Isaiah Chapters 11-12: God, His Plan, and His People Are Victorious!

Let's turn our attention to the sermon today. We want to get back into the book of Isaiah. I gave a sermon on Isaiah in September, but then in October and November. We didn't have anything so I fell a little bit behind.

We had one here in December, but I want to continue to try to catch up a little bit. We are now in a section of Isaiah. We started as section chapters 7 through 12, which many commentators would say this section is unified. It's discussing in large measure a series of prophecies related to the invasion of Judah by Syria and by Israel.

These prophecies were aimed to call Judah back to repentance. That's something that is very important for us. As we go through this study on the book of Isaiah, we must always take a look at the spiritual take-away for us today. We're not looking at Isaiah just because we want to study prophecy for prophecy's sake. There is so much Christian living in these prophecies, and we want to make sure that we understand that and apply those to our lives. Looking at a little bit of a very brief review of this section of Isaiah 7 through 12, the theme of Isaiah is chapter 7 and 8. Stand firm in the faith, not trusting in the flesh, or you won't stand at all.

We saw that very heavily in chapters 7 and 8. Stand firm in the faith. That's certainly a New Covenant, a New Testament idea and concept. It's true throughout the whole of the Bible, but it's something that we as New Covenant Christians want to make sure that we're doing. Stand firm in the faith, not trusting in the flesh, or we won't stand at all. Chapter 10 of Isaiah, we talked about how God judges the heart. We took a look at God judging the heart of Judah and Israel, especially Judah, and God judging the heart of Assyria. God is no respecter of persons.

God judges our hearts today. So that was chapters 7, 8, and 10. Chapter 9 is kind of sandwiched in there. The theme of Isaiah 9, Israel was going to be punished, but at the second coming of Christ, hope reigns supreme. So yes, we have to stand firm in the faith. We have to realize God judges the heart, which means we've got to do something to make sure our hearts are right with God, because judgment is coming.

That brings us to what we want to discuss today. We've got two shorter chapters today, Isaiah 11 and 12. If I were to put a theme on these two chapters combined, the theme I would set down would be God, His plan, and His people are victorious. God, His plan, and His people are victorious. We receive victory through our great God. And we can think about that in so many aspects of our life, like we were talking today in the announcements and calls for prayers and so forth.

We are going to be victorious in the great God. As we study Isaiah 11 and 12, certainly those prophecies had a basis in their time and place. But these prophecies also have a much broader application than just history of many hundreds and hundreds of years ago. These prophecies deal with both Israel and Judah at the end of the age, in our time today, to warn God's people both nationally and individually and us as a church of God that we have to be aware of who we are as God's people.

And we must repent of our sins and make sure our heart is right with God. Along those lines, before we actually get into Isaiah, let's look at Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 18. We want to see what God's feeling is about this whole issue. Ezekiel chapter 18. Where is God coming from? Ezekiel chapter 18, starting in verse 30. And we're going to see that God is coming from this place throughout the course of the Bible.

Here we are in the Old Testament, major prophet Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 30. Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways. So we talked about that last time in chapter 10. Repent and turn from your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. So that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord God.

Therefore turn and live. Now in today's section, chapter 11 and 12 of Isaiah, we're going to see some profound prophecy that is so uplifting and so upbeat. These are some of the great prophecies in all of the Bible. We're going to be taking a look at those today. But notice where God is coming from. Yes, God says, I judge your heart. But with the sacrifice, as we know, of Jesus Christ, with the coming of God's Holy Spirit, we can have a new heart. We can have a different spirit. We can use the tool we heard about today, the tool of prayer, and build that relationship with the great God. And this is what God wants for us.

Let's turn over now to the New Testament, 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 3, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. God our Savior. Interesting phrase. God our Savior. Which one is that? Well, it's both, God the Father and Jesus Christ. God is our Savior. We see that in John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

Jesus Christ is our Savior because of what He did, as you're well aware, by living His life and by giving His life as He lived it and also at the end of His life as a total sacrifice. So both the Father and the Son are God our Savior. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved. Old Testament God says, turn from your wicked way. Repent and live. Here in the New Testament, God who desires all men to be saved. So again, this is a backdrop. We're taking a look now at Isaiahs chapter 11 and 12. As we go through these two chapters, this basically ends a section of the book of Isaiah.

