We have now for several months thought at various times about the prophet Isaiah himself. We thought about him as the preacher sent to this particular generation. But at this juncture, you and I, we ought to be able to step back and actually say something about his congregation. We ought to have at least in our minds at this point, a vague understanding of the kind of people to whom the prophet was sent. And if you hold together all that we've seen up to this point, it's not difficult to get an idea of what kind of people this congregation was. The people who heard Isaiah at the first, they were a people who certainly in their own eyes were sensible people, the practical sort. There's a national crisis looming in the background. There are great pressures, economic, military, And so alliances, alliances with Syrian Ephraim, alliances with the Assyrian empire, those are the solutions. This is the kind of generation that Isaiah goes to, a practical people, a people faithless, a people whom Isaiah tells us are utterly estranged in their minds to the workings of God. He came to a congregation A people that professed faith in the Lord God. A people you remember under Uzziah's day, that yes, that there were defects of course, in various aspects of their worship, but a people who professed Jehovah worship alone, and who made some semblance of an attempt at keeping the law of God. A formal people, but a faithless people. That's the congregation to whom Isaiah was sent at the first. But friend, as you and I, we look at this text, I want you to notice something. As you hold together all that we've said up to this point, the prophet comes to this generation and he comes to them to tell them pointedly that their problem is not the national crises that have captivated their minds, it is their faithlessness. It is their apostasy from God. Now, in order for the prophet to set that out before them, he takes us, he takes this congregation to the first port of call to show them that they're not thinking as they ought to think, seeing as they ought to see. And that is, he shows them that all of these powers that seem to be so stable, that seem to be so secure, he says, all of them are in fact, quickly passing away. That's where he begins. He says, if you would see, according to the Word of God, here's what you would see. You'd see that the Assyrian Empire, as great, as burgeoning a power as it was on the world stage, it's going to fall. If you saw things according to the Word of God, you would recognize, Isaiah says to the congregation, that all of that which man has established, it is crumbling. Whether it's in Assyria or Ephraim. whether it's Syria, the kingdom, or Egypt. The first point that Isaiah shows them clearly is that all of those powers in whom they hope to trust, they're falling, quickly fading. So he said of Assyria, the tree of his forest shall be few. God shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. When he turns to Israel, he says thus, he says, the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one day. And then when he turns to Judah, when he turns to Judah, God says to the kingdom, he says that he will wield his ax, namely the kingdom of Assyria. And by that ax, the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired. That's the message that Isaiah sets before this congregation. They who are the enemies of God and you who are a faithless people, you'll find that all stability outside of him is a facade. That's where we are. At the end of chapter nine, that's where the prophet leaves us. And so we hasten to our text this evening, the first verse of chapter 11, where there is an abrupt change. He tells us, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Now, what does all of this say? Well, I want you to notice something. We leave the end of chapter 10, looking at Assyria being cut down. Now Assyria will be of course, the agent of God's wrath against Israel. And yes, the agent of God's wrath as well against Judah, such that the Lord says that he will shave with a razor by the Assyrian. But as you look at this text, I want you to notice first of all, that Judah here is described as being reduced to a stump. The rod will come up out of the stem of Jesse. A tree cut down at the ground. And then he says this, that he's left really with the roots. This rod will grow from the roots. It's a picture of Judah that is incredibly, friend, incredibly dark. It's not just branches that have been locked off, but the whole tree seems to be nearly as dead. Now, you see what the Lord says afterward. After Judah has been so drastically reduced, then God will bring forth, as you read from the second verse and on, the greatest deliverer. the one who is anticipated through the ages. And so friend, you have greater humiliation than what we've seen thus far in the church. And of course her greatest deliverer. That's the focus of the prophet at this point. And so you ask the question, what is the prophet talking about? Why do we leave the destruction of Assyria at the end of chapter 10 and now move to a time whenever the kingdom of Judah, that is the visible church is reduced to a lower state than she was in the days of Isaiah. and speak about a deliverer who will come centuries later. Well, friend, I want you to know, first of all, that this text cannot refer either to Hezekiah, to Josiah, or to Zerubbabel. Many have tried to make the claim. But as you look, friend, at the state of the church as described for us in this text, it's lower than any of those men ever saw. And of course, as you look at the description of the deliverer, as great as those men were, none hold a candle to the one in our text. So are we looking then, friend, at something beyond the Assyrian crisis? Are we looking at something beyond the days of Isaiah? And the answer emphatically is yes. And that shouldn't surprise us. I mean, friend, as we've looked through the prophecy of Isaiah, the prophet has done this several times. You go back to chapter 4, verse 1, you remember that there, the Lord, he describes for us the desolation that will come upon Judah, and then immediately afterward, he describes to us the glory of the New Covenant age, 4-2-6. Then as you go back to chapter 8, verse 22, you have really what looks to be the bleakest picture of the church and then