Imagine

Session 11.49

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Introduction

 The text for this week is Isaiah 11:1-10. The context is similar to the passage from Isaiah last week. The Assyrian army is intent on conquering all of the area to their west, which includes Judah. They have already destroyed and conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel; and now, Judah is feeling the weight of their army as Assyrians push their way through to Egypt.

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 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.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

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Nikki's Video Script
Imagine

Happy 2nd week of Advent. I hope that you are finding time in this season to wait with anticipation as advent calls us to do. It is the time of each year in which we remind ourselves of the one in whom we have hope and to prepare ourselves for his return as we wait with unimaginable hope.

The text for this week is Isaiah 11:1-10. The context is similar to the passage from Isaiah last week. The Assyrian army is intent on conquering all of the area to their west, which includes Judah. They have already destroyed and conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel; and now, Judah is feeling the weight of their army as Assyrians push their way through to Egypt.

As Isaiah speaks these words, Judah is suffering terribly in a world that is ruled by greater powers. Isaiah’s words of judgment through the book tell us that Judah is suffering because of its refusal to care for it’s most vulnerable. Even still, with all of his words of judgment, Isaiah holds it in tension with the understanding that the brokenness of this world reaches to every part of creation. And so the hope he casts is that just as all of creation is broken, so God’s restoration will reach every part of the created world.

Isaiah uses his beautiful poetic voice to communicates three pictures of the restoration. In the first, we are assured that from a defeated people, new life will grow. Jesse is the father of David with whom God made a covenant. In this covenant, the promise from God was that there would always be a ruler on the throne from the line of David. And so, even though it seems as though that strong tree has been cut down, new life will come forth from a stump that has been left behind.

As we go on, Isaiah describes the ruler that will come forth to lead these desperate people as one who will rule with righteousness and good judgment. Isaiah uses three pairs of descriptors to help us see what kind of ruler this person will be. The leader will have a spirit of wisdom and discernment, counsel and might, and knowledge and fear of the Lord.

The picture that this paints for us is a ruler who walks in the ways of God and according to the attributes that are important to God. By ending with the characteristic of ‘fear of the Lord’, Isaiah assures us that this ruler will rule according to the ways of God. This ruler will bring about rest and security and stability to a land that weary and vulnerable and uncertain.

Finally, Isaiah paints for us a vision of a time in which even animals that do not get along in God’s created world order, will one day cooperate and walk in unity and harmony. When he says that the nursing child will put his hand over the hole of the asp, which was a snake, we are reminded of the time in which the sin in this world put enmity between humans and the snake. God’s righteousness and mercy will reach all the way back to the beginning of brokenness and it will reach beyond even that to heal all that has been broken since.

This season of Advent is the time of year I most deeply experience living in that strange Christian time of the now, but not yet. You know, how we live in the kingdom of God now, but it is not yet fully realized in the world. We are asked to live as if this peace has come into the world as if the hope we carry has been fully realized — it is our way of participating in God’s creation and helping to bring it to fruition in the world.

And still, we have to acknowledge that the “not yet” can so often seem to be winning. There are people hurting and being hurt, nations are at war, rulers are unjust, families are broken, and for many, illness is seeming to win the battle. Sometimes it seems as if the vision that Isaiah paints for us is impossible — yet, he claims it assurance — a day with the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord and so it is a world at peace.

It is visions of hope like this one that challenges us to act in ways to bring its reality about in our lives. When there is a future to hope for, we will act in ways that seek to make it our reality. It is the reason that Isaiah shared the vision, to begin with. He wanted the people to begin to act in ways that would bring about this kind of peace in their lives and in their community. And it is the purpose it carries for us today. When we can look forward to the possibility of this kind of a world, will be energized to act in ways to make it a reality in our own lives and communities. May the words of Isaiah inspire you to walk in the knowledge and fear of the Lord this week.

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