Good morning and Welcome to the Kitchen Class. In this class we feast on His word, taking a book of the bible and each week studying a passage until we have studied the entire book.
Question of the day: When did you first learn about Jesus, and what was your first reaction or thought about what you had learned?
Read: Isaiah 11
11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,[b] from Elam, from Babylonia,[c] from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s enemies[d] will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.
They will subdue Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River.
He will break it up into seven streams
so that anyone can cross over in sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt
We saw at the end of the last chapter God condemning Assyria. Then right away in this chapter we are once again hearing the prophecy of the coming Savior.
In the Andrews Bible Commentary it suggests that the immediate shift back to the coming Savior suggests that victory over Assyria is also talking about all of God's enemies. So the branch that bears fruit is the reason that all God's enemies will be defeated.
I want to just stop for a moment and think about that. Our Savior has defeated all of the enemies. Sometimes as Seventh-day Adventists I think we need to be reminded! Jesus Christ came, died on the cross for our sins and then he was raised from the tomb and now LIVES. Because of this all our enemies have been defeated! Jesus paid the price.
How then do we LIVE?
Do you KNOW that your sins are forgiven?
Do you know that when God looks at your life all he sees is the life of Christ?
KNOWING that, how does it change how we live?
I recently had a conversation with someone who has been a life long Christian, and yet she still does not live with the assurance that her sins have been forgiven her. Living without that assurance does not allow us the opportunity to live an abundant free life. Living in fear, living not knowing, is not LIVING!
God has defeated your enemies and He has saved you!
Now onto verses 2-5.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
The spirit of the Lord will rest on him...
The word here for rest is nuah and it means "to remain." To rest is not just to touch momentarily, but to rest on is to remain there. The spirit of the Lord will remain with Him. Will remain on Him.
How does this list help you see a picture of God?
According to the Andrews Bible Commentary, each of these three pairs represent three main attributes of God.
Wisdom and understanding refer to his judicial office.
Counsel and might refer to His role as a military leader.
Knowledge and fear of the Lord, tell us about his relationship with God.
Perhaps my favorite line is "he will delight in the fear of the Lord."
What a beautiful description of the relationship between them.
Verses 6-9 we see a new kind of world. A world of peace.
The Lord comes and then...
Peace!
What can we takeaway from this? If we let the Holy Spirit rest on us, to stay there! Can we then live a life of peace? Maybe even regardless of the storms going on around us?
How many of you today NEED PEACE?
What are your takeaways with this last section of Isaiah 11?
Here we see another act of justice against the Assyrians. See when the Savior came it is religious activity that changes everything, and even the Gentiles will serve him. The people of Assyria will worship this new king. He has changed everything.
This not only speaks to justice, but is a beautiful reminder that Jesus came for all! We even having not just the prophesy but the lived life to look at, still want to put parameters around who Jesus is here for. He came for all! He was resurrected for all!
I think today we can't look at this passage without asking ourselves some questions.
Do I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth and redeemed me?
Have I accepted Him as my Lord and savior?
If I believe that His sacrifice paid the price then can I today here and now have the assurance that I am saved?
How does this knowledge change how I live?
How does it impact my choices?
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