Let us turn again to God's Word. In that second portion that we
read, in Isaiah chapter 11, I want to direct your attention with
the Lord's help to the words that we have in 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. Isaiah 11.10 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. Again, thinking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, here we see Him as the Ensign. And that's the theme
I want to consider, Christ the Ensign. We considered last week
how He is the Son of Righteousness that rises with healing in His
wings. Previous to that we thought of
Him as the Lord's, our Righteousness. But here we see Him again, but
now He is spoken of as this Ensign in that day. Clearly the reference
here is to the day of the Gospel. There's no disputing the fact
that this is what Isaiah is speaking of because Paul the Apostle writing
in Romans chapter 15 actually quotes the words as having had
their fulfillment in Christ. Romans chapter 15 and there at verse 12. Read it
in the context. Look at what he says from verse
8 following. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God. The circumcision
being Israel. He 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. As it is written,
For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and
sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice,
ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all
ye Gentiles, and Lord him, all ye people. And again, Isaiah
saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, And he that shall rise
to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. And the Scripture being quoted
there at verse 12 is none other than the words before us tonight
here in Isaiah chapter 11. In that day all behold now is
the accepted time. Behold now is the day of grace this is the gospel
day that is being spoken of and as we come to consider the words
of course we have a great advantage over those who would have first
received the word from the lips of the prophet Isaiah it was
then a prophetic word it would be accomplished some 600 years
after it was uttered well we look back now We look back some
2,000 years to the actual accomplishments. We can understand the verse then
in light of the fulfillment of it. And so as we come to consider
the word in the text, I want to divide what I say into some
four parts, speaking of Christ as the ensign, to say something
with regard to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
the preaching of Christ, the proclamation of his gospel, and
then thirdly, to say something with regards to those who we
can understand are the people of Christ, and then finally,
his rest, the rest that he's spoken of at the end of the verse. Those four headings, and first
of all, to say something again with regards to the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I know I think I often speak
of his person, but his person is so vitally important. We rightly
make much of the work that he accomplished, but it is who he
is that makes that work so efficacious. And here we are clearly again
directed to his person. In that day there shall be a
Roots of Jesse. We shall stand for an ensign
of the people. He is that one then who is referred
to as a Roots of Jesse. But then he's spoken of previously
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 he is the root of Jesse but he is also a stem and a branch
growing out of Jesse and remember what we're told at the end of
Ruth how Jesse begat David. Yes, he was the father of David,
the one who was anointed to be the king of Israel.
And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ comes at that line, the
line of David. And when we come to the book
of the Revelation there, at the end of Revelation, Revelation
22, 16, the Lord Jesus himself declares, I am the root and the
offspring of David and we referred I think only last week or the
week before to what the Lord says to those Pharisees at the
end of Matthew 22 concerning himself concerning the Christ
whose son is he and they would say the son of David and he says
well how is it then that David calls him Lord He is David's
son. He is David's Lord. And here
we see that a root is one thing, and an offspring is quite another
thing. The root is obviously before,
and the branch is that that comes afterwards. And it reminds us
then, concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, of that
great mystery. that He is both God and man. He is the eternal Son of God. And yet, in the fullness of time,
we see Him set forth as the Son of David. Behold the man. Oh, this is a man Christ Jesus. Behold
the man whose name is the branch. and he shall grow up out of his
place in the fullness of the time. God sends forth his Son
made of a woman, made under the law. And when the Apostle Paul
opens his epistle to the Church at Rome. Remember how he speaks
of that gospel, that gospel that he had been separated unto. He's
defining what that gospel is. And he says there, Romans 1-3,
it's concerning God's Son, concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. and declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. Oh, He is the Son of David,
He is the Son of Man, He has a real human nature, but He is
also the eternal Son of God. This is the great mystery of
the person of the Lord Jesus. Without controversy, Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Those two natures. And yet, one
person. You know the doctrine of the
Trinity. One God subsisting in three persons. Not three gods,
but three persons in one undivided, one indivisible Godhead. And here is that other great
mystery that we see in scripture. When we think of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, there are two natures, a divine nature,
