So if you haven't done so take your Bible and turn to Isaiah chapter 11 Isaiah 11 it's good for us to study the Word of God the Apostle Paul said to Timothy until I come devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation and to doctrine And we are a church that wants to be faithful to that. The reading of the Bible, the exhortation from the Bible, and the doctrine and the truth that comes from the Bible. We are working through the book of Isaiah, and we come tonight to Isaiah chapter 11. This is a glorious chapter, a hopeful chapter, a wonderful chapter, a clear chapter. And I want to bring you a sermon that I've entitled the future earthly kingdom of Messiah. This is God's hope for man's corruption. Isaiah chapter 11. Follow with me as I read all 16 verses of the chapter. Follow with me in your copy of God's word. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. And he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear. But with righteousness, he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. Also, righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness, the belt about his waist. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the young goat and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little boy will lead them. Also, the cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 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. 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 he will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 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. 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 dryshod. And there will be a highway from Assyria from 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. What is God's solution to our problems? What is God's solution to the world's problems of the day? What is God going to do? Where is hope to be found? What is God doing? What is God's design? Where is God's solution to be found with all of the chaos and all of the lies and all of the deception and all the pride and all the rebellion? What is God's plan? We see anarchy, disorder and autonomy all around us. rank rebellion, brazen injustice, disgraceful pride? What was the hope for Israel of old? Living in a dark and godless world. What is the hope for you and me and for our world today living in a dark and godless culture? I want to propose to you at the outset here that God's solution is the glory of His Son. God's solution is the glory of the Son's kingdom. Or maybe I could put it like this, at the very beginning, which I will repeat throughout the evening, God's plan for the world is the kingdom of His Son. God's plan for the world is the kingdom of His Son. Now you remember in Isaiah chapters one to five, as the prophet began in this introduction to this lengthy prophecy that he's giving in chapters one to five, we saw in very clear colors, the sin and depravity of ancient Israel. Really, it's the sin and depravity of all humankind because the problem is in the heart of man. And then in chapter six, remember, we saw the call and commission of Isaiah, that God summoned the man, gave him a vision of the glory of God, and he was called into prophetic ministry. We now come to this first major section of the book, Isaiah chapter 7 to 12, which is often called the book of Immanuel, the book of Immanuel. Because in chapter 7, we learned about the virgin birth, that there will be a virgin who will conceive and she will bear a child and his name will be called Immanuel. That is a prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 7. And then in Isaiah eight, we learned about the fear of God and that we are to trust in the stone, the Lord Jesus, who is Emmanuel, not trip over the stone. We learned in Isaiah chapter nine, a couple of weeks ago unto us, a son is given. There is a kingdom. There is a reign that this child that will be born mighty God, wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace. He will have a glorious kingdom as he sits on the throne of David. Last week we saw in Isaiah chapter 10 that God will judge the proud Assyrians because of the haughtiness of her heart and going up against Israel in pride. But God never leaves his people in Isaiah, in this book, he never leaves his people without hope. He can give them some bad news, he can give them some tough news, he can give them some really, really bold messages, but he never leaves his people without hope. Last week in chapter 10, It was a chapter of God's judgment. It was a chapter of God's wrath on the pride of the Assyrians. And now we come to chapter 11, which is all about the future kingdom. It's all about the earthly, worldwide, peaceful reign that Jesus will bring to the world. Next week in chapter 12, we will learn about the song of trust. the song of trust for all those who are in the kingdom. Isaiah 11 and 12 are almost like twins. Isaiah 11 is all about the reign of the Messiah. Chapter 12 is about the rejoicing in the Messiah. Or maybe I could word it like this. If chapter 11 is about the description of what happens in the kingdom, chapter 12 is all about the reaction when that happens in the kingdom. So tonight we're going to look at a lot of details about prophecy. It's the future. This has not happened yet. It's going to happen in the future and we're going to see details. And next week we are going to look at a worship song. Next week will be the worship song of the Jewish people and all the nations