This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Isaiah’s Christmas Children” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 10, 1999.
We begin our scripture reading this morning in Isaiah chapter 10, and we are reading from verse 24 into the 11th chapter. This is Isaiah 10, verse 24. Give your attention to God’s word. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did, for in a very little while my indignation against you will be spent and my anger will be directed toward their destruction. The Lord of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Oreb. and his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it up the way he did in Egypt. So it will be in that day that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
He has come against Aeth. He has passed through Migrom. At Mikmash he deposited his baggage. They have gone through the pass. saying, Giba will be our lodging place. Rhema is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled away. Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Galene! Pay attention, Laëtia and wretched Anaphoth! Madmenna has fled, the inhabitants of Gabin have sought refuge, yet today he will halt at Nob. He shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Behold, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the bowels with a terrible crash. Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down, and those who are lofty will be abased. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
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. and 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, but 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. Also, righteousness will be the belt about his loins, and faithfulness the belt about his waist. 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 child will lead them. Also, the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. then they 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.”
Now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, is one. Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be. On the contrary, we establish the law.
Be with us, O God, in our prayers, that we, Lord, in our prayers, would give ourselves away for the sake of your people in the world. Surely, Jesus Christ, by his priestly administration, does this very thing. He gives himself away as sacrifice He extends himself even at your right hand at his intercessions for his own. We pray, Lord, that you will bless your people in the world, and particularly, O God, may you give them good instruction. O Father, would you raise up for yourself men who are capable in the gathering of the harvest and in the instruction of your flock? And Lord, may it be pleasing to you to hear our prayer, even as your church is strengthened through the preaching of the word. For we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Many in the Church throughout the centuries have found the prophets hard plowing. Very difficult indeed. And as a result, some have tended to avoid the prophets, to avoid them altogether. In the last century, a number of godly people, committed to the word of God, well-intentioned in themselves, because of this phenomenon of avoiding the prophets, were attracted to dispensationalism.
Because of dispensationalism’s claim that it would make the prophets intelligible once more, easily accessible. This claim by the dispensationalists continues to have great impact upon our present century, that we of the Reformed faith, that we here at Grace Church, have maintained that the prophets are, in fact, penetrable apart from the schemes of the dispensationalists. apart from those schemes which essentially, and in the most superficial manner, separate the Old Testament from the New Testament, the law from the gospel, and when it comes to the prophets specifically, ethnic and territorial Israel from the Church. At base, the dispensationalist refuses to allow the prophets’ promises to ethnic and territorial Israel to be fulfilled in the Church. And thus the Dispensationalist contends that all such promises in the Prophets must have in view a future literal fulfillment for the Jews in the geographical land of Palestine. It is for this reason that Dispensationalists show great interest in the events in the Middle and in Israeli politics, and why they tend to be apocalyptic alarmists and pretty much preoccupied with Zionist theology.
The Reformed faith historically has not been impressed by these things, and at its best it has insisted upon the essential unity of God’s covenant As God’s revelation moves from the older administration into the newer administration, the Reformed faith has insisted that the law and the prophets, as a whole, intentionally serve the gospel. with the implication, again made explicit by the New Testament, that Israel finds her destiny in the Church of Jesus Christ, not apart from it. And that without us, without the Church, Israel is not made perfect. To paraphrase, words from the Epistle to the Hebrews. But having said this doesn’t make our reading or our hearing of the prophets particularly any easier.
The prophets are truly full of complexities, difficult construction and images, oblique historical and geographical references, rapid changes in mood and emotional direction. One moment the Prophet is speaking about the most severe gloom, and in the bat of an eye, the next breath, he’s speaking in the most startling fashion about the appearance and the importance of grace. But beyond these matters, the prophets are also full of what seems to be, at times, the most baffling audience shits. The most baffling shits in audience, so that We are not always clear about whom the prophet is speaking.
For example, in what we read this morning, is it clear to you who is in view in Isaiah 10 verses 33 and 34, the last verses of that tenth chapter? Who are the boughs the Lord will lop off, the tall and lofty cut down in a baste? Who is the thicket of the forest wasted by the axe? Who is this Lebanon felled by the Mighty One?”
Some, like E. J. Young and Derek Kidner, building upon exegetes like J. A. Alexander, find hear in these verses clear reference to, unambiguous reference to, the Assyrians. But others, like the British critical scholar A.S. Hebert, believe these verses refer to the Jews. He is uncertain as to whether they refer to the ten northern tribes or to the two southern tribes. but he appears to be convinced that they refer to the Jews. Who is right? Is E.J. Young right, or is A.S. Hebert right?
Our immediate inspiration is to side, of course, with Young, Kidner, and Alexander. After all, these individuals are Reformed in their orientation. They are conservative and evangelical men, and many of us have come to trust them in their exegesis. Our theological prejudice is enough to move us to their side of the argument.
The discussion is over, and the case is closed. Isaiah 10, at least verses 16 through 34 of that chapter, as nothing less than a collection of independent oracles brought together artificially from various sources and backgrounds, although not without some internal logical cohesion. Heber is obviously a theological and exegetical liberal. So why would we even bother with it? Well, because on the narrow issue of who is being addressed, Hebert may very well be right. Or at least, he may be, shall we say, more right than our stalwart conservative and reformed friend.
