Banner Day, Gathering the Remnant (Advent 26, 2022)

Isaiah 11:10 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, from Elam, from Babylonia, 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 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. “

The coming Messiah prophesied by Isaiah goes back to the Root of Jesse.  It’s not simple heredity which is a point worth making again and again. 

The scepter of Judah and the Root of Jesse both point to a Messianic King who would rule with a different spirit and power than all other natural descendants in a normal dynastic line.  This Messiah’s reign will be one of wisdom and understanding, power, knowledge, and fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 11:2 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.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah. 9:6-7)

Questions for further thought:

How does moving beyond the rules of normal inheritance and a dynastic line keep us from believing Jesus was just a regular man, fully human, but never actually the Son of God, (which is what many cults assert)?  They believe that Jesus was just really well-behaved. God liked that and made him a god. Yikes. That’s the stuff of cults. Jesus was fully God before all time and added full humanity as the Incarnated Christ.

David was a murderer and was not the suitable one to build God’s temple, though it was in his heart to do so.  God had Solomon build it.  In what way was the Davidic line not suitable for the Messiah directly, but the Root of Jesse was? See 1 Kings 11 regarding Solomon.

Prayer: 

We praise You, Lord Jesus, for being the wonderful counselor, our mighty God, our everlasting Father, and our Prince of peace. We praise You and thank You that Your government and Your peace will be eternal, everlasting!  You will reign over Your people forever and ever.  We thank You, Lord, that You have accomplished this for us. We offer You praise and exalt Your Name! Amen.