The Rule of the King

(edited and uncited transcript, please contact Eric Swanson if you have questions)

We will be looking at Isaiah chapter 11 in the prophecy about this king that would come. And so if you have Bibles, please open them up to Isaiah chapter 11 and we are going to read verses one through five, but we will focus our study primarily on verses two through five. 

Hear the word of the Lord.  Isaiah 11:1-5

“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”. This is the word of the Lord.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come before you this morning with hearts just longing for some good news, longing for an announcement that brings hope to our weary and tired souls. And so Lord, we ask that you would use this hope, this hope of the Messiah given to your people thousands of years ago, to encourage our hearts this morning. May we leave this place more in awe of You and with a greater anticipation for Your second coming. Lord, send your Spirit now to preach a sermon better than the one that will be preached. And it's in the name of King Jesus we pray. Amen.

There is a problem in our society today. A problem that has grown even more worrisome, even before the events of 2020. The problem I am referring to is the problem of trust. I probably don't need to work too hard to convince you that the research shows that the American public is losing trust in just about everything. And the erosion of trust is seen across a wide variety of institutions and in a variety of leadership positions. For example, a couple of recent studies showed that a mere 20% of US adults say that they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing, most of the time. Another recent poll showed that the mass media wins the least trusted award, with just 9% of the people in the US trusting the mass media, a great deal.

I found it quite hilariously sad that the most trusted television news personality in America is only trusted a lot by 32% of respondents to this poll. Furthermore, a recent poll shows that even historically trusted institutions, institutions like law enforcement or healthcare professionals have also seen a downturn in public trust. The most personally discouraging study I found showed that only 48% of Protestants in America have confidence in their church and in their leaders. And finally, I would bet that some of you are thinking, Hey, you know what? I don't trust those polls.

This erosion of public trust, whether warranted or not is unmistakable, but I would contend this morning with you that the erosion of trust that we've seen in recent years is actually part of a deeper trust problem. A problem that is not unique to American society, but one that has plagued all of humanity since the fall in the Garden of Eden. This trust problem does not have its roots outside in the world, but rather it begins inside our hearts. It is our collective failure to put our trust in the right places.

I think we rightly ought to grieve when flawed men and women prove they can't be trusted, but we ought not to be surprised, and we ought not to be quick to point the finger of blame. For I think we can all admit when we feel squeezed by the circumstances of life, we often put our trust in the things and the people that we complain about. We put our trust right back into politicians, back into unhealthy relationships, or most often, I think, we look back into ourselves, even though we know deep down that we too can't be fully trusted. So where do we put our trust? In this time of turmoil and chaos in our world, is there anyone out there that we can trust?

Well today I want to put before you someone that can be trusted, someone whose intentions are always pure. Someone whose words are never careless. Someone who never has to go back and delete old tweets. Someone who doesn't have any skeletons in his closet and someone whose judgments are always just, and character is always righteous. He is the King that has come, and the King that is coming again. And he is the one we read about in our passage this morning. And my hope today is that we, as we get to know this Spirit-empowered, righteous, and just King, that you would have confidence this morning to put your trust in Him and that you would be filled with hope as you anticipate His second coming.

So as we look at our text, I want us to see two overarching reasons why you can trust this King. First, we can trust this King because His strength comes from the Spirit. And we see that in verse two. And then second, we'll see that His rule is always right. We can trust this King because His rule is always right, from verses three through five. Before we get to know this coming King and unpack those points I want to remind you of the context in which this prophecy was given. That long ago, God had promised King David that his kingdom would be established forever, and that a Son would come from his line that would bring lasting peace and would once and for all crush, just not Israel's surrounding enemies, but the head of Satan himself.

But since this promise was given to David, the kingdom of Israel, had fallen apart. It had split into two, and the vast majority of the kings coming from David's line only brought misery to God's people. And the book of Isaiah is written at a time when the promise of God seems to be in jeopardy, but then Isaiah comes on the scene and proclaims that God has not abandoned His promises and that a new and a better David is still coming, and we saw this in verse one. It will be amidst this barren wasteland of stumps that a shoot or branch of hope would come forth, giving assurance that even though the kingdom is in ruins, God's King is still on the move.

