Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you with the Lord's help this morning to words that
we find in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 10. Isaiah 11 10 and
in that day there shall be a root of Jesse,
which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the
Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." Or as Imogen says,
his rest shall be glory. And in that day, there shall
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glory. We were last week considering
the opening verses of this same chapter and then tried to say
something with regards to Christ who is set before us here under
the name of Rods out of Jesse's stem, a branch growing out of
his roots. We thought of Christ and the
Rods and the roots. of Jesse. It's interesting, I
think I did say last week that in his concordance Alexander
Cruden reckons there are 200 different names that are given
to the Lord Jesus and of course we find several here in this
book of Isaiah. We think of the remarkable statement
that we have previously in chapter 9 and verse 6, his name. He is
called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And here, as I was saying last
week, we see him under the name of Raj, out of the stem of Jesse,
the branch growing out of his roots. And then again in the
words that I've announced for our text this morning we see
him as that one who is given the name of an enzyme of the
people. And now there is much instruction
of course in these various names that are being given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it is so evident that it
is of the Lord Jesus Christ that the Prophet is speaking here
in this particular chapter. We know that on the authority
of the New Testament Scriptures because the Apostle Paul writing
to the church at Rome makes reference to the words of this chapter. There at the end of that epistle
in Romans 15 verse 8 he says, Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm
the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for his mercy and then he says as it is written and he
refers in proof of what he has just said to a number of scriptures
in the Old Testament various passages are referred to in the
following verses and then at verse 12 there Paul says, and
again Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and either
shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles
trust. So we have the authority of what
Paul is saying in the New Testament, the key to unlock and to understand
those great truths that are laid before us here in the Old Testament
Scriptures. And so As I think I said last
time, chapters 11 and 12 here are so clearly speaking to us
of the Lord Jesus Christ and speaking of the gospel day. The language that is employed. We read, do we not, at the beginning
of our text, in that day. What is the day that's being
spoken of? It's the day of grace. God says through the apostle,
I have heard thee in a time accepted, in the day of salvation have
I suffered thee. Behold now is the accepted time,
behold now is the day of salvation. And so the opening words of our
text this morning that And it's a day that has been spoken of,
of course, in all the previous verses of the chapter from what
we were considering last time. There in the opening two verses,
he speaks then of the Lord Jesus as one who is descended from
Jesse, the father of David, but also that one who is before Jesse,
who is the very root of Jesse. And then he goes on to speak
of the Spirit of the Lord resting upon this one. The Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And now
of course we know that the Father did not give the Spirit by measure
on to the Lord Jesus while He is the Christ. He is the Anointed
One, He has the Spirit in great abundance. and shall make him
of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall
not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after
the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lip shall he slay the wicked. And
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins." What a description we have of the
Lord Jesus. And then, verse 6, the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and
a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall
feed, their young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The
language is Old Testament terminology but it's describing something
to us of the great blessings of this day of grace, the Gospel
day. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
to which shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. Well, let us come to consider
the content of this tenth verse, and I want to divide what I say
into some four headings really, as we consider Christ as the
ensign. Christ as the ensign. What is
an ensign? It's the colors, of course, that
would be taken onto the battlefield. It was where the troops were
to rally, to the ensign, to the standard, to the flag. And Christ
is here set before us as that one who is an ensign, and to
this ensign, to these colors. the Gentiles are to seek. But
considering these four points, first of all I want to say something
with regards to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, reminding
you in some measure of what we were saying last Lord's Day morning,
and then to consider the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
then to establish who the people are, the people of the Lord Jesus
Christ and then finally to say something with regards to that
rest. His rest shall be glory it says
at the end of the verse. First of all though the person
in that day there shall be a root of Jesus. It's echoing of course
the words that we have at the beginning of the chapter there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots." And these are significant words.
