Advent - Isaiah 11:1-10 - ADVENT 1-Emotions of Christmas: Longing & Hope

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Like many of you, I love the Christmas season.

I love the celebrations, the music, the traditions, everything that goes along with Christmas.

I try to pack as much of that as I can into the month of December.

And I usually find myself exhausted even before staying up all night on Christmas Eve.

For others of us, Christmas is painful and hard for a variety of reasons.

We just want to get it over with and get to the new year.

Regardless of which one of those groups you would put yourself in.

And whether we're rushing to get it over with or packing the calendar with Christmas festivities,

most of us struggle to allow the story of Christmas to penetrate and deeply impact our hearts.

For some reason, it's just one of those things that's really tough for us.

And it's so vital that that happened because our hearts, those deepest emotions and affections,

that they shape who we are and how we approach all of life each day.

Our hearts control the rest of our lives, right?

How we speak.

How we spend our time.

How we make our priorities.

How we engage with others.

And so it's vital for us to let God's Word address and shape our hearts.

And I think it's particularly important with the message of Christmas.

The fact that the incarnation of the very Son of God Himself,

the coming of Christ to earth to rescue enemies of God like us

and make them His sons,

it has to impact us at the deepest levels of our heart.

It must.

But it's so easy to miss.

So over the next few weeks, we're going to look at Christmas and our hearts.

Let every heart prepare Him room.

Every heart.

That means hearts busy with Christmas merriment

and hearts just ready to rush past it and get it over with.

We're just going to try together to slow down.

Not merely to learn some more things,

but actually to experience together the impact of the coming of Christ.

To have His birth address the range of emotions that we experience day in and day out,

year-round, not just at Christmastime.

Now, I know that to a room full of a lot of engineers

or a lot of Type A personalities like myself,

the idea of spending multiple weeks addressing our hearts and the emotions there is a little risky.

I feel that.

Some of you are ready to leave now.

But we need this.

Y'all, we have to have the reality of the incarnation of God impact our hearts.

God has worked on my heart so richly and deeply as I've prepared the past few weeks.

And I'm excited to get to share in this

and in some of these glorious passages we're going to look at over the next few weeks.

So let's pray together for this time in God's Word.

And then we'll talk this morning about longing and hope from Isaiah 11.

Pray with me.

Father, we come to Your Word and we're thankful

that it is living and active.

That it penetrates dividing joint and marrow to our very hearts

to show us the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.

We thank You for that, but honestly, sometimes we don't like that.

We'd rather keep Your Word and even You at arm's length.

Oh, Holy Spirit, don't let our hearts do that this morning.

Would You mold our hearts as we come to the Word of God and open it together.

You, Holy Spirit, soften our hearts.

Shape them as You would have them to be

that we might know more and love more our great God.

Would You do that work in each of us for Your glory?

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Many of us have visited the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee.

glorious forests like this one in Gatlinburg.

We've vacationed there, enjoyed the beauty and the grandeur.

And so we watched this week with great sadness, didn't we?

As reports came back of forest fires.

Devastation that was going on in the Gatlinburg area

and the areas around there.

Buildings, homes, neighborhoods, and forests decimated by the blaze.

Basically, beautiful, glorious places brought to nothing overnight.

Those beautiful forests we've seen reduced to smoldering stumps.

Pictures that you see discouraging and lifeless and hopeless.

Well, that's the context of Isaiah chapter 11, actually.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

God has spoken of His people Israel and other nations as well

as mighty forests that He has decimated swiftly.

He's reduced them to stumps, as it were.

They are seemingly lifeless and hopeless at the end of Isaiah chapter 10,

Isaiah 10 · chapter mention

brought to nothing.

And to that very hopelessness,

He brings this hope through the prophet Isaiah chapter 11 at verse 1.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

This is God's holy word.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And 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.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together,

and a little child shall leave them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,

their young shall lie down together,

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea.

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.

Amen.

What a beautiful passage.

What a glorious, hopeful prophecy.

But the passage starts

describing God's people as a stump.

As I said, they've been described as a forest,

now decimated.

And they've been longing, haven't they,

to be who they were created and called to be,

as God's glorious image bearers,

his treasured people,

a kingdom of priests to be a light to the nations.

This is who they are to be.

That's the longing that the people of God have been experiencing for generations.

I want us to explore that longing for just a couple minutes.

