The opening verse of Isaiah 11 seems a bit bleak. By Isaiah’s day, David’s royal line had produced far more failures than faithful kings, and judgment was on its way. The proud tree of Judah was about to be cut to the ground. But God isn’t worried about a stump. “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Out of what looks dead and gone, God promises life.

Then, Isaiah tells us the kind of King this small shoot will become. “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,” filling Him with wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and most of all, the fear of the LORD. He won’t judge by appearances or by rumor. He’ll defend the poor, bring justice to the oppressed, and wear righteousness and faithfulness like a belt around His garment. Humanity was always meant to have this sort of ruler, the same kind of ruler Adam was meant to be in the Garden.

Then, the story opens up beyond the immediate political scene in Judah to the entire created order. The wolf dwells with the lamb, leopards lie down with goats, and lions now eat grass like cows. Infants can play with snakes. This passage is dripping with reference to Genesis 3, where the hostility between the serpent and humanity entered the story. Under this King, the hostility sin unleashed on creation is undone and gone forever. The land once again becomes full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the sea is full of water. (That’s pretty full!)

As has been our pattern all year, Mondays are days that tell the story of the week, so it’s worth asking where in the larger story this King shows up. When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came down and rested on Him. In the synagogue of Nazareth, He read from Isaiah and announced that the Spirit of the Lord was on Him to bring good news to the poor. Later on, Paul quotes verse 10 to describe Jesus as the root of Jesse in whom the nations will hope (see Romans 15:12). The shoot has sprouted, and the King has come.

But, as it stands today, we must admit wolves still hunt lambs and parents still keep their children away from snake pits! We live in the Already, but long for the fulfillment of the Not Yet. The King reigns, sure enough, and His Spirit has been poured out. The knowledge of the LORD is spreading among the nations, but the fullness of Isaiah’s peaceful mountain is yet to come. We are quickly moving toward a world where Eden is restored, filled from shore to shore with the knowledge of Him.

The dead stump has become the root of something new..

What in your life feels like a dying stump, cut down and finished? How can knowing Jesus is the righteous King Isaiah spoke of give you hope for the broken things you see around you?

Father, thank you for not giving up on what was broken and looked to be gone. Thank you for sending Jesus, the shoot from the stump of Jesse to be the King on whom Your Spirit rests. Where I see hostility, fear, and harm, teach my soul to thrush that Your reign is real and the peace of Jesus is on its way. Fill my life with the knowledge of You until the whole creation is full of it again. Amen.

“Because Jesus is the King who restores what sin has broken, I can hope again for __________________.”