In these first 12 chapters, you see where God is admonishing mostly Judah to repent of their sins. But now we're going to see in chapters 11 and 12 a tremendous hope that is given to God's people, a glorious future that is predicted for God's people and will come to pass for God's people and for all the world.

So let's take a look. Let me turn there myself. Isaiah chapter 11 starting here in verse 1. Again, a wonderful section that concludes the prophecies begun in chapter 7 in this particular section of Isaiah relating to the Messiah, the power of God's Spirit, how He's going to establish righteousness and bring to reality the dreams of the ages. Something that we all look forward to, the Kingdom of God on earth. Chapter 11 verse 1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Now there's a lot of contrasts that we see as we study the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a man of letters, much like the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, a man of tremendous education. The book itself is one of the great pieces of literature as the world would view it in all of the Bible.

But he loves to use these contrasts. In chapter 10, you've got the king of Assyria talking about how he's got this great army. He's very arrogant. He's talking about, well, my princes are like kings in other lands. We've conquered all these different areas. We've conquered their gods, our God is superior. So he's going on and on as an arrogant king. But then we also see in chapter 10 where God destroys 185,000 of his army. So we've got the way of Satan shown, the heart of Satan shown in chapter 10.

And here we begin to see another look to things with the coming and the discussion about the Messiah. Basically, Satan's way, as we see in chapter 10 through the king of Assyria and God's way that we're going to see here in chapters 11 and 12. And it all begins very humbly. All begins very humbly. Put a marker here. Let's go over to the book of Daniel. You know, we studied the book of Daniel not that long ago.

Daniel chapter 2. Here in Daniel chapter 2 you've got the discussion about the great image. We're going to connect that to what we just read. Daniel chapter 2 verse 44.

And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. It shall stand forever. Isaiah is just beginning to talk about that in chapter 11 verse 1.

Let's now continue this story. We'll go back to chapter 11 again, Isaiah, verses 2 and 3. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor by the hearing of his ears.

So here we see in verses 2 and 3 again a tremendous contrast between what we saw in chapter 10 how mankind wants the rule. Mankind wants the rule the way Satan has taught him the rule. To kill, to maim, to destroy. We see in John chapter 10 that idea, but in John chapter 10 verse 10 we see where Christ has come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. So here you see in verse 2, it says, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

And then after that you see three couplets, wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Now what you're looking at there in verse 2 basically is essentially a discussion about the way Jesus Christ is going to rule. Not like the Assyrians, conquer a land, destroy, maim, as we saw there in chapter 10 of Isaiah. And then kill leaders and deport everybody else, or most everybody else. That's Satan's way. But here we see various characteristics of the way Jesus Christ is going to rule.

This is so encouraging. We heard in the first split sermon about our Congress and what's taking place politically in this country. And things are only going to get worse. People say, when are we going to get together? We're not going to get together. Things are only going to be getting worse between the two political parties in the way this country is governed. That's just the way it's going to be. But notice what we see here. Again, one of the purposes of prophecy is to give us hope. And as we look at this section of Scripture, we have tremendous hope.

It says here, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

Shall rest. Is there rest in this present world? And you go around the world and you see what's taking place. The poverty, the starvation. You know, we've got beautiful children in this room. And yet you go to other parts of the world and you see poor little babies who are dying of starvation, malnutrition. You see war. You see all sorts of awful, horrible things because of the way mankind rules. But here we see that God's going to give rest. Give rest through Jesus Christ.

Look over to Matthew 11. I'm sure you know where I'm about to turn. Matthew 11, verses 28 and 29.

My Bible all read lettering. Matthew 11, verse 28.

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.

People are laboring today with their various needs, their trials, the issues that are confronting them. They don't know what to do. They know which way to turn because they're living in Satan's world and they don't know. They don't know the truth that God has with His grace given to us. Not that we are any better than them. God has just been gracious to us. Their turn for grace will come later on. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest.

I will give you comfort. I will give you help. I will give you hope. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You know, people want to talk about how God's law is a burden. God's law is not a burden. God is not a burden. Christ is not a burden. We go back now to Isaiah 11. Let's take a look. So, first thing, we see seven things here. We see the idea of rest that comes from God.