For our purposes this morning,

I'll describe longing as our deep desire for true fulfillment.

For things to be as they should be.

You see, for God's people in Isaiah's day,

this longing that they have is not a recent development, is it?

You can go all the way back to Eden,

to the garden,

where God creates people to live in this wonderful relationship with Him

and to reflect His glorious image,

but they fall.

They're banished from the garden,

having broken their relationship with God

and brought themselves and the rest of His good creation under a curse.

Things don't work the way they should.

And even there in the garden,

there's the promise of the offspring who will come,

all the way back in Genesis.

A seed who's going to come from the woman

and crush the head of the serpent.

He's going to fix that broken relationship.

And so, God's people wait

and long for things to be as they should be.

For the curse to be broken.

For blessing to come again.

Just this fall,

Cubs fans finally experienced the breaking of their curse.

Finally, after 108 years of losing,

they finally won the World Series again.

108 years.

That's a long time, right?

Year after year.

Imagine if you're not a Cubs fan.

Pick your own team.

The disappointment.

The expectations let down.

Things not going the way you planned.

For some Cubs fans,

for their entire lifetime,

this happens.

No World Series victory.

But for God's people here,

waiting even longer than 108 years.

Generations and generations waiting

for the curse to be broken

and promised blessing

to make things right again.

And that blessing is spoken again to Abraham.

But then God's people,

Abraham's descendants,

spend generations in Egypt.

Not feeling blessed,

but enslaved and oppressed

and seemingly abandoned by God.

It wasn't supposed to be like that, right?

God had promised blessing to Abraham

and his descendants.

We were going to be the ones on top.

He was going to take us to the promised land

and he was going to be our God

and fight for us.

And yet they're far away

in every way.

They're longing to be delivered

and for things to be as they should be.

And they do get to the promised land.

But even after they settle in the promised land

and blessing is promised to David

and his royal descendants forever,

they experience the pain of exile,

don't they?

Evil kings and evil people

removed from the promised land again.

Taken away.

They're beginning to doubt

the promises of God.

A sense of desperation

beginning to build.

This is not the way

we were promised it would be.

Longing for it to be right again.

When will it ever change?

And all of that is tied up

in the picture of the stump

of Jesse.

The crushed,

defeated,

dejected nation.

Longing generation after generation

for centuries

for things to be made right.

In many ways,

that prolonged desperation

is the essence

of the Advent season,

isn't it?

As we await

and long for Christmas,

the coming of Christ

to make things right.

Already this week,

my four-year-old

came downstairs

the morning

after we had decorated

our home for Christmas.

And she ran immediately

to her stocking

and grabbed it

and looked in

and said,

there's no gifts

in my stocking, mom.

Something's wrong.

That's not the way

it's supposed to be,

is it, kids?

Stockings are meant

to be full

of wonderful,

happy things.

And Christy told me

that story

and I thought,

oh, it's going to be

a long December.

It's not there.

Things aren't right.

And so it's waiting

and waiting

and waiting

for Christmas.

But while that longing

is there in a child

in that kind of

comical sense,

it's something

that we all experience

deep in our hearts,

isn't it?

Christians,

atheists,

agnostics,

all of us

at times feel

this deep sense

of being made

to be a glorious forest,

but experiencing

life feeling

much more like

a smoldering

stump.

It happens

so often

that we've got

a category

for it.

We sometimes

call it a midlife

crisis.

A longing

for my body

to work

like it used to.

A longing

to do something

that really matters.

Perhaps coupled

with a deep

doubt that

I'm actually

capable of that.

I long

to be truly

significant,

but I struggle

to believe

that I really am.

Maybe you would

describe your longing

as an ache.

An ache

because you

feel perhaps

the absence

of a loved one

that leaves you

feeling always

a little empty,

never quite fulfilled.

Maybe you long

for freedom

from a lifelong

struggle.

A battle

with sin

maybe.

A fight

with addiction.

A battle

within yourself.

Maybe the honest

truth is

you just feel

like your life

is not

what it's

supposed to be.

Certainly

not what you

always pictured

it would be.

You don't

like it.

If you're

honest,

you struggle

to like

yourself.

You don't

find deep

purpose

and significance

in anything.

You're really

just longing

for something

to be different

but you're

not even

certain

what it is.

But that

lack of

fulfillment

just gnaws

at you

constantly.