when they come to worship the son of God in the future kingdom. I want to state at the outset here that the way that we ought to interpret the Bible is with a normal, plain way of interpreting the Bible. There is a method of interpretation called amillennialism, and it tends to spiritualize some of the prophecies in the Old Testament. And I think that there is a wonderful and a very noble motive on the part of many amillennialists because they want to uphold the glory of Jesus Christ. They want to interpret the Bible through the lens of the fullness of Christ and the work of Christ. And yet I think in reinterpreting, spiritualizing many of the prophecies, Rather than upholding and maintaining the glory of Christ, I believe amillennialism detracts from the glory of Christ. Here is a chapter that is so crystal clear in the plain reading of the text that this has not happened yet. This is a future reign on the earth. In fact, let me just give you some simple observations about the chapter because we come to prophecy, we come to the future, we come to something that has not happened yet. So let me give you just some simple observations. Number one, all of chapter 11 is on the earth. It's on the earth. Verse four, two times in verse nine, two times reveals that what is going on here is on the earth. This is not spiritual in our hearts. This is not the new heavens and the new earth. This is something that will happen on the earth. Second of all, I want you to know just a simple observation. This is future. 22 times in your Bible, you have the word will. God will do this. God will. This is future. This is not going on right now. This is not some sort of a spiritualized kingdom that has taken place right now. This is will taking place in the future. Third, another observation of the text. This is different. It's just a unique period. It's a unique period with a unique ruler, a unique righteousness, a unique cosmic peace, a unique knowledge of God, and a unique pursuit of Jesus around the world. It's different. It's unique. Fourth, another observation of our chapter, it's worldwide. It's worldwide. This is a chapter for the nations. This is a chapter that deals with the global peoples all around the world. Verse nine talks about the earth. Verse 10 talks about the nations. Verse 10 talks about the Messiah being a sign for the peoples in the nations. And then number five, the fifth observation, this chapter is all about Christ. It's all about Christ. It's all about the future Messiah and his kingdom. A couple of reminders. I have, uh, some who may, uh, some, some friends or some commentators who might respond to some of these remarks and say, well, yeah, but, but come on, these things aren't really going to happen. Literally. Do you actually believe it? And I say, yes. Let me give you a few reminders about God. Number one, church family, God can work miraculously. God can work miraculously. Number two, God has decreed the future. God has decreed the future. Number three, I believe that we should not spiritualize what seems foreign to us. We should not spiritualize and reinterpret what seems impossible to us. Case in point, Genesis 1 to 3, the creation of the world took place in six literal 24 hour days. Genesis 6 to 9, the worldwide flood took place all across the globe. Exodus 14, God parted the Red Sea. In Joshua 10, the sun stood still. These seem impossible to us. But of course, our great God can work these miracles. Number four, I want to give you another thought about God. God's goal is to magnify his name. God's goal is to magnify his name. But notice carefully, among the Jewish people, Israel and among all the nations of the world, we should interpret God's word literally, plainly the way the author intended with the historical grammatical interpretation. And if we are consistent, we will take this chapter literally And it will inevitably lead to a future kingdom on the earth in peace. The big picture of Isaiah chapter 11 is that God is giving hope to his people Israel. They live in terrible times. They live in political times of unrest. There's invasions coming from without. There's sin rising up from within. There's all kinds of turmoil. And the people say, where do I hope? And God's solution is, you need to hope in the future. Hope in the future to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, where He will rule and reign with justice, with peace, in righteousness, when all the nations will join Israel to worship Jesus Christ the King. Oh, for that day. We pray as Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, your kingdom come. God's plan for the world is the kingdom of his son. What I'm going to do tonight is I'm not going to talk to you about the headlines that I found this week. I'm not going to talk to you about a latest theory that I've invented or something that I found on YouTube somewhere. My goal tonight is to take your mind and your heart with the word of God and show you the future hope of the kingdom. So that you have hope oriented and grounded and established in the faithful promises of God that he is in control and that his plan for the world is the kingdom of his son. So Isaiah 11 gives hope to God's people living in godless times. Hope to God's people in godless times. Really, our outline tonight is very simple. I have two simple headings that I want to give you. Number one, in verses 1 to 10, I want to show you very clearly from the wording of the text, the