About this sermon
Isaiah 10 and 11 promise that a remnant will return and that a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots on whom the Spirit of the Lord will rest. Matthew’s genealogy passes through Jesse and David, the shepherd boy anointed king. The Spirit who hovered over the waters at creation rested on Jesus at his conception and his baptism for the work of new creation. He will stand as a banner for the nations, and like the serpent Moses lifted up, he was lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself.
Sermon transcript
Firstly, Isaiah chapter 10, starting at verse 20. Give ear, this is the word of God. Now in that day, the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the holy of the whole land. 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 to their destruction. 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 Ayath. He has passed through Migran. At Mikmash, he deposited his baggage. They have gone through the pass, saying, Geba will be our lodging place. Ramah is terrified, and Gilead of Saul has fled away. Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Galim. Pay attention, Laishah. and wretched Anathoth. Madmanah has fled, the inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge, but 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 bows 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 ax 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.
His righteousness will be like the belt about his loins. and faithfulness the belt about his waist. And 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. 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.
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. Then 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. Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again regard will again recover the second time the 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 and 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 Then 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.
They 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. And 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. And 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.
Let’s turn to Matthew chapter 1 as we read briefly. Matthew chapter 1, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. So ends the reading of God’s holy, inspired, inerrant word. May it be a blessing to all of us today. Let us pray for that.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this word that you have given. We thank you for the promise that you have made that where your spirit is, where your word is read, those two will come together. We sense your spirit here even as we read this word. We ask that your Holy Spirit would be upon all of us as we listen and as the word is preached. May it reach down to the very depths of our hearts and our souls and our minds. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Today we continue our study of Matthew’s genealogy, the genealogy of Jesus, which is found in Matthew. It’s been a few weeks, but I might refresh us where we have been in weeks past. We have talked about what it means for Jesus to be the son of Abraham. We’ve talked about what it means for Jesus to be the son of David. But now we come to discuss what it must mean for Jesus to be born of Jesse. Jesse is the father of David.
As we examine this, as we look this first chapter of Matthew, we must have in our minds what the first century Hebrew reader would have in his mind. One who is well aware of his Old Testament, has read it, has known it from his earliest years. What does it mean? that Jesus would be born the son of Jesse. Who is Jesse, after all? We should look at first things first. As I said, Jesse is the father of King David, but David was not born a king. Jesse was the father of David in a small, obscure town called Bethlehem. We would not have known much about Bethlehem had not major things happened there much later.
But there Jesse is, just your average man, your humble man, humble by the biblical reckoning, humble in fortune, humble in societal standing. There comes a day when the Lord was angry at Saul and at his house, and no longer would the Lord have David, no longer rather would the Lord have Saul to be king over Israel. And it came time for a new king Samuel the prophet, Samuel the judge, goes looking for that king. And the Lord, by the Spirit, brings him to Bethlehem and to the house of Jesse, this obscure and average man who has many sons. And one by one, the sons of Jesse come before Samuel. And the Lord tells Samuel, you must not judge by appearance. The Lord doesn’t judge that way. I will reveal to you the one who is the son, who is to be the king. And so the first son goes before Samuel. And that first son is Eliab.
This is not the one. The second son goes by. His name is Abinadab. This is not the one. Do not judge by appearance. Judge by the heart. It’s said multiple times. Another son comes by, Shammah. That is not the one. Samuel asks, do you have more sons? Where are they? Well, we have one. He’s the youngest. We wouldn’t have thought it would be him that you would be asking for.
He’s out keeping sheep. So they say, bring him in. And Samuel lays eyes on David. And the Lord says, this is the one. This is the one who is to be king. Anoint him. And so Samuel takes that horn of oil and he pours it over King David. And then he flees. Then he leaves.
David is to be king. David later rose to great prominence in the nation. First of all, simply just playing music for King Saul to calm his nerves. But eventually there came the day when he would be king. And he had a glorious reign. A tumultuous reign at times. A reign that at times seems to hang by just a thread. But at other times is secure.
