"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" (Advent plus 1) Pt 3
(If you would rather listen to the sermon you can go here)
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Pt 3
Isaiah 11.1-10 (Luke 1.30-55)
BLESSED Lord, who has
caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in
such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by
patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the
blessed hope of everlasting life, which you hast given us in our Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Joshua
Wehe’s Eagle Project tree… Today we come at the major Scripture behind the 3rd
verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”: “O
come, thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of
hell thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave. Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” As we sing this verse we can clearly
see how it bleeds Bible and glistens Gospel! The main passage driving this
verse is Isaiah 11.1-10, where we hear of the Spirit of Christ, the justice of
Christ and the New Creation of Christ.
Spirit of Christ (11.1-3a): The promise is of the one
who will come as a 2nd David (v.1), “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch
from his roots shall bear fruit” (11.1). Like Joshua Wehe’s Eagle Project
tree…. This special one, this long-awaited one will have the Spirit of the LORD
resting on Him (11.2). The Spirit will enable this 2nd David in his
calling and mission (11.3a). // “And the
angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called
holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1.35). ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” …
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”” (Luke 4.18-21). “O come,
thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny…” Therefore, this
Spirit is on Christ, and if we are united to Christ, the Spirit resting on him
fills us. His Spirit becomes our resource for …! “O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny…” The rod of Jesse, the branch from his roots
that shall bear fruit, and buds and blossoms with a particular fruit, both the
justice of Christ and the New Creation of Christ!
Justice of Christ (11.3b-5): No hood-winking him! No
pulling the wool over his eyes, “He shall
not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear”
(11.3b)! [a] He won’t be fooled BY or ABOUT the poor, “but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth”
(11.4a). In fact he will show proper care and fairness for the truly poor and
the genuinely meek of the earth (The meek
will inherit the earth). [b] 4c sounds like the book of Revelation in a
nutshell “and he shall strike the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the
wicked” (11.4b)! [c] He will be so accustomed to moral integrity and
steadfast loyalty that he will seem to be clothed with it, “Righteousness shall be the belt of his
waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins” (11.5)! Even Mary’s song of
praise in Luke 1.46-55 wraps justice and righteousness like swaddling cloths
around the coming of Jesus! “He fills
the poor with good; he gives the suff’rers rest: the Lord has judgments for the
proud and justice for th’ oppressed” (Isaac watts). Therefore, the
embodiment of the eternal Son of God as that embryo in Mary’s womb, as well as
in his birth, holy life, teaching, crucifixion for our sins and resurrection
for our justification, ascension and enthronement nails down and opens up our
hope that death is not the final word; evil is not the last statement;
desperation is not our definitive demise, and so we sing, “O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny; From
depths of hell thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave.” And
being united to Jesus, the rod of Jesse, by the Holy Spirit thru faith, also makes
us part of his concern for righteousness and justice—in a world where people
are being sexually beaten up, physically violated, economically trounced and
racially desecrated. “O come, thou Rod of
Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell thy people
save, And give them victory o'er the grave.” But the other fruit budding
and blossoming on this rod of Jesse is the New Creation of Christ! The justice
of Christ and the New Creation of Christ must go together!
New Creation of Christ (11.6-10): Alec Motyer makes this
comment: “[…] first the Messiah buds forth and then, through him, new life for
people becomes possible on a world-wide scale and the life of nature itself is
transformed.” In a very picturesque way, the prophet shows how the one we are
praying to, comes and brings reconciliation and resolution to old, deeply
embedded hostilities, “The wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and
the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall
lead them” (11.6). In fact, the scenic presentation goes further and shows
how the New Creation brought by the rod of Jesse changes the old natural
fierceness from within, where carnivores have a new nature, and shockingly they
become herbivores: “The cow and the bear
shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw
like the ox” (11.7). This all points back to Eden, but points forward to
the New Eden of the regeneration of all things! You surely may come just as you
are; but be assured, he will not leave you as you are! Even the curse appears
to be completely removed, “The nursing
child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his
hand on the adder's den” (11.8). Genesis 3.15 seems to be played out…, and,
surprise, this New Eden is Mt. Zion; and, surprise of all surprises, Mt. Zion becomes
the whole transformed earth; “They shall
not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (11.9)! Personal New
Creation, but also Corporate, Tribal and cosmic New Creation, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall
stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his
resting place shall be glorious” (11.10)! O yes! “O
come, thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of
hell thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave.” And the carol
assures us our prayer shall be answered: “Rejoice!
Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
Those
who have been made at peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ, the rod of
Jesse, are freed to become his peacemakers among warring family members, church
members, tribes and races, and joyfully desire to see love and peace flowing to
the creation. As the choir sang: “Oh, happy towns and blessed lands That live by their true king’s commands. And
blessed be the hearts he rules, The humble places where he dwells. He is the
rightful Son of bliss Who fills our lives and makes us his, Creator of the
world, Our only strength for good” (George Weissel, “Fling Wide the
Door.”). And so, rightly we sing this verse in our Advent carol, “O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own
from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell thy people save, And give them
victory o'er the grave. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
“O come, thou Rod of Jesse” – right up
front you know that you are praying for the one born that night in Bethlehem to
come, to come again and fill out to the fullest the promise in Isaiah 11!
“O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free” – you
are asking him to liberate, emancipate, to break chains and shatter shackles –
our own and others! But what chains and shackles?
“O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free (1) Thine
own from Satan's tyranny [temptation, domination, subjugation!]; (2) From depths of hell thy people save, [hell
can be felt and experienced in many ways – some mental illnesses feel like
hell; crippled and cruel relationships; addictions; social unraveling and
brutality – yes! From the depth of hell thy people save!], (3) And give them victory o'er the grave [run with it! Let your
hearts run and race through every death-trap, and the final death-trap of us
all].
And then,
look up, be encouraged, for we are heard and will be answered: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to
thee, O Israel.”
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