Isaiah’s great vision

Revd Sarah Haslam, who is on placement with us, shared her reflection at Communion in these verses from the Prophet Isaiah:

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel and might,
    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide 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.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
    the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling 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 asp,
    and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11.1-9

I wonder how you are feeling today? I wonder what you need to hear? Our passage today from the prophet Isaiah begins with the words: A shoot will come… The prophet Isaiah here uses what would have been – in around 700BC – rich, comforting and familiar imagery to speak of the king coming from the stump of Jesse, the father of the much-beloved king David.  

It strikes me that Isaiah couldn’t speak more highly of this king: the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord – through the blessing of the Spirit, the coming king will be known for each of these characteristics.

Isaiah then announces his rule – one of righteousness and faithfulness… For the people of that time, who had seen their country ravaged and defeated by their enemies the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians, and who knew that it was all because they had not been faithful to their God… how marvellous to hear that this king would, however, be righteous and faithful to them.

These were the words the people then, needed to hear. And what of now, today? Are we any different? The vocabulary may be slightly different, but the essence is indeed the same because God’s truth is timeless. As we approach Christmas, children are perhaps writing their letters (or perhaps emails) to Father Christmas: ‘Dear Santa, this year I would like…’ But what we truly long for, what we need hasn’t changed; it is Immanuel: God with us.

 I’m conscious of how easy it would be for me to gloss over the verse perfectly poised at the midway point. It punctures this picture in the way broken glass might damage Simon’s bicycle wheel. Right in the middle of these 9 verses we read:  “he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

For us, here, this causes perhaps inner conflict, but for many of our brothers and sisters, people who are with broken hearts and lives longing for, crying out for justice – and for the planet, God’s creation, no less – this promise perhaps decrees the most powerful hope and comfort still.

Isaiah declares peace at last: that under His governance, the kingdom would be one where ‘natural enemies’ shall live together in perfect accord and, ultimately, the influence and significance of God’s messianic king will ripple out across the whole world: the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is a beautiful passage; it depicts no less than the Kingdom of God. What hope, what comfort, what joy! It’s truly wonderful.

Sodo we read this passage from Isaiah in terms of the past – the coming of the king they desperately hoped for – or indeed do we excitedly fast-forward to the future – when Christ will come again. No timeframe is given.

And, in this curious season of Advent more than ever, we know that we are called to look back and look forward, and to the here and now – this very point in time. This King, our Saviour Jesus Christ is for all of eternity, including now.    

And so as we read this passage today, we are called to pause, to be still, to look at the now, to look at ourselves. I asked how you are feeling. Today, whatever our circumstances, the Holy Spirit invites us to respond to God’s word this morning must with a resounding Amen! Not just with our lips, but to proclaim, pray for and to live our Amen. This king, Christ, has come and as his followers now, the Spirit of the Lord rests upon each one of us: we are his citizens, bearers, of his Kingdom. Today we need to more fully be people of this ‘peaceful kingdom’ now, here, today.

At this time of year, when many accelerate their rushing around, with all the stress, distractions, busy-ness, preparations and plans, let’s determine not to lose sight of the Kingdom. Of peace. Of rest. Of wholeness, of perfect union with our God & with one another. Let’s fix our eyes on our king, and with Isaiah proclaim: come, Lord Jesus.

Take some time in silence to simply stop and invite God’s Holy Spirit to rest on you, to meet you where you are and to lead you, so you might more fully enter into the kingdom full of peace. Come, Lord Jesus…

Loving Father, we pray for wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the lord. We pray for righteousness and faithfulness. We pray for peace. This we pray for ourselves, for our families and friends, for our communities, and for all nations, through Jesus Christ our saviour, your Son our Lord. Amen.