The Saving King – part 5
Isaiah 11:1-16 (11-16)
June 11, 2023
In 722 BC – Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Assyrian journals and records indicate that they carried away over 27,000 Jews into exile.
• Those Jews never returned.
In 586 BC – Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah.
• Biblical data indicates somewhere around 18,000 Jews were marched off to Babylon where they would be for 70 years.
• Though certainly they married and multiplied while in Babylon for 70 years only 42,000 would come home at the end of the exile.
Israel would also be scattered by nations like Greece and Rome.
Even in modern times Israel has been forced to flee
And scatter from their homes even while living in foreign countries.
• Between 1880-1920 it is reported that 2 million Jews fled from Russia.
• By 1939, 282,000 Jews had fled Germany and 117,000 fled Austria.
Today census reports tell us that only 6.8 million Jews actually live in Israel.
• 6.7 million live in the US
• 450,000 live in France
• 392,000 live in Canada
• 292,000 live in the UK
• 180,000 live in Argentina
• 165,000 live in Russia
• 118,000 live in Germany
• 118,000 live in Australia
• 92,000 live in Brazil
The point being that the nation of Israel is a scattered people.
They are like a deck of cards that has been shuffled
And reshuffled and then shuffled again.
They are dispersed and intertwined into every nation on the planet.
Few if any have any idea what tribe they are from.
If one were to try and re-do the conquest and bring every Jew back to her land and appropriate it out according to their tribes as they did in the days of Moses and Joshua it would be VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE.
Almost as impossible as say, a wolf dwelling with a lamb
Or a child playing near a cobra’s den.
BUT THEN AGAIN, JESUS IS NO ORDINARY KING.
When He comes to reign
“Impossible” is a word that will need to be rethought.
For Jesus knows every single one of His sheep.
• He knows where they are.
• He knows who they are.
• He knows how many hairs are on their head.
• And Jesus is the Good Shepherd who promised to lose none.
He searches for them and finds them and brings them home.
And on the day He reigns as king, that is precisely what He will do.
Ezekiel lamented in his day all the bad shepherds who had abandoned and abused God’s flock and left them scattered on every high hill.
BUT EZEKIEL ALSO SAW A DAY when the truly Good Shepherd
Would come and gather them all back.
Ezekiel 34:11-16 “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. “As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. “I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.”
Ezekiel 34:25-31 “I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. “I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. “Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. “They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. “I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore. “Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord GOD. “As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” declares the Lord GOD.”
Jesus will rescue, gather, and secure His sheep.
AND THAT IS WHAT WE SEE HERE.
As you know we are looking at a section in Isaiah’s ministry
That deals with THE SALVATION OF THE REMNANT.
It started in chapter 7 and it goes through chapter 12.
• It deals with Israel’s lack of trust.
• It deals with God’s subsequent discipline.
• It deals with the remnant’s repentance and return.
• It deals with God’s deliverance.
Chapter 11 it shows us the King who will make it all possible.
We see His glorious reign upon the earth.
I MIGHT REMIND YOU THAT this is a day that is brought on by the repentance and return of the remnant of Israel back to Christ.
When Peter preached in Jerusalem, just shortly after Pentecost he said:
Acts 3:17-21 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
Peter said
• Jesus Christ has fulfilled everything spoken of Him regarding His suffering
and death and atonement and resurrection.
• All we wait for now is for Israel to repent and return and submit to Jesus as
their rightful King.
• And when they do, “times of refreshing [will] come from the presence of
the Lord” and God will “send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you”
ISAIAH IS TELLING THE SAME STORY.
He spoke of the remnant’s repentance in return in Isaiah 10:21
Now we see the presence of the King in Isaiah 11.
This is the One Isaiah saw in the temple.
This is none other than Jesus Christ, reigning on the earth.
And we have been looking at Him over the last couple of weeks.
#1 HIS REPUTATION
Isaiah 11:1-2
• That He is from David’s line.
• That He is anointed by God.
• That He is supremely qualified.
#2 HIS RULE
Isaiah 11:3-5
• That He will rule with perfect righteousness.
• No more corruption, no more negligence.
• He will judge with righteousness on this earth.
#3 HIS RESULT
Isaiah 11:6-9
• Nothing short of world peace.
• He is the Prince of Peace and He will bring it.