It comes up

again and then

you ignore it

and you go on

and it comes

back and

I just don't

feel

important.

You feel

you were made

for something

more than

this.

Why aren't

things as

they should

be?

Ever?

And so

we wait.

Day after

day.

Sometimes

year after

year.

Through

seasons of

our lives

with this

ache and

with these

deep longings

in our

heart to

be mighty

trees in a

glorious

forest and

feel like

we're part

of something

even bigger

than ourselves

but with

lives that

feel like

smoldering

stumps.

Unfulfilled.

Most days

hopeless.

One of my

very favorite

things about

Isaiah 11

is that it's

right there.

Right there

in those very

low and

dark and

hopeless

places.

It's right

there in one

of those

hopeless

stumps

that hope

grows.

It's not

from some

nation that's

mighty and

controlling

others and

achieving great

victories.

It's not

from some

other person

who really

does have

life together

and seems

to have

things figured

out and

that's where

hope is.

it's not

in either

of those

places.

But rather

it's in the

stump of

Jesse.

Verse 1

There shall

come forth

a shoot

from the

stump of

Jesse.

A branch

from his

roots shall

bear fruit.

A small

shoot appears

from the

stump.

There's hope

that is

promised.

The shoot

is coming

up from

what was

hopeless.

just minutes

or days

ago.

Hope is

promised.

Christmas.

The Christ

is coming

to make

things as

they should

be.

That's the

promise of

Isaiah 11.

The promised

one.

The anointed

one.

The Messiah.

He brings

hope.

Look at what

the rest of

the passage

says about

what he will

be and

do.

At first

he will

bring a

righteous

rule.

Verse 2

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

shall be

in the fear

of the Lord.

As a result

what does

it look like

under his

rule?

He'll judge

not by

what his

eyes see

or what

his ears

hear

but with

righteousness

he shall

judge

the poor.

With

equity

he'll decide

for the

meek

of the

earth.

He's going

to strike

the earth

with the

rod of

his mouth.

With the

breath of

his lips

he'll kill

the wicked.

How?

Why?

Because

righteousness

is the

belt of

his waist

and faithfulness

the belt

of his

loins.

That is

his very

essence.

That's what

that means.

That's who

he is at

the deepest

part of

who he is

righteous

and faithful.

faithful.

No more

idolatrous

kings.

No more

leaders who

oppress the

poor to

cement their

own power.

No more

injustice

for the

people.

A king

is coming

whose very

essence

is righteousness.

It's his

very character

to the

core of

who he

is and

his just

deeds

reflect

that

righteous

character

without

fail.

Finally

the

righteous

king

and

just

kingdom

we've

been

longing

for.

Second

he'll

bring a

restored

Eden.

Listen to

the beautiful

picture of

the curse

being broken

and the

good garden

restored.

It starts

at verse

6.

The wolf

shall dwell

with the

lamb

and the

leopard

shall lie

down

with the

young goat

the calf

and the

lion

and the

fattened

calf

together

and a

little

child

shall

lead

them.

The

cow

and the

bear

shall

graze

their

young

shall

lie

down

together

and the

lion

shall

eat

straw

like

the

ox.

You've

not seen

these

things.

Something's

changing.

The

nursing

child

shall

play

over the

hole

of the

cobra

and the

weaned

child

shall

put

his

hand

on

the

adder's

den.

They

shall

not

hurt

or

destroy

in

all

my

holy

mountain

for

the

earth

shall

be

full

of

the

knowledge

of

the

Lord

as

the

waters

cover

the

sea.

It's a

picture

of

Eden

isn't

it?

It hasn't

been like

this since

then.

None of

God's

people have

witnessed

this

reality.

Predator

and prey

together

in peace.

Mankind

in the

person

of the

little

child

back

where

he

was

made

to

be

in

his

role

of

great

dignity

ruling

over

and caring

for

the

creation.

If you

want to

know for

sure that

the curse

is being

reversed

that God's

going to

make it

all back

to the

way it

was meant

to be

the seed

of the

woman

is near

the seed

of the

serpent

without

being

harmed.

That's the

picture Isaiah

is painting.

That's poetic

prophecy right

there.

That's for

all the

non-engineers.

Everything

all of

creation

will be

back

the way

God

intended

it.