But really at all times it is secure because he stood upon the rock which was his god. Generations later, we come to our text, which is Isaiah chapter 10 and 11. What’s the context of Isaiah chapter 10 and 11? There’s still a son of David who is reigning upon the throne, but his name is Ahaz, and he is not a righteous man. The glory has faded from that kingdom. And there is terror in this king. He is afraid of other nations coming in.
So the Lord sends Isaiah to come and minister to him. Isaiah prophesied by the Spirit of the Lord. Some of those prophecies are some of the most well-known in the entire Bible. You hear them in December, in late December at the time that many people call Christmas time, where we have the prophecy of the virgin birth. Isaiah prophesies that to Ahaz. He talks about one who is going to come and God’s spirit is going to rest on him.
His name is Emmanuel, which is God with us. Isaiah prophesies to Ahaz. that one is going to come whose kingdom is so glorious and so great that its government will never decrease. David’s kingdom is decreasing with Ahaz on the throne. But this kingdom is going to expand and expand and expand forever.
We also read I should say we read in chapter 10 about the Assyrians who are coming. The Assyrians are the instrument of God to punish Israel because they have been unfaithful to the covenant as a national body. And we even read in there that they have been trusting in their enemy. They’ve been trusting in Assyria. You see, at times they are trusting in Egypt, and other times they’re trusting in Assyria. But Assyria is becoming the most powerful one.
The Lord reveals that He is going to punish the Assyrians. In fact, He is going to punish the Assyrians for what they do to God’s people. In Isaiah chapter 10, 15, we are told that Assyria is an axe, an arrogant, boastful axe that is going to come and lop off the trees.
That is, lop off the branches and make Israel into a forest, a former forest, now just a field of stumps. Rest assured, Ahaz, it’s not always going to be like that, because when I punish Assyria in my sovereignty, I will do the same, and I will make them as a forest of stumps, or a former forest, for they will all be cut down, trees chopped, the trees felled. And that’s how chapter 10 ends. But then, we have a glorious picture. The tone changes in Isaiah chapter 11, does it not?
Have you ever gone into someone’s house, or maybe you have one of these, a picture frame. A picture frame for a child. And it has a picture of the child in the middle. But all around it are other pictures of that child. Maybe some of you have that. I don’t know what the name is for such a frame. You go over to your neighbor’s house and they have children who have all moved out of the house. And you look at this frame. Well, who’s this?
Well, that’s my son, Timmy. He’s all grown up now. And you look at the first picture and you say, well, what’s this? Well, this is the time we brought him home from the hospital. This is the first picture. Well, what’s the second picture? Well, the second picture is his first day of kindergarten. Well, what’s the next one? Oh, that’s first grade. What about the next one? Well, that’s his piano recital. What’s the next one? It’s the time he was a quarterback and he threw a winning touchdown, his Eagle Scout.
Each one of these pictures tells the story of this child. This is what Isaiah is giving to us. He is giving a picture. He’s giving a frame with many pictures that we can look at all at once in Isaiah chapter 11. Picture after picture after picture of the one who is to come. But this is a very different picture. What would you say of someone who brings his child home from the hospital and he has already one of those frames. It’s already set up.
And he says, this is what my son is going to be like. This is when he’s going to earn his Eagle Scout. And this is when he’s going to be a quarterback and win the championship. This is his first day of kindergarten and first grade and second grade and on.
You would think that person was a bit strange and rightfully so. But whereas we as people would look back, our God, he gives the picture beforehand and gives us the opportunity to identify him on this frame and look into the future and see what this one is going to be like. Well, what is this one going to be like? Well, we see in the first verse that he is as a shoot that sprouts up. Now, remember what we have said.
