Isaiah has given us an amazing prophetic picture of Jesus,
both to understand Him and to adore Him.
First, the prophet identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of
Israel’s longing for a living Hope, the Messianic Savior they had been waiting
for.
Next, Isaiah gives us deep insights into His very heart and His
internal attitudes as the only begotten God, the eternal Son of His Father,
through which we can both worship Him and by His grace, emulate Him as well.
After describing in great detail what the effects of Jesus’
Presence as the Prince of Peace would be, both in the lives of those He walked
among during His earthly sojourn among the Galileans and Judeans of the first
century, and in all of those who would be gathered to Him throughout the ages
to come beyond His ascension, Isaiah turns to write about His eternal nature
and future fulfillment:
10 And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse shall
stand as a signal for the peoples; of Him shall the nations inquire and seek knowledge, and His dwelling
shall be glory [His rest glorious]
By referring to the
future coming of Messiah as the “Root of Jesse,” just a few verses beyond
already describing Him as the ‘Shoot’ that would come from that same stump, and
the ‘Branch’ that would bear fruit from that same stump, Isaiah showed that
this Person would have an existence not known by any other human being. The great prophet
placed the coming “Son of David,” beyond any historical period, into a timeless
dimension, only inhabited by God Himself. Isaiah also told us
that “the Root of Jesse shall stand as a signal,” indicating that the Messiah
to come was literally a human ‘sign’ to the entire world, which would draw all
the nations to inquire and seek knowledge.
We know that Jesus
has fulfilled this prophecy, with an understanding even by fair minded
nonbelievers that He stands far above most, if not all historical figures, in
His Personal impact on the world over many centuries. The glory spoken of
here in verse 10, could be the general regard for the “Holy Land” or Israel,
and especially Jerusalem, as a very special place. The glory may be more
specifically, the much greater significance that true followers of Jesus give
to all the geographical locations where He lived, worked, preached, did
miracles, shed His blood, was buried and resurrected, or appeared after His
resurrection. His rest being glory
or glorious, could also be symbolic of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, His
return to the glory of His Father and heaven, until His coming again.
All these insights
focus on the fulfillment of Jesus in His first coming, which we would be
looking back on from vantage point 20 centuries further out.
Another focus could
be on the effects of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, on the many nations
of the world since His first coming, in His bringing of them all into His own
Kingdom, through many millions of disciples going forth into all the earth and
preaching of the Gospel, over all those centuries. This focus leads us
right into Isaiah’s next verse, in which he reveals the hand of Lord God being
lifted up a second time, to draw in the remnant of His people from all the
nations of the world. This could be seen
either as a literal ingathering of Jewish people from many lands across the earth,
or a symbolic beckoning of the true lsrael of God, those with hearts
circumcised by faith, coming to Jesus from around the globe into the Body of
Christ:
11 And in that day the Lord shall again lift up His hand a
second time to recover (acquire and deliver) the remnant of His people which is
left, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam
[in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Upper Syria], and from
the countries bordering on the [Mediterranean] Sea. 12 And He will raise up a signal for the
nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and will gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
While any of these
perspectives, whether fulfilled at the time of Jesus’ first coming into the
earth or in the intervening periods, do involve some or all of the significant
supernatural elements revealed in this entire passage, there is also a fuller
picture of Jesus offered to us in the whole of Scripture, both in this section
and in the broad sweep of the entire catalogue of the apocalyptic Scriptures.
Both in His first
coming and in the period since His ascension, Jesus is shown to us in many ways,
with each revelation as a prophetic milestone along the way, moving toward a
greater fulfillment. The emphasis in verse
11, on the hand of the Lord being lifted up again a second time, written just
after declaring the rest of the Stump of Jesse being glorious, “also in that
day” indicates a frame of reference of opening and closure, and pointing to the
greatest fulfillment in Jesus’ second coming, unveiling, revealing, or
apocalypses.
Ultimately, God’s
“signal” will find its absolute and final manifestation only in the actual
physical return of Jesus, when He is to be seen by the whole world, and Who
will then judge all humanity from all time periods, and every variety of rebel
spiritual forces, inaugurating His absolute reign forever.
Once again, we can
clearly see from both the substance and the prophetic unfolding of this
passage, which totally parallels the manifold variety of eschatological visions
throughout the whole Bible, both from the Old and the New Testaments: this
Messianic Personage being spoken of by Isaiah, is undoubtedly Jesus of
Nazareth.
Neil Uniacke
Executive Director
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