• The wolf with the lamb, the bear with the cow, the child with the viper
Because He will eradicate sin
He will also eradicate the curse that comes with it.
“there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace.”
#4 HIS REST
Isaiah 11:10
Very simply put, “His resting place will be glorious”
HE WILL REST in a job completely finished as all His children are atoned for and brought home.
WE WILL REST IN HIM as those who are with Him and no longer battling the temptations of sin.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE REIGN OF THIS KING.
This morning we see a 5th reality about his King.
#5 HIS RECOVERY
Isaiah 11:11-16
These verses summarize His mission,
It is very simply A Recovery Mission.
He will: BRING THEM HOME
We think of the families in years past
Who had sons go off to war and who received telegrams that said, “Missing in Action”
Or notifications that their child had been captured and was now a “Prisoner of War”
Probably many of you watched the movie “Saving Private Ryan” which was a very realistic WWII film based on a true story of an effort to find one private in the war and to bring him home to his mother who had already lost her 3 other sons in the war.
It was a mission to get that boy home.
We think about current times with stories of child abductions and the pain associated with wondering where a person’s child might be and if they will ever come home.
WELL THAT IS REALITY IN ISAIAH’S DAY AS WELL.
As we mentioned earlier, the Northern Kingdom has been conquered
And the few survivors where carried away into Assyria.
The Southern Kingdom has been badly ravaged
As Assyria invaded and reached right to Jerusalem.
Isaiah’s prophetic words have come true.
Isaiah 1:7-9 “Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”
This nation that God had chosen and blessed and multiplied
And moved into the land of Canaan
Had been ravaged and abused and scattered.
ONE MUST HAVE WONDERED If there was any way Israel would ever again be what she once was?
Back in the days of David and Solomon they were a united kingdom,
A prosperous kingdom, a mighty kingdom.
AND NOW LOOK AT HER.
Was their any hope of ever seeing her glory or her security restored?
And for that we look again to this mighty King
Who comes to bring His people home.
Let’s just work through our text this morning and see 3 truths Isaiah would reveal to us about this King’s recovery mission.
1) RECOVERY ANNOUNCED (11-12)
“Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.”
Isaiah says that “it will happen on that day”
On the day when Jesus Christ reigns this will be a reality.
He will “again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people”
“again recover the second time”?
The first time was Egypt when God brought Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
What He did before, He will do again,
Only this time they won’t be only in Egypt, but will be “From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamach, and from the islands of the sea” which was a reference to anyone across the water (like the U.S.A.)
• He will “assemble the banished ones”
• He will “gather the dispersed”
• And He will get them “from the four corners of the earth”
IT IS A GREAT RECOVERY PROJECT.
Zechariah 8:7-8 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’”
But it is also IMPORTANT to notice HOW HE WILL DO IT.
(12) “And He will lift up a standard for the nations”
“standard” there is like a flag pole.
And we talked about this last Sunday night.
Isaiah 11:10 “Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”
• In verse 10 Jesus is referred to as “a signal for the peoples”
• Here in verse 12 He is lifting up “a standard”
I hope you remember what we are referring to.
John 3:14-15 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
• The reference here is to His cross.
• The reference here is to the One who was crucified on their behalf.
The catalyst for their return will be when Israel will finally
Look upon the One who was crucified on their behalf.
When Israel finally looks to their savior.
When they finally recognize the banner of the cross lifted high.
They have repented, now they must return to Him.
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
They will finally see that the One they rejected is the One who can save and they will flood to Him!
HE WILL RECOVER ALL THOSE FOR WHOM HE DIED!
And this is SUCH AN IMPORTANT ASPECT of what is going on here.
What you see taking place in Isaiah 11 is
The Son finally receiving the full reward of His suffering.
John Calvin wrote:
“…he will not allow himself to be deprived of his inheritance. We may sup it up by saying, that God will take care of the salvation of his Church, so as not to be robbed of his right.”
(Calvin, John [Calvin’s Commentaries Volume VII; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI; 2005] Pg. 389)
Paris Reidhead tells the story of the beginning of the Moravian Missionaries.
“Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2,000 to 3,000 slaves. And the owner had said, “No preacher, no clergyman will ever stay on this island. If he is shipwrecked we will keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he is never going to talk to any of us about God. I am through with all that nonsense.”
