What produces justice?

Isaiah 11:1-10

Meditation and Devotional from David Niednagel, Pastor/Teacher, Evansville, IN.  (David uses the S.O.A.P. method for his morning devotional:  study, observe, apply, pray.  (Friends: David’s recent morning study has been to focus on passages in the Old Testament that proclaim that God will establish His King and Kingdom on the earth.  That God would send a Messiah.  Jesus is that promised Messiah.  We will continue to follow David on this subject.)

Isaiah 11:1   A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 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— 

3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.  He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist….

9 for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

10  In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him …

Here Isaiah adds another description of the coming Messiah – the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In fact, He will delight in the fear of the Lord! In our day most people do not want to think about the fear of the Lord. We want to focus on His love, and fear does not seem to fit with love. But the Lord Jesus Christ/Messiah delights in the fear of the Lord, which is that combination of awe, respect, fear and love that recognizes that God is almighty, all knowing and all loving and the last thing anyone in their right mind would do is to disregard or disobey that God. Any person with an accurate knowledge of God will be thrilled to revere, honor, obey, and serve Him.

And what a ruler He will be! With perfect knowledge and insight into all people He will provide justice for the poor and needy, and also bring to justice those who use their power to oppress the innocent. At His coming all the earth will be changed, people from every nation will be drawn to Him.

Wonderful Messiah, it is no wonder Israel longed for Your coming! Our world desperately needs a ruler like You! I praise You for Your qualities of compassion and justice, and that You show us the beauty of the fear of the Lord. Help me delight in that fear as much as You did. If we did that now, we would have so much more justice than we do. Use me to help others “be filled with the knowledge of the Lord” and call people to Your beauty and glory now. Amen