Honestly, Isaiah 11 could be the Source of a month’s worth of Bible Study Lessons. And even then, we would have just begun! (I plan to have our printer produce a little “Bible Portion” Booklet containing nothing but this glorious chapter. And then I am going, the Lord willing, to preach a whole Revival from its 16 verses!) It is one of the most beautiful of all the Bible’s chapters on the coming Kingdom Rule of Jesus … on this earth. (On the Millennium!)

But today (by the way, Merry Christmas) I’d simply like to quickly survey this chapter, making a few comments that I trust will incite some of you to further study.

I enjoy the way the Holy Spirit is described in the opening Paragraph. “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” (Isaiah 11:2) It would be hard to categorize the Holy Spirit in a single Term or Name … so Isaiah elaborates a little! (I count a seven-fold exposition, myself!) Upon which enumeration I think of Revelation 5:6, which again associates Jesus (The Lamb) with “the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Yes, the dear Holy Spirit! (Even the “fruit” of the Spirit in our lives cannot be singularized! “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” King James Version, a “cluster” of fruit. But this time, nine-fold!)

I am also impressed with the way Jesus “begins” His Millennial reign. By conquering the enemy … “and He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” Wow, Isaiah 11:4. (Sounds a lot like Psalm 2:8-9, describing the very same Event. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Or even 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, still at the Second Coming. “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”)

Jesus indeed “the Prince of Peace,” but only after being the “Mighty Warrior!”

And those Isaianic descriptions of nature during the Millennium, when the “curse” on earth has (obviously) been lifted! Such as: “The wolf (!) also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard (!) shall lie down with the kid (baby goat); and the calf and the young lion (!) and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear (!) shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion (!) shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp (a venomous snake nowadays), and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ (maybe an adder, a snake) den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Verses 6-9! (Much like the very “Garden of Eden” being restored!) All sounding so poetic, but to be interpreted literally!

And then Jesus recalling (regathering) the people of Israel! An “inkling” of which we have seen happening in that little Nation since her rebirth in 1948, May 14th to be specific. Isaiah 11:11 … “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” 

Our Lord even constructing a Highway on which they (the Jews) can return! “And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Verse 16, chapter’s end! (These Lines are written to sound like a second “Exodus!”) “And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.” Verse 15, Isaiah writing not history, but prophecy!

Wow!

Now I must close.

Last of all, in my estimation … “all intertribal conflict (Jew against Jew) shall cease!” According to Verse 13 … “The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.”

Peace indeed, without and within!

Amen!

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20, the Bible’s final prayer!

Yes, Isaiah 11, worth deep study!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Again, this Lesson was written December 25, 2018 (at 5:00 AM). Let’s keep Christ in Christmas, folks! Honor HIM today!