The
One We Have Been Waiting For
Isaiah 11:1
©Copyright December 4, 2011 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
Have
you ever been at the arrival gate of an airplane terminal waiting for someone
to de-board the plane? If so, you probably had lots of different people walk by
you. Each was significant and important in their own right but they were not
who you were looking for. Sometimes in those situations people stand on
tip-toes, and have a little bit of an anxious look on their face. Everything
changes however when they see the person they have been waiting for. Their eyes
brighten, anxiousness gives way to a broad smile, and they may even jump up and
down and it often ends with some kind of embrace.
When we
talk about the story of Christmas we miss some of the significance because we tend
to think of it in very narrow focus: a baby, a manger, a star, shepherds and
wise men. However, the story of Christmas actually started hundreds (if not
thousands of years) earlier. Even in the Garden of Eden there was a promise of
a Redeemer.
This is
why this Christmas season we are not turning to Matthew and Luke (though we
will refer to those passages frequently) but to the words of the prophet Isaiah
who wrote over six hundred years before the birth of Christ.
In
Isaiah 11 Isaiah warns that even though a judgment on Israel is coming, there
will be a day of future deliverance. These verses were seen by the Jews as
messianic (in other words they pointed to a coming Messiah or Rescuer). This is why we are going to look at these
verses this Christmas season. We believe they refer to Jesus. They not only
describe who He is, they describe what He has accomplished in the past and will
accomplish in the future.
This
morning we look only at the first verse
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch
will bear fruit.
What in
the world are we supposed to learn from this simple verse? What we learn is
this: the Coming of Christ was anticipated for centuries! This morning we will
look at some of the passages that predicted his coming.
He Would Be A Descendent of David
Isaiah
11:1 tells us that the coming Savior was going to be from the family line of
Jesse, who was the Father of King David. In other words, the Messiah would have
a royal bloodline. This is significant because when Israel was wiped out by the
Babylonians it seemed like that was the end of Israel and of any Kings from the
line of David. Isaiah tells us that out of the “stump” of Israel that remained,
one seemingly insignificant one would come out of the house of David (Jesse was
David’s dad). This one would bear fruit. He would once again be the King from
David’s line.
While
people were exiled from Israel they continued to keep careful genealogical
records because they believed the promise of God that a Messiah was coming. One
of the ways they would know if the Messiah was genuine was to see if he was a
descendant of David.
This
helps us understand the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. In the Gospel of
Matthew the genealogy of Jesus begins this way: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of
Abraham”. Matthew and Luke begin their gospels showing that Jesus fulfilled
this requirement of being a descendent of David.
In the Christmas story the point is made over and
over. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census because they were of the
“house and line of David”. As we study the genealogical records carefully it
appears that Jesus descended from David from both Joseph (legally) and Mary
(biologically).
Why must the Messiah be from David? Because God
promised that the throne of David would last forever and ever. In 2 Samuel 7:16
God said to David,
Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne
will be established forever.’ ”
He Would Be Born In
a Unique Way
Second
we are told the Messiah would be born in a supernatural way. In Isaiah 7:14 we
read these familiar words,
Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth
to a son, and will call him Immanuel
Many people
hate this verse! They have a number of objections to this being a prophecy of
the Virgin Birth of Jesus. First, they say the verses are taken out of context.
The words were spoken to the King of Israel named Ahaz
as proof that he would be delivered from the armies of Aram and Damascus. Skeptics
point out that if this was a prophecy about the Messiah then it wasn’t much of
a sign to Ahaz because it wouldn’t be fulfilled for
another 600 years!
However,
there are many examples in the Bible of signs that had both an immediate and
also a more full future fulfillment. The entire sacrificial system had the
immediate effect of addressing present sin but also pointed ahead to the
greater and more perfect sacrifice. Many prophetic passages had an immediate
application but pointed to something future. There may have been a young woman
that was in mind in the household of Ahaz who had an
unexpected child. But the more complete fulfillment in a child that would be
called “Immanuel” or “God with us” was yet to come.