They're taken up again in the New Testament there, right at
the end of Scripture in Revelation 22, where we are told of him
who is Jesse's son, David. And the Lord Jesus Himself declares
in Revelation 22, 16, Jesus says, I am the root and offspring of
David. The root of David, the root of
Jesse, but also the offspring of David and the offspring of
Jesse. The root is one thing, the offspring
of course is quite another. Surely we recognize that the
root is first, the root is before. and the branch is that that follows
after. And isn't that the truth that
we see at the end of Matthew 22 where the Lord Jesus Christ
is dealing with the Pharisees and this man stands forth, he's
a lawyer, in other words he's well versed in the laws of the
Old Testament, well versed in the Torah, he's a chief Pharisee
and he comes and he asks Or he comes to dispute with the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the course of that disputing the Lord puts
that question to him concerning David, whose son is he? That's
a question that the Lord puts to this man. These Pharisees
are always questioning Christ, trying to catch Christ out and
Christ simply asks the question concerning Messiah, the Christ,
whose son is he? And of course this man knows.
he is the son of David that's the mark of the one who is going
to come forth as the Christ he will be David's offspring but
the Lord then says to him and quotes the language of the 110th
Psalm why does David then call him Lord saying the Lord said
unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy
footstool and the man is somewhat nonplussed really and the Lord
silences these men. That's what it says at the end
of that chapter. What the Lord is setting forth there is the
truth that Messiah is that one who when he comes will have two
natures. He will come forth that one who
is the eternal son of God. But in the fullness of time God
sends forth his son made of a woman. In the fullness of time, the
time ordained from all eternity, He comes forth as that One who
is the Son of Man. Who is the offspring, the Son
of David. The branch, growing out of the
roots of Jesse, it says. But isn't that another name that's
given to the Lord Jesus? He is the branch. Behold the
man whose name is the branch. he shall grow forth before him
the language of Zechariah and again we have that same terminology
taken up here in Isaiah 53 he shall grow up before him as a
tender root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness
when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
or the humiliation of his human life he set forth there but he
is that one who is who is very much a man a real man and yet
who is this one who has come forth in the fullness of the
time as as David's offspring he is none other than the Lord
God himself without controversy the great mystery of godliness
God Paul says was manifest in the flesh oh when the fullness
of the time was come God sends forth his Son. He is the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of course,
remember when Paul begins at the opening part of the epistle
to the Romans to describe something of that gospel that's been committed
to him, that gospel that he is bound to preach, how does he
define it? He says it's concerning his Son,
God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. who was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead." There we have the wonder of the person. He is David's son, but he is
also the Son of God. There are two natures two natures
in that one person. That's the mystery. He is one
person. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
that is the person. But besides having a divine nature,
he also now has a human nature. But that human nature that he
has taken to himself never had any distinct personality of its
own. that human nature after the incarnation
has ever subsisted in union with the person of the Son of God.
Now that's important that we recognize that. One person, the
person of the Son of God. Remember the language of the
angel in Luke 1 speaking to the virgin who is going to conceive
in her womb this human nature. That holy thing That holy thing,
not a person, that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. What is that holy thing? It's
the human nature. And that human nature is taken
into union with the eternal Son of God. We cannot begin really
to understand that mystery. That is the person. And after
the Incarnation, in everything He does, He is always God and
man. Two distinct natures. We're not
to think that the natures are some way mixed and mingled together.
They're distinct. He is God, and all that God is,
is the eternal Son of God, but He is also man, as real a human
as any of us who are here today. the wonder of the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what's being stated here. Yes,
it's in terminology that very much belongs to the Old Testament,
but it's speaking of that great mystery in that day. Thou shalt
be a root of Jesse. He's Jesse's root. And yet, he's
also a rod proceeding, a branch coming out of the roots of Jesse. and we see the wonder of his two distinct natures in his human
nature the person of the Lord Jesus Christ can then sympathize
with men because he is a real man we have not had high priests
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
he was in all points tempted like us we are yet without sin
He knew what sort of temptations were in the days of His flesh.
We offered up prayer and supplication, we strung crying and tears unto
Him that was able to save Him from falling and was
hurt. He was hurt in that He feared. Though He were a Son yet learned
the obedience. For we lived that life of faith
as a man here upon the earth. and he's able to understand what
our sinless frailties are. He knew what it was to grow weary
and to sit down at the well at Saika. He knew what it was to
desire food, to eat, to partake of food, to digest food, and
yet The person is always that one who is nothing less than
the eternal son of God. But we see him in his human nature.