Now at the time of our passage, King Ahaz sits on the throne and this guy is a bad dude. Just look at 2 Kings 16:2,  “Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign”. I don't know how many 20 years olds who are ready to reign, but I don't think I would have been ready. And King  Ahaz did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the other bad kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings to idols on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

And if that wasn't bad enough, during King Ahaz's reign, the Northern tribes of Israel and the nation of Syria had joined forces and were threatening Judah. And even though God had specifically promised Ahaz that Judah would not be destroyed, Ahaz spurned God's word and instead made a deal with the nation of Assyria to protect them from their enemies. And while from a political perspective, this seemed to be a very shrewd move, the king of Assyria would soon set his gaze on conquering Judah as well. Ahaz again is faced with the choice. Do I trust God to spare his people or will he put his trust in another foreign power to save him?

Well, it is in these dire circumstances that God gives his people this hope-filled prophecy, that God's King is still coming and that this King would not look to foreign powers for help, like Ahaz, or would be hardly boastful in His own strength and wisdom like the king of Assyria, but this King would find strength from the Lord. He would be a king that you could trust. Look back at verse two with me, and you'll see why this King can be trusted. Verse two. 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 of the fear of the Lord. You can trust this promised King because His strength comes from the Spirit

In our passage, we see that this promised King, Israel's Messiah will have qualifications that far outstretch any career politician or a business tycoon, right? The divine person of the Godhead will take up residency in this King and bestow upon Him, all the wisdom and strength of God. This King can be fully trusted because His strength comes from the Holy Spirit. And throughout the Old Testament, we read how God would send his Holy Spirit to empower individuals for special tasks that God had required of them. For example, in Exodus 31:2-3; “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship”.

Again, this is to build and construct the tabernacle and all the things inside. And other times we read about how the Spirit permanently indwells individuals in the Old Testament like Moses or Joshua, but most instructive for us in our passage, we read in first Samuel, how the Spirit came upon King David at his anointing. We read, in Samuel 16:13; “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward”. Now in our passage, we see Isaiah described a seven-fold blessing of the Spirit upon this King. First, we see the Spirit rest on Him, and this is language that we'll come back to at the end of the message. And then we see this resting is followed by three pairs of Spirit-gifting or empowerment. And we are meant to understand, and to see that this seven-fold blessing of the Spirit makes this thing surpass all other kings before him.

Well, what will be the effect of the Spirit resting have on this King? Well we see the first pair of gifts here, that the Lord will give Him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, meaning that this King will have the wisdom necessary to rule and have the understanding to see at the heart of the issue at hand. And if you just look your eyes over to Isaiah 10:13, I think we are clearly meant to see that this is a contrast from the boast of the king of Assyria when he says in Isaiah 10:13, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom for, I have understanding." So this is gifting of wisdom and understanding would have the people who read it anticipating a king like Solomon, right? Who would possess all God-given wisdom and understanding in full measure.

The second pair described the Spirit's gifts of counsel and might. Meaning this King will not only have the ability to set out the right course of action for his people, but will actually have the ability to carry out His plan. So in contrast to many of our new year's resolutions we are planning, or have tried to implement in the past, we may have the right idea and the right plans to better ourselves in the new year, but most often, we realize that we lack the power to actually make it happen. Right? If this year has taught us anything, we are reliant on a number of factors for our plans to succeed, but not so with this King. This King not only sets out the right course of action, but He is able to bring His plans to completion. He has the power to do it.

And lastly, God bestows upon this King the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. This King will have a true intimate knowledge of Yahweh. And this knowledge will manifest itself in perfect obedience to the will of God. So put it simply, He will know God, and He will trust God, His knowledge of a holy God will manifest itself in holy living. And He will fear God above all. And friends, this is a King, this is a leader that you can trust. For He doesn't need to inflate His accomplishments. He doesn't need to boast in His academic pedigree. He doesn't need to flex His muscles to look stronger than He actually is because this King is empowered by the full measure of the Spirit of God and will fulfill God's requirements perfectly as no other king was able to do before him. You can trust this King because His strength is from the Spirit.

