OUR KING COMES FULL of SURPRISES Isaiah 11:1-10 a Shoot

OUR KING COMES FULL OF SURPRISES

Isaiah 11:1-10 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will 2 bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, 3 the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

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. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Dear Friends in Christ,

(This is a visual aid introduction to the sermon given to the children.) What is this I’m holding up? (Get answers) Yes, a set of binoculars. What are they good for? (Get answers) They help to make small or far away things look bigger and close up. Where and when might you use binoculars like these? (Get answers)

What happens if I turn the binoculars around and look through the other end? (Get answers) Yes, it makes things look a whole lot smaller and very far away! We usually don’t use them that way.

Christmas is coming. What are some of the things we like to see at Christmas? (Get answers: presents, trees, pretty lights, etc.) Oh, there are so many things to see at Christmas. There is one thing we did not mention, though- the most important part of Christmas. What is that? I should ask, “Who is that?” That’s right, the most important part about Christmas is Jesus. He is God’s special gift to us because he was born to save us from our sin so we can go to heaven forever.

Now, let’s pretend we can use these binoculars to look at Christmas. Who is the most important part of Christmas? Jesus! We want a really good close up look at Jesus. So which part of the binoculars will we look through? That’s right, the small end to the large end because that makes things look bigger and closer. We like to look at other things at Christmas, too. But they are not as important. So, let’s look at those things from the other end of the binoculars.

Do you have some binoculars at home? Do this at home- look at a picture of Jesus or a manger scene through the binoculars so Jesus looks big. Then look at the tree, the presents and decorations through the other end so they look small. Why? (Get answers) That helps us to see that Jesus is the most important part of Christmas.

(What follows is the main sermon from the pulpit.) In our text the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah was giving us a close up look at King Jesus who was still a long ways away. But, like looking through binoculars, Isaiah tells us OUR KING COMES FULL OF SURPRISES.

I What kind of surprises? How about this for a surprise- he comes like a shoot from a tree stump and becomes a Branch that bears fruit!

In last week’s prophecy from Isaiah we heard something similar. God was going to chop down the royal family tree of King David. It would be a stump- there would be no more earthly kings on earthly thrones in Jerusalem. God would chop it down because the kings and the people were unfaithful to him. But God not only brings an end to life, he brings new life from death. Every seed we plant has to die first before it can produce a new plant. That is God’s doing going all the way back to when he first created plants. He set it up that way.

In a similar way God had Isaiah “see,” as through binoculars, that new life was going to come from the dead stump of Jesse, King David’s father. A dead root would spring to life and grow into a Branch. The surprising thing about this Branch is that it would not be one of those scraggly bushy looking things that never amount to anything. This Branch would actually bear fruit.

This Branch is Jesus, who was born from the family line of King David. Though he never sat on an earthly throne to rule an earthly kingdom, and never will, he has become the King of kings and rules heaven and earth from his throne in heaven. His kingdom is the church, the sum total of all who believe in him as their Savior. He established his kingdom by living a perfect sinless life in our place and then paid the price to set us free from our sin and eternal damnation by suffering and dying as our Substitute on the cross. He accomplished all of this for us because he is not only a human descendant of King David but he is also true God, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity.

That’s part of the surprise- the one who came to be our eternal King is not just a human being but is also the eternal God.

II Let’s get a really good look at him through those binoculars of prophecy which Isaiah used, for there are more surprises in this King whose coming Isaiah foresaw. One of the themes throughout Isaiah’s book is that justice was ruined among God’s people. The kings were unjust and the people acted just as unjustly toward one another. Verses 2-5 call attention to traits that Jesus would display that would both surprise and vex people as he would live the most just life anyone ever lived and would establish a special justice for all people before God.

He would come with “The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. . . the Spirit of counsel and of power. . . the Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.” This King would truly be unlike all other kings. All earthly rulers ultimately fail in one way or another. This one would fully succeed in everything he would do. Think of Jesus in his life and ministry and how he showed that he knew how to deal with the problems of daily living. He could see beyond the details of a given situation and make assessments that fit the big picture. For example, his Sermon on the Mount is filled with practical applications of the Ten Commandments for daily living. No one could dispute them or anything he said. Regular reading of Jesus’ teachings in the Bible is a must for us so we can learn from him how to live as his followers.

One of the surprising things about this King is that when he would make a judgment, he would not make it by mere appearances, or by publicly presented evidences and certainly not by contrived testimonies. That’s because as God he can truly look at the heart and know what is there. No evidence can be hid from him.

That’s scary on the one hand because of our sinful natures. Our sin is ever so obvious to him no matter what we may call it- a mistake, an indiscretion or whatever. Sin is sin and it damns. On the other hand we need not fear this King’s judgments because of the justice he put into place for us with his perfect life and his innocent suffering and death on the cross. He knows each one who repents of their sin and clings to him in their hearts as their Savior from sin. Others may not be able to see it and so would condemn a person for most any sin. But it is King Jesus’ judgment that counts.

That will surprise and condemn many on Judgment Day. For all who believer, though, it will bring comfort and eternal joy.

III That will lead into a whole series of other surprises! Verses 6-10 give us a description of a world which sounds just unbelievable (read).

Don’t you want to pick up a pair of binoculars and get a close up look at that? You will not only get a close up look at that but you will live it close up! It will not be here on earth, though. Just like in last week’s prophecy we heard how everyone will “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” and learned it refers to life without sin in heaven, so it is here. This is another brief description of what heaven is going to be like for us. It will be full of surprises! Our joy and contentment with life in the world to come will never fade or spoil.

In the meantime, though, life will go on as always here. That means a life of daily repentance for us, admitting our sin to God, turning away from it and thanking him for his forgiveness in Jesus Christ our Lord. It means too, that when things get discouraging for us we turn to his Word to re-read prophecies like the ones from the book of Isaiah we are focusing on during this Advent Season. We will read in the gospels to be reminded of how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. We will put on our spiritual binoculars to get a good look at what is yet to come for us who believe in Jesus.

Don’t you love surprises, especially good surprises? When your sweetie gives you a special little something, when you find out how your children had been so helpful to someone, when a stranger stops to help you- such surprises are a real pick-me-up. Our God has been full of such surprises for us, especially in saving us from sin and damnation. We can’t really surprise him back, but we can continue to give him the thanks and praise he deserves for all the wonderful surprises he has and continues to bring to us. Amen.