The Axe and the Shoot: The Government of the Messiah Text: Isaiah 11:1-5
Introduction: Hope From the Stumpage
We live in an age that is convinced it is sophisticated, but which is in reality simply exhausted. Our civilization is like a great forest that has been clear-cut, with nothing remaining but stumps and wreckage. Men have taken the axe of secularism and critical theory to the roots of everything that made the West fruitful, and now they stand around in the desolation wondering why there is no shade, no fruit, and no life. They have chopped down the great trees of divine revelation, objective morality, and creational norms, and are now trying to build a future out of the remaining sawdust and woodchips.
This is the central folly of every revolutionary project. Whether it is the bloody Jacobins, the grim Bolsheviks, or the rainbow-colored nihilists of our own day, the pattern is the same: destroy the old order in the name of a glorious future, and then discover you have destroyed the very possibility of glory, or of a future. They promise a garden and produce a desert. They promise liberation and produce chains. They promise life and bring the stench of death.
Into such a world of wreckage, the prophet Isaiah speaks a word of radical, unexpected, and sovereign hope. The context of Isaiah's prophecy is one of judgment. The great tree of the Davidic dynasty, the royal line of Israel, is under the axe of God's judgment. The northern kingdom is about to be hauled off by the Assyrians, and Judah is not far behind. The line of kings that God had promised would endure forever appears to be headed for the wood chipper. From a human perspective, all that will be left is a stump, a dead-looking, splintered reminder of former glory. But God's promises do not depend on human flourishing. In fact, they are often most potent in the midst of our ruin.
This passage is not about a political restoration accomplished by men. It is about a divine invasion. It tells us that when all human hope is gone, when the royal line is cut down to the ground, God will do something utterly miraculous. Out of the dead stump, He will bring forth a shoot. From the forgotten roots, He will cause a Branch to grow. This is the promise of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And His kingdom will not be like the kingdoms of men, which rise and fall in a cycle of pride and decay. His kingdom is the final reality, the ultimate government, established not by human might, but by the Spirit of God and the word of His mouth.
The Text
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor render a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with uprightness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will put the wicked to death. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
(Isaiah 11:1-5 LSB)
Life From the Dead Root (v. 1)
We begin with the impossible promise:
"Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit." (Isaiah 11:1)
Notice the deliberate humility of this image. Isaiah does not say a shoot will come from the grand cedar of David, the mighty king. He goes back a generation, to the "stem of Jesse." Jesse was a farmer from Bethlehem, a man of no great political account. David was his eighth son, the one overlooked and left out with the sheep. By referring to Jesse, the prophet is emphasizing the lowliness from which the royal line came, and to which it would return. The dynasty would be cut down so low that it would no longer look like a royal house, but like the humble family of a Bethlehemite sheep farmer. It would be a stump.
And this is precisely where God does His best work. God is the God of resurrection. He specializes in bringing life out of death, hope out of despair, and glory out of humiliation. The world looks for strength in the towering trees, but God brings the true King from a stump. The world looks for saviors in the halls of power, but God brings salvation from a stable in Bethlehem, a carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and a cross on Golgotha. This is the logic of the gospel. The power of God is made perfect in weakness.
This "shoot," this "branch," is a clear Messianic title. Jeremiah uses the same language: "Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, 'When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land'" (Jer. 23:5). This Branch is not just another king in the line. He is the fulfillment of the line. And notice, He will "bear fruit." The kings of Israel had largely borne the fruit of idolatry, injustice, and rebellion. But this King will bear the fruit of righteousness, wisdom, and peace. His reign will be productive. It will accomplish what all the previous reigns could not. He is not just another attempt; He is the definitive success.
The Anointing of the King (v. 2)
Verse 2 describes the unique qualification of this King. His authority comes not from popular election or military coup, but from a divine anointing.
"The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh." (Isaiah 11:2 LSB)
The word "Messiah" in Hebrew, and "Christ" in Greek, means "Anointed One." Kings and priests in the Old Testament were anointed with oil as a sign of the Holy Spirit coming upon them for their task. But here, the anointing is described in its fullness. The Spirit does not just come upon Him for a time or for a task; the Spirit will "rest on Him." This is a permanent, abiding, and perfect anointing.
We see this prophecy fulfilled at Jesus' baptism. As He came up from the water, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested upon Him (Matt. 3:16). This was His coronation, the public anointing for His Messianic work.
Isaiah then unpacks this anointing into a sevenfold description of the Spirit's work. This is not seven different spirits, but the one Spirit in the fullness of His attributes. He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, giving the King perfect insight into reality. He is the Spirit of counsel and might, giving Him the perfect strategy and the power to execute it. He is the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh, giving Him a perfect, relational knowledge of the Father and a perfect, filial reverence for Him.