By this I mean that Hebert may be preserving something in these verses, in verses 33 and 34 of Isaiah 10, that is completely lost from view in the exegesis of our tried and true friends. Admittedly, things do not look good for Hebert at first glance. In addition to the things already mentioned, in addition to his liberal bias, Hebert seems to miss the obvious connection between verses 33 and 34, and verses previous in the chapter, verses 15 through 19.
These earlier verses, 15 through 19, without question refer exclusively to Assyria. In fact, Assyria is specifically mentioned in verse 5, verse 12. You note that Assyria is again mentioned in verse 24. In these earlier verses, specifically in verses 15 through 19, you will also note that we find mention made of an axe, verse 15, of thorns and briars, verse 17. of the forest and the trees of the forest, verses 18 and 19.
All of these elements, all of these aspects, in their own way, mentioned again in verses 33 and 34. The conclusion being, if verses 15 through 19 are about the Assyrians, then verses 33 and 34 are about the Assyrians also. both sets of passages, both sets of verses, using the same language and the same images.
Things are not looking good for Mr. Ebert. But secondly, influencing us against Ebert, we find the flow of verses 25 through 32 in this chapter 10 also deciding against him, it would seem. These verses begin with a call upon Zion not to fear the threat of Assyria, verses 25-27.
And then, in the most dramatic way, these verses conclude with a description of the progress of the invading army as it makes its way city by city, village by village, that’s the meaning of the listing of all the names. through the territory of Benjamin. There are all Benjamite cities and villages en route to Jerusalem, which is now in view, in sight, of the invading army when you come to verse 32. The natural reading, therefore, is that as you progress through the chapter, the natural reading of verses 33 and 34 is that the invading army is now pictured as the locked-off bowels, the proud and vain, cut down to size, verse 33, the thicket cleared by the axe, the Lebanon felled by the tree, verse 34. And that the invading army is, as we would conclude, logically it would seem from verse 5, 12, and 24, explicitly stated there, the Assyrians. Again, the discussion is over the case in flow.
However, as Hebert effectively points out, these last verses of Chapter 10 provide a masterful introduction to the opening of Chapter 11. The image of the wasted forest and the devastated land in those last verses of chapter 10 provide then the perfect setting for the appearance of the stem or the stump of Jesse out of which the shoot and branch springs. The picture is of the scorched earth. The picture is of the scorched earth in which Jesse’s wine is now but one of the felled trees. And from that stem, from that root, from that stump, That stump of a destroyed and dead tree comes miraculously a living sprig and a vital branch.
David’s true and long-expected son, the final presentation of the child figure in this section of Isaiah’s prophecy. But had we not said, in keeping with the Reformed and conservative exegesis of those last verses of chapter 10, that the forest and growth laid waste by the Lord in those verses are the Assyrians, how then the picture of Judah, as you begin chapter 11, as laid waste, as a broken and dead tree out of which a living sprig sprouts?
In answer to this question, we discover that Heber, after all, does have something to tell us. Not because we would follow him in all of his liberal reasoning, not that we would embrace him in his attitudes about the construction of the text, but because he’s laying hold of something here that is even more important than he knows. In fact, if we investigate the figure of the scorched earth, the wasted forest, and the solitary tree trunk in the previous chapters of Isaiah, The results are very, very interesting.
For instance, in Chapter 2, the language in verses 5-11 of that second chapter, directed against the Jews for their arrogance and vanity, easily slips into language about universal indictment in verses 12-22. A day of reckoning is coming, says the Lord, not just for Israel, but for the world as a whole. All who are lifted up and proud, verse 12. All the cedars of Lebanon, all the oaths of bation, verse 13 of that second chapter. The language of trees, the language of the forest. Anticipating the language we read later on in chapters 10 and 11.
What we ought to see in the judgment of Israel, according to chapter 2, is the judgment of the whole world. Look at Israel and the judgment that comes upon it. And no, the judgment is coming upon the whole world. That Israel herself is to be seen along these lines is reinforced by what we find in chapter 6 verse 13. Here, in the context of Isaiah’s call, grandly described, and the Lord’s relentless hostility expressed against Judah, not against the world, but against Judah.
The Lord promises the preservation of a tenth portion in that thirteenth verse. Saved through burning, the language is beginning to sound the same, like an oak felled whose stump remains the holy seed being the salvaged stump. Sound familiar? And what do we make of Isaiah 9, verses 18-21?
Here, the ten northern tribes of Israel, capital Samaria, are spoken about in language anticipating our passage, the later chapters. The wickedness of the ten northern tribes brings about burning, we are told. These times are like the thicket of the forest set ablaze, verse 18. The Lord’s fury consumes the land, the people themselves are fuel for the fire, verse 19. The language is compounding, it is mounting as you move through these early chapters of Isaiah. We return then to Isaiah 10 and 11, and the Prophet’s prior language achieves its end as we are led to these chapters by what has preceded.