chapter 9, 1-7, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the prophet doing? What is he leading this congregation through? This faithless congregation that seems so unlearned in the ways of God. My friend, what he does here in our text is what he's done in those previous texts. He shows us God's temporal deliverance, but then he urges them to see well beyond them. Yes, he says that Judah will be spared from Assyria, but he turns his congregation to look to a deliverance that is higher, to a deliverer that is greater, that answers a greater crisis than was the Assyrian invasion. And friend, what you see here, what you see here is the prophet saying, as he said all along, you need to look to a greater deliverance. you need to look to a greater Redeemer than you will. It's interesting, the ancient Jewish interpretations of this text are really encapsulated for us in the Targums. It's the Aramaic translation or paraphrase of the Old Testaments. This text is immediately described as a messianic text in the Targums. A friend, even an unbelieving Jew, a scholar, well, well, received even today among Jews, writes thus, he says, the transition from momentary relief, the end of chapter 10, to the lasting messianic redemption, even in one and the same chapter is quite natural. Why is it natural? Because again, the prophet tells this faithless congregation they need to look to Christ. The problem was not just sinful confederacies. That was the symptom. The problem was they were a Christless generation. And so the prophet takes them here. As God's mouthpiece, he sets before them the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's important that we grasp at this moment how Christ comes to us in this text. A sprout. a sprout out of a felled tree. Do you remember months ago when we were at the end of Isaiah 6? It may even be useful for you to turn there to verse 13, where you have a very similar image brought to us. There the Lord says to the prophet, he says, but yet in it, that is in Judah, shall be a 10th, and it shall return and shall be eaten. as a teal tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves. So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." Striking actually, friend, as you hold verse 13 of chapter six with the first verse of chapter 11, they work together quite seamlessly. What the prophet says in Isaiah six, is that Judah will be felled. That's actually the word there that's rendered for us in several, they will cast their leaves. Judah, this great tree, the visible church at the time, she will be greatly reduced. And he's not even referring here only to the Babylonian exile, because you remember this, it shall be returned a tenth, and it shall return, but that which has been returned, that which grows, the sapling that sprouts after the exile, It shall be eaten. Great tree felled, the sprout comes up, the sapling grows, but then the sapling itself is cut down. And so, friend, the idea at the end of Isaiah 6 is that the church will be reduced greatly. But he says this, the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. There will be life within her. Now come to our text. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Friend, what was the principle of that life that was left in Isaiah 6? The text tells us it is Christ. And he shall come up out of that felled tree, out of that stump, out of that root that seems so dead. It was scorched by the wrath of God. Why this description of the Lord Jesus Christ? Friend, the method that the prophet has taken as inspired by the Spirit of God throughout has been to tell this faithless congregation, you need to rest upon the naked Word of God, not upon the sight of the eyes, not upon human wisdom, Because now he tells us your deliverer will come from the least likely of places at the least likely of times, in the least likely of semblances. He is your deliverer still. You see in this text friends that redemption in Christ, it confounds the wisdom of men. And I want us to see that very briefly this evening, right under three headings. And very, very briefly, I want us to look first of all at the season in which Christ comes as described for us in the text. This could be easily missed, but friend, it shouldn't be if we're listening to the prophet carefully. He says, it's out of the stem of Jesse that he shall arise. No, he doesn't say out of the stem of David, out of the stem of Jesse. In other words, friend, all of the accoutrements of royalty, all of the ideas of kingship, that were built into the term of the Davidic line, that's all done away with now. All that is left is Jesse. It's as though the kingship was, well, it was reduced to the other kinds of dynasties in the world, to the dustbin of history. No, he says there's a root, but it's the root of Jesse that shall be there. And so friend, you have the idea that when Christ comes, he will come when the Davidic line has been reduced as never had been before. When it seems there is no Davidic line left. When all that it is, is the house of Jesse. That's when Christ will come. And why will it be so reduced? Again, in Isaiah six, Remember that the Lord supplies the answer, that the Lord will have moved men far away. There'll be a great forsaking in the land, verse 12. In other words, friend, what we're told there is that they will be reduced because of his wrath. They're under judgment. And so whether you are royalty or whether you are a peasant, if you are in the visible church of God at this time, you are under incredible tokens of divine wrath. You've been greatly reduced because of sin. This is something that Ahaz and Hezekiah never saw. This is a reduction of the Davidic line, a reduction of the church of God on earth that they never witnessed in their lifetime. This is a deeper humiliation than perhaps they could have even imagined. And yet, in that season, when the wrath of God is so evident, so palpable in the church, in that season, Christ, comes forth. Christ accomplishes redemption when the church was at its lowest. Of course, you see this in the New Testament, don't you? The fullness of times that Christ came in, it was a time of lowliness. Think of the monarchy. We shouldn't miss the gravity of what you find in Luke 2. All went to be taxed, the Gospel writer tells us. Everyone into his own