No

pain

and

destruction

but

instead

the

glorious

intimate

unhindered

relationship

with God

from

sea

to

sea.

Oh

Israel

was

longing

for

that.

They

hadn't

known

that.

None

of

them.

What

would

that

even

feel

like

to

relate

to

God

like

that?

Finally

the hope

promised

is that

the

Christ

will

bring

a

recovered

people.

Verse

10.

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.

Don't

miss this.

It's

so good.

I love

this

verse.

Here's

what's

going

on.

The

one

who

has

been

called

the

shoot

coming

out

from

the

stump

is

now

also

called

the

root

of

Jesse.

He's

not

merely

one

more

king

in

the

line

of

many

kings

who've

come

from

Jesse

and

David

but

one

who

is

unique

in

that

he

was

there

before

Jesse

as

well

as

after.

He's

promised

all

the

way

back

in

the

garden

right?

This

one

is

coming

a

king

in

to

be

a

signal

a

banner

what

why

what's

so

special

about

him?

He

comes

and

what

happens?

A

sign

a

banner

is

raised

and

the

nations

run

toward

him

rally

around

him

as

it

were

joyfully

celebrating

him.

You

see

Israel

wasn't

the

only

nation

that

was

promised

to

be

reduced

to

a

stump

was

it?

They

were

but

so

was

once

mighty

Assyria

so

were

many

other

nations

promised

to be

destroyed

like

them

and

only

one

stump

Jesse

Israel

would

have a

shoot

come up.

There

was

just

one

stump

with

one

shoot

but

the

whole

forest

the

whole

glorious

beautiful

thing

is going

to be

replanted

isn't

it?

