The Promised Reign
Steve McKenzie December 9, 2018
ISAIAH 11:1-10 
The Promised Reign

 

Big Idea

God breaks through the mundane complacency in our lives to the:

 

  1. God’s Reign is Provision for Despair (11:1-2)
    1. God’s provision is a man from the line of King David
    2. This man is Jesus (2 Samuel 7:12-13, Isaiah 53)
  2. God Reigns with Justice for the Broken (11:3-5)
    1. We see four descriptions of Jesus as leader and King.
  3. God’s Reign Brings A Future Hope
    1. God brings peace to his creation
    2. The whole earth is full of his glory.

 

ACTION STEPS:

  • This week, take time to put into words where you feel hurt and brokenness. Maybe you need to write them down or say them out loud as you drive to drive to work or running errands.
    • Then pray and ask God for help:
      • Help me to know and feel that Jesus is enough in this situation
      • Help me to find my strength and courage in Jesus knowing that he is more than enough in the challenges I face
      • Help me to rest in Jesus. help my heart to not become anxious but give me your peace.

 

Community Group Questions:

  1. Can you think of a funny or embarrassing story from a family gathering around the holidays?
  2. Why is it impossible for human governments (kings) to make good on their grand visions for a perfect society? Why are Christ’s promises different and better than theirs?
  3. What is the significance of the image of a shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse? How is it easy for us to underestimate what God is doing in the world when we judge by mere appearance?
  4. How does Isaiah 11: 1 relate to Isaiah 53: 2? How does Christ fulfill each of these verses by his humble birth and absence of physical splendor? How does the sevenfold Spirit of God perfectly endow Jesus to reign over his kingdom? How do these words point to a perfect combination of wisdom and power?
  5. Why are wisdom and power indispensable for a perfect King? How would love fit into those attributes?
  6.  What does it mean to delight in the fear of the Lord? How do these words seem contradictory? How does Jesus perfectly harmonize them and make the fear of the Lord delightful?
  7. How does the promise that the earth will be “as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water” point to the glories of life in Christ’s eternal kingdom?