a human nature, but he is one person. In all that he does,
he is God-man. He never ceases to be God when
he becomes a man. In all his actions here upon
the earth, he is God's man. And how we see him as a man. In that day there shall
be a root of Jesse. But this one who is a root of
Jesse is also a rod out of the stem of Jesse. He is also a branch that grows
out of his roots. Think of the man Christ Jesus. what does it say later in chapter
53 concerning the suffering servant of the Lord he shall grow up
before him as a 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
him oh what a man is this and yet this is the man who is able
to sympathize to empathize with his fellow men. We have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
Paul says, but was tempted in all points like as we are, yet
without sin. We knew what sore temptations
were. We thought a little last Lord's
Day morning of those sore temptations that he had to endure at the
beginning of his public ministry after his baptism. We read of
Him who in the days of His flesh when He had offered up prayer
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto Him that
was able to save Him from death and was heard in that He feared,
though He were a Son, yet learned the obedience by the things that
He suffered, how He suffered. Oh, the Eternal Son of God. He is a real man. He is truly a man. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman. He is the
seed of the woman. But He who is the seed of the
woman, made of the woman, was also made under the law. He came as a man to stand in
that very law place of his people. To be their representative. To
be their surety. In their law place. In the book
of Proverbs we read of him. Proverbs 12, 12. The root of
the righteous. The root of the righteous. Or
this one who is spoken of in our text. Yes, He's the Root
of the Righteous. How He honoured and magnified
the Law of God. He obeyed it. He lived a righteous
life. He was holy and harmless and
undefiled and separate from sinners. He obeyed all the will of the
Father. And then that One who honoured
and magnified the Law by His obedience in living honoured
and magnified that law when he came to his death, he made the
great oblation, the great sacrifice. Christ has redeemed us, Paul
says, redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. This is the man. How as a man He sympathizes, he feels for
sinners. Sinners are high in his esteem. And sinners highly value him,
says Joseph Hart. But he is not just man, he is
man-God or God-man. And does God always see him as
that one who is strong? Or what does God say? in that
89th psalm, that psalm that is clearly a Messianic psalm, that
psalm that speaks to us concerning the covenant. Look at the language
that we have there. God says, I have laid help upon
one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found David my servant. with my holy oil have I anointed
him." Well, historically it might speak of David, but prophetically,
again, it is speaking of David's son, David's greatest son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed one. God has laid help upon one
that is mighty. He has exalted this one, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Oh, He is mighty to save. He
is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. And so, those whose trust is
in this Man, this God-Man, can they not say, the Lord is my
strength and song and He's become my salvation? Oh, He is strong to save. mighty to say, able to say, though
when we think of him in the state of his humiliation, the root out of a dry ground,
no form, no commonness, crucified in weakness and yet strong to
say. Here we are directed in to the
person of the Lord Jesus. The rods out of the stem of Jesse,
the branch growing out of his roots, the same one spoken of
here in verse 10, in that day there shall be a root of Jesse
which shall stand for an ensign of the people. Well, considering
Christ as that ensign of the people, brings us to our second
point. The preaching of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What is an ensign? Well, it's
really the same, I suppose, as a standard, a banner, a flag,
the colours, it would be there on the field of battle, raised
to be the rallying point of those who were engaged in the conflict. This is the idea that we have
here. Christ as an ensign. And how are those colors of that
gospel banner unfolded? They're unfolded in the preaching,
in the proclamation of the gospel. Paul says we preach not ourselves
but Jesus Christ the Lord. I determine not to know anything
among you, he says to the Corinthians. I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is the person
of Christ, the work of Christ. We preach Christ crucified, he
says, to the Jews as tumbling blocks, to the Greek foolishness,
but to them to decide Christ, the power of God, Christ, the
wisdom of God. All the unfolding of the Ensign
is that that comes with the preaching and the proclamation of the Gospel. Now, we read that passage in
Numbers chapter 21, that passage concerning the brazen serpent. But remember how it's taken up,
that portion, in the New Testament. Two occasions in the Gospel according
to Saint John, in John chapter 3, verse 14. We read, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. And then later, the same Gospel
according to St. John in chapter 12, verse 32,
Christ himself says the words, And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me." This He said signifying
what death He should die. It's true that in that later
portion in John 12 the Lord is clearly speaking of being lifted
up upon the cross. He is speaking of His death.