Then we see these three couplets, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Let's take a look at these just for a moment.

Here we see where Jesus Christ will rule with wisdom. Wisdom. We're talking about practical wisdom. We're talking about insights that enable somebody to know what kind of work to do and how to do it. That's lacking today in our leadership. Do we have statesmen today in this world? Where are the great statesmen? There aren't great statesmen. But here we're going to have Jesus Christ and, of course, the resurrected saints with the gift of wisdom. People who are skillful, they've got good godly sense. They will act wisely, practically, knowing what to do and how to do it.

So there you've got wisdom. Then we're talking about understanding. Understanding means the ability to grasp facts, the ability to grasp knowledge so you know what to do with it.

So you know what to do with it. Your ability to solve problems. Could any of us solve the world's problems by ourselves? I don't care what your IQ is. I don't care what your background is. We as human beings don't have the ability to solve mankind's problems. It's going to take Jesus Christ and the family of God. But here we're seeing that the family will have wisdom, understanding. It says here, the spirit of counsel. Here we see with counsel the ability to see into a situation and devise plans to handle those situations. Think about your life. Think about people in your life. It could be a family member, it could be a next-door neighbor, somebody you work with. Maybe they've related to you some issues they've got in life. And it's a real head scratcher. You're wondering, what should I say to these people? How do I help them?

Well, we will have, and certainly Christ has, the gift of counsel, the ability to see into a situation and know how to handle it, no matter how complex. No matter how complex, no matter how difficult, Jesus Christ will have the victory, and the family of God will have the victory over these issues. Might. Might. The ability to act powerfully. Now, today with our government, we don't see the ability to act powerfully. We see the ability of our government to act weakly, to vacillate, to point fingers, not to get together to solve problems. They're not acting mightily. Then we see here the gift of knowledge. The gift of knowledge means to be deeply aware, to perceive with comprehension what's going on. You know, so many times, I'm sure in your life and mine, we've had discussions with people where if we're not careful, we view only the surface of things. And people come to us and they'll give us a scenario. And again, if we're not careful, we just take a look at what the surface issues, as opposed to saying, wait a minute, okay, that's on the surface. What's underneath? What's underneath? What is the real issue here?

And see, this is where Jesus Christ and the family of God are going to be working with human beings, those who live on into the millennium. What is the real issue? Well, one of the real issues is a hard heart. One of the real issues is all those years living under Satan's rule, thinking as Satan would think, as opposed to the way God would think.

So that's part of the real issue. Then, of course, here at the end of verse 2, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And that's carried over to verse 3.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. A reverential awe.

A person who walks humbly before God, trusting, obedient, loving God, loving God's way of life.

And it says here, the Savior will take great delight, great joy, rejoicing, rejoicing in the fear of the Lord. He will total God Christ, and of course the family of God, we will totally yield ourselves, as emissaries of the God family, to the fear of the Lord.

We drop down now to verse 4. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rot of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. So here we see God's righteousness being the hallmark of rulership. God's righteousness. In your notes, you might want to jot down Psalm 119.172. My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness.

Law is not going to be done away. This is the very mind, the very heart of God.

Again, you might write in your notes Romans chapter 7 verse 12. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. In Romans 7.14, for we know that the law is spiritual.

These are things that are going to be the bedrock in terms of the teachings, the rules, the standards, the righteousness of God, the hallmark of what we've got to look forward to.

As opposed to the various laws that are contradictory and don't work that we have in society today.

Verse 6. Verse 6 through 9 is one section. We'll just go through the whole thing here.

