We all know why you never see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery.' There is a reason why astrologers and fortune tellers have no more success predicting the winner of the Grand National than anyone else.
Those of you who were at the John Archer evening last week will have been amazed by some of his tricks and illusions.
In one trick, he had a coin placed over each eye and stuck down by three strips of gaffer tape. Then he had a police issue blindfold placed on top of that. After that he had one more layer of black gaffer tape applied over the blindfold. He then asked three members of the audience to draw a picture of anything they wanted. One drew a Christmas tree, one drew a rugby player kicking a penalty and the third drew a matchstick man. John then described all three pictures in detail, fully blindfolded.
In another trick, he had a deck of cards held together by a rubber band. He asked three people at random to flick through the deck and stop at any card they chose. They had to memorise the card and say nothing. John then guessed the three cards; 3 of diamonds, ace of clubs and Jack of hearts. And he guessed each card correctly.
It was highly entertaining and absolutely amazing. And yet we knew that each trick he did was an illusion of sleight of hand or a loaded deck or some other ruse. No one believed that John Archer really has magic powers.
Messianic Prophecy: Descent
Perhaps that’s why we don’t really get that excited about Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Maybe we think to ourselves deep down, “What if there’s some psychological explanation.” And because most of us aren’t Jewish by background, we aren’t sensitised to the concept of a Messiah anyway.
But there’s no question that the announcement of the identity of the Messiah is important to God – because quite a lot of the Old Testament is devoted to it.
Have you ever thought about those genealogies in the Bible? They are admittedly not enthralling reading, but they are important for confirming that Jesus fulfils the first of the three conditions necessary to be the authentic Messiah. And it’s this; according to Scripture, he must be a descendant of Abraham, of Isaac (not Ishmael), of Jacob (not Esau), from the tribe of Judah (not from any of the other 11 tribes). Furthermore he must descend from Jesse’s family - I’ll come back to Jesse later - and from David's line (not from any of his brothers). That narrows the field down significantly. It excludes well over 99.9% of the human race.
The significant thing is this; when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70, all the genealogical records were lost in the flames. So no one can ever again prove their descent from Judah or the royal line. But Jesus’ family tree is written down for us in black and white.
Messianic Prophecy: Birthplace
The second condition is equally easy to substantiate and difficult to fake. Anyone claiming to be the Messiah must have “Bethlehem” on his birth certificate to the exclusion of every other location on earth. Fact; the Messiah has to be born in Bethlehem. Problem; the parents chosen for the task of raising him live 80 miles away in Nazareth. Solution; "I know”, says God, “some bureaucrat in Rome dreams up a new poll tax for the entire Roman Empire! It won’t be popular but it should get Mary and Joseph from here to there just in time. God always keeps his word even if taxes go up to make it happen. Oh, the inscrutable mysteries of the sovereignty of God…
There are dozens of other prophecies that, taken together, narrow down further the identity of God’s Chosen One to a very small number of people even among the tiny percentage who qualify through their genealogy and birthplace.
Messianic Prophecy: Character
But just in case there is still any doubt, there is a third condition to be fulfilled. There’s quite a lot about the character of the Messiah – and there are several facets of that in our reading from Isaiah this morning;
Verses 2-3 talk about his spiritual stature.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord -
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
Verses 3-4 say he’s going to see deeper than what’s on the surface of people’s lives; he’ll look into the heart and favour the poor and needy.
Verse 5 says he will be characterised by doing the right thing and being faithful to what he said.
Now, you might think that that’s pretty general; insight, consistency, integrity and honesty. But how many political leaders can you name, from any era, who tick all those boxes? Maybe a few stand out from the crowd; Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi all have that one-in-a-generation mark of greatness but none is from the tribe of Judah or descended from David.
Jesus qualifies handsomely not only though the particulars of his family tree and the location of his birthplace but also through the incomparable merit of his character.
Messianic Prophecy: Branch and Root
I said I’d come back to Jesse and I’d like to draw your attention to v1 and v10 of our reading. Let’s read v1 first.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Isaiah often uses word pictures and sometimes compares people to trees. You might remember chapter 61 where he says of the redeemed: “
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.
And in v33-34 from the previous chapter he says,
See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
will lop off the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,
the tall ones will be brought low.
What he is talking about here is not literal trees, but the Assyrian army that appeared like a vast and mighty forest. But God says here that this all-conquering superpower of its day will be cut down like a chainsaw fells a diseased tree in your back garden.
God does that. This is the year that has seen Bin Laden and Gadaffi, who struck fear in the hearts of nations, brought low like lofty trees.
So when chapter 11 begins by saying…
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit
…Isaiah means that Judah, the royal dynasty of David, would one day be chopped down like a tree stump (as indeed it was when the nation, including its king, were exiled to Babylon in 587 BC). That was the end of the monarchy. The king became a humbled civilian. But Isaiah says here that from this miserable stump a new shoot would grow – this is someone completely new but from the same royal line. And here’s the thing; he will be greater than the original tree and would bear much fruit.
We looked at Isaiah 53 a few weeks ago and marvelled at the extraordinary vision of a man of sorrows who suffered for the sin of his people. That chapter links to this one because it begins with these words;
[The Lord’s servant] grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
(Isaiah 53.2)
In other words, the one who suffered and died for the sins of his people is this branch who will bear much fruit.
But in v10 there’s a curious twist;
In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples;
the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Did you notice? It’s no longer a shoot from the stump. Now the Messiah is called the root of Jesse. In other words, he is not only the greatest descendent (or branch) of David’s line, he came before it as well. He is the root. Once again, it points unmistakably to Jesus; son of Mary and Son of God. He is the root and branch Messiah.
Ending
So, as I close, think about this; blind faith is to believe in a baby in a manger. But informed faith is to put your trust in the only one who perfectly fulfils dozens of prophecies made over hundreds of years.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit.
The root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; [and] the nations will rally to him.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees and Saint Mary's Long Newton, 18th December 2011
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