BEHOLD THE TRIUMPH OF GOD
Isaiah 11:1-9
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
Grace wins.
The people of God in Isaiah’s day have rebelled. The northern kingdom – Israel – is called a “godless nation” by the prophet in chapter 10. The pagan Assyria is continuing to grow and threaten God’s people.
The southern kingdom – Judah – has rejected God’s help and hope, by virtue of their king, Ahaz’s rejection.
The days are dark.
The enemy is seemingly winning.
And God, who often gets remade in our minds, in the image of man, is revealing the truth of holiness and righteousness.
When I was in high school, I was in an advanced English class. Saying that now at my age doesn’t seem like as big a deal I thought it was as a junior. Believe me, my college did not care either.
Nonetheless, we did some pretty serious writing and much of the reading was intensive. I remember one of our assignments was to read the Puritan pastor Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” As soon as our teacher Mrs. Ecklund told us the title of the reading, my friend behind me leaned forward and whispered in my ear “Burn Baby Burn.” Yeah, he was a Christian too.
Anyway, just reading something like that as an assignment in the public schools was a bit different, but then when you dig into the sermon you realize that if you are used to being saturated with the cultural version of God who is love, and peace, and kindness (which he is) it just seemed
out of character to think of him as angry or judgmental. I mean, it’s an honorable thing to be non-judgmental, right? Yet, here was Edwards sermon. And here was scripture.
God used Edwards sermon greatly in the new world and historians have designated it as the fuel that began the Great Awakening. Sinners were called out. Sin was not excused. Judgment was declared. And God’s wrath was clear.
Loving God? Oh yeah, but also a righteous God. Love without righteousness that leads to holy judgment is not love at all. Love without discipline is not love at all.
There are permissive parents and moms and dads who are so focused on being their child’s friend that they cannot parent well, but that is not God. We are invited into his family. Abraham was called a friend of God. Jesus is a friend of sinners, but none of that comes without truth and righteousness, and holiness, and yes...judgment.
Thus, I was thrust into a conflict of understanding how a loving God could be characterized as Edwards did. Yet, I also realized that while I was a Christian, and I went to church, and I had a Bible with some highlighted verses in it, there was more I did not know than I did. And I realized that God did not desire that I remain ignorant of the realities of truth.
In Isaiah’s day, the people of God were faced with the reality of the judgment and anger of a holy God as well. An awakening was to come but it would be precipitated by change.
Isaiah spoke clearly and truthfully to the people. A disobedient people would be judged, but even then a remnant would remain.
Isaiah 10:20-21
20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.2
With a book so full of judgment, the light shines through revealing what God is doing and how holiness reigns.
Grace wins. In that day...that terrible day of rebellion and judgment, that tragic time when the majority runs, rebels, blames, excuses sin, and lives for self...a remnant will remain.
Just a remnant.
And by the grace of God, he purifies this remnant Israel. This is a people set apart by grace.
And today, that is happening as well. The world is no more holy now than in Isaiah’s day. It is not more godly. The church is not perfect. There are sadly, great sinners within. Yet, there remains a remnant.
Some have said that COVID revealed the remnant. The ones who remained when others left the fellowship – and I mean truly left, like they moved on to whatever life offered and filled their Sundays with other things.
For centuries there have been façade saviors – those who tickle the ears and line their own pocketbooks. Those who know some scripture and use it to their advantage. Those who hide behind structures and denominational boundaries while spiritually and sometimes in other ways too, abuse people for the love of self.
And many say “If that’s the church...if that’s Christianity...I don’t want anything to do with it.”
And who can blame them? But grace wins.
Isaiah asks questions in these chapters. Questions that make us look within ourselves and ask “Where do I get my identity, ability to cope, security, confidence, strength?”
There are empty holograms of salvation available and often people lean into those only to find there’s nothing there. Nothing to hold them up, keep them strong, give them hope. It’s just an empty image.
And yet this reveals something triumphant. Grace wins.
“When it is all falling apart...when it hurts so much...when church answers are empty...when self-hatred begins to grow where self- confidence once reigned...the question must be asked – ‘What false savior am I leaning upon?’”