righteous reign, the righteous reign of Jesus, the righteous reign. And then second, we will look at the restored remnant, the restored remnant. God is an amazing God who decrees the future. He knows the future because he's ordained the future and he is a faithful covenant making and covenant keeping God. Number one, let's begin with the righteous reign of Jesus. I want you to see the glory of the Messiah. The Bible teaches that you and I right now are living in what's called the church age, the church age. The very next event on God's prophetic timetable is what first Thessalonians four calls the catching up of believers. When in a moment's time, all believers alive on the earth are instantly caught up to meet Jesus in the clouds. May he come tonight, right? And so then we meet him in the clouds. After that, there is a seven year period of divine judgment on the world. That's called the tribulation period. And then at the end of that seven year tribulation period, Jesus will descend all the way to earth. Revelation 19 talks about that. It'll be visible. Every eye will see him. It'll be glorious. It'll be majestic. He is not coming to save. He is coming to judge. And he's coming with angry wrath for all of his enemies. And then when he comes all the way to earth, he will then inaugurate the 1000 year earthly kingdom. That's what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about that period in the future of the earthly kingdom after the second coming of Jesus all the way to earth. And I was talking recently with a friend of mine, we were talking about how the Bible is so precise that everything in the Bible occurs for a reason. Every word, even the order of things. 2 Timothy 4 verse 1 says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. And then he says, by the appearing of Christ and his kingdom, preach the word. Notice the order, the appearing of Christ and then the kingdom. I want you to preach the word. In Matthew 25 verse 31, Jesus says, when the son of man comes in his glory, then it's a very important word. Then he will sit on his glorious throne. Revelation 19 talks about the second coming of Jesus all the way to earth on a white horse. And then revelation 20 talks about the 1000 year kingdom. When Jesus reigns for a thousand years, I have a book and it's written by a non-millennialist. And he said, revelation 20 is the only text for the premillennialist. The only thing Revelation 20 does is tell us how long the kingdom is. There are dozens and dozens and dozens of scriptures all in the Old and New Testament that describe the kingdom. And here we are in one of them tonight. So Isaiah 11 is not about the present reign of Jesus in your heart. It's not about the eternal state in the new heavens and the new earth. This chapter tonight, Christian, I want you to hear this. It is about the future earthly millennial kingdom of Jesus when he rules and reigns on the earth in peace. Now in verses 1 to 10, here's what I want to do because this is what Isaiah does. I want to show you the glory of Jesus. And if you're taking notes, you have as your heading the righteous reign, the righteous reign. I want to give you some headings about Jesus. Who is this Jesus and what will the reign be like? Let's look. beginning in verse one at the humility of Jesus, the humility of Jesus. Because Isaiah 11 verse one begins with a shoot that springs from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots that bears fruit. Anybody remember where we saw that word shoot or stump before? The very end of Isaiah chapter six. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and the angels are saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. And God tells him to preach. And yet his message is going to be one of judgment because so many people are not going to believe what the prophet says. And the prophet says, well, Lord, how long should I preach? The Lord says, until the nation of Judah is pretty much wiped out. But, at the very end of Isaiah chapter 6, there's a stump that remains. There's a little stump that is the holy seed, and that is Messiah. Jesus is the shoot. He is, verse 1 of our chapter tonight, He is the branch. Earlier in chapter 4 of Isaiah, Jesus was called the branch. He was called the branch, the branch of the Lord. He will be beautiful. He will be glorious. This is a clear testimony to Jesus Christ. Even in Jeremiah chapter 23, we read that God is raising up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land in Jeremiah 23 verse 5. What does this mean? He has a humble beginning. He's a little shoot. He's a little branch. A lot different than the kings of Judah. A lot different than the king of Assyria who claims to be someone great. And Isaiah 11 says, here's true hope. A little shoot. A little branch. And he's of Jesse. Isn't that interesting? In verse 1, if you look carefully, he's a stem of Jesse. He doesn't say of David. He says of Jesse. Probably because the house of David is so corrupt in Judah, the kings in the line of David are so incredibly corrupt that there is a new David who is coming and he comes from the family of Jesse. And verse one ends, he will bear fruit. He's going to prosper. He's going to benefit others. I have a question. Have you come to this humble shoot? Have you come to this shoot, this stump, this stem of Jesse is your eternal soul and the wellbeing of your soul, not trusting in yourself and what man thinks is great. But if you come to the one who was the humble Messiah, Isaiah chapter 53 talks about how he had such a humble beginning. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, one from whom men would hide their face. And yet Jesus was born in humility, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, so much so that one of the disciples would say, could anything of good come out of Nazareth? Isn't it easy for us to underestimate what God is doing when we judge things by mere appearances? We look at how things are on the outside and we think, well, surely that isn't good. And yet here is the Messiah who is a shoot, a stem, a branch, a stump. We see the humility of Jesus, but let's continue look at verses 2 & 3 look at the character of Jesus in Isaiah 11 verse 2 the spirit of the Lord Will rest upon him so interesting Isaiah is going to give sevenfold Spirit right here in verses 2 & 3 the spirit of the Lord rests upon him the spirit of wisdom the spirit of understanding the spirit of counsel the spirit of strength the spirit of knowledge and the of Spirit of the fear of the Lord. What do you mean, Jeff, that the spirit of the Lord will rest on him? Well, this is God's divine empowering for a particular task. This is language all through the Old Testament. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him for a different task or a different role. This is the anointing from God upon someone to accomplish God's task for him. Just like Joseph in the book of Genesis or Bezalel in building the tabernacle or Ophniel the judge or David the king or Micah the prophet or David the king. Enabling him to accomplish a task. Verse two begins, the spirit of God is upon the Messiah, which enables him to do the task that God has given to him. Notice very clearly what Isaiah says. He has the spirit of wisdom and understanding. What wisdom and skill this God will have, skill in thought, skill in life, skill in obedience to God. Look at the end of verse two, spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel and strength. He is one of almighty strength. He's the mighty God, as we read earlier in chapter nine. And not only that, at the very end of verse 2, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord is with him. What do you mean the fear of the Lord? Well, to fear God is to know God. To fear God is to adore and love God. To fear God is to love God and obey Him. It is to obey Him. Maybe we think about fearing God and how Jesus the Messiah is described right here in verse two as one who has the fear of the Lord. What an example for us. Do you see in verse three how the description of the character of Jesus continues? Look in your Bible, he delights in the fear of God. Jesus said in Matthew 11, learn from me. We are to learn from Jesus how he delights in the fear of God. You say, Jeff, define the fear of God for me. Here's what it is. Worshipful obedience. That's what it is. It's worshipful obedience. You see, when the Messiah comes, he will be described as one with worshipful obedience to the father. And that's exactly what he was in the first coming. He is one who is worshipful in his obedience. What about you? Do you delight in the fear of the Lord? Do you have this worshipful obedience to the Lord as described right here by the Messiah in verse three? He will delight in the fear of the Lord. How interesting that Isaiah would put this here about Jesus, because the kings of Isaiah's day were totally unconcerned about doing God's will. Ahaz could care less about God's will. He was a wicked king. And yet here's a contrast. Messiah will be constantly desiring to do what God wants. That's our Savior. That's the one who obeyed the Father in every possible way on your behalf. What character, what character of this savior. Now in your outline, not only do we see the humility of Jesus, the character of Jesus, but third, look at the future kingdom here, the righteousness of Jesus. Look at verse four, but with righteousness, he will judge the poor and he will decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. Verse four, he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. I mean, how clear? Jesus judges righteously. He's fair. He's perfect. He's pure. Don't you long for a leader like that in our day? But this is what Jesus does. This is who He is. He's not biased. He's not impartial. He's not unjust. The Savior, Messiah, in His kingdom, He has integrity. He has righteousness. And we read, even at the end of verse 3, He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor does He make a decision by what His ears hear. He is wise. He's good. Full of integrity. And in verse 5, we read that he has righteousness around his loins. He has faithfulness as the belt around his waist, holding everything together. Can you imagine a day when righteousness pervades the world? Can you imagine a day when the king over the world, verse 4, will be fair? The end of verse four, he will slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. What a savior. Notice earlier in chapter two. In chapter 2, speaking of the kingdom in Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 4, we read that he, Messiah, will judge between the nations. He will render decisions for many peoples. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war. What's the point? The kingdom of Messiah will be a righteous kingdom. and it will be a righteous kingdom, cannot be the eternal state, because at the end of verse four, he slays the wicked with the breath of his mouth. It's also in the middle of verse four, something that happens on the earth. So it's not spiritual lives happening in our hearts. It's not something that happens in heaven one day. There's an intermediate state. It's not right now, but it's not the new heavens. There's a future kingdom to come. for 1000 years that will be described by righteousness. Righteousness. What a judge. What a world ruler. Can I just bring out one little phrase in verse four? Do you see that he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. Jesus is holy. And he will judge all of his enemies. It is not hard work for him to slay the wicked. With the breath of his mouth, meaning the true word of God, because the word comes out of his mouth that is true, he is holy, he is just, he is righteous, and he will punish all the wicked of the earth. A friend, if you are here tonight and Christ is not your savior, he's not your Lord, he is not your king, he is not your master. You do not delight in the fear of the Lord. You do not fear him. Rather, you fear yourself and love yourself and live for yourself. And that defines who you are. No, friend, I call you tonight to turn to Jesus. I call you tonight in the words of our Savior Jesus to repent and believe in the gospel, to find eternal life found only in Jesus Christ. But that's the righteous reign of Jesus. But Isaiah goes on. Look at Isaiah 11, beginning in verse 6. Now, fourth, this is the cosmic peace of Jesus. The cosmic peace. Oh, this is glorious. This is wonderful. This is literal. Can I say it again? This is literal. Look at verse 6. The wolf will dwell with the lamb. You say, when is that going to happen? Well, it did in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1. Verses 29 and 30, actually Moses makes it clear, but it's also going to happen in the future kingdom. Look at verse 6, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion, the fatling will lie down together and a little boy is going to lead them and a cow and a bear are going to graze and the young will lie down together and a lion is going to eat straw like the ox. It's not in my desire here to go through all the biology of how a lion survives by eating straw. God can do that. I'm not concerned with how the Lord will do that. What's the point of all of this? Verse eight, the nursing child will play by the whole of the Cobra. The weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. That's the point. There will be cosmic peace. You say, come on. Somebody might say, like one of the commentaries I have on my shelf, that's foolish if you think this is literal. It is literal. And the reason is in the middle of verse nine, see the word for here's the reason all that can happen because the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Nature is going to be transformed. Hostilities are going to fade. Many of the effects of the curse are going to be removed. Even predators and prey will be reconciled. It will be like Eden restored. Because the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord. I could go on the street, I could knock on somebody's door in your neighborhood and say, do you have the knowledge of God? And they could say, sure, I know about God. I have the knowledge of God. But the Hebrew idea of knowledge in verse nine is not facts about knowing about God. It has to do with loving, intimate communion. Living according to God's word. It's not factual. It's experiential. It's not just informative. It is intimate. The whole world will be filled with this intimate, experiential, loving knowledge of God. Can you imagine living in a time like that? Maybe in your mind, you're hearing this and you're thinking, that just seems so foreign to me. It's hard for me to even imagine living in a world like that. Because this is not describing the time that you and I are now living in. It's describing a future time on the earth. when there is cosmic peace. Cosmic peace. Even creation is longing for this day. Let me just quickly read Romans chapter 8, verse 18. I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. The anxious longing of creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. What does that mean? Even creation is longing for the second coming. Even creation is longing for the second coming. Why? The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Creation is even groaning for that day. Romans 8. There will be cosmic peace. Praise God for His work. in revealing what will happen in the future kingdom. What else will happen in the future kingdom? Look at number five in your outline, the worldwide impact. Look at verse 10, the worldwide impact. You say, Jeff, but, but, but what is this kingdom going to be like and how far is it going to spread? End of verse nine, like the waters cover the sea and verse 10 in that day, the nations are going to resort. They're going to rally. They're going to seek. Here it is again, the root of Jesse, the Lord Jesus. The nations are going to rally to Jesus. Asia, Africa, the Americas. Australia, all the continents, all the nations, the people groups will rally to Jesus because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God. Look at verse 12. God will lift up a standard for the nations and he will assemble the banished ones of Israel and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. This, this is worldwide. The kingdom is going to span from sea to sea. the whole world. This is not spiritualized. This is not going on in my heart. This is not going on in your heart. This is not something about the eternal state. Verse nine says it'll span from sea to sea. But Revelation 21 says there is no sea in the new heavens. This is on earth, in the future, in the 1000 year kingdom. Worldwide impact. One more under this first main point on the righteous reign. Look at number six here. You can jot this down. The glory of Jesus. We have seen number one, the humility of Jesus, the character of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, the cosmic peace of Jesus, the worldwide impact of Jesus. And now the glory of Jesus, the glory. Verse 10. 