We're told as much. This He said signifying what
death He should die. But in the former passage, in
John chapter 3, where we read of the Son of Man being lifted
up, just as Moses lifted up the brison
serpent there in the wilderness, It's the setting forth of the
standard. It's the unfolding of the banner. It's the preaching. It's the
preaching of Christ. It's a preaching of Christ and
Him crucified. In one of his hymns, John Kent,
the hymn isn't found in God's Beselection, but Kent says this,
as Moses lifts the serpent high at God's command, lest Israel
die, so in the Gospel, full and free, let Jesus now exalted be. All there is to be that preaching,
that preaching, that proclamation of Jesus Christ, the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How He is now exalted, you see.
How the Father has accepted all that work that He did. Oh, He
was obedient, obedient in life, obedient unto death. And the
Father has set His own seal upon His work He is declared to be
the Son of God. We refer to those words at the
beginning of Romans. He is delineated, marked out
as the Son of God, it says. And how is that done? By the
resurrection from the dead. How the Father has raised Him
and the Father now has received Him. Into heaven He has ascended
on high. He has entered into that within
the veil. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance
to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. Oh, this is the one
who is to be exalted in the preaching. He is to be set forth as that
one who has all power and all authority, who is able to say God has exalted him as a saviour. Does the sinner stand in need
of that true repentance? From whence can we obtain that
real evangelical repentance, that godly sorrow over sins?
Why, he is exalted to give repentance, it seems, and the forgiveness
of sins. And as he is that one who is
the author of repentance, so he is also the one shown to be
the author and finisher of faith Hebrews 12 looking onto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith just as those Israelites
were to look onto that brazen serpent and there was there was
life there was salvation there was every cure in that look at
the serpent as Moses lifted it up. So the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one that we must look to. You want faith. You want
that true faith, that saving faith, that justifying faith.
It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who can give true faith. You
must come, you must ask that faith of Him. Oh, He is that
One who is mighty, the Great Conqueror, He has conquered sin. He has conquered Satan. He has
triumphed over death and the grave. You know the language
of the Apostle there at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. O death,
where is thy sting? he asks. O grave, where is thy
victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, he is that one who is victorious. He is that one who is the great
overcomer, who was conquered. And we see it here, you see. The preaching is to be of this
one who is mighty to say, look at verse 4, "...he shall smite
the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked. Lord, does he not remind us of
the language that we find in Revelation 19? Out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. All power, all authority
has been committed into his hands. When we think of that kingdom
Oh, that spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of
heaven, that kingdom that is not of this world. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, even in this world that lies in the wicked one,
this wicked world, even in our day and generation, this day
of small things, He is the one who rules and reigns and He is
saving. He is saving as many as the Father
ever gave to Him. Let us not forget that. He saved his people. And so in
the third place, let us consider just who his people are. The
people of Christ. What does the text say? In that
day, the gospel day, there shall be a root of Jesse, we're to
think of the person of Christ, we shall stand for an ensign,
the preaching of Christ, We shall stand for an ensign of the people. Who are the people that are being
spoken of? Friends, how important it is,
when we come to the Word of God, that we rightly divide the Word
of God. There's that verse in Peter that's
often misquoted, misapplied, concerning God and God's desire. You know the verse I'm thinking
of, where it says that God is not willing that any should repent,
but that all should come to repentance. And it's quoted as if the application
is to be to all and sundry, everybody on the face of the earth, everybody
who has ever lived God doesn't really want to condemn anyone,
God desires to save everyone. But when we look at it more closely,
more carefully, it doesn't say that at all. Because the word is addressed
to a particular and a specific people. And when we read the
beginning of Peter's epistles, we see that he is addressing
himself to those who are the election of Christ, as scattered
over the whole face of the earth. And what does Paul say in that
verse? He's speaking to this particular people. He is long-suffering,
says Peter, to Oswald. He's long-suffering, God is long-suffering
to Oswald, he says, to this people whom he's referred to previously
as those who are the election of grace, to Oswald, not willing
that any should perish. but that all should come to a
knowledge of the truth. It's not a general call, it's
a call so often that is addressed to a specific people. God addresses
himself time and again to certain characters and so it's important
that we understand who these people are in our text. Christ is an ensign of the people
well in the Old Testament who were the people surely that was
the children of Israel you only have I known he says of all the