The wolf also dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young one shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, the nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the wheeled child shall put his hand on the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Here we see the very nature of animals changed. And by... and it would seem as we see this taking place, we would have to have a restructuring of the entire global ecosystem. Animals are eating different things now. We don't have the same predatory system that the world knew before. I'd like to read you something, though. This is, I found interesting. This is from the United Church of God commentary, online Bible commentary, this section of Isaiah, and I quote, but it should be noted that animals here may also be symbolic of the nations of the world, with their peacefully dwelling together representing the end of the war between people. The lamb, the kid, the calf, the fatling, the ox, and the cow are often used in Scripture to symbolize the generally peace-loving Israelite peoples. The wolf may be a reference to the descendants of Esau or to certain other Arabs. The Edomite Herod was referred to as a fox by Christ in Luke 13. The great cats, the leopard and the lion, the bear, used in Daniel 7, symbolize great Gentile kingdoms. Let's take a look over here in Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 5, relating to this whole situation here. Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 6. Jeremiah 5, 6, Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their backslidings have increased. Now in the UCG commentary it says this about Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 6. These parallels are perhaps most clearly seen in Jeremiah 5, 6, where the lion, the wolf, leopard are widely understood to represent Israel's enemies. In the millennial, and again, last quote from the UCG commentary, In the millennial reign the wild nature of the beast among men will be changed, as was figuratively portrayed by Nebuchadnezzar when he, the Babylonian lion, was made to eat grass with the oxen. Daniel chapter 4 and verse 33. So interesting the way God is going to be doing things, but again we're seeing here tremendous prophecy that is so powerful, so encouraging, so uplifting, so faith-building. We want to keep that in mind. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 11, then to verse 9. End of verse 9. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Our God is all-inclusive. There's not a gap anywhere in the oceans where you have a hole in the water where there's no water. Where there's water, there's water everywhere. It has a certain depth to it, it has a certain flow to it. Yet this verse talks about the all-inclusive nature of our great God. Nobody's going to be left out.

Everyone will have their opportunity. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 11.

It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again to the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea.

Now where are all these places that our people go to, and what is this all about?

Again, quoting from the UCG commentary. There's a lot of information here, which I'll be reading. You're not going to be able to take notes on all of this, but you can go to, if you've got online capability, and you all have it if you want to go to the library to get online, or you've got at your home. Who are these nations? Where do our people go, and why do they go to these places? The commentary has an interesting set of thoughts on this. Let me just read you what it says here. I quote Isaiah 11. This verse describes the wonderful second Exodus that will follow the end-time captivity of Israel and Judah. The people are shown returning from these locations, and then they name the locations Assyria, designating central Europe in the end-time context of this prophecy. They'll be coming from Egypt, the country we know as Egypt, from path roads, which we would say would be southern Egypt, from Kush, which we believe would be Sudan and Ethiopia, perhaps even the greater parts of Africa, from Elam, which could denote Iran, from Shinaar, perhaps Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, Hamith, northwestern Syria, and the islands of the sea. This last location could also be translated coastlands of the sea. It is understood to mean from all around the world. So here's where our peoples will be going. And why is that? Why is that? Two major factors. Let's take a look at Revelation chapter 18.

Obviously, it's because of our nation's sins, our lack of repentance, our thumbing our nose at God and the things of God. God has sent a work. We are a part of that work to proclaim the truth of God, the gospel of the kingdom of God, and people, kind of like in the days of Noah, they didn't want to listen. And so there's a price to be paid. Revelation chapter 18 verse 11, And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over, for no one buys their merchandise anymore. The merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen, in all these various things. Verse 13. More things. Verse 14. Oh, let's read all of verse 13. I don't want to pass over verse 13. Cinnamon, incense, fragrance, oil, frankincense, wine and oil, fine flower, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and the bodies and souls of men. The bodies and souls of men. At the end of the age, modern Assyrian, we talked about who they were last time, will be a leading player engaging in slave trade, no doubt of the captive Israelites peoples. Daniel chapter 11. Let's turn there. Daniel chapter 11.

Verse 40. At that time, at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come up against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, with many ships, and shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, pass through. He shall also enter the glorious land, with many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape from his hand, the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt, and shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. So what we're looking at here, Revelation 18, Daniel chapter 11. We see the king of the north sweeping down into a number of the Muslim areas of the world, that part of the world.

The Europeans will most likely set up military bases. They will need labor for those military bases, and they will use slave labor in those military bases. That's why we see those various names being written there in Isaiah, where our peoples go. They're going there as slave labor. They're going there because the Europeans have set up shop in those areas with their with their conquering, and our people are deported there as slave labor. That part of the story is why we can rejoice so much in the first part of what we read in Isaiah chapter 11.