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 glory. Oh, I love that glory. The nations are going to seek Jesus. And the text says in the middle of verse 10, do you see it? He will stand. He, that's Messiah. Jesus will stand as a banner, as a signal for the peoples and the resting place of Jesus will be glory. What a, what a savior. What a time when there will be glory on the earth. Church family, let's give our energy. to Jesus Christ. Let's worship him. The glory of Jesus. What is the glory at the end of verse 10, the Hebrew word glory? What does that mean? It's so full. It, it refers to the some beauty of all of the perfections of God. The glory of God is just the sum beauty of all of God's perfections. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, Hebrews 1 says. I was telling someone recently that all goodness is found in Jesus Christ. There is nothing bad in Christ. All good is in Him. Everything that you could ever desire for satisfaction in your soul is found in Christ. What a righteous reign, what a good king, what a fair judge, what a global sovereign, what a faithful shepherd. We could say with Paul, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We could say with John in Revelation 22, come quickly. Bring this rain. Now, why do I say all of that? And why does Isaiah 11 give all of that? Because God wants you to have hope now by looking to the future. You live here. But Isaiah wants your eyes to be looking ahead. Look to the Lord. Look to His faithfulness. Don't look to the White House. Don't look to what you can achieve. Don't look to the things of this world that can be accomplished and the things that you see in the blogs and the articles and the headlines. Don't look here. Remember, you're a citizen here. Yes, but your true citizenship is in Christ's kingdom. Whoever is president, remember that Jesus is the king. Christian, maintain the focus. Maintain the focus in these days. God's hope for his people Israel is not look to King Ahaz. It's not hope in the Assyrians. It's not try really hard to muster up all of your military might and overcome all your enemies. The hope of Isaiah is trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. In the righteous reign. That's verses 1 to 10. But now, let me give you the second main heading tonight as we finish the chapter in verses 11 to 16, number 2, the restored remnant. The restored remnant. I am a Jewish believer. There are other Jewish believers in this room. And I'm so thankful that the Bible has such clarity here about the Jewish people, about the people of Israel, because God is not done with the people of Israel. This section, verses 11 to 16, is all about the faithfulness of God in restoring, in reuniting, in regathering the Jewish people back to their land in the future. Look at verse 11. It will happen in that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with his hand the remnant of his people who will remain. Now maybe you're thinking, well, okay, this kind of happened before, right? The Jews went to exile and then they came back to their land. But this isn't referring to this coming back to their land in our text because verse 11 says, the Lord, the Messiah himself will regather them. Well, but then somebody might say, yeah, but in 1948, the state of Israel became a nation and people began to come back to their land. Well, that might've been a pattern, but that certainly was not the fulfillment of it. This will be fulfilled in the future when Jesus the Lord, he himself, verse 11, will gather with his hand the remnant of the Jewish people, verse 11, from where? Look at all these places around the world, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath. That's north and south and east and west. What's the point of verses 11 and 12? Jesus will regather and restore his people. Look at verse 12 in your text. He, Jesus will lift up a standard. That's a banner for the nations. He will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and he will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Do you see that there is coming a day when the Jewish people in the future will be regathered by Jesus's own hand back to the land of Israel? Verse 13. Well, why all that? Well, 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. And it talks about how they will possess the people groups of the world. Jesus is going to give peace. He's going to give prosperity to the Jewish people. You don't have to look long and far and long and hard about those people groups around the world, especially surrounding the nation of Israel that wants them annihilated and annihilated quickly. But that will never happen. It will never, ever happen because God is faithful and his word is so clear that he has a plan for his Jewish people, Israel. Somebody might