and peace. So, after reflecting our life and meditating on whether we live being filled with the Holy Spirit, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that this kingdom of righteousness and peace by the Messiah is full of the knowledge of the LORD. So after reviewing our life and checking whether we live in the presence of God in His will through the fellowship with God, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.