A former forest, I think we can’t call it a forest anymore if it’s just a field full of stumps. But out of one of those stumps, a sprout comes up. What stump must that be? It must be the stump of Jesse, of the line of David. This stump grows up. It begins, it sprouts. Rather, the shoot grows. But we must understand that this shoot is greater than all of the formerly towering trees that came before. For this little shoot is our Lord Jesus Christ, and he is beginning to sprout and to come up, that he might eventually become the wonderful tree that gives fruit unto the earth.
That is how you’ll identify him. He is a glorious shoot that comes from Jesse’s line. How else will you recognize him? Verse 2, this is the man of the Spirit. The Spirit of God will rest upon him such that the Spirit of the Lord will rest giving him wisdom and understanding and counsel and strength and knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. We remember the second verse of the Bible. God’s Holy Spirit hovering over the water, creating the world. That same Spirit is going to rest on this man, and you’ll see Him if you’re able to identify Him. But that Spirit who once brought about creation will be upon this one for the purposes of recreation.
The Spirit was upon the Lord Jesus at His birth, For he was born, he was conceived of by the Holy Spirit, by Mary. When Jesus was baptized, when he was about to begin his ministry, what do we read? Nothing more than we read in Matthew. 316 that when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest upon him. This is the man of the Spirit.
That is the picture that Isaiah gives, that God gives through Isaiah. At his resurrection The Spirit is upon Him as well. The Spirit is upon Him in such a way that He brings Jesus back to life. It is the revivifying Spirit of God that has rested upon Him His whole life and especially comes upon Him in His death. That creating Spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1-2, hovers over the Lord Jesus Christ at His resurrection. And Jesus is raised life-giving Spirit.
And that is what He does. He gives life. For after He was raised, He receives the Holy Spirit. as a gift from His Father, as a gift for His obedience, so that He might dispense that Spirit to us. If we have trusted, if we have known the Lord Jesus Christ, if we have trusted alone in His resurrection and in His cross. And truly, He has given life to us. And He has given us the knowledge, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of understanding. And He causes the people of God to reverence that Son.
We move on to the next picture that we see beforehand, not looking back but before, that this one is going to be a judge. We see this in verses three through five. And he is going to judge rightly. What do we read about? As I said earlier, first Samuel 16, at the anointing of David, Samuel’s cautioned, don’t judge by appearance.
That is because the man of the spirit, the shoot who is going to come out of your Jesse’s stump, is one who will not judge by appearance. He is going to have the type of, the ability to look inside the mind of all people and know their thoughts. He is going to be one who has the ability to look into the heart of a man. There is nothing that can be hidden from this man of the spirit. and He will judge the poor, He will know the poor, and He will show graciousness to them, especially to those who are poor in spirit, that is, those who know that they are lost without the grace of God.
And he will judge between the hypocritical, self-righteous Pharisee, whose religion is only external, whose fruit is only fruit that is, as it were, stapled onto a tree. He will judge between that one, and he will judge between the one who is trusting in God, and whose fruit comes from God alone.
We move on to the next picture, that is verses 6 and 9, the next picture on the frame. And this is one who is going to bring peace. Peace of an unbelievable sort. In metaphorical language, Isaiah talks about animals that are ordinarily at odds with one another. One seeks to prey upon the other. Wolves and lambs will be at peace with one another. Leopards and young goats. Lions and fattened calves. Fattened calves. Cows and bears. All of these will be at peace.
Well, if it was only peace between animals, it wouldn’t be such a great thing. It’s really just a picture of something far greater. This one will bring peace between man and man. This one will cause people to lay down their weapons, their war, and say, no more war. You are my brother. You are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as well. This one will bring so much peace that he will bring peace between Jew and Gentile. This is something that would have been unfathomable at the time. But he brings it. But if he brought peace between man and man, as impressive as that would be, The peace that He truly brings is peace between God and man.
