Isaiah 11 & 12

 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.