December 4, 2022 Text: Isaiah 11:1-10
Dear Friends in Christ,
The well-established convention of expressing historical dates as BC and AD is gradually being discarded in favor of BCE and CE. Out of sensitivity to non-Christians many textbooks, instead of BC, “Before Christ,” are using BCE, which is “Before the Common Era.” And instead of AD, which is short for the Latin phrase that means “in the year of the Lord,” various publications are now using the initials CE, which is “Common Era.”
Even as the world does these silly things like trying to replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays,” BCE and CE may avoid the name of Christ, but the numbering system stays the same. The anchor date is still the birth of Jesus. The Common Era still begins with the baby Jesus being born. Scholars and the worldly may do their best to erase any Christ connection but our calendars do not lie. In the year 2022 Common Era it is still 2,022 years since Jesus’s birth! What Isaiah prophesied in our text has come to pass: the “signal for the peoples” has come.
Let’s delve into the prophecy a little deeper and discover how . . .
“A STUMP CAN BEAR FRUIT”
Don’t we love the poetry of Isaiah this morning? It sounds so idyllic. Wolf and lamb together. A leopard with a goat. Calf and lion. A child playing near a cobra. Oh, how wonderful. Yea, that’s a place I want to live. Is that the way you see things on earth right now? Of course not, animals do not play nicely together.
As someone who suffered a dog bite as a child and is still leery of dogs, I would love to love in this Isaiah world. But I watch re-runs of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on RFD-TV and that is not what my eyes see. Marlin and Jim don’t just walk into a lion’s den. They don’t play near a cobra. When approaching a wolf, they don’t greet it with a kiss. What do they do? Approach everything with caution. It is a scary world out there. There is no peace in the animal world.
The same can be said in the human world. People still die from animal attacks. Humans get blown up by bombs in war. Men and women are killed in the random shootings that keep occurring. Peace eludes us as we listen to the news and see an economy in free fall. Who is safe anymore?
Is peace as far away as the shepherds on a lonely hillside, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.” (Luke 2:14). Can a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots still bear fruit? Do we see a wasteland or a garden?
It has to start somewhere. How about in Bethlehem? This prophecy of Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. His arrival is like a shoot out of a stump. Judah, at the time of this writing was in rebellion against God and many were in exile. It looked dead, like a stump. But God had promised that a Messiah would come one day, and He would be called the Prince of Peace.
In this prophecy the glory of King David is not mentioned. His father Jesse is named. The reason? To show the birth of the Savior would be from humble beginnings. A carpenter and virgin wife. A small town. A manger.
This shoot out of the stump is going to bear fruit. He has the wisdom and the counsel and the knowledge and the might to bring true peace. Isaiah says his delight is the fear of the Lord. Every breath He takes is to do just what the heavenly Father has sent him to do. He was sent to bring to bring peace. He was sent to bring justice. He was sent to bring forgiveness.
He brought peace between God and man. His death would take care of whatever anger and hostility God had against us because of our sin and rebellion. We call it forgiveness. We call it peace. That peace then bore fruit as it flowed from Jesus to his followers. He rose from the dead. The violence done to Him was undone. These disciples were afraid that day. Locked in a room. Then Jesus appeared. He gave them peace. He sent them out to share that peace with the world. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled, “In that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples – of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” (v. 10)
Lions eating straw and wolves lying down with lambs? Crazy, right? The Gospel can do even greater things. The wild beasts are us, devouring each other. But a lion going vegan, is nothing compared to God taking a sinful human being, releasing him from all the guilt of all his sin, and giving him a heart that no longer wants to sin but only wants to do the will of God.
This shoot, this stump, sprouts branches. That’s you. That’s me. We are called to bring peace to this world of hurt and fear. Where can you bring peace? A prayer for someone shattered by a crime. A contribution to a Christian organization that provides an alternative to abortion. A Twitter message that uplifts instead of tears down. A visit to a nursing home to bring some joy to a lonely existence. A word of encouragement to someone confused in their sexuality. A “Merry Christmas” to that worker running your grocery items.
The world we want, and Isaiah’s prophecy will be completely fulfilled on the Last Day. Peace on earth. Until then, we are the branches from the root of Jesus. We are the instruments of peace for the Prince of Peace. A stump that will bear fruit.
Amen.