Yes, to be sure now, Assyria will be laid waste, but such judgment is not irrespective of the devastation that is coming upon God’s own people, a devastation that comes upon Israel and Samaria to the north, and then upon Judah and Jerusalem to the south.
The fluidity of the Prophet’s words here ultimately plays off of a universal judgment, not one in which Israel is destroyed but Judah is spared, not one in which Jews are laid waste but their enemies and the nation’s escape untouched. No, the prophet’s baffling audience shift moves from the tirade against Assyria in the opening verses of that tenth chapter imperceptibly into a general condemnation that includes Judah by the concluding verses, verses 33-34. And why? Why is this the movement for the prophets? Because such a baffling shift of audience, like the rapid-fire mood shifts from wrath to mercy in the prophets, in the final analysis, preach the gospel. and Isaiah, like all of the prophets and the law as well, serves the gospel.
Carried along by description of God’s coming judgment against Assyria, we are tripped by words from which we cannot exclude Judah. Carried along by description of God’s judgment against Assyria, we are tripped up by words from which we cannot exclude Judah. Do you think that you are immune? that it is only those wicked Assyrians that will get their due. What then is the impact such a baffling shift in audience intends to have upon succeeding audiences?
Precisely what is later put on paper by the Apostle Paul to be inspiration of the same spirit who inspired Isaiah That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Romans 3 19 for all have sinned, Jews and Assyrians alike, and come short of the glory of God.”
How difficult it was for the Jews of Isaiah’s day to hear it, to understand it, to grasp it. How difficult it was in the days of Jesus Christ for those who were even in his presence to grasp it. How difficult it remains for the Church of Jesus Christ, even into the present time, to grasp it.
For Paul, in preaching the gospel of sovereign grace, is confronted by those who would deny that grace and preach something else altogether. A message that would leave some in a privileged position, as if they had a righteousness all built up in themselves by their works and an inherent merit. Isaiah, 700 years before the coming of Christ, was preaching the gospel. And as you consider those statements by the Apostle Paul, if you look at them in isolation, they are in fact quite devastating, are they not? Yet every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But Paul, as you know, in the same context, he being proof of the gospel that he has embraced, does not leave us without hope, even in light of universal condemnation. for he preaches the gospel and speaks to us about being justified freely by God’s grace. How can it be otherwise if the Jews themselves are condemned?
How can it be otherwise through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3.24, the Savior of not only the Jews but the Gentiles as well as Romans 3.29 implies? But you know, this one whom Paul identifies as Christ Jesus, the very one who met him on the Damascus road, is the one Isaiah calls the rod out of Jesse’s stem, the branch growing out of Jesse’s root. Verse 11, and he it is who brings the universal reign of righteousness and peace, he alone and by him all the earth is made full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
The messages about Isaiah’s Christmas children are at an end. The rod and branch of Jesse being the last of the child figures in this glorious section of Isaiah’s Each presentation of the child, be it Shir Jeshub, a remnant shall return in chapter 7, verse 3, or Immanuel, God with us in chapter 7, verse 14, or Meher, Shalal, Hashbaz, swift as the booties, easy as the prey in chapter 8, verse 3, or the glory child of chapter 9, verse 6, or the branch now of Jesse in 11, verse 1, each presentation of the child has conveyed its own message about the severity of God’s wrath and the inexplicable wonder of His grace. Each presentation of the child figure deliberately insults human pretensions and pride, while exalting the God who perfects His power through weakness. Each presentation of the child figure then preaches the gospel, making each child portrait a Christmas portrait. as laid within the series of child figures, is the message that God himself is coming through the line of David in the interest of a universal reign of righteousness and peace, into which enter those who, embracing the Lord’s very own manner of coming to them, become themselves little children in a manifest demonstration of their own weakness and need.
I said the child of chapter 11 verse 1 is the last child. That isn’t exactly correct. The last child appears in verse 6 of the 11th chapter. And a little child shall lead them. the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. We children all are brought into the kingdom. We children all in manifest demonstration of our own weakness and need and utter dependence. Are you among the children?
Our Father, we do thank you for the subtleties of your Word, and do challenge us, O God, that we might press on, that we might see what is laid within your Word, that we might look at your word intently and dig out of it its riches. But may we know, O God, that in the final analysis all that you have said serves the gospel, which means our undoing, that we might be remade after the image of your Son. And to this end, O God, the figure of the child is so beautifully instructive. For in the child we are confronted with the fact that you perfect your strength in weakness. The figure of the child, not one that you abhor, but one that you embrace, becoming a child yourself. that you might lead us in our childlikeness into your kingdom.
Bless us then, O God, with the cherished rebirth of which your scriptures speak. And may we perceive that message of rebirth as it is declared by the prophets and the as surely as we know it to be on the surface of things in what Jesus declares and what his apostles tell us. Lord, may we be a people of the gospel, that meaning that we are not proud and haughty, we are not like lofty boughs of the forest, but rather we are those who take the light in a dead stump, and in a miraculous way, living branch. To your glory. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.