city, and Joseph also went up. Joseph goes to be taxed. The rightful heir to the Davidic throne is a subject to Caesar Augustus. Staggering, friend. Staggering. What is left of national autonomy? What is left of national identity at that point? Nothing. The monarchy is reduced. The name Joseph, it's not even, friend, it's not even considered at that time a potential contender for government. It's a name that suits a carpenter and nothing more. And then, friend, think of the church. Think of the church when Christ came. He met with a generation of vipers, a generation that was faithless and perverse, an evil generation, where you had blind leaders of the blind who were teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. And friend, at the end of his ministry, when Christ is to leave them, you remember what he says, your house is left unto you desolate. What's really important about that construction is that what Christ is saying is, I'm leaving you as I found you, desolate. He came to an age in which the church could be described as being desolate. He goes on to say, where unto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, calling unto their fellows and saying, we have piped unto you and you have not danced, we have mourned unto you and you have not lamented. Why was this generation so hard? Why was this a desolate generation? Christ prays in Matthew 11, thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Why? Because friend, they were under the judgment of God. Christ came to a generation that was under divine wrath. And the spiritual judgments were palpable. In fact, friend, you remember how Christ himself describes the generation. He says, in them, it's fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, lest at any time they should repent and be converted, and I heal them. He quotes from Isaiah six there. It says, this is the generation in which he came. In Isaiah 53, we're told that he comes as a root out of a dry ground. That is out of a desert place, a land that is scorched, a land in which there is no habitation, no life, no vegetation. It is a place desolate, and there the prophet says he comes out of that dry ground, out of that scorched earth. And so he did. When the church was palpably under divine judgment, When the monarchy was reduced to its lowest place, there our Christ came. Why am I making this point? And why is this so important for this generation to hear? Because, friend, what the prophet is telling us is that the greatest redemption, the archetypal redemption for God's people, is accomplished when the church is at her darkest. When the church was at her lowest, then Christ came. When all there was was a stump, a system of roots, then Christ came. The seasoned friend confounded the wisdom of men. He didn't come when the church was revived, under Hezekiah or under Josiah. He came when she was palpably under the wrath of God. Oh, and friend Christian, this should thrill you. Because it shows us that when our God deals with his own, and when they are brought to the darkest of places, Even the very incarnation of Christ teaches us that in those dark places, Christ there, he sees a time of love. When none eyed pitied thee, he says in Ezekiel, you and your cast out into the field to the loathing of my persons, then I said unto you, while you were in your blood, live. While you were in your blood, live. Friend, even the incarnation of Christ tells us in its season. that when the church is in its darkest, he is redeemer still. Secondly, friend, I want you to notice the likeness or the semblance in which Christ comes. We're told here in our texts that he will come as a rod, as a stem, as a branch. And friend, you are to hold all of those descriptions together with what you had in the end of Isaiah six. where we're told there that the church of God is likened unto an oak or a teal tree, and the word teal there in the Hebrew, it's just another word for a great, a great tree. You're to imagine a tree with a yawning canopy of leaves and a massive trunk. But how does Christ come? Not as a towering oak, not as a mighty sequoia, but he comes as a rod, as a mere branch. He will be the root out of a dry ground, Isaiah 53 tells us. But the prophet quickly joins that image with this. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. What you see in this text, friend, is that Christ not only came in a season that seems to confound the wisdom of men, but he came in a manner, he came in an appearance, without comeliness, without the appearance or the form of strength. Friend, when Christ appeared, he appeared lowly, and he worked in such a way that appeared lowly. Note how Christ himself tells us this. He says, the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. But what does it mean, friend, for him to be a servant, as he describes himself there? What will be his manner? He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. How meek was he to his disciples. How gentle was his dealings with sinners. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. Oh, and friend, contemplate what that meant. He, the rightful heir. He, the Davidic son. And yet all that Judah could provide for him was a crown of thorns. The only exaltation that they could give him was a cross. For no son of David was ever so wronged in his right as was Christ. So much so that these people would cry, we have no king but Caesar, who would revile him. Save thyself and come down from the cross. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. A root out of the dry ground. A stem in the appearance of men contemptible. And yet, the redemption of his people. Paul puts it thus, he says, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. So he came. So he came at a time when the church was at its darkest. in an age where she was reduced far beyond what she'd ever experienced before. And he came not as a towering figure, not an apparent strength, but as a stem, a sprout out of a dead or seemingly dead stump. Friend, I want you to notice that in this text, you and I are supposed to see This tells us, of course, the manner in which Christ would come in his humiliation. But it should also remind us that this is the ordinary way God works. And this is the thing that the congregation to which Isaiah was sent had to hear. Do you remember what we said last time we were together with regard to chapter 10? The prophet, he turned to them and he said, The command was simple, be not afraid of the Assyrian. That was the command. But then do you remember what God said to them afterward? He said, I am going to bring them to your front door. I am going to make them like a flood about you, but be not afraid. When it seemed like there was no hope, When all human resources have failed, God still says to his people, when the appearance of doom seems eminent and certain, he says, be not afraid. He works redemption. He works redemption contrary to the wisdom, contrary to the judgment of men. And what the prophet tells us in Isaiah 11 is no different with regard to Christ. When He comes, He will come in a way that men will receive Him as contemptible, as having no comeliness, no form about Him. He will come in a time when all that is about Him is really just ruins and darkness. But there, He says, He will work redemption. And friend, this is how Christ deals with His people still. Do you remember what Christ says to his disciples? He says, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. They wanted to see the victory of Christ. And it's important we emphasize that they wanted to see that with their eyes. They wanted a sensible impression of these things. And Christ says pointedly, the victory of God is not something that comes with observation. No, instead God calls his people to walk by faith. Instead, he commands them to rest upon his naked word. When Christ came, that was still the injunction to the church. It's ours today. Finally, and we close here, friend, we're told not only does he come at a season, in which it seems so contrary to the wisdom of men. Not only does he come in a manner or a semblance, which is seemingly so insignificant, but he comes and he sprouts. He shall grow, says the text. Notwithstanding all of the difficulties, notwithstanding all of the darkness, notwithstanding the fact that he comes out of a scorched earth, out of a scorched stump, yet there's life. In fact, if you go back to Isaiah six, you remember what he says here, that the substance, the substance of that tree that was great once, and then that was cut down. It grew again as a sapling, but then was cut down again, that the substance of its life would remain. And we're told in Isaiah 11 that that substance is the one who will sprout from the stem of Jesse. Now there's two really remarkable things about that, isn't there? What was the substance of the church under age, Christian? It was Christ. What was the principle of her life? What gave her life? What gave her being? It was this rod, this branch. But then from this we're told, from this one, will come growth, will come life, rejuvenation. Now, as you look at this text, friend, what you see here is that contrary to all expectation, as far as man is concerned, Christ, he comes and he fructifies. He vivifies that which was dead, that dead stump that was the house of Jesse. that decayed and perverse generation in the church. Out of that time, Christ would make a new people. Friends, we read before from Hosea 14, those branches would spread even far greater than did the old tree. You notice how the prophet describes the same thing for us in Isaiah 42. And note, friend, again, the pattern. God says of his servant, a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. And then this, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. You see the apparent paradox there, the meekness, the gentleness on the one hand, and then victory. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, says the prophet, till he have set judgment in the earth. The isles shall wait for his law. They will submit to his government, though he came in such a lowly way. They will submit to his scepter. Though, friend, it appeared as nothing to the world, though it seemed so small, so insignificant and contemptible, yet it was victory. Christ accomplished redemption, though his season, though his semblance seems so contrary to the sprouting of the life of God's people. He appeared so insignificant, but he was and remains still the only hope of men. Christian, I wanna leave you just with this thought as we apply it all. The congregation to which Isaiah was sent was told not to look with the eyes of the flesh, certainly not to look through the spectacles of the world, but to hold to the word of God. This was a faithless generation saying that you must hold to the promise of God. Take him at his word. Even whenever it seems that there is no hope, even in the bleakest, you are to hold to the divine word. And then he tells us that that's precisely how Christ would come, when it seemed bleakest, when he appeared to be so mean and so lowly. Christian, do you know that that same command is for you and for me today? You and I, we so much, We so much want to see, we want to sense the victory of God. We want something that is tangible, something that is concrete. We don't want to rest only upon the word of God, do we? I mean, that's why you have Quakerism, Pentecostalism and all other forms of illicit religious enthusiasm. It's because we want the kingdom of God to come with observation. We want a certain religious experience. We want to feel perhaps the crushing weight of our sin more, or we want to feel more the ravishing love of God. And we chase those experiences thinking that surely we can sense those truths. And there are a number of other ways in which we try to have the kingdom of God come with observation. The friend, what Isaiah told the congregation then and what you and I need to hear now, is it is the naked word of God upon which we are to hang our lives. That was the problem with Isaiah's generation. They would not rest upon the word of God alone. They needed something else. A friend note, the shape of God's dealings with his people through the centuries. Note it even in the coming of Christ. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. You and I are we are to hang our lives, ground our hopes on the word of God, by faith. And so walk Christian by faith. Even in the darkest of places, Walk. Trust in the promises of God that are made over to you in Christ Jesus. Make them your stay, Christian. And you'll find that none are put to shame. You trust in him. Amen.