The Hope of the Blessed Hope

Our world is hungry. Our world is thirsty, and thirsty for hope. The past few years have brought quite a bit of turmoil to our world and our nation. Controversial elections, racial tensions, a global pandemic, and even natural disasters and storms have set this world into a search for hope. People look for hope, seek for hope, and long for rest in all the wrong places. Some seek it in alcohol, others in relationships, drugs, and a host of other things humanity uses to mask the hopelessness and the pain that they feel.

Into this world, we as the people of God have been sent with a message of hope. Yes, we proclaim a message that culminates in the Blessed Hope. Paul wrote to Titus, stating that we are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14). I love what the prophet Zechariah wrote to the people of Israel who were looking for their coming King, “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double” (Zechariah 9:12 ESV). Prisoners of hope.

I believe that God wants us to be empowered by the message of the Return and Reign of Christ, and to be able to see how the hope of the world is the hope of His return. If you look at Isaiah 11:1-16, I want to break down some great truths of Christ’s reign that offer hope to the world. See, we believe in the Soon Coming King. This is one of the pillars of the Pentecostal message, that Jesus is Coming Again. He’s coming to rescue and resurrect His people in the rapture of the church, but He’s also coming to rule and reign on earth in what we call the Millennium. The truth of Christ’s reign is proclaimed throughout the Scripture. While we see it explicitly mentioned in the book of Revelation, I believe many of the Old Testament prophets also proclaimed the reality of the Messiah’s reign on earth, a reign to which we still look today. That reign, that reality, is truly a message of hope to the world. And church, we should live today as prisoners of that hope. Jesus is coming again, and He will rule and reign. There are three truths related to Christ’s return that I believe should empower us to be bearers of hope in a hopeless world, empowered to share how the hope of the world is the hope of His return.

There are three realities, three hopes of the blessed hope, that should enable us to truly live as prisoners of hope. The Hope of Justice, the Hope of Peace, and the Hope of Rescue.

The realities of the past few years, with the turmoil and struggle that have been loosed in our nation, really stand in line with a host of issues that nations have faced for years. This portion of Isaiah was written to address King Ahaz.[1] Ahaz reigned from 735-715 BC, and one of the greatest threats He faced was that of Tiglath Pileser, head of the Assyrian Empire.[2] After a period of relative peace, there was a resurgence of violent military activity that threatened Ahaz’s kingdom.[3] Pileser’s reign sent the region into a tailspin and rocked the boat, if you will, shaking the confidence and peace of King Ahaz and threatening to utterly destroy the nation to the core.[4] It was into this time of upheaval and uncertainty that Isaiah closes the section with this prophecy of the coming of God’s Messiah. Into the instability of the nation, Isaiah prophesies a message of hope that would come when God’s ideal King came and reigned over Israel. This same message rings true today as we look at the instability of our world.
           
The passage opens with a contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. Notice that Isaiah speaks of a righteous branch that would come out of the stump of Jesse. This picture is meant to bring contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world.

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Anyone ever cut down a tree? What’s left? A stump. Isaiah uses this picture to compare the two kingdoms. Earlier in chapter 10, Isaiah spoke of the King of Assyria as a tree whose “proud” branches would be loped off and forests destroyed.[5] In contrast to the strength, size, and pride of trees and forests, the Kingdom of God is pictured as arising as a branch out of a stump. This speaks to the humble beginnings of the Kingdom of Christ, something antithetical to the ways of pride and power in this world.[6]
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In this humble kingdom, God promises to do something new. Notice that Isaiah says that this is arising from the root of Jesse. Jesse was David’s Father, and God made a covenant with David that one of his descendants would rule and reign forever, but rather than speaking of a son of David, here, Isaiah goes back to Jesse. Why? Because so many sons of David had wicked kingdoms that mirrored the kingdoms of this world rather than God’s Kingdom, so God’s going to go back to Jesse and start with a New David, the Lord Jesus Christ.[7]

God’s doing a new thing and building a New Kingdom. We need the hope of the blessed hope. So let’s unpack the hopes of the blessed hope, the hope of Christ’s coming reign.

The Hope of Justice
The first reality that Isaiah highlights about the reign of the Messiah, the Hope of Christ, is the hope of justice. One of the great tragedies of the kingdoms of this world is the prevalence of injustice. Unjust judges, law courts that accept bribes, the rich and powerful paying off the system—a host of injustice pervades the world as we know it. Can I tell you a secret? It won’t change until a New King comes, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every kingdom of this world will be plagued by injustice, but when He comes, He will rule and reign with justice.

Notice what Isaiah says. He speaks of this King being endowed by the Spirit for the task of judging rightly. In the Old Testament, the judges were spoken of as being anointed by the Spirit with the authority of God to make decisions. Later, this authority was transferred to the kings, who were understood to have been anointed to be agents of God, in the same sense as judges and prophets.[8] This coming King would be anointed to judge the world with equity and justice because of His empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, here, means “what is right, just, normal; rightness, justness, of weights and measures.”[9] Equity, here, refers to a “level place, uprightness… level place (free from obstacles), fig. for place of safety, comfort, and prosperity…uprightness in government.”[10] How often do we see level playing fields in judgment today?