And of course as a man he also comes and stands in that law
place of his people. Oh, we are the ones who are under
the law. Whatever things the law says, it said to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world become guilty before God. And what does He do? He stands in that law place.
He's made of a woman. We're told there in Galatians
4, but not only that, He's made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. Oh, He comes in that law. He
is the root of righteousness. That's the name that's given
to Him there in Proverbs 12 and verse 12. This one who is a root,
as it were, growing out of the stem of Jesse, he's the root
of righteousness. That's the name with which he
is called. He is called the Lord of Righteousness. He is subject to the law. He
obeys the law. He's obedient, and he's obedient
even to the death of the cross. He obeys the Lord in living,
he obeys the Lord in dying, in his life. He honors it in terms
of all its precepts. Holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners. And yet, it's that holy and righteous
one who dies. He has redeemed us, says Paul,
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. All this
while now he is so suited to sinners. He comes and identifies
with the sinner. He eats with the sinners. He
comes not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. But
then in his divine nature The person of the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who is strong. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him. In everything that he does as
a man he's also God. He's the God-man. We can't in
that sense separate the two natures because it's one person. One
person. subsisting in two natures. God says, I have laid help upon
one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen of
the people. I have found David my servant. With my holy oil
have I anointed him. Who is this David that the psalmist
is speaking of there in the 89th Psalm? It's this one. The root of Jesson. The father
of David. we have to recognize who is being
spoken of in the opening words of our text in that day there
shall be a root of Jesus the person the person of the Lord
Jesus but what do we next read? we shall stand for an ensign
of the people he is an ensign and This really suggests to us
the idea of the unfolding, as it were, the unfolding of the
flag, the unfolding of the gospel, the colors being the splines. It directs us to that aspect
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ because he comes in that
threefold office, he is a king, He's the King of Kings, He's
the Lord of Lords, He's the Great High Priest who comes to make
the one sacrifice for sins forever. He's also the true Prophet of
the Lords and the greatest preacher that ever walked the face of
the Earth. And now we see Him unfolding as it were the Gospel.
We have the Sermon on the Mount. Remember what we're told at the
end of that remarkable sermon there in Matthew when Jesus had
ended all these sayings how the people were astonished because
he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes
or never man spake like this man. What a ministry the Lord
Jesus Christ was able to exercise. With authority He spoke. How
time and again we're told in John's Gospel, aren't we, a division
because of Him. A division because of His teaching.
He was the most discriminating of all ministers. How He faithfully separated the
precious from the vile. That's the mark of the Lord's
true servants, is it not? And we are told, aren't we, here,
back in verse 4, the second part of that verse, "...he shall smite
the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked." It's that same one that we see
again when we come to the end of the Scriptures here in Revelation
19 and verse 15, "...out of his mouth goeth forth a sharp sword,
that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule
them with a rod of iron." Oh, the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the preaching of the Gospel, that's not only true
with regards to the Lord's own ministry, but how that ministry
is continued through the ministry of His Apostles. And even today
there is the standing ministry of the Word of God. those who
are charged to open up the Scriptures, to rightly divide the Word of
Truth. Isn't the right dividing of the Word of Truth that unfolding
of the enzyme, that setting forth of Christ? Paul says, we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the great subject matter
of the ministry. We preach Christ crucified, Paul
tells the Corinthians, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." There it is, you see. Jesus Christ,
that's the person. That one of whom we just saw
to say something from what we're told at the opening part of the
text. In that day there shall be a root of Jesus. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But Paul says Jesus Christ and him crucified. We preach
not only the person of the Savior and the mystery of godliness,
God manifest in the flesh, but we attempt also to preach the
work, all that this man did, his life, his death, his obedience
unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ crucified. that one who
come to die as the great substitute, the blessed doctrine of substitutionary
atonement, Jesus there bearing in his own person. Oh, it was
the Christ who died, that's the mystery, isn't it? That awful
cry of dereliction. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me, Christ? And yet, can there really be
a separation in the doctrine of God? God is one, but God is
three, and there's no division between the persons in the Godhead.