Three thousand slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an
island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ. Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale—for he paid no more than he would for any slave—to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn’t even transport them. And as the ship left the river at Hamburg, left its pier in the river at Hamburg, and was going out into the North Sea carried with the tide; the Moravians had come here in hope to see these two lads off in their early 20s, never to return again. For this wasn’t a four year term. They had sold themselves into lifetime slavery simply that as slaves they could be as
Christians.
The families were there weeping for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. And as the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm linked through the arm of his fellow raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them. They were these. “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his sufferings.”
Have you ever ordered something on the internet; made a purchase online?
• You paid for it with your credit card and waited for the item to be delivered.
But what if they never shipped the item? What if they never delivered it?
• Do you just say, “Oh well, easy come, easy go.”
• You just forget about it and move on?
No, you check the tracking number, you see where your item went,
Then you call the company, you demand a refund or something.
After all, you paid for that item. It is yours and you want it.
Well Peter said:
1 Peter 1:18-19 “… you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Paul taught us that we were “bought with a price”.
Do we suppose that our Lord would purchase His own through the shedding of His own blood and then be content not to receive that which He purchased?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
He died for them.
He will have them.
The standard is lifted, the cross is exalted,
And here His people are called home.
They are His and He will have them!
He will not lose those for whom He died.
Paul lays out this mystery us quite clearly in Romans 11.
Romans 11:1-5 “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”
What a question!
“God has not rejected His people, has He?” “May it never be!”
Will He just cast aside those whom He has foreknown?
Will He so belittle the high price that was paid for their redemption?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
But God has kept a remnant!
“there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice”
Now certainly Israel has been afflicted for her unbelief.
Paul says in verses 6-10 that she was “broken off”
So that Gentiles might be grafted in.
It was part of God’s omniscient plan that by the Jews rejection of the gospel the apostles were motivated to take the gospel to the Gentiles and they were saved.
And so the Jewish rejection of the Messiah
Actually opened the door for Gentile salvation.
But that DOES NOT MEAN that God is finished with Israel.
• That does not mean that He will just cast aside those for whom He died.
• He will not just reject those whom He has foreknown.
Romans 11:25-27 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”
They are His and He wants them.
He died for that remnant and that remnant will return.
He will lift up a standard and recover them
“from the four corners of the earth.”
It may seem like finding a NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK,
But rest assured our Lord will find every needle.
And He even knows what tribe they are all from.
• We read in Revelation that He will seal 12,000 from each tribe.
• They may have lost their paperwork, but He knows who they are.
• And He will recover every single one of them.
They will all come to the cross and weep for the One who they rejected.
AND HE WILL BRING THEM HOME!
Recovery Announced
2) RIVALRY ANNULLED (13-14)
“Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, And those who harass Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, And Judah will not harass Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; Together they will plunder the sons of the east; They will possess Edom and Moab, And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.”
What do we make of this?
Only that it is MORE than just a geographical return.
• It is a return to righteousness.
• It is a return to peace.
• It is a return to love and unity.
They haven’t just been recovered, they have been regenerated.
Jealousy and harassment are gone.
After the split
• The northern kingdom was jealous of the southern kingdom for they had the temple and the glory of God.
• The southern kingdom harassed the northern kingdom for they were pagan and did not have God’s presence.
Together they were plundered and ravaged by the neighboring nations
Whom God used to discipline them for their sin.
But on this day, having been recovered and regenerated.
Jealousy and Harassment and External Discipline are gone!
We read last Sunday morning in Ephesians 2
• How Jesus Christ is our peace
• How He was able to make both Jews and Gentiles into one new man.
Ephesians 2:13-14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,”
Well the peace He will bring is not just between Jew and Gentile
But even between Jew and Jew.
IT IS PEACE BETWEEN JEW AND THE WORLD.
THE DAYS OF THEIR AFFLICTION WILL BE OVER.
This stubborn nation will have returned to Christ.
• They have been redeemed.
• They have been transformed.
• God’s Law will have been written on their heart.
And they will dwell in peace.
No more rivalry, no more division, no more animosity
God’s people are recovered and they are regenerated.
3) RETURN ACCOMPLISHED (15-16)
“And the LORD will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And He will wave His hand over the River With His scorching wind; And He will strike it into seven streams And make men walk over dry-shod. And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.”
We all remember the story of the Exodus with Moses.
