Isaiah 11
WHEN JESUS REIGNS
Jesus shall reign where’er
the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.
There
There
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.
To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.
People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.
Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.
Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!
Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.
The scepter well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.
With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.
As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.
The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.
The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown. Isaac
Watts
Though a little long, I feel
this classic hymn sums up our message tonight, When Jesus Reigns.
The reign of the Lord Jesus
here on earth will be a glorious one. Isaiah 11 tells us some important things
about it. Tonight we want to see:
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
THE STANDARD OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 3-5
THE SAFETY OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 6-10
THE STRENGTH OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 11-16
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
Vs. 1 – At this time
But out of this stump would
spring up a Branch. This, of course is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's Holy Spirit will rest
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice that He is:
1.
The Spirit of the
Lord – Jehovah, the great “I am” is upon Jesus.
Whatever He does will be pleasing to God.
2.
The Spirit of
wisdom – Wisdom is the right use of information. A person who is wise is one
who knows how to distinguish the facts.
3.
The Spirit of
understanding – This is discernment. It
is the wise use of wisdom. When Jesus reigns he will be completely discerning
because He understands all things.
4.
The Spirit of
counsel – As the ruler of the whole earth the Lord Jesus will be required to
give advice. The Spirit of God will
enable Him to give what is always the right advice.
5.
The Spirit of
might – The Lord Jesus will be no puppet ruler.
Whatever decisions or advice He gives He will have the power to carry
them out perfectly.
6.
The Spirit of
knowledge – Whatever Jesus needs to know, He will know. He will always have the facts about any
situation. And His knowledge will be
based on the Word of God.
7.
The Spirit of the
fear of the Lord. – God will always be reverenced, respected feared.
So when Jesus
reigns it will be perfect time of control through the Holy Spirit.
Allow me to
make an application to us today.
Who should be
controlling our lives? Yes, the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians
5:18 - And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit;
When the Holy
Spirit controls us, we will be controlled by
1.
The Spirit of the
Lord – Jesus will be Lord of our lives when we allow Him to control. We will be in complete obedience when the
Spirit of His Lordship reigns.
2.
The Spirit of
wisdom – When the Spirit is control we will have the wisdom of God at our
disposal
3.
The Spirit of
understanding – Oh how we keep discernment in life’s situations. With the filling of the Holy Spirit we will
have that discernment. The most
discerning people in the world are those filled with the Spirit.
4.
The Spirit of
counsel – We will have the right advice from the Spirit and we will be able to
give the right advice when He is control of our lives.
5.
The Spirit of
might – There is no greater power on earth than the Holy Spirit. When He is in control I have the power to
obey and to live the Christian life successfully.
6.
The Spirit of
knowledge – The Spirit of God will teach us from the Word of God when the
Spirit is in control.
7.
The Spirit of the
fear of the Lord. – I will truly reverence, respect, and yes, fear God when the
Spirit of the Lord is in control.
If Jesus, God
the Son, allowed the Spirit of God to control Him when he walked the earth
2,000 years ago, and if He will allow the Spirit of God to control when He
rules on earth in the future, how much more to we need the Spirit of God to
control us now!
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
THE STANDARD OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 3-5
If you run a business, you
need to have standards.
If you work for someone else
you need to have standards.
If you are a politician, you
need to have standards.
If you are a minister or
missionary, you need to have standards.
Jesus will rule the world. He
will have standards.
Vs. 3 - The Lord Jesus will not be a superficial ruler.
Nothing will get by Him.
We have heard lately of
people locked up in prison for crimes that they did not commit.
That will not happen when
Jesus reigns.
Jesus will not exclusively
rely on what he sees or hears.
His judgment will go deeper
because He is God and the Spirit of God will control Him.
Vs. 4 – The standard of Jesus’ rule will be righteousness.
Whatever decisions the Lord
Jesus makes will be righteous.
That means the poor and the
meek will never be taken advantage of.
It also means that wicked
people will be judged.
