Dear friends in Christ.
Several centuries ago, a Japanese emperor commissioned an artist to paint a bird. A number of months passed, then several years, and still no painting was brought to the palace. Finally the emperor became so exasperated that he went to the artist's home to demand an explanation. Instead of making excuses, the artist placed a blank canvas on the easel. In less than an hour, he completed a painting that was to become a brilliant masterpiece. When the emperor asked the reason for the delay, the artist showed him armloads of drawings of feathers, wings, heads, and feet. Then he explained that all of this research and study had been necessary before he could complete the painting. Well, in the same way that the artist spent years preparing himself to paint a picture for his emperor, so also we as Christians spend all our lives preparing ourselves for the coming of our Savior. In fact, during the next few weeks of this Advent season, not only will we be preparing ourselves for the return of our Savior on the Last Day, but we will also be preparing ourselves for the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem, just as Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before he was even born when he wrote, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1 NIV).
Now, when Isaiah spoke these words, he was actually speaking both a threat and a promise. For in Isaiah’s time, the family tree of Jesse, which had begun to grow when David became king, had indeed grown tall and wide as each succeeding generation yielded king after king to sit on the throne of Israel. But even though that family tree had grown tall and wide, it had not grown strong in the Lord. In fact, just the opposite had happened. The farther removed the kings were from Jesse and his son, David, the more wicked each king became. For years the Israelite Nation had suffered under one wicked king after another, and now, as Isaiah spoke these very words, there were maybe six kings left who would sit on the throne of Israel before the Lord would cut down tree of Jesse, leaving it as nothing more than a stump—a stump from which no other king would come for over 600 years. And that is exactly what the Lord accomplished when the Babylonians came and conquered Jerusalem.
For when the Babylonians came in and conquered the Israelites, the Lord set in motion the very events that would leave Israel without their own king for hundreds of years, and leave the mighty house of Jesse as nothing more than the stump of a tree. For after the Babylonians came the Persians. After the Persians came the Greeks. After the Greeks came the Hasmoneans, and after the Hasmoneans came the Romans. Yet, it was in the time of the Romans that the Lord caused a shoot to come up out of the stump of Jesse. In the same way that a seemingly dead tree stump will suddenly send out a shoot that will quickly grow into a branch, Jesus was suddenly born as the shoot that came up from the stump of Jesse. In the same way that shoot in your back yard will slowly grow, adding twigs and leaves and finally becoming a new trunk for the tree that had been cut down, Jesus grew into a new tree. Jesus grew into that new tree as the branch of Jesse that would bear much fruit. He was the one who was born in fulfillment of the promise. He was the one who came as the Savior of the world. He is the one who has produced us as the fruit which the Lord our God is harvesting for eternal life. He is the one in whom we place our hope and our trust. He is the one who to whom we look for our Salvation and he is the one for whom we prepare, Jesus, the branch of Jessethe Righteous Savior of the world.
When that Japanese artist in our introduction was commissioned to paint a bird for his emperor, he spent the next years of his life studying every aspect of birds so that when the time came for him to produced the commissioned work, he would be completely prepared to offer his emperor his very best work. During the Season of Advent, we Christians do much the same thing as that Japanese artist. We continue to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior, so when our Savior finally does arrive, we are, through faith, prepared to meet him. Even though we do not know exactly when that day will be we are looking forward to it, because we know on that day we will meet our righteous Judge and Savior, and until that time comes we prepare ourselves for his arrival. We prepare ourselves for his arrival by preparing ourselves for the coming of our Savior as the Christ Child in Bethlehem. Even though we know that Jesus was born some 2000 years ago, we look forward to the night when we celebrate Jesus coming into this world, because we know that when Jesus came as our righteous Savior, he fulfilled the very words that Isaiah had prophesied about him when he said; “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on himthe Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORDand 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; 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. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.” (Isaiah 11:2-5 NIV) .
Now, when Isaiah spoke these words, they would have been a great comfort to those who were still clinging to the Lord their God in faith. For as I have already said, the kings who served after David grew more and more wicked, the farther removed they were from David. In fact, of the five kings who reigned in Isaiah’s time, only two of them sought to act in accordance with the Lord’s Righteousness. So when Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would send his own king who would rule in righteousness, the people were glad to prepare themselves for the coming of their Righteous Savior. And that is what Jesus was, for when he came to earth, he fulfilled every single word of this prophesy. He was the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rested, when he was baptized in the Jordan river. He is the one who delighted in the fear of the Lord. There was never a time when he did not do what the Lord wanted him to do because he always followed the Lord’s will. Never did he judge on the basis of how someone looked or decide a matter on what people said. Rather, he judged with his righteousness through the use of the Law and the Gospel, just as he still does today.
For all we have to do is glance in the direction of the Ten Commandments, and we know that we have sinned. We know that we have not lived up to the Lord’s standard of Righteousness, because we have not only broken every one of his commandments, we have shattered them into thousands of tiny pieces by our inability to keep even one of them perfectly. But even though most would be terrified by the prospect of a righteous judge coming into the world, we welcome him gladly and prepare for his coming because we know that he is the one who came to save us. We know that when Jesus was born, he was born as the one who would be sacrificed to pay for the sins of the entire world. He was the one who gave his life that we might be forgiven of all the wrongs, which we have done. He is the one whose blood has washed our hearts and made them clean. So now through faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord’s righteousness becomes our own. For through his death and resurrection, our Righteous Savior has declared us to be righteous. He has declared us not guilty of any of the sins we have committed. He has made us righteous through the blessing of his righteousness which he himself has given us. Now, as we prepare ourselves this Advent season for the coming of our Righteous Savior, we take comfort in his righteousness and look forward to the peace that he will bring.
As we prepare ourselves this Advent season for the coming of the Christ child, we cannot help but notice that there are countless Christmas specials and TV shows that seeking to bring us peace in the Holiday season. They are talking about peace on earth and good will toward men. They are seeking peace in countries like Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Palestine. Though we might be seeking some of the same types of peace for ourselves while here on earth, the true peace, which Jesus brings is the peace we have in the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life forever with him in heaven. This is the peace which Isaiah was describing as he prophesied concerning our homes in heaven. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV).
This is the peace we have already in the forgiveness of sins that Jesus has given us. For through that gift, we are now living at peace with God our Father. Through that peace, which Jesus has brought to us, we have the confidence that we can approach our heavenly Father with all of our prayers and requests. We know that he will hear us, and we are certain that he will answer. But this peace that we have in the forgiveness of sins is but a foretaste of the peace in which we will live in our heavenly home. For there, in heaven, the peace that Jesus brings will be complete! There will never again be any who harm or destroy on all of God’s Holy Mountain. Those who may have once been mortal enemies because of color, race, or even geographic region will live peacefully and securely in the Kingdom of our God’s salvation. This is the peace for which we look forward this Advent season as we prepare ourselves for the coming Saviorthe peace which only Jesus can bring to us.
During the next few weeks we will take a little more time than we normally do to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior. We will be reminded of how our Savior has already come to the earth and how he will soon be coming again. We will look forward to his second coming as we begin to prepare ourselves to celebrate his arrival in Bethlehem so many years ago. But it is in this way that we will prepare ourselves for our coming Savior as the Righteous Branch of Jesse who will bring us his lasting and endless peace.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