• We remember how Moses stretched out his arms
• And the waters of the Red Sea parted before Israel
• And how they walked across on dry land.
Well God is going to do it again.
“the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt”
That is the Gulf of Suez.
• When you look at the Red Sea it sort of has rabbit ears on the top.
• That left ear is the Gulf of Suez and God will dry it up again!
He will take the mighty Euphrates and “strike it into seven streams”
Thus allowing free passage across.
“Men will walk over dry-shod”
(that is without needing mud boots)
And the picture is that Egypt can’t hold back God’s people
And neither can Assyria.
(No one can, but those were the two nations that had tried in Isaiah’s day)
(16) “And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.”
This scene is certainly one that captivated Isaiah,
For he will speak of it again.
TURN TO: Isaiah 35:1-10
• It is God making a way for His people to return.
• He provides water and shade and gladness and joy.
TURN TO: Isaiah 49:8-13
• Again God makes a road for His people to travel home.
Psalms 121 “A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”
It is Jesus Christ bringing His people home.
Every October Spur turns itself upside down for an event.
We call it “Homecoming”
• Ex-graduates return to Spur to see old friends and reminisce about how great
they were in high school.
• I’m not from Spur, but for those who are, it seems to be a very important
weekend.
We understand a little bit when the Bible speaks of homecoming.
If you watch social media people like to video and share when SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN SURPRISE THEIR LOVED ONES by coming home.
We see children break into tears at the sight of a dad or mom,
Even dogs seems to get really excited.
I’m reminded of a story from a World War II documentary about a man who spent the entire war in a Japanese war camp having been captured in the Philippines.
He had thrown his dog tags into a pile of dead soldiers so that his parents would at least know what had happened to him and they had been told he was dead.
When the war was over and they escaped and he got home he called his house.
His mom, and two aunts all fainted upon hearing his voice.
It was an unbelievable homecoming.
Or perhaps we think of the famous homecoming story in the Bible.
Luke 15:20-24 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”
Those are all the pictures of what we see here.
THEY ARE ALL COMING HOME!
He has saved them!
He has purchased them!
They have been abused and scattered
And dispersed to the 4 corners of the earth,
But He knows every single one of them and He will not lose one!
IT IS THE HOMECOMING OF THE AGES!
WHAT AN ENCOURAGING TRUTH this must have been FOR ISAIAH and his contemporaries.
• The Northern Kingdom was gone. They were exiled into Assyria
• And though they had not been on good terms with them
• It still must have stung to see people whom God had chosen carried off into a
foreign land.
But Isaiah reveals that this King does not forget His own
And will one day bring that remnant back.
THAT CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE ENCOURAGED ISAIAH
AND THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO US, EVEN AS GENTILES.
I know that the prophecy here centers around Israel
And their return to the land.
But we love this for what it says about our Savior.
• Israel was stubborn and defiant and idolatrous and stiff-necked and rebellious and obstinate and sinful in every possible way.
• They rejected God in Isaiah’s day and when Christ came they rejected Him too.
• If there were ever a people who deserved to be totally abandoned by God it was Israel.
I know God made promises to them, but surely in light of their intense rebellion no one would blame God if He decided to renege on them right?
BUT THAT IS NOT OUR GOD.
And we are glad to hear it for if God was willing to totally abandon them, what is to say that He would not be justified in doing the same to us?
For we also are stubborn and defiant and idolatrous and stiff-necked
And rebellious and obstinate and sinful people.
But our security does not rest on our faithfulness, it rests on His.
And we rejoice in this Saving King
Who refuses to lose even one of His sheep.
Romans 11:28-32 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”
We serve a merciful God and we serve a faithful Saving King.
He will bring His people home.
• Not because they deserve it, but because He said He would.
• He paid for them, He bought them for a price, and He will have the reward of His suffering.
SOME DAY YOU WILL SEE
The greatest homecoming the world has ever known.
• It will not be ex-students coming to a football game…
• It will not be military personnel returning to their family…
The remnant of Israel, redeemed and returning to serve their King.
Our King will bring it about!
And the facts surrounding their return are the same for you.
It requires repentance and returning to the King.
Someday Jesus will return and reign upon this earth
And all those who are His will be gathered to Him
No matter where they are.
He will even raise those who are dead to come and be with Him.
If you would be part of that glorious homecoming
Then repent of your sin and return to Jesus Christ.