The Son is that one who is eternally begotten of the Father. and the Father is eternally begetting
the Son, and the Holy Ghost is eternally proceeding from the
Father and the Son, and there is one God, undivided, indivisible. The mystery of that crying, there
upon the cross, but again, is it not Christ? The person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, in his human nature now making the great
sacrifice for sin. This is a message to be proclaimed. This is the message that we see
the apostles preaching throughout
the Acts. It's a subject matter of all
the New Testament epistles. It's Christ in all the Scriptures. It's interesting, isn't it, what
the Lord himself says. Remember in John chapter 3 where
he refers to the serpent being held up in the wilderness when
the children of Israel were there being bitten by the snakes, the serpents, the venom
was killing them Moses' command to make a brazen serpent and
to hold it up and those who looked at that
serpent oh they were healed they were cured, the venom wasn't
able to kill them. And the Lord utters those words,
I think it is the Lord, it's not John, it's the Lord himself
speaking as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So the
lifting up of the of the serpent is like the raising of the ensign
the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, setting Christ forth
in his great work of substitutionary atonement and that's clearly
seen in what we have later in that gospel John's gospel chapter
12 and verses 32 and 33 Christ says and I if I be lifted up
from the earth will draw all men unto him. This he spake,
signifying what death he should die. The lifting up of the serpent
isn't just to be understood then in terms of the unfolding of
the ensign, the preaching of the word, the proclamation of
Christ. Yes, there is that in it, but from what we read in
those words in chapter 12 of John's Gospel, where we have
the interpretation. He spoke this concerning the
death that he was to die. He's lifted high upon the cross.
And I like the language of the hymn writer Joseph Irons. I don't
think the hymn is in Gadsby's, but it's a lovely hymn. The only
gospel we can own sets Jesus Christ upon the throne, proclaims
salvation full and free, obtained on Calvary's rugged creed. Oh, we have to hold forth the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that day, in this gospel day,
there shall be a root of jesuit which shall stand for an ensign. For an ensign of the people,
it says. And so, in the third place, to
say something with regards to the people. the person of Christ,
the preaching of Christ? Who are the people? Who are the
people of Christ? Now, we're not of course to ignore
where our text is set. It's set here in the Old Testament. It's the context of the Old Testament.
And we know that in the Old Testament God's people was very much the
nation of Israel. those who were descended from
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in Amos chapter 3 God says you only
have I known of all the families of the earth there was a separation between
Israel and the Gentile nations again the language that we have
at the end of the 147 psalm he showeth his Word unto Jacob, his statutes
and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any
nation, neither have they known them. Praise ye the Lord! These
are God's special people. And the reason they are God's
special people is simply and solely because of God's sovereignty.
We go back to the language of Moses, the early Deuteronomy,
the fifth book of Moses. Remember the words there in chapter
7 of Deuteronomy. because the Lord loved you and
because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your
fathers after the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt. It's the love of God. It's the
oath of God. It's the God of the covenant
you see. They're God's covenant people. The people. the people that's what it says and it's interesting because
he does go on here to speak of them being gathered they had the experience or their
fathers had had the experience of being brought out of Egypt
into the promised land but of course when they're in that promised
land how often they They rebelled against God and God judges them. We have to book judges and we
see time and again rebellion, restoration, rebellion, restoration. But eventually God does cast
them out of the land and Isaiah speaks of that awful events,
the Babylonian exile which would occur about a hundred years after
Isaiah's ministry. But Isaiah doesn't simply speak
of them being cast out but also restored. and look at what follows
here in verse 11 which I come to pass
in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left
from Assyria and from Egypt and from Paphos and from Cush and
from Elam and from Shina and from Hamath and from the islands
of the sea and he shall set up an ensign for the nations and
shall assemble the outcast of Israel and gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. He goes on at the end of the
chapter to say there shall be a highway for the remnant of
his people which shall be left from Assyria like as it was to
Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Here is the historical context. And there is an application to
that. God will restore His people. He must restore them. Ultimately,
Israel must be preserved as a people till Messiah come. All the seed is there all the
time, you see. It must be preserved. But, but,
we know that they are a typical people. They really are a typical people. and the people being spoken of
here in the text is that people of whom Israel in the Old Testament
is a type. They are not all Israel that
are of Israel says the Apostle. There in Romans 9.6 you know
we quoted those words in chapter 2 of Romans so many times he
is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is circumcision that
which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly Paul makes it all clear. Circumcision is not that of the
letter. It's that of the Spirit. It's that that takes place in
the heart of a man. It's regeneration. Christian
believers are the true Israel of God. They are that people. They are a peculiar people. Well, Peter can speak of them.