Because before we get to the kingdom of God, there are some very difficult times our nation will be facing. Okay, the rest of Isaiah chapter 11 talks about how the Israelites will return back to the Holy Land. It shows how God is going to miraculously help them once again to get back to the Holy Land. Just like he opened the Red Sea in ancient times, he's going to do the same thing, type of thing in the future with the Red Sea, with the Euphrates River, and so forth. That brings us back to Isaiah chapter 12. Very short chapter.

Isaiah chapter 12. And in that day you shall say, O Lord, I will praise you, though you are angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comfort me. You comfort me. You know, in our notes you might put down Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16.

Coming before the throne of God, to find grace and mercy and time of need.

Certainly our peoples will have a time of need, but there will also be a time of great grace.

And because of that grace, they're told to rise up and praise God.

Verse 2, Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and be not afraid. For, Yah, the Lord is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation.

So here in verse 2 we see an interesting phrase.

For, Yah, the Lord is my strength and my song. The song of my strength. We see this same thing repeated in Exodus chapter 15 verse 2. That's known as the song of Moses. We also say this same concept, the same phrasing, using Psalms 1, 18 verse 14. So here you've got Isaiah, a prophet. There you've got Exodus 15.2, the law. And then you've got Psalm 1, 18 verse 14, the writings. So in all three major sections of the Old Testament, you've got this phrase here, a biblical theme of praising God. Verse 3, Isaiah 12.3, Therefore with joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation. So salvation now is going to be offered to all of mankind, all who are in the millennium, and then all who are raised up in the Great Right Throne Judgment period. And in verses 4 through 6 talks about praising God. And here we see where the Bible exhorts us to worship God in song, to worship God in praise. So what do we do? What was our takeaway from all of this? I said that Isaiah chapters 11 and 12 show God, His plan, and His people being victorious. When I first began this study of Isaiah, we went through some background to the book. And as part of that background, I had a section that asked the question, why do we study prophecy? What is the purpose of prophecy? Today we heard something about the purpose of prayer. Why do we study prophecy? What are the purposes of prophecy?

Well, let's take a look at just a couple before I quit here today. One of the purposes of prophecy is to show us that God's Word is true. And this is all the same point. Not only is it true, but because it's true, it helps us to build faith and hope. Faith and hope.

Let's look at Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46 verses 9 and 10.

Isaiah 46 verse 9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other.

I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times things that are not yet. Say, My counsel so stand, and I shall do my own pleasure.

You know, God wants us to know Him. Again, hearkening back to the first split sermon.

God wants us to get to know Him. One of the ways we get to know Him is, Mr. Duran is going to bring out in future messages, is not only through prayer, but through study. We take a look at what has been prophesied. Prophesied in the past, and now we look at it as fulfilled prophecy or history, or even things in the future. We realize that God is powerful, that God's Word is true, and because it is true, we can have faith and we can have hope. And we can have, no matter what your situation is, and we've been talking in the announcements today about the need for faith and need for hope, the need to rely upon our great God. This book shows us, time and again, how our God is there for us, how our God will not leave us or forsake us, how that great God, His Word, is true. He loves us. And we can have faith in that. We can have hope because of that.

Another purpose of prophecy, and we've seen this today, is to encourage us.

Yes, times are going to be really tough between now and the beginning of the Kingdom of God.

Worst times the world has ever experienced. But after those dark days, we have a tremendous future to look forward to. Let's look at the very end of things here in Revelation chapter 21.

We've come to the place where all the plan of God, as much as we know the plan of God, has come and been fulfilled to this point. Revelation chapter 21, verse 1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth, had passed away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice, and I was saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. God himself, the Father, will dwell with us.

And they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. This is encouraging to know this is the future we have to look forward to.

Tremendous opportunity for us to look forward to the Kingdom of God coming.

Now, if you want to review all the other—and I had seven different reasons why we study prophecy and what the purpose of prophecy are, you can go back to the first sermon I gave on this issue some months ago. But, brethren, Isaiah 11 and 12, they are so filled with beauty, they are so filled with encouragement and hope, they help us to build faith. Let's keep reading those sections of Scripture to appreciate the fact that God, his plan, and his people will be in our victorious.