say, well, how do you know that's going to happen? Why do you say that so dogmatically? Because of verse 15 and 16. Look at the end. And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt. That's the Red Sea down in the southern part of Israel. And he will wave his hand over the river. That's the Euphrates River. so that the people from the east can journey to Israel. And God will strike it into seven streams and make men walk over dry shod. Didn't God make bodies of water into dry ground before in the Old Testament? He can certainly do that again in the future. Verse 16, there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people who will be left as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt. What a God. Now, I want to make a statement and then I want you to do a real quick Bible study and then I want to show you why all this is important. The statement is this, God is not done with the people of Israel. And that Messiah himself will regather Israel in the future and bring them back to their land. Yes, it is a future earthly regathering in the millennial kingdom when they will come to Jerusalem to worship God. You say, Jeff, I see it here in Isaiah chapter 11. I see that. But let me take you to a few other scriptures. Do a little mini Bible study with me. Go to Isaiah 27. We'll get here in a few months. Isaiah chapter 27. And just look at verse 12 with me. And you'll see at the very end of the chapter here in Isaiah 27, verse 12, the phrase, in that day, the Lord will start his threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. Okay, he's talking to the Jews. one by one. How individual, how specific. Verse 13, it will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt, they will come and they will worship the Lord in the holy mountain of Jerusalem. There's a future regathering. Isaiah 49 also talks about this. Isaiah 49, I want you to see this in verse 22. Isaiah 49 verse 22, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations and I will set up my standard to the peoples and they will bring your sons in their bosom and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. Kings will be your guardians and their princesses, your nurses, and they will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet. And you will know that I am the Lord. Those who hopefully wait for me will not be put to shame. God is making a promise. I'm going to lift up a standard, and I'm going to bring you back. Look at verse 24, next verse. Can the prey be taken from the mighty man, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? Surely, thus says the Lord, even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, and the prey of the tyrant will be rescued. For I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your sons. I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh. and they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. That's God's judgment on His enemies. But all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior. I am your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. God is not done with His people Israel. He has redeemed His people. Look at Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56 in verse 7. Isaiah 56 verse 7, even those I will bring to my holy mountain, I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar because my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. And the Lord God who gathers the disperse of Israel makes declarations. God gathers his people. Even in the New Testament, look at Matthew 24. Jesus is on the Mount of Olives a couple of days before He will go to the cross. Matthew 24 and verse 31, speaking of the glorious return to earth. And Jesus will send forth His angels, Matthew 24, 31, with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. That's the regathering of the Jewish people. in the future. Romans chapter 11 talks about the end of the tribulation period when Messiah, the Deliverer, comes. And the text says in Romans 11 25, there's a partial hardening that has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And thus all Israel will be saved. The Deliverer will come from Zion and he will remove ungodliness from I want you to turn with me to one more scripture. Go to Ezekiel, please. Ezekiel chapter 37. I have a reason for going to all these scriptures. Just one more here. Ezekiel chapter 37. Because in Ezekiel 37, beginning in verse 21, I want you to see with me, in God's word, how clear, in the future, he will bring his Jewish people back to the land. Ezekiel 37, 21, say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be for all of them, and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions But I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and I will cleanse them and they will be my people and I will be their God my servant David will be king over them and they will have one shepherd and they will walk in my Ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob my servants in which your fathers lived and they will live on on it, they and their sons and their sons and sons forever. And David, my servant, will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them and it will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them and multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place will be with them and I will be their God and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever. OK. You say, Jeff, I get it. God is going to restore