As we turn our attention to verses three through five we'll see not only is this King given the spirit, but He actually has the righteous character to perfectly exercise these gifts. So in other words, we can trust this King because His rule is always right. His rule is always right. As many of you know, the Lord has blessed my wife, Jessica and I with two wonderful children. And it is a great joy to be Emma and Isaac's dad. Yeah. One of the most terrifying things I'm learning as a parent, as my kids get older is that they actually remember some of the instructions that you give them. And they're even able to point out some of the perceived inconsistencies with your actions.

For example, we always tell our kids, "Hey, before you come in the house, please take off your shoes." But I'm more than one occasion I believe my two-year-old son, Isaac, has caught me walking back into the house when I forgot something and pointed out, "Hey dad, you didn't take off your shoes." "Thanks. Thanks buddy." And no joke, we're in Costco the other day and my mask just happens to slip below my nose just a little bit. And he goes, "Dad, daddy, it's supposed to go above your nose." I'm like, "Thanks. Thanks bud. Thanks for keeping me honest." Now again, hopefully these inconsistencies haven't ruined him yet, but it's a good heart check because a quick way, right, to lose trust with your kids or anyone that you're in a position of leadership over, right, is to become someone who makes a habit of saying do as I say, and not as I do. And especially as Christians, our aim always ought to be, to make sure our judgments match our character.

And maybe some of you have been disillusioned by some in our government who in recent news have been caught disregarding their own rules and regulations they've put on their constituents. Their words have not matched their actions. And unfortunately, these examples, both in our own personal lives and in the lives of our leaders are all too common. And that is why this description of this King, this King that is to come is so refreshing and so much filled with hope.

Look at the first part of verse three and then we'll skip down to verse five and we'll see the righteous character of this King. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. And then look down to verse five. Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist and faithfulness the belt of His loins. It's not just that the Messiah is empowered with the right spiritual gifts, but His character will perfectly accommodate these gifts. He will not just honor God with His lips, but also his heart will wholly delight in God. When you peel back the curtain and you look at the core of this King, all you will find is righteous delight in God.

This King's heart will be so knit together to God's heart that He will joyfully obey and follow all that God desires and commands. He will love the things that God loves. He will hate the things that God hates. And unlike Solomon who had all the wisdom of God, but his character fell gravely short, this King’s judgments will match His character. His righteous delight in God will be so evident that they will be like clothes to Him. When people fix their eyes on this King, they will not see Him clothed in the trappings of human ego, but clothed with the character of God himself.

We often find that in the scriptures, clothes and garments express the inherent realities and capacities of a person. In other words, the Bible often uses clothes to tell us something about who this person is and their capacity to do something. I think that's why it's so impactful when we read at the end of days when Jesus will give us white linens, white robes to wear, that will now reflect a new reality of holiness, that now characterizes us in the new heavens and the new earth. And here we read that the King wears a belt, a belt of righteousness and faithfulness. His righteousness and faithful character is the binding force of His rule. You will not be able to separate the righteous character of this King from the righteous rule of this King. His righteous judgements will flow from His character.

As we look in the second half of verse three and onto verse four, we'll see what this righteous rule of this King looks like. 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. He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips he shall kill the wicked. Again, we'll need to remember that in the days of Isaiah, right, the king functioned as the president, as the Congress and as the supreme court, right? He made the laws, he enforced the laws and he interpreted the laws. So there's no check on the king's power.

So if you had a bad king that not only meant you most likely had really bad laws or corrupt laws, but you'd also get perverted justice. And that is exactly what Israel often experienced at the hands of their leaders. And we see Isaiah lament the injustice done by the king of his day. Just look, turn your eyes over to Isaiah 10 again, but in verses one to two, and you'll see this lament. Isaiah 10:1-2; “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil and that they may make the fatherless their prey”.