And through these chapters in this immutable and inerrant book, we have the words of truth. Words that remind us that others have been down this path and the answer then is the answer now.
Grace wins and grace is not conjured within our consciousness. Grace wins and God owns the victory.
And we can behold God who is gracious and triumphant. There is a win here.
We love winners, don’t we? It’s hard when the teams we cheer for lose way too much...and we know what that feels like here.
But we love to win. Truly win.
Triumph is the result of grace.
Isaiah 1:1
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
In the fullness of time, God’s grace is revealed clearly.
This prophetic word from Isaiah is beautiful. It is the image of a tree stump. We have tree stumps in the area behind our backyard. Trees we had cut down a few years ago are remembered now because there is a stump there.
We have seen over and over throughout the years trucks driving north on US 17 loaded with pine trees that have been cut down in forested areas of our county. New homes and businesses coming means shorn trees. Imagine the imagery – what was a forest is now full of stumps.
Yet, imagine it this way – those trees – those majestic, tall trees are beautiful, but representative of something. Not God’s love. Not God’s grace. Not God’s guidance and kingship over his people. No, this forest of trees represents the kings and the people of God who have long since abandoned his teachings. They are rich and powerful and others look up to them, but they are proud. “Look at me. Look how tall I am! Look at my leaves. Look at my branches. Look. It’s about me and all that I have done and am.”
And that is the picture of God’s people in Isaiah’s time – a forest of prideful trees.
But God, this angry God who is a holy God...this God who will not be mocked...this God who does not work for man as a religious good luck charm...this God who is creator of all...this God who brings the water
to nourish the trees...this God who provides the sunlight to bring health and life to the trees...is angry.
And he is done.
He has warned. He has given ways out of coming punishment. He has offered his love freely and clearly.
But the trees keep thinking they are the point.
So God gets an axe. And he swings it. And the entire forest falls. The trees with their intertwined root system...the trees defined as evil...are gone. Nothing is left but stumps.
No sounds of birds in the trees buildings nests any longer. No wind blowing through the leaves. No squirrels chattering and playing. No sound. And no sound buffer from the noise of war and coming danger.
That’s the imagery given in this poetic word by Isaiah.
Sinners in the hands of an angry God. Trees in the hands of an angry woodsman.
But then there’s this verse. And it is an amazing verse. In the midst of judgment from a God perceived by many as hateful because they do not understand righteousness, there is something incredible. In the midst of a field full of tree stumps, there is this picture of life.
Isaiah 1:1
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
From one stump there is a shoot – a small branch. It’s from the tree named Jesse.
And this second part of the verse is not to be ignored.
This shoot...this small branch that is growing from what was considered a dead tree will grow larger and stronger and eventually will do something that defines a tree as worth existing – especially according to the New Testament.
This branch will bear fruit!
The fruit that it bears will be a new world, a new hope, a new life. Isaiah spoke of a virgin giving birth to a boy named Immanuel “God with us.” And the ultimate and final fulfillment of that passage would come true in a small town named for bread – Bethlehem. The house of bread would be the birthplace of the Bread of Life, the Messiah, the Son of God, the hope of the world, the strong foundation when all false messiahs fail, the truth when all lies are revealed, the fruit that is real, tasty, and filling, when the world keeps producing bitter grapes. This is the promise given. This is the plan from before we knew there was a plan. This is God’s plan that would change the world...and change my world and your world.
In the fullness of time, God gave us that which we did not deserve.
Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 3
It seems that in this world gone mad, during this era of wars and rumors of wars, when evil seems to be reigning and many are looking to
presidents and premiers and prime ministers to make sense of it all, but hearing and finding nothing that fixes these issues that all is lost.
But there is a shoot from a seemingly dead tree that was shorn of its dead limbs and empty branches and had its pridefulness removed. This shoot...this branch grew and produced fruit. And the remnant was saved.
And the remnant remains and will be saved.
And you have this great opportunity to be part of that remnant. Because...
Grace wins.
The victory is but a moment away. Behold the Triumph of God. Victory in Jesus! Amen!
Footnotes
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 11:1–9). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 10:20–21). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 4
3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ga 4:4–7). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 8