his Jewish people in the future. What's the point, Jeff? Why are you belaboring this? Here's the point. God is faithful. He's faithful. He's true. God is reliable to all of the details. that God is going to gather His Jewish people, Israel, from all across the world. And He's going to bring them back to the mountains of their own land, Israel. And God will set His King over them. And there will be peace. And there will be righteousness. And all the nations of the world will know that He is their God. Because God is faithful to Israel, you know he'll be faithful to you. But if God is done with Israel, we ought to pack it up and walk home right now and never come back. God is faithful. You can trust him. You can rely upon him. It might look bleak when you look at the headlines tomorrow morning. It might be a mess when you read what's going on in coming weeks and months. It might look hopeless right here in our land, but our hope is in God. And that's what Isaiah is doing. All the details that I've given you tonight are simply showing you that God's plan for the world is the kingdom of His Son. So Christian, this week, this week, tomorrow, this week, this month, where do you go? You go to the character of God because God is faithful. Number two, you remember that the decrees of God will never be frustrated. God is sovereign over everything that happens in D.C., in every city and in every country of the whole world. God is sovereign. Third, God's comfort is found in Him and in His promises. not in the circumstances of this world. God's comfort is found in him, not in the things of this world. God's son forth will reign justly and he will destroy the wicked. And what a glorious savior he is willing to save from destruction because he took the fiery heat of divine wrath for you, his own people. You know, the promises of God, the promises of God, the promises of God, the hope of God, the details of Isaiah 11. I mean, all the details that we've walked through here are intended to motivate you. Listen to this. Listen to how practical it is in times of depression, in times of discouragement, in times where you're oppressed by ungodly leaders. Where do you go? Isaiah 11. This is not my hope. My hope is in the Lord. My hope is not here. My hope is not in the things here. My hope is in Isaiah 11, the coming king, the coming kingdom, the faithful God, the one who has decreed the future. He's faithful toward Israel. He's faithful toward me. So hope in the Lord and hope in his power. Do not cast your anchor here in this world, but cast your anchor upon Christ. He is the rock. Let's end with Matthew chapter eight. Turn there if you would, and let's end here. You know, Matthew chapter eight, beginning in verse 23, Jesus is in Galilee and he gets into a boat and the disciples follow him. He's on the sea of Galilee. And in Matthew 8, verse 24, there is a great storm. There's a mega storm. This is huge. This is grand. This is big. The boat was being covered with the waves. Amazingly, in verse 24, Jesus was asleep. He's asleep. So verse 25, they, the disciples come to Jesus and they woke him saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing. Jesus, don't you care in a deathly panic. You need to save us. You need to save us. We're perishing. Now look at verse 26. Jesus said to them, why are you afraid? You men of little faith. What do we learn from that? Whenever we're afraid, it is evidencing lack of faith. Why are you afraid? You are showing that you have little faith. Whenever there's worry and fear and anxiety, in that moment it is revealing little faith in God. Jesus said, why are you afraid? You men of little faith to be anxious, to be worried is to have little faith in the Lord in that moment. And you think Jeff, I get it. I don't want to be fearful. I don't want to be fearful. I want to have a great faith in God. Tell me how next verse. Middle of earth 26. Then Jesus got up. And He rebukes the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. You need to see the power, the majesty, the greatness, the glory, the deity of Jesus Christ the Lord. How do I live a fear-free life? How do I live a life where I'm not worried, where I'm not anxious, where I'm not afraid, and I want to have strong faith in God? Here's the answer. The more you see the King in His beauty and in His glory, the more you'll have calm in every storm. The more you see the king in his power, his beauty, his glory, his majesty, his ability, the more you'll have calm in every storm. We live in stormy times. We live in very stormy times. How do you not fear? How do we have a great faith? We need to go to Jesus. Look at the power, the glory, the kingship, the splendor, and the sovereignty of Jesus. Because again, the more you see the king in his beauty, the more you will have calm in every storm. Our father, we thank you for Isaiah chapter 11 and the reminder, even in this chapter, that you are A God who has not only spoken of the future, you have decreed the future. And there's so many details, oh Lord, there are so many details of Isaiah 11, peoples and places and all these truths about the future kingdom. And Lord, we long for that day. We long to be there on that day. And Lord, we say, as our Savior taught us to pray, let your kingdom come. Let your kingdom come. How great is our God? How great is our God? We give you thanks and praise and worship. Show us your power and your majesty and your glory afresh. In Jesus name. Amen.