Isaiah 11 & 12
In chapter 10:20,21,22, Isaiah describes the "return of the remnant" of Israel and the
finish of God's indignation and wrath, and all that was after all those woes and
pronouncements of judgement, and curses against Assyria.
Here in chapter 11, Isaiah is transported into the future; to an as of yet time on planet
earth where He sees the fulfillment of God's kingdom on earth. We know this time that
Isaiah is speaking of as the "millenium". The thousand year reign of Jesus Christ
physically here on planet earth.
That's where we begin tonight. The millenium.
Let's pray...
How many of you have a bucket list? Something (maybe extravagant, maybe not) that
you want to do or accomplish before you die. Suffice it to say, it is really important for
some people to check items off their bucket list.
Any of you have a bucket list of things you want to do (or have done)?
I've been blessed to do several things I had only dreamed of. The fact that I'm here
before you right now, speaking about the Bible is way beyond anything I could have ever
thought was possible.
When Christ was on earth, He spoke more at "the kingdom of God" or "the kingdom of
heaven", than just about anything. He said "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand"
Matt 4:17 He said, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven",
Matt 5:3 He said, "whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whover does and teaches them,
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 5:29 He said, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the pharisees,
you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven".
Matt 5:20 Jesus taught what the kingdom of heaven was like and not like in the parables, in Matt 13
- The sower and the seed
- the wheat and the tares
- the mustard seed
- the parable of the leaven
- the treasure in the field
- the pearl of great price
- the dragnet and the fish
I want to emphasize this point, so a few more references:
In John 3:3, Jesus said, "most assuredly, I say unless one is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
In Matt 20:26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among
you shall be your servant,
finally, Luke 17:20-21, Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the
kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not
coming with signs to be observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’
\For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
I think it's safe to say, the kingdom of God is pretty important to Jesus, and setting it up
would have been on His bucket list. And indeed He did set up His kingdom, just not in
the way the Jews expected. Act chapter 2 describes how the Holy Spirit fell on the
disciples and that was the beginning of the church age (or the Kingdom of God within).
He rules and reigns in our hearts.
There will come a time though, when Jesus will physically return and set up his throne in
Jerusalem Israel.
Let me give a brief prophetic timeline:
1) we are in what I mentioned already, "the church age" also called "the age of grace".
2) The church age will end with the rapture (1 Thess 4:13-8 But we do not want you to be
uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the
rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God
will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by
the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord,
will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be
with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
3) The seven year tribulation when God pours out His wrath and judgement on a Christ
rejecting world, culminated by the battle of Armageddon, at the end of which satan is
bound and cast into the bottomless pit (Revelation chapters 6 through 18)
4) After the tribulation Jesus returns and Christ for a thousand years on earth Revelation 19
5) At the end of the millenium, Satan is freed and there is on last final deception and
rebellion, and it says fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And Satan was
cast into the lake of fire Revelation 20:10
6) Then the White Throne judgement where those faithful to Christ enter eternal bliss
(heaven, paradise), and the faithless are cast into the lake of fire.
7) Then comes the new heaven and the new earth, where all who have trusted in Jesus
alone for their salvation will spend eternity with God. (Revelation 21)
Rewind to the first coming of Christ, the Jews and Romans thought they could thwart
Jesus' plan, even thinking they were doing God a favor. They disbelieved in Jesus, and
crucified Him. With that thought in mind, let's read Isaiah 11.
Righteous Reign of the Branch
1Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2The 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.
3And He will delight in the fear of the LORD,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
4But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted 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.
5Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,
And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
6And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
7Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
9They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea.
10Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.
The Restored Remnant
11Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again recover the second time with His hand
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath,
And from the islands of the sea.
12And He will lift up a standard for the nations
And assemble the banished ones of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass Judah will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west;
Together they will plunder the sons of the east;
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
15And the LORD will utterly destroy
The tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
And He will wave His hand over the River
With His scorching wind;
And He will strike it into seven streams
And make men walk over dry-shod.
16And there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Verse 1: Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots
will bear fruit.
My take on this verse, and it is just my take, is this is a reference to the resurrection of
Jesus. I cut down a birch tree in my front yard, and sure enough, a shoot came out of the
stump, and that birch tree came back. This word "stem" in verse one is the same as the
word "stump".
Not everyone sees this verse exactly like me. Some believe the tree we're talking about
here is the royal succession of Kings from the line of David (and David's father was Jesse).