So it's in stark contrast to King Ahab who wrote wicked laws, perverted justice, and made politically expedient judgements. We see that this King to come does not judge based on appearances or on words alone, but this King has the ability to distinguish appearance versus reality. He has the knowledge and the understanding that can see beyond the initial evidence and into the very heart of the matter. And it's with this true truth laid before this King, that with righteousness that He judges the poor and will deal fairly with the meek and the oppressed, right? The scales of justice will never be out of balance in this King's world. Justice will be even-handed for all alike.

One commentator writes this. He says, "Status, money or political influence will not derail this new Davidic ruler's perspective on justice, for idle boasts, excuses, deceptive lies and false information by the guilty will not prevent the truth from being known. His justice will be available to all, especially for the needy and the poor who were frequently cheated by the upper-class. When this King sits on the throne, there will be no wrongful convictions, there will be no crimes unpunished. You will not be able to bribe this King or appeal to your high status or your low status in society to skirt around His justice. No. He will be a judge who is only motivated by fear of the Lord and towards what is holy, righteous and just. There will be nobody that will be able to cry, 'That's not fair,' in this king's kingdom."

At the end of verse four, we see that when this King pronounces His righteous and just judgment, it is executed perfectly 100% of the time. He says, and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall kill the wicked. I'm sure many parents can sympathize with the utter helplessness you feel when you ask your children to get in the car after they've been playing for some time. Even though they may be right next to you, it's as if no words have come out of your mouth at all. And so you try again with a more firm, but gentle, gentle tone, but still no movement has happened. And so you repeat your instructions, but now you realize they have now moved further away from the door. And so it's time to pull out the big guns, right? You ask again, using their middle names, with an even firmer tone. And then if no movement happens, you start the count. One, two, don't make me get mom, three.

And, and what I want to illustrate with that is the lack of effectiveness our words have, right? They can come out and they just fall flat at times. Some days they're obeyed immediately and other days, not so much. Our words have a limited efficacy. And in contrast, right, we see in verse four that the words and the judgments of this King are 100% effective. And there is no struggle at all to execute His will. The description of a rod of His mouth and the breadth of His lips are a way to describe this King pronouncing a sentence. When this King speaks, it happens. When faced with His enemies it takes a word, and they are vanquished. He does not need to repeat His judgments. He does not need to raise His voice or bring an army to enforce his commands. His words will be enough. This King's word is full of divine efficacy.

Just to be clear again, the point here that Isaiah is making is not that this King delights in the destruction of the wicked, but rather to emphasize that when this King is in power, He will have no problem keeping His kingdom, which we'll see next week is the whole earth free from injustice and evil. Injustice and wickedness will no longer have a place to stand when this righteous and faithful King comes. Church, you can trust this King because one, His strength comes from the Holy Spirit and two, His rule will always be right. And you can just imagine in the days that Israelites find themselves the assurance and the hope that this promised King would give to God's faithful people amidst the dark days of King Ahaz and this threat from the Assyrian army. Yet we see here that this hope is not dated. It's undated.

It does not tell us when this King would come. And so God's people had to wait and they waited and they waited and they waited through captivity in Babylon. And even after they returned from exile and rebuilt the temple, they continued to wait. For 700 years they waited, looking for the one who would come with the full measure of the Spirit, someone who had come with perfect wisdom, perfect understanding, perfect knowledge of the Holy One. Someone who would come and judge not by appearances, but would have an ear to the poor. And whose words would vanquish the enemies of God. They kept waiting for someone they could trust.

And then one night in a small town called Bethlehem, the city of David, a Son was born. A Son born from the house of Jesse, a Son not conceived by flesh, but by the Holy Spirit. And this child grew strong in wisdom in the favor with God. And when the time came, the heavens were open and the Spirit rested upon Him like a dove. And this Son of David was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And there He was tempted by Satan, but instead of falling into the snare of the devil, like others in David's line before him, he feared God and resisted Satan's temptations and obeyed his Father's will perfectly. And then the Son of David walked into the synagogue, opened the scroll of Isaiah and read, Isaiah 61:1-2;  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

And then this Spirit-filled Son gave His ear to the poor. He broke bread with the meek. He did not recoil when a woman of the city interrupted a dinner party and used her tears to anoint His feet. But instead He saw beyond appearances and into her heart of faith. And when this Son of David spoke, demons were cast out, and with a word He rebuked the winds and the waves and they obeyed Him. And with a cry of command, a dead man walked out of his tomb. After centuries of silence, God picks up the megaphone of heaven and announces that His Spirit-empowered righteous King has come, who is both David's son and David's Lord; God's Son with whom He is well pleased. And His name is Jesus, Emmanuel God with us.

