All this also has an application to the last days, as is manifest when we commence reading chapter 11, for there is really no break between the two chapters. The Lord Jesus is the “Rod [or, Shoot] out of the stem of Jesse”, and the “Branch”, and the chapter presents Him in the power and glory of His second coming. That the Spirit of the Lord, in seven-fold fullness, rested upon Him at His first coming is very true, and when we read of our Lord that “God giveth not the Spirit by measure” (John 3:34), there may be a reference to what is stated here, as also there is in “the seven Spirits” mentioned in Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; and in this last reference they are “sent forth into all the earth”, as will be the case when the Shoot of Jesse comes forth endowed with this seven-fold fullness.
We are reminded also of the candlestick in the Tabernacle with its six branches springing from the main stem. The oil, typical of the Holy Spirit, fed its seven lamps. The “Branch” is to grow or, more accurately, “be fruitful”, and when Christ in the plenitude of the Spirit fills the earth, fruit will abound for there will not only be wisdom, but the might to enforce its dictates, and all controlled by the fear of the Lord.
Moreover He will not be dependent, as are human judges, on external things; on what He sees or hears; since He will possess that “quick understanding”, which will give Him that intuitive knowledge, which springs from His Divine nature, so that His actions, whether in favor of the poor and meek or against the wicked, will be marked by absolute righteousness. At last an age of righteousness will have dawned.
As the result of this, peace will descend upon the earth, so much so that all antagonism and ferocity will depart, even from the animal creation. The creature was made subject to vanity, not of its own will but by reason of the sin of Adam, and it is to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption” (Rom. 8:20-21); but the Apostle gives us a detail not made known to Isaiah, for it will be the time when not only the Shoot of Jesse will be manifested, but also the manifestation and glory of the sons of God.
The picture of millennial blessedness, presented to us in verses 6-9, is a very delightful one. Missionaries would tell us, we believe, that to slay and eat a kid of the goats is a special attraction for the leopard, just as the wolf naturally slaughters the lambs. All creation shall be at peace, all ferocity abolished; even the poisonous serpent deprived of its venom and its desire to bite. The earth in that day, instead of being full of the confusion and the conflicts created by the fall of man, will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. How do the waters cover the seabed? They do so completely, without one crevice being unfilled. Such is the lovely picture that is presented to us here.
And how can such wonderful things, not only for Israel but for all creation, be brought about? Verse 10, we think, sheds light on this, for there we discover that the Lord Jesus is predicted as the “Root of Jesse”, as well as a “Shoot” out of his stem. We are reminded at once that in the last chapter of the Bible the Lord presents Himself to us as “the root and offspring of David”; an allusion doubtless to our chapter. Here “Jesse” is used, we believe, to heighten the contrast, for David had become a name of great renown, whereas Jesse only reminds us of the otherwise unknown farmer from whom David sprang. From one small and unknown the great Messiah was to spring, and yet to be the Root from which Jesse sprang.
So, if as the Shoot we think of Christ in His holy Manhood, as the Root we have to think of Him in His Deity. In His Manhood He sprang out of Israel, and had special links with that people. Introduce His Godhead, and all men come at once into view. So it is, as often noticed, in the Gospel of John, where the word “world” occurs with great frequency; and so it is here, for the word “people” in our version should be “peoples”; that is, the nations generally, to whom the Root will stand as an “ensign” or “banner”, and to Him will the Gentiles seek: and “His rest will be glory”, as the margin reads. Greed will go out and glory will come in. What a day for the earth that will be!
This wonderful prophetic strain continues to the end of chapter 12, and four times do we get the expression “in that day”. The first we have glanced at in verse 10, when the promised Messiah shall be manifested in His Godhead glory, and bring blessing to the remotest peoples. The second is in verse 11, for in that day there will be a regathering of Israel, and the predictions concerning this continue to the end of the chapter. We must not mistake the present migration of Jews to Palestine for this, since verse 11 speaks of what will be accomplished in the day of Christ’s manifestation, and it will be an act of God and doubtless accomplished through Christ; for “Lord” in verse 11 is not “Jehovah” but “Adonai”, the title used for instance in Psalm 110:1, when David by the Spirit spoke of the coming Messiah as “my Lord”.
Moreover, when that re-gathering is brought to pass, the division between the ten tribes and the two will have disappeared, and the nations that surround Israel will have been subdued, and there will be an alteration in geographical conditions both as to Egypt and Assyria. None of these things have yet come to pass.
But these things will come to pass, and “in that day”, when they do, there will burst forth from Israel a song of praise far deeper and more sincere than that which was sung in Exodus 15. But let us recapitulate for a moment. In verse 10, Messiah appears in His Deity and glory as the rallying center for all mankind. He draws all to Himself, according to John 12:32. But this means, as the rest of the chapter shows, that Israel will get redemption blessing, far more wonderful than their past redemption from Egypt. Then follows, as chapter 12 opens, the triumph song of this new redemption. Jehovah had been angry with them, and rightly so in view of their past of tragic wickedness, but now He has become their Comforter, their Strength and their Salvation.
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