The

righteous

ruler

will

bring

back

the

restored

creation

and

all

the

nations

will

find

their

life

in

him

the

forest

around

that

one

stump

with

that

one

shoot

will

be

magnificent

glorious

again

the way

God

intended

it

can't

you

just

not

wait

to be

a

part

of

that

a

beautiful

multicolored

forest

living

together

in

peace

enjoying

the

glorious

presence

of

our

God

just

the

way

he

designed

us

to

live

listen

there's

somebody

in

your

life

who

needs

to

see

you

point

them

to

Jesus

the

banner

the

signal

so

that

they

can

run

to

him

and

be

a

part

of

that

glorious

forest

to

have

the

hope

of

experiencing

life

as

it

should

be

finally

where

does

that

hope

come

from

that's

a

glorious

hope

in

verse

10

at

the

end

of

this

passage

don't

miss

where

it's

coming

from

it

comes

from

Christmas

it's

only

in

the

righteous

ruler

it's

only

in

the

little

child

who

shall

lead

them

it's

only

in

the

root

of

Jesse

that

single

shoot

that

comes

forth

becomes

the

righteous

branch

that's

the

only

place

the

hope

is

found

on

that

first

Christmas

the

shoot

shoots

forth

sprouts

out

of

the

stump

an

unassuming

child

born

in a

stable

in

too

little

unimportant

Bethlehem

in a

place

of

hopelessness

he

is the

one

from

whom

all

this

glorious

hope

will

come

he

will

live

in

humble

poverty

die

on

an

awful

cross

and

in

so

doing

those

things

he

will

bring

hope

to

the

nations

because

it's

only

in

those

places

that

hope

truly

grows

the

long

expected

Jesus

is

Israel's

strength

and

consolation

and

the

hope

of

whom

all

the

earth

he

is

the

joy

of

every

longing

heart

except

that

sometimes

we

stop

short

of

Jesus

don't

we

sometimes

our

hearts

do

long

and

and

they

want

fulfillment

but

but

we

think

the

fulfillment

we're

longing

for

can

be

found

elsewhere

don't

we

sometimes

we

grasp

for

hope

that

that

is

immediate

and

temporal

and

we

think

that's

finally

going to

do it

for us

be

be honest

does it

ever feel

like

just a

little

more

money

a little

different

family

a little

better

life

circumstance

would make

things as

they should

be

do you ever

feel like

that

that deep

longing

you feel

could be

satisfied

forever

with just a

just a small

change in

life situation

I was going

to run

through a

list of

seemingly

successful

people who

have said

they found

little hope

or fulfillment

in their

success

and in

changing

their

circumstances

and reaching

the top

as it

were

quarterback

Tom Brady

Madonna

but then I

decided actor

Jim Carrey

said it

better than

any of

them

this is what

Jim Carrey

said

he said

I think

everybody

should get

rich

and famous

and do

everything

they ever

dreamed of

so they can

see that it's

not the

answer

they should

do everything

they ever

dreamed of

have all

their dreams

come true

so they can

see it's not

the answer

that's true

isn't it

you may not

have had all

your dreams

come true

and done

everything you

ever dreamed

of but

you've done

a lot

of things

you've had

a lot

of things

and yet

that ache

hasn't gone

away completely

has it

no temporary

improvement

of circumstances

has ever

filled

the deep

longing

has it

that's why

it's still

there sometimes

the people

of God

have long

struggled

to find

the true

hope

that will

meet the

true

longing

of their

hearts

they've

chased

idols

that they

hoped

could give

them rain

for their

crops

or victory

in battle

they hoped

the promised

Messiah

would deliver

them from

foreign oppression

and put them

in charge

and make

things a little

easier

and we will

talk next

week about

the comfort

in this life

that Christ

brings

it's true

that is there

but the hope

of the gospel

is an eternal

one

it's an

eternal

hope

it's why

C.S. Lewis

wrote

if I find

in myself

a desire

which no

experience

in this

world

can satisfy

the most

probable

explanation

is that

I was made

for another

world

perhaps some

of God's

people were

putting their

hope in one

who would

come to

bring a little

more political

power

a little

more

temporal

comfort

and God

says listen

I've got

so much

more in

mind for

you

it's so

much

better

than that

eternal

harmony

and flourishing

with all

my people

the way

it was

meant to

be in

the beginning

all under

the righteous

rule of

a divine

king

that's the

hope of

Isaiah 11

isn't it

Isaiah 11

offers hope

not in

change

not in

altered

circumstances

it offers

hope in

a champion

an altered

eternity

in fact an

eternal

savior

who will

come

again

and God

says to us

this morning

I know

in your

longing you

look for

hope

in a

boyfriend

or a

girlfriend

in a

different

spouse

in a

different

job

you look

maybe to

that method

that you're

using to

escape the

pain

of life

or to

numb the

ache

that you

feel so

often

and that

seems like

the only

thing worth

grabbing onto

for hope

and God

says listen

I've got so

much more

than that in

mind

it's so much

better than

just that

there's only

one stump

with a

green

shoot

only

one

place

of

true

hope

and

life

amidst

the

devastation

and ache

of your

heart

it's the

righteous

branch

who offers

in himself

hope

true

hope

hope of

finally and

forever being

what you were

truly made

to be

deep

fulfillment

true

freedom

eternal

glory

friend

I would

plead with

you this

morning

not to

settle

for anything

less than

that

run to

Jesus

and find

the purpose

for which

you were

created

in him

and in

his

glorious

multi-ethnic

everlasting

forest

that you

can be a

part of

that's the

hope

that Christmas

offers

the coming

of God

into this

world

and his

return

that we

still

await

brings

eternal

hope

and

fulfillment

not a

temporary

earthly

reprieve

from

difficulty

and

longing

we haven't

gotten rid of

longing

have we

after all

creation

itself

is

still

longing

according

to

Romans 8

creation

waits

with eager

longing

for the

revealing

of the

sons

of God

the whole

creation

groaning

together

and not

only the

creation

but we

ourselves

groan

inwardly

as we

wait

eagerly

for adoption

as sons

redemption

of our

bodies

for in

this hope

we were

saved

not in a

hope of

just today

not in the

hope of a

small change

to my

circumstance

but the

hope of

redemption

forever

my adoption

as the

son of

God

and the

glorious

redemption

of all

of creation

in that

hope

we were

saved

creation

waits

and longs

still today

with us

for the

hope of an

eternal

salvation

a glorious

restoration

to the way

things were

created to be

that's the

hope

hope of

all

creation

I don't

know about

you

but I

still ache

I ache

a lot

not not

just the

morning after

setting up the

Christmas tree

and waking up

and feeling my

back

and that

kind of

aching

I ache

for the

world to be

a place of

justice

peace

I wait

and wait

for a

day when I

no longer

have a

selfish

heart

that hurts

those that I

love the

most and

makes me feel

deeply inadequate

I long

for the

dignity

and the

glory for

which I

was created

to be

something I

experience

every day

and day

after day

rather than

something I

feel I have