And there they are, the Lord's people in a special way there,
the Lord's purchased people. The words that we have there
in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 he says, Ye are a chosen
generation. And he's writing isn't he to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, that elects, according to the four logics
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. These are the ones
he's speaking of when he says there in that second chapter,
verse 9, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people, or the Margin says, a purchased people, that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvellous light which in time past were
not a people or they were not a people but now they are the
people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy
and these I say are the ones that are really being spoken
of the application is much wider than the restoration of the Jews.
Yes, we recognize that, but all that is typical and directs us
to Christ and that great work that the Lord Jesus Christ has
done. What do we read here in the text?
He is an ensign of the people to each other. Gentiles seek all their salvation for sinners
of the Gentiles those who are outcasts those
who feel themselves at times when the Lord begins to deal
with them they feel their real condition they are those who
are far off they are alienated they are enemies they feel something
of the awful doctrine of their total depravity their spiritual
impotence, their inability to do anything They rejoice, you
see, in a free grace salvation, Lord, pity outcasts, vile and
base, the poor dependents on thy grace, whom men disturb as
call. How God's people, you see, are
misunderstood, misrepresented, despised, rejected, but they're
Gentiles who are saved. Again, in the portion that we
read in the New Testament, Ephesians 2, Again, the Apostle Paul addressing
the church at Ephesus. Believers. And he reminds them
what they were, having the understanding darkened, alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness, the hardness of their hearts. That's the Gentiles.
And we read those words, didn't we, in the second chapter of
Ephesians? At that time, he says, you were without Christ. being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope without God in the world. Oh, it's awful, isn't it, when
we're brought to feel what we are in our natural state. That's
our condition. So very far from God. But then coming to the end of
the text, and his rest shall be glory. In that day there shall
be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
To each other Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. His rest is glory. To rest in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. He says, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest
for your souls. God does hear His people when
they cry to Him. He hears them in that time accepted. In that day of salvation. That
acceptable time. and you know the Lord Jesus comes
doesn't he in the preaching of the words we read the words there
in Ephesians 2.17 how Christ came and preached peace to you
which were afar off and to them that were nigh he's writing to
a Gentile church you are Gentiles were afar off Christ came and
preached peace to you that were afar off and yet Christ never
went outside of Israel He never went outside of Israel, did he?
He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But by the ministry of the apostles,
he preaches to the Gentiles. And so it is today, even today,
that message comes to us of the Gentiles. Those words in Ephesians
4, when Paul says at verse 20, you have not so learned Christ,
if so be that ye have heard him, and been taught by him as the
truth is in Jesus." How did they hear Christ? How were they taught by the Lord
Jesus Christ? Ephesus is in a Shemina turban. Christ was never there. Christ
comes, you see, in the unfolding of the Ensign, the preaching
of the Gospel. He came and preached peace. says
the apostle there in that second chapter of Ephesians to you which
were afar off and to them which were nigh and by that preaching by that
message they were brought nigh made nigh by the blood of Christ
that's what it says Ephesians 2.13 ye who sometimes were far
off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, the efficacy of that
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How He reconciles the sinner
to God, He brings the sinner back to God. This man shall be
the peace. Peace I leave with you. My peace
give I unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, He says.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. For
this is the Lord's blessed legacy to His people. and this is the
message you see we have here in the text today for the sinner
there is reconciliation there is salvation there's all the
fullness of the gospel and it's here in our text in that day
what a favored people living in such a day in that day there
shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of
the people to which other Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glory. O the Lord grant that we might
know what it is then on this Sabbath day, this day of rest,
to be those who are truly resting in all the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.