families of the earth they were God's special people God's peculiar
people how God had chosen them we have that stated quite clearly
Deuteronomy 7 verse 6 Thou art an holy people unto the Lord
thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people
unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the
earth the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you
because you were more in number than any people for you were
the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you and
because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your
fathers that 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 this is the people and holy people a chosen people
a special people and it's the same people that
are being spoken of in our text, an ensign of the people it says. Historically it's Israel, but
remember that this isn't simply an historic word, it's a prophetic
word and it's speaking of the gospel in that day. It's not to be interpreted simply
in terms of of ethnic Israel, those who were the physical descendants
of Jacob. It's to be understood surely
in terms of God's spiritual Israel, of which ethnic Israel was simply
a type. We know that they are not all
Israel that are of Israel. And remember the language of
Romans 2, 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 and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. Spiritual circumcision. In Christ
Jesus it says neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature." Oh, that's, you see, that's real
spiritual circumcision, a new creature. This is the people that we're
to understand here. It's that people who are a peculiar
people. Again, remember how Peter speaks
of such a people. when he writes in his first epistle that first general epistle in
chapter 2 verse 9 he says you are a chosen
generation a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people,
or as 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, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. You see, it's these people that
he has addressed in the opening verses, elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
It's these who are the people that Peter is addressing there
in those verses. And so when we come to the text
and the context look at what follows verse 10
says in verse 11 it shall come to pass in that day again observe
the expression 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 Pathos, and from
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, 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." And it is not simply speaking here of literal, physical,
Jews, it's not speaking really of ethnic Israel. It has a wider
significance than the restoration of the Jews. It's speaking of
the calling of Gentiles, setting up an ensign for the nations,
it says. Assembling the outcasts. The
outcasts of Israel, that's a spiritual Israel. O Lord, pity outcasts,
vile and base, the poor dependents on thy grace, whom men disturb
as call, by sinner and by saint withstood. For these too bad,
for those too good, condemned and shunned. By all these are
the outcasts, our spiritual outcasts. They are that people who so often
are greatly misunderstood. They are that poor and that afflicted
people. They are the Lord's people. And often they feel themselves
to be like a sparrow alone upon the housetop. They are such a
strange people and yet the Lord calls such to himself. But what
do we read concerning this end sign in our text? Through it,
it says, shall the Gentiles seek. We're not to think And I say
it again, we're not to think in terms of the people of Israel,
ethnic Israel, we're to think of spiritual Israel. We're to
think of the call of the Gospel. In Christ circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing. The Lord Jesus is that One who
has come to save sinners. and he saves the greatest of
sinners. Paul, he saves Gentile sinners. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles,
reminds those Gentiles there in the church at Ephesus what
they were having the understanding darkened, he says. Alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that was in you
because of the blindness or the hardness of your hearts. That's
what they were. They were Gentile sinners. They
were so very, very far off from God. At that time, he says, ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world. Or look on some of the ends of
the earth, it says. Those who are so far off, those
who feel themselves to be in that state of alienation, enemies
of God. What hope can there be for sinners? There's every hope. In the Lord Jesus Christ, look
unto me, he says, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God's and there is none else. the people of Christ or
this is the man who receiveth sinners and eateth with them
these are the people to whom the gospel banner is to be unfurled you consider then something of
the person who is spoken of here as a root of Jesse We've thought of the ensign of
the people, that gospel banner that's to be unfurled, unfolded,
the proclamation of the glorious doctrines of the gospel, and
the people to whom that gospel is to come, poor sinners, great
sinners, even sinners of the Gentiles. And then finally, It says in the last clause, His
rest shall be glorious. His rest shall be glory, if we
read with the margin. What is this rest? What is this
rest? Well, the Lord Jesus says, Come
unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. for my burden is easy." His yoke is easy. That's the
gracious invitation of the gospel. That's a wonderful gospel word,
is he not? Come. That's what the gospel says time
and time and time and time and time again come. The Lord says
stand back In Exodus 19, they must not come near the mount,
lest they be consumed. But how the Gospel comes, you'll
see, it's a gracious word. It's a word of invitation come.