This is the hope of Justice. Though the kingdoms of this world are full of injustice, there’s coming a kingdom of perfect justice. And this Perfect King will come and bring judgment. Now, one of the great realities of His reign is that He will bring justice and judgment to the wicked. The injustices of this world will be settled at the judgment seat when Christ meets out His perfect justice. Those who perverted justice, those who have mistreated others, and those who have carried out atrocities will be judged. They will have their day. Their sin, if not paid for by the cross, will be judged by Christ, and justice will be served. This is why God tells us, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord. We can respond to injustice with forgiveness and grace, because we know that the accounts will be settled by the King when He comes. This is the hope of the blessed hope.

The Hope of Peace
Secondly, there’s the hope of peace. Not only will Christ’s rule be characterized by supernatural justice, but he will be empowered to bring about supernatural peace. There’s a series of pairs in verses 6 through 8 that illustrate the sort of peace that Christ is going to bring.

What you’ll notice is that there are seeming enemies paired together—wolf and lamb, leopard and goat, calf and lion, cow and bear—all dwelling together in peace.[11] Further, it seems that there’s almost a return to the garden of Eden, as meat eaters begin eating plants again and no longer live by what Chisholm calls “the rule of tooth and claw.”[12] Often, much like our expectations today, people of the Ancient Near East looked forward to a day where a political leader would bring about that return to Eden, a time of paradise and perfection, a time of peace.[13] In fact, one Sumerian myth, Enki and Ninhursag, describe a situation where lions do not kill and wolves do not snatch the lamb.[14] This is the power of Christ, and the absolute transformation of the world that will take place when He comes to reign. Paradise will be restored, and there will be a removal of the curse that causes tension and harm within our world. Isaiah prophesies that no harm will be done.[15]

Notice specifically how the passage speaks of a child playing over the adder’s den and playing with the cobra. Scholars believe this is a reference back to Genesis 3:15 where the seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent. That enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is overcome.[16] Christ will remove and reverse the curse, bringing about a supernatural peace.
In a world ravaged by war and natural disaster, doesn’t the hope of peace sound amazing? Friends, this is the hope of the blessed hope. There will be a complete renovation of the world that will bring about a supernatural peace such that no harm will be done in all the Kingdom. This is the hope of peace. The hope of the blessed hope.

The Hope of Rescue
In addition to the hope of justice and peace, Isaiah prophesies the hope of rescue. Praise God! In a world of injustice and turmoil, there’s a promise of rescue. Notice how Isaiah prophesies the gathering of a righteous remnant. See, in Isaiah’s time, the nation had been taken captive, but Isaiah’s hope is that a remnant will return and inherit the promise. The nation was taken captive in 722 B.C. by Assyria and removed from their homeland, deported to Mesopotamia.[17] Their homeland destroyed and living in a foreign land, Isaiah foretells and prophesies that a remnant would return home. When the King comes, He calls forth the remnant of God’s people from all nations and rescues them from their captivity.[18] The section is marked off by a literary device called an inclusio, where the author mentions something at the beginning of a passage and the end of a passage to emphasize the point. In this section, there’s a reference to the Lord’s Hand, Assyria, and Egypt in verse 11 and again in verses 15-16.[19] Isaiah is pulling on the idea of the Exodus, where the hand of the Lord wrought mighty works to bring God’s people out of Egypt and into the land of promise. This is a second exodus, not of Israel out of Egypt but of God’s people out of the nations of the world.[20] In a very real sense, the exodus and deliverance, and the captivity and deliverance of Israel become types and shadows of a Greater Exodus and Greater Deliverance of God’s People out of the sin and death of a fallen world. This is the return to Eden.           

Christ will call forth and gather His people and rescue them from the fallen world. And Revelation tells us that we will rule and reign with Him. One scholar calls this move in Isaiah a “Back to the Future” move, where Isaiah uses the past experience of Exodus as a picture of the presence and power of God that will bring about their future deliverance.[21] This New David, who initiates a New Creation, initiates a New Exodus by calling forth His people from out of the nations to which they had been scattered. There will be three groups of people represented in these people: the nations (that’s you and me), faithful Israel, and faithful Judah (those believing Jews who trust Christ as their Messiah).[22] Together, we will become a New People, a new humanity living in a New World with our King, Jesus. In this New World, there will be perfect justice and perfect peace. What a message of hope in a fallen world! Justice in a world of injustice, peace in a world of turmoil, and rescue from a broken system brought on by the curse of sin. This, my friends, is the hope of the blessed hope.

This blog was adapted from a message preached at a Midweek Service in the Fall of 2023 at Abundant Life Assembly of God in Marion, IL. 

[1]Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 428.
[2]David D. Pettus, “Ahaz, King of Judah,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
[3]Ibid.
[4]Andrew H. Bartelt, “Second Sunday of Advent, Year A,” in The Lectionary Commentary: Theological Exegesis for Sunday’s Texts, Volume One (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 320.
[5]Jamieson, Faussett, & Brown, 443.
[6]Gary V. Smith, Isaiah 1–39, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, The New American Commentary (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2007), 270–271.
[7]Robert B. Chisholm Jr., Handbook on the Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 44.
[8]Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Is 11:2.
[9]Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 841.
[10]Brown, Driver, & Briggs, 449.
[11]Jamieson, Faussett, & Brown, 443.
[12]Chisholm, 44–45; J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 118.
[13]Smith, 269.
[14]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, Isaiah 11:6-8.
[15]Smith, 273.
[16]Motyer, 118.
[17]Chisholm, 45.
[18]Chisholm, 45.
[19]Motyer, 119-120.
[20]Motyer, 120; Chisholm, 45.
[21]Chisholm, 46.
[22]Smith, 276.
 

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