Judges have often been
fooled, but this judge will never be fooled.
Vs. 5 – People in the days of this writing wore long,
flowing robes. Comfortable they were for leisure, but cumbersome when there was
work to be accomplished.
The people would wear a
girdle or a belt to keep the robes in place.
The belt that Jesus will wear
is a belt of righteousness and faithfulness.
Jesus as the Messiah will
always be righteous.
Jesus as the Messiah will
always be faithful.
This is a comfort to me right
now.
In Jesus’ dealings with me He
is always righteous.
In Jesus’ dealings with me He
is always faithful.
He never leaves us. He never
forsakes us.
This is also a challenge for
me.
Ephesians 5:9 - (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness and righteousness and truth;)
If the Spirit is in control
of my life, His righteousness will shine through me.
Revelation 2:10 - …be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
1 Corinthians 4:2 - Moreover it is required in stewards, that a
man be found faithful.
If the Spirit of God is in
control in my life, His faithfulness will make me faithful.
The standard of Jesus’ reign
will be righteousness.
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
THE STANDARD OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 3-5
THE SAFETY OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 6-10
Evidently, in the Garden of
Eden, all the animals were vegetarians.
They will again be vegetarians.
There was recently a story on
the news of a girl that was killed by a tiger. This will not happen during the
millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Vs. 6 – Today if a wolf lies with a lamb, there’s soon a
dead lamb
If a leopard lies down with a
kid, there will be a dead kid.
If a lion lies down with
domestic animals, there will be dead domestic animals.
If a little child tried to
lead a procession like the one mentioned in this verse, there would be pure
disaster.
But all of this will be
accomplished when Jesus reigns.
Vs. 7 – All animals will be vegetarians. And their cubs will be at peace with each
other.
Vs. 8 – How many of you would like your babies and toddlers
playing with snakes, poisonous and otherwise?
During the Millennium it
won’t matter if they do!
There will be complete
safety!
Vs. 9 – The
Everyone and everything will
have a knowledge of the Lord.
The knowledge of the Lord
will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Vs. 10 – The root of Jesse in that day will be the Lord
Jesus.
He will be a signal to all
people, including the Gentiles.
The Gentiles will seek after
Him.
Notice the safety here. “His
rest shall be glorious.”
This old world knows nothing
of rest and safety compared to what in will experience in that day.
Before I move on, I want to
remind us of something.
We as Christians should be
experiencing Jesus’ rest, peace and safety on a daily basis.
John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Hebrews 4:9-11 - There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. [10] For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. [11] Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief.
Isaiah 41:10 - Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea,
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Let’s take advantage of the
peace and rest that Jesus gives us now.
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
THE STANDARD OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 3-5
THE SAFETY OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 6-10
THE STRENGTH OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 11-16
Vss. 11-12 – There will be
another exodus of people to leave where they are to return to the Promised
Land. They will come from all over to be reestablished in the Land.
They will look towards their
leader, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one they are following.
I believe all remaining Jews
at this time will make their way home to
Vs. 13 – Ephraim (the Northern nation) and Judah (the
Southern nation) had been at odds, but they will not be any longer. They had civil war, but now they will be
united and in peace.
Vs. 14 – Instead
Vss. 15-16 – God is going to act so that areas will be dried
with a mighty wind. The Israelites will
be able to pass safely home to
We have much to look forward
to.
What shall we do in the
meantime?
Before we can have a
Millennium, there needs to be the Great Tribulation.
Before the Great Tribulation
is the Rapture of the Church.
We need to simply be faithful
until Jesus come for His Church.
And remember, we can be
filled and controlled by the same Holy Spirit who will rest on the Lord Jesus when
He reigns on earth.
Titus 2:11-13 - For
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, [12]
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [13] Looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ;
“Even so come, Lord Jesus!”
THE SPIRIT OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 1-2
THE STANDARD OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 3-5
THE SAFETY OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 6-10
THE STRENGTH OF HIS REIGN - Vss. 11-16