Do you realize that if you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, you are at war with Him and He is your enemy? You do not want God as your enemy. So the Lord Jesus Christ sees this war and He comes in to intercede that He might be fully man and fully God, so that He might atone and make peace. God must bring wrath upon man for sin. God brings wrath upon the Lord Jesus Christ for us. Indeed, He became sin. That is, the one who knew no sin became sin, that we who are sinners might be set free. How else will you identify Him?
Verse 10. This is one who will set up a banner, a signal, a flag, a sign or an end sign. Who would do that? Well, I want to make it very clear to you that the banner that is set up is not a banner, it’s not a big blue banner that says for Christ’s crown and covenant. It is not that.
This is nothing other than Christ’s cross The agony that He endured upon the cross is something that all people are to look to and to be saved. In the same way that Moses placed a serpent up high so that those who had been bitten would look to it and be saved, equally so, the Lord Jesus Christ’s cross is set up that it draws men and women and children to it. That is how you will know this one. Jesus says in John 3, verse 14, that even as that snake was raised up even so, I, the Son of Man, will be raised up to draw all people to myself.
There is something significant about a cross. Our country was just a group of colonies until they came together, fought a war, and then had a flag so that everyone who would look at that flag would say, that’s a sign of our country. When the United States first went to the moon, what did they do? They put a flag in it to say, we were the first ones, so that all would see that we won the race. Equally, in fact, far greater, Jesus Christ raises the flag, or the end sign, and that is his torturous cross. Do you hear Him groaning upon that cross to atone for your sins, for yours and mine?
We see in 11 through 16 that this is one who is going to be a gatherer. He is going to gather. From all of the nations, his people, his elect, he’s going to draw in the people that he loves, the ones he has set his love upon. And there will eventually be a highway so that his people can come from what were once enemy lands. the Assyrians, the Egyptians, those lands will have a highway so that God’s people will go straight to Jerusalem and to Zion. but this is not an earthly Jerusalem. Christ is the one who builds the highway so that we might reach Jerusalem ourselves, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Zion which is above and which is free, that Zion which is our mother according to Galatians chapter 4.
Paul, rather, even understands it this way when he quotes this passage. Listen to Romans 15, 12. It should sound familiar to you. And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. We have no hope other than the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you were paying extra close attention, you might have noticed something a bit strange. In verse 10. I’ll read it to you. Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse. The root of Jesse.
Well, didn’t we start talking about the shoot? Is Jesus the root? Or is he the shoot? Which could it be? I think what Isaiah is saying here, subtly, he’s not displaying his lack of understanding of botany. This is not a scribal error or anything like that. this one who is that shoot that springs up out of that stump is a root as well or has a deep root you might ask yourself though why of all the biblical figures did isaiah use jesse jesse’s not as well known he’s a bit obscure he has such a minor role. Why did he not say the shoot that comes out of David? I think very clearly the reason is because Isaiah, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah, does not want to speak of Jesse. He wants to speak about someone who is with roots deeper than Jesse, one who also comes from Bethlehem.
And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ is the King, but He is the Creator of all things. He is the Son of David, But, at the same time, he is David’s Lord. He is the son of Jesse. But he is the creator of Jesse. Jesse came from Jesus. And Jesus came from Jesse.
And this one, with root it that deep, died upon a cross. And here we have this picture of this One who was to come and now has come. And we can look back with clearer eyes upon this passage and see the glory of this shoot, the One in whom we have life. The One who is the radiance of the Father’s glory, shining brightly Yet dying upon the cross while the sky grows dark around him. Dying for our sins. This is what it means to be born of Jesse. And this message must get through. to the first century Hebrew, and it must get through to us as well. He is the shoot, the man of the spirit, the one who is the judge who brings peace, the one who points us all to His sign, which is the cross.
Praise be His name for eternal life that comes 100% by grace and not by works. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, help us not to see Jesus on the surface as He was seen, but help us to understand how deep His roots go, in fact, they grow. In fact, they go into eternity past. For He was with you in the beginning. He is the one with no beginning. Praise to His name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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