This is the portrait of the perfect man, the second Adam. The first Adam was given a task in the Garden and failed. He chose foolishness over wisdom, rebellion over the fear of the Lord. This new King is endowed with everything Adam lacked. He is the perfect ruler because He is perfectly submitted to the Spirit of God. This is the foundation of His government. It is not a government of polls and focus groups, but a government of divine wisdom and power.
The Standard of Judgment (v. 3-4a)
Verses 3 and 4 describe the character and method of this King's rule. It is a kingdom of perfect justice.
"And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor render a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with uprightness for the afflicted of the earth..." (Isaiah 11:3-4a LSB)
First, His motivation is pure. "He will delight in the fear of Yahweh." For Him, obedience to the Father is not a grim duty, but His supreme joy. Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34). This is what makes His rule completely trustworthy. He has no ulterior motives, no hidden agenda, no desire for personal gain. His only desire is to glorify the Father.
Because His heart is perfect, His judgment is perfect. "He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor render a decision by what His ears hear." This is a direct assault on the foundation of all corrupt human judgment. Human judges are swayed by appearances, by slick lawyers, by media narratives, by political pressure, by what they hear on the news. They judge based on the surface of things. But this King sees the heart. He judges not by appearance, but with righteous judgment (John 7:24).
Therefore, His justice is a comfort to the oppressed. He judges "with righteousness... the poor" and decides "with uprightness for the afflicted of the earth." In a fallen world, the poor and the afflicted are routinely trampled. They have no lobbyist, no political action committee, no voice in the halls of power. But they have a King. And this King is biased, not toward the rich and powerful, but toward righteousness. And because He judges righteously, His judgments will necessarily vindicate the helpless and bring down the proud. This is the great reversal of the gospel. God exalts the humble and humbles the exalted.
The Weapon of the King (v. 4b-5)
Finally, we see the awesome and terrifying power by which this King establishes His kingdom.
"And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will put the wicked to death. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist." (Isaiah 11:4b-5 LSB)
The weapon of this King is His Word. He does not need tanks, or armies, or political maneuvering. He establishes His rule with "the rod of His mouth." His speech is not mere talk; it is raw power. When He speaks, worlds come into being. When He speaks, demons flee. When He speaks, the dead are raised. And when He speaks in judgment, His Word strikes like an iron scepter.
The Apostle Paul picks up this very imagery when describing the return of Christ. He will destroy the lawless one "with the breath of His mouth and bring him to nothing by the appearance of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:8). The Apostle John sees the same thing in his vision of the returning Christ: "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron" (Rev. 19:15). The final victory is a speech act. All that is necessary to shatter the rebellion of mankind is for the King to speak a word.
And what holds this all together? What is the uniform of this King? "Righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist." A belt, or girdle, was what a soldier wore to gather his robes and prepare for action. For this King, righteousness and faithfulness are His readiness for battle. He is always prepared to act, and all His actions are perfectly righteous and utterly faithful to His covenant promises. He is not fickle. He does not change. His character is the bedrock of His kingdom, and it is a character of absolute righteousness and unwavering faithfulness.
Conclusion: The Government Upon His Shoulder
This prophecy from Isaiah is not a sentimental Christmas card. It is a political manifesto. It declares that there is a true King and a true government, and it is not in Washington, or Brussels, or Beijing. The government of this world, in its final and absolute sense, rests upon the shoulder of the one who came as a shoot from the stump of Jesse.
The world rages against this. The nations plot, and the peoples imagine a vain thing. They say, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us" (Psalm 2:3). They do not want this King to reign over them. They want to be their own kings, to define their own reality, to be their own gods. But God, who sits in the heavens, laughs. He has set His King on Zion, His holy hill.
The gospel is the announcement that this King has come, and that He is extending His kingdom. He does this first by conquering hearts. He speaks His powerful word, the rod of His mouth, into our dead, rebellious souls, and He puts our wickedness to death. He clothes us with His own righteousness and faithfulness. He anoints us with His own Spirit. He makes us citizens of His kingdom.
But the gospel is not just a private, spiritual matter. It is a public, cosmic claim. Jesus is Lord. That means Caesar is not. That means the state is not. That means your own autonomous self is not. The kingdom of Christ is advancing in history, and it will continue to do so until it has filled the whole earth. He is, right now, putting all His enemies under His feet. And He does this through us, His church. As we preach the gospel, as we live in faithfulness, as we build families and churches and schools that honor Him, we are participating in the advance of His righteous government.
Therefore, do not lose heart when you look at the clear-cut forest of our culture. Do not despair at the sight of the stumps. Our God is a God who brings life from a stump. The King has been anointed. The rod of His mouth has gone forth. And of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end.