And find rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. But how is that rest
obtained? How is that rest procured? It's
through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that rest.
That rest is peace. It's peace with God. It's being
delivered from that state of alienation. It's being reconciled
to God. Well, that's the great message,
is it not? See how Paul speaks of it. Writing in his epistle
to the Colossians. And there in Colossians 1 verse
20 verse 20 well verse 19 he pleased
the father that in him that is in Christ should all fullness
dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things unto himself By him I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sights. Oh, that's the peace. That's
the rest that is held before the sinner in the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the legacy that the Lord
Jesus Christ has left for his people. He says to his own disciples,
peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. that's the gospel you see, that's
the unfolding of the enzyme it's setting forth the person
of this man we are told back in Micah chapter 5 this man shall
be the priest oh how he is so fit to stand
between heaven and earth in his person the two natures,
he's God and man He can put His hand upon us both. And by His
work, what has He done? He has reconciled the sinner.
Those who were afar off, He has made nine by the blood of His
cross. Now that poor sinner delights
to rest in Christ. For this is the Lord's Day, the
Christian Sabbath, it's the day of rest. But what is all the
services of the day? What's all the externals of our
religion as we come together in this fashion on the Lord's
Day to worship God in the morning hour, again in the evening hour? What is it all if we're not those
who are resting in Christ? The only way we can truly keep
the day is as we find our rest in Him. All keepers that come
short of this, the substance of the Sabbath miss, and they
grasp an empty shade, says the hymn writer. God forbid that
we should only have the shade, the shadow, or that we might
know something of the substance. to enter into that rest, that
rest that remains for the people of God, to be trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in His person, in His work, and to see in Him
all our desire and all our salvation. Oh, what a day! What a day is
spoken of here in the text. In that day, there shall be a
root of jesuit, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious
or that we might be those friends who would truly seek and earnestly
seek that we might know what it is to labour and to enter
into that blessed rest the Lord bless the word to us we're going
to singers are concluding hymn 876 I don't know if we've we probably
have sung it on a previous occasion not sure how familiar we are
with the tune evening hymn 732 but the hymn clearly speaks of
that brazen serpent I'll read the first two verses and we'll
sing from verse three When the chosen tribes debated against
their God as hardly treated, and complained their hopes were
spilt. Godful murmuring to requite them,
fiery serpents sent to bite them, lively type of deadly guilt. Stung by these they soon repented,
and their God as soon relented. Moses prayed, the answer gave. Serpents are the beasts that
strike the Make of brass a serpent like them. That's the way I choose
to say. 876 and we sing from verse 3. Then was damaged oil all plaster,
Wrangling venom killed the foster, Till the serpent Moses took,
Read it high, that all might view it, Bid the beaten look
up to it, Like attended every yoke. Jesus lost for sinners smitten,
Wounded, bruised, serpent beaten, To His cross directs their faith. Why should I then poison cherish? Why despair of cure and pill? Look, my soul, the sound I'm zealous at love's condition,
Work cannot work thee remission, Nor thy goodness do thee good. Death's within thee, all abound
to thee, but the remedy's within thee. See it in thy Saviour's
blood. See the Lord of glory dying,
See Him gasping, hear Him crying, See His burdened bosom lift, As ye that hunger ye, look and
see, your sins have strung you, drawing sinners, look and live. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen.