06/03/18 Sermon – Knowing God Intimately
“Knowing God Intimately”
Isaiah 11:1-9
Isaiah has prophesied about the destruction of Israel and how the proud will be cut down to mere stumps. In today’s Scripture Isaiah reveals the trustworthiness of God, through those stumps. There is hope! A stem sprouts forth from the stump of Jesse. There are many thoughts on why God goes back to Jesse, the father of David to spring forth this new shoot.
One thought is that this will be a new beginning, from the same line as David, but a new lineage.
This new lineage will be disconnected from the current royal line of David, which King Ahaz belonged and not be tainted with corruption.
The description Isaiah gives in chapter 11 of this new shoot is a Messianic prophecy. It is significant to note that within this description there are seven attributes which is the Biblical number of fullness or completeness.
The first attribute of this new shoot is the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him. The Messiah’s spirit and God’s spirit are the same. They are one, three in one.
The second attribute claims that the Messiah will have the Spirit of Wisdom. Jesus demonstrated this wisdom when He walked on earth and in 1 Corinthians 1:30 we learn that not only does Jesus have wisdom, He is wisdom.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
The third aspect the Messiah will have is the Spirit of Understanding. He understands all things, perfectly. In Hebrew, the concept of “understanding” contains the idea of a sharp sense of smell. Today we would liken it to a good detective, who has been around enough to smell a “rat” when he encounters one, as well as someone who is honest and true.
The fourth aspect is the Spirit of counsel. The Messiah uses both wisdom and understanding to provide perfect counsel, that is available to us at all times.
The fifth aspect is the Spirit of might. The Messiah is capable of taking action, He is not powerless in His caring and understanding. He is capable of helping us.
The sixth aspect of the Messiah is the Spirit of knowledge. Here is His omniscience. He knows our hearts, He knows the facts.
He has the bigger picture and because of that He may do things that seem strange or wrong to us or others. We need to trust this Spirit of knowledge.
And finally the Messiah has the Spirit of the fear of the LORD. Jesus was the perfect example of how one needs to keep in submission, respect and honor to God the Father.
This passage is the backup for what we read regarding the sevenfold Spirit of God in Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5 and 5:6. Also in Revelation we read about the physical example of the seven-branched lampstand that held the oil lamps for the tabernacle.
As we continue to read chapter 11 we discover the perfect character of the Messiah. The Messiah not only has the fear of the LORD, but He delights in the fear of the LORD. John 4:34
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
We also discover the Messiah will be a judge that uses righteousness to judge the poor and will treat the meek of the earth with equity. Which reveals that if the poor and the meek are given justice then the same will happen for everyone. As for the wicked, their judgment from the Messiah will come by the mention from His lips. He need only proclaim a judgment, and it will be done. Righteousness and justice are so close to the Messiah, they are like belts around His waist.
This type of leadership will produce peace. A type of peace that does not exist currently but which gives us a glimpse of what it will be like. We are given a list of opposites where the aggressive and the helpless live together in harmony. The wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the lion and the calf, the bear and the cow, and their young will hang out with one another. Then we are told the baby will play in the nest of deadly snakes.
The debate is still out as to whether these images should be taken literally or figuratively as an imagery of the aggressiveness and cruelty of human nature that will be changed. Either way, this section ends with a return back to the opening theme of Isaiah in chapter 1, of true knowledge, in verse 2, where Isaiah claimed that the ox and the donkey understood better than the Israelites. But when the Messiah comes, Israel will have true knowledge, knowledge of reality and will be able to act on that knowledge. The Hebrew language does not distinguish between an intellectual knowledge and the knowledge of experience or personal acquaintance. For the Hebrews, true knowledge comes from an experience. So when Isaiah speaks about the “Knowledge of the LORD” he is not speaking about the intellectual knowledge of the LORD, but about the relational knowledge of having an close and intimate relationship with Him. This is one of the primary reasons for needing a Messiah. It is Jesus who makes it possible for all people to get to have an intimate relationship with God, their creator.
Isaiah is giving us the characteristics of the kingdom of God in these nine verses. Unfortunately, the Jewish nation chose to envision these promises as literal, where a descendant of David would rule over Israel, and be a literal person of military and/or political might. He would rule over them and defeat their military and political enemies. But this is not exactly how the promise was fulfilled by God. God chose to keep His promise another way, through Jesus, and they had a difficult time recognizing it. Had they viewed such passages with a spiritual emphasis they may have recognized Jesus for who He is.
Which is a case in point for us today. It may be best for us to read prophecy with humility and not assume we know exactly how the predictions will be fulfilled. By leaning towards a spiritual teaching of prophecies and less on how they are going to be mechanically fulfilled, we will gain insight for living.
Should we take that advice into practice on today’s prophecy, we walk away understanding this passage to proclaim:
First, the very basis of true knowledge begins with fear of the LORD,
Proverbs 9:10 New International Version (NIV)
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Second, the power of the Word of God, when Jesus speaks, it happens.
Third, there is hope for the healing of the aggressive and oppressive instincts of humans.
And ultimately, It is Jesus, the Messiah, who makes it possible for all people to get to know God intimately.