I mean that is true, but more specifically, I believe the shoot coming out of the dead stump
is a reference to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
One more interesting bit of trivia from this verse; you see the word 'Branch' there in the
second part of the verse? The word in hebrew for branch is Nezer. In Matt 2:23 it says
of Jesus family, that they lived in Nazareth, which fulfilled the scripter spoken by the
prophets, "he shall be called a Nazarene". Let me ask you this bible scholars, where in
the OT is that prophecy that the messiah would be called a Nazarene? Do you have any
footnotes for Matt 2:23? Any cross references? I believe, and you do your own research,
but I believe Matt 2:23 is refering to Isaiah 11:1b. It's a play on words Nazarene and
Nezer. It's a pun. Don't take my word for it and I'm not dogmatic about it. Be a Berean
and search the scriptures.
Continuing in Isaiah 11, verse 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.
Here we see the seven-fold nature of the Spirit of God.
Question, what is Spirit? Anybody give me a definition of Spirit? We kind of know
what it means intuitively, but can we put it into words?
The spirit of Wisdom - All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him
(Christ) so these character traits are traits of the Holy Spirit and Christ, since they have
the same nature.
and understanding - to me, this conveys the depth of the Lord's knowledge. It isn't just
surface level, He knows the deep things.
The spirit of counsel - more than just giving advice, He guides and directs. But it's more
than that, he listens.
The spirit of might - He is powerful. There's nothing to difficult for him. Jeremiah 32:17
‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power
and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,
The spirit of knowledge - he knows everything. The breadth, width, height and depth of
his knowledge is unfathomable.
and the fear of the LORD.
Verse 2 points us to several other places in the Bible:
- Revelation 1:4 to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from
Him who is and who was and who [a]is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are
before His throne,
- Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits
of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you
are alive, but you are dead.
- Revelation 4:5 Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of
thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the
seven Spirits of God;
- Revelation 5:6 And I saw [a]between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the
elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
Lastly Zechariah chapter 4:1-6 also relates to this; Then the angel who was speaking with
me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 He said to me,
“What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl
on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps
which are on the top of it; 3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl
and the other on its left side.” 4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me
saying, “What are these, my lord?” 5 So the angel who was speaking with me answered
and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he
said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by
power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. 7 ‘What are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with
shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”
Back to Isaiah 11, verse 3 describes the earthly rule of Jesus Christ during the millenium.
Jesus does not, and will not rul and judge based on the physical senses (seeing, hearing,
touching, tasting, smelling) He will judge based on the Holy Spirit's deep understanding.
He sees deep into the heart You might say, I haven't always done good, but God knows my
heart. I have a good heart. Oh really, Jer 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked, who can know it? So you don't even know your own heart according
to that.
Verse 4 "with righteousness... equity" You can trust that God will always be completely
fair. He will not make any mistakes. There's no way the guilty will be aquitted and
there is no chance he'll accidently convict the innocent.
verse 5 this reminds me of the armor of God.
verse 6 the animal kingdom will be completely harmless. What we know and experience
in nature is the survival of the fitest. Eat or be eaten. Not so in the millenium kingdom.
This is a return to the way things were in the garden of Eden prior to the fall into sin and
the curse.
verse 9 No more hurt or destruction... Look back to Isaiah 2:4 and Isaiah 9:7
verse 10 Ensign or banner or signal, depending on your translation. This banner is a way
to call all people to assemble, maybe for battle, maybe for a meeting, maybe to hear from
God. During the millenium survivors of the tribulation are mortal and are called to hear
about the goodness and grace of God.
verse 11 All these peoples are called and the LORD extends His hand of invitation to to to
salvation in Messiah.
verse 12 especially the jewish nation of Israel. God calls them to return to Him.
verse 13 This speaks of the healing of the rift or separation between the northern and
southern kingdoms of Israel. The kingdom of Israel was divided in 1 Kings 12:16-24. The
division was caused by Rehoboam being a hard taskmaster. That is so different from the
way Jesus rules. Matt 11:28-30 come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of
heart for I will give you rest for your soul. For my burden is easy and my yoke is light.
verse 14 is a bit of a flashback to the end of the tribulation when the enemies of Israel are
defeated.
verse 15 the Jews who were dispersed finally all return to the homeland.
verse 16 the flow of jews back to Israel
CHAPTER 12
Thanksgiving Expressed
1Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O LORD;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
2“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”
3Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.
4And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted.”
5Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
This is similar to a psalm because it is a time of joy and praise to the LORD.
prior to this though, Zechariah 12:9-11 at the 2nd coming, Israel realizes the mistake
they made in their stubbornness of rejecting Jesus as messiah.
verse 3 reminds me of Zechariah 13:1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the
house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.