The long awaited ruler had come, but no one would have dreamed that this mighty King that we read about in Isaiah would be born in a stable. No one can understand why He didn't pick up the sword as a conquering king, but instead picked up a basin to wash feet as a servant king. He was not the king that they were expecting. He was a king with no majesty about him, nor any beauty that we should look upon him. And so He was despised. He was rejected by men and acquainted with grief. For this prophesied king came not first as a lion, but as a lamb, a spotless lamb to be led to the slaughter, to be pierced for our transgressions, to be crushed for our iniquities.

And this King made it very clear to both heaven and to earth that you can trust Him because not even death could conquer this King, for God raised Him up on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And now King Jesus sits on the throne on high and is making ready all of heaven to establish His forever kingdom here on earth, a kingdom where peace and justice will reign forever. And so my dear brothers and sisters, do you know this King? Do you trust Him? When He speaks, do you listen? When He calls, do you come? When He offers you the hope of heaven, do you believe?

I think it's the case for many of us that when we've been faced with the trials and the sufferings of this year, that we've listened to other voices, or maybe we've put our trust in lesser kings for comfort. It may be that even in your loneliness and suffering, you've strayed away from His voice and question whether or not this King would be faithful to his word. But today, I want to tell you something different. I want you to hear this, that in your loneliness King Jesus has not left you. In your sorrow King Jesus weeps with you and in your waiting King Jesus reminds you that He is still coming and He will soon make all things new. And even until that time, He has sent His Spirit to rest in our hearts, to be our comforter, to be our counselor, and to help bring our sorrows before the throne of grace.

Do you know Him? Do you trust Him? Maybe you're wondering, how do I know if I trust Him? Well, are you willing to put your sin to death for Him? Are you willing to endure mocking and scorn on account of Him? Are you willing to deny yourself, deny your flesh, deny your desires and to pick up your cross and to follow Him? When the waves of doubt blow through you, do you hold onto the sure and steady anchor of His promises? And do you believe Him when he tells you that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glories that will be revealed? Do you know Him? Do you trust Him?

The reason I asked you this again and again, is because it is the most important question facing every one of us today. It's the most important question because Jesus, this King is coming again. And at His second coming, He is not coming to die, but to judge and with the rod of His mouth, He will pronounce His judgments upon the living and the dead. And if we're honest with ourselves, we have no chance to stand before Him based on our own merit before this righteous King Jesus. Our hands are not clean. We have all sinned and fallen short of His great glory, and we are under the just judgment of this righteous and great King.

And so what will be your defense when you meet Him? Will you trust in your own good deeds, hoping that you'll be able to skirt justice a little bit? Or will you cling to the cross and trust in the righteousness that has been given to you by the King through faith? Do you trust Him? Do you know Him? Brothers and sisters, I hope today that as you've gotten to know this King Jesus a little bit better this morning, that you would put your trust in Him this day and forevermore. Would you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you that you are our trustworthy King. A king that was not caught off guard by a pandemic or caught off guard by political tension. That you're a king that is not swayed by appearances, but judges justly, and with righteousness. And Lord, we thank you that you left your throne above and came to this earth 2,000 years ago, to die in the place of sinners like us. For without you Lord, we would have nothing to stand on before you, King.

Lord, if there's anyone here who has not placed their trust in you, would you send your Spirit now to capture their affections that they would desire to live for you and with you for eternity. And for those of us who have trusted in King Jesus, would You help us to trust You more and more? Would You help us take a look at our lives and to see the areas where we have not given You our full trust and may we relay aside all of the false hopes and set our hope fully on the grace that will be revealed to us when You come again. Jesus, we long for Your return. So help us now be eager and ready when You do come again. And it's in the name of King Jesus we pray. Amen.