Skeptics
also point out that the Hebrew word translated virgin literally means “young
woman”. This is true. But the word refers to someone who is not married or just
married. In that day a young unmarried woman was a virgin! If Isaiah was simply
predicting that a young woman would bear a child that wouldn’t mean much as a
sign either because young women have babies every day!
When
the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (a translation called the
Septuagint) the word used to translate “young woman” was the Greek word that only meant “virgin”. The Septuagint was
written well before the time of Jesus. This shows us that the Jewish
understanding of the word was that God was pointing to a supernatural birth – one
that involved an extraordinary conception. They were not trying to “fit the
passage to Jesus”.
Is this
really all that important? It is because the Virgin Birth shows Jesus was uniquely the Son of God. This is why He
would be called “Immanuel or ‘God with Us’. Jesus was more than simply a great man
who stood out in the world. He was more than man reaching his highest potential
or achieving a goodness that is within reach of all of us. Jesus came uniquely
from Heaven. He was God’s gift to humankind. In Luke 1 the angel told Mary that
Jesus would be considered “the Son of the Most High”. This is because of His
one-of-a-kind birth and the “God traits” that were evidenced in His life.
It is
also significant because it shows Jesus was not of the same genetic makeup as
we were. We all know that children are born with certain genetic
predispositions from their parents. The Bible tells us that we are in a sense
already sinners before we are even born by virtue of our relationship with
Adam. Jesus did not have that same stain. Jesus was uniquely qualified to be
our Savior because his Virgin Birth freed him from that stain of sin and enable
Him to live a sinless life. This in turn qualified Jesus to be the substitute
we needed. Those who say the Virgin Birth doesn’t matter,
don’t get it.
He Would Be Born in
a Specific Place
In
Micah 5:2 we read,
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me one who will be
ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
As you
and I read this passage in its context we would probably would
have never understood this text to be predicting that the Messiah would be born
in Bethlehem. However, the Jews certainly understood the prophecy in that way.
Do you
remember when the Magi came to Herod to ask about the birth of a King?
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King
Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is
the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and
have come to worship him.”
3
When
King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When
he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law,
he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in
Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet
has written…”
When
asked where the Messiah was supposed to be born. The chief priests and teachers
of the law answered the question by quoting Micah 5:2. It was not the disciples who said this, it was the Jewish
leaders. They turned to this passage as a prophecy related to the Messiah!
Many
people initially dismissed the possibility of Jesus as Messiah because they
knew he was from Nazareth. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth but because of the
census had to travel to Bethlehem. It seemed so inconvenient at the time.
However, that “inconvenience” made it possible for Jesus to be born in
Bethlehem just as the prophets foretold.
He Would Be
Announced By One “Like Elijah”
Another
of the prophecies regarding the Messiah is found in the last two verses of the
Old Testament.
“See, I will send you
the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn
the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to
their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” [Malachi
4:5-6]
The
Jews believed that Elijah would return before the Messiah came to earth. Jesus
told us that this “one like Elijah” was John the Baptist. John had a successful
ministry in his own right. However, when Jesus came on the scene he pointed
everyone to Him. It was John the Baptist who told his own disciples to follow
Jesus because he was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
(John 1:30)
Have
you ever wondered why Luke begins his gospel telling the story of the birth of
John the Baptist? Have you ever wondered why John refers so much to John the
Baptist in the first chapter of his gospel? It is because the authors wanted to
show that the one like Elijah did indeed precede Jesus. They were showing that
another prophecy was fulfilled in Christ.
The Significance of These Things
This first verse of
these words in Isaiah 11 reminds us that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment
of God’s promise to mankind.
There are many other
prophecies in the Bible regarding Jesus. The Bible tells us,
·
The
Messiah was to make a public entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, and Jesus
had done this just a few days before (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:1–11).
·
The
Messiah was to be betrayed by a close friend, and Jesus was so betrayed (Ps.
41:9; Matt. 26:14–15; 27:3–8).
·
The
Messiah was to be despised and rejected by his people and to be familiar with
suffering (Isa. 53:2–3)
·
We
are told they would cast lots for his clothes and not a bone of his body would
be broken. (Psalm 22)
There are many more
items we could list. Dan Story illustrates why this is significant,
Jesus
could not have accidentally or deliberately fulfilled these prophecies.
Obviously, events such as His birthplace and lineage, method of execution,
soldiers casting lots for His garments, or being pierced in the side are events
beyond Jesus’ control. Peter Stoner and Robert Newman, in their Book Science Speaks, demonstrate the
statistical improbability of any one man, accidentally or deliberately, from
the day of these prophecies down to the present time, fulfilling just eight of
the hundreds of prophecies Jesus fulfilled. They demonstrate that the chance of
this happening is 1 in 1017 power. Stoner gives an illustration that
helps visualize the magnitude of such odds:
Suppose
that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas.
They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver
dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man
and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one
silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of
getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of
writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man,
from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own
wisdom.
It
is mathematically absurd to claim that Jesus accidentally or deliberately
fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Obviously, this evidence stands as a powerful
demonstration of Jesus’ messiahship.[1]
The fact that Jesus
birth, life and death fulfilled prophecy verified that He was indeed the One
who was sent by God; the long anticipated Messiah. We celebrate the birth of
Jesus differently than we do the births of Washington, Lincoln or Martin Luther
King because Jesus was not just a great figure of history, He was God become
man to live among us and die in our place.
This reality means many
things to us.
·
God
is faithful. He delivered on this promise and He will deliver on the others He
has made.
·
We
can be Rescued. The sin and failure of our pasts
really can be forgiven. There is a real Savior and His name is Immanuel or “God
with Us”. We are not left hopeless and battered. No matter how deep the stain .
. . Jesus has paid the price for our forgiveness.
·
We
are loved. Today we read a great deal about the effects of bullying. People
have many ways of tearing us down. As a consequence it is easy for a person to
feel worthless in the world because we believe what others are saying about us.
However, if we “get” the message of Christmas, we will hear a different
message: You and I are so loved by God that He came to rescue and renew us! You
may feel unlovable . . . but it is not true! When we understand the fact that
God loves us . . . it doesn’t matter what anyone else says. We’ve said it
before and we’ll say it again: The truest thing about you is what God says
about you. He says you are valuable, cherished and loved.
·
Finally,
we see that the decision we make about Jesus is the most significant decision
of our lives. Our relationship with Christ changes our relationship with God,
our self-image, our destination after we die, our basis of “truth”, and even
the way we view others around us.
Think about someone
who is caught in a raging flood. A helicopter comes by and lowers a rescue harness
so that it is within easy reach. That person has a choice. They can grab the
harness and be rescued or they can refuse the harness and drown.
The same is true
here. We are drowning in sin. There is no way for us to save ourselves. God has
provided what we need. He gave us prophecies that we could check to see if the
One who claimed to the Savior really is the Savior. He gave us the record of
Christ’s deeds and teachings. We have been given the historical record of the
death and the resurrection of Jesus. He has given us all the evidence we need
to see that He is trustworthy. He asks us to put our trust, hope and confidence
in Him. The question is: Will you do so?
Imagine if you were
standing at the gate of an airport awaiting someone special to deplane. They
come out and walk toward you with their arms open and a big smile . . . but you
turn and walk away. Would that be foolish? Of course it would! That’s not how
you respond to someone special who comes into your life. You would give them a
warm embrace. You would help them with their bags, bring them home and enjoy
their company fully.
Jesus is the One we
have been waiting for. He has come to earth to rescue us and to begin a special
relationship with us. We should respond to Him with open arms and hearts. We
should be enthusiastic. And it would even be appropriate to respond with a few
tears of joy.
©Copyright December 4, 2011 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche