Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Isaiah 11,1-10. Christmas Vespers

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Isaiah 11,1-10. Christmas Vespers

Isaiah 11,1-10 0521

Christvesper 05

Adam and Eve

24. Dezember 2020

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto You, that of Your mercy and compassion You did suffer Your dear Son to become incarnate, and did through Him redeem us from sin and everlasting death: We beseech You, enlighten our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may ever be thankful for such grace, and comfort ourselves with the same in all tribulation and temptation, and at last obtain eternal salvation through the same. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)

2. »There shall come forth a Shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 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 the fear of the Yahweh. And His delight shall be in the fear of the Yahweh. He shall not judge by what His eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a Signal for the peoples—of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious.«

3. All seemed bleak for Judah in the days of Isaiah. The prophet describes the dynastic line of David to be a mere stump of a once beautiful, growing tree. Judah had declined politically, morally and religiously since King David was on the throne hundreds of years earlier. Whereas David had a heart for Yahweh and desired to follow His will, Ahaz, the current king, had a heart for idols and desired to trust in them rather than Yahweh. If the house of David is faltering, what does that mean for the promise of the Messiah who would descend from this line? Is the messianic promise in doubt now?

4. We are able to empathize with the Jews of Isaiah’s day. 2020 has challenged us in many ways, caused some to question or doubt God’s providence, instilled fear in others and caused strife between people. Where is God’s mercy in the midst of a year of suffering and heartache?

5. Isaiah’s „prophecy reaches behind David to Jesse. A ‘stump’ is descriptive of a broken, cut-off dynasty. It takes up the figure of the Master Forester with the trimming and thinning of the forest describing the troubled times of Ahaz’s reign. It realistically recognizes the severely reduced status of the throne, a reduction by the division of the kingdom and more recently by the vessel status of Ahaz and the reduced area controlled by Judah. A ‘stump’ indeed!“ (Walls 786).

6. From this stump, Yahweh promises new life! He has not forgotten His promise to David and his descendants; He has not forsaken His messianic promise. There will not be a new dynasty, but from Jesse, the house of David, a new, living Branch will shoot fourth. The Messiah will arrive! Recall the great antiphon for 19. December: ℣ O Root of Jesse, standing as an Ensign of the people, before whom all kings are mute, to whom the Gentiles will seek: ℟ Draw near quickly to deliver us. Isaiah promises us: Yahweh has not forgotten us.

7. Tonight we celebrate the fulfillment of the messianic promise in the birth of Jesus. Luke tells us in his gospel: »And the angel said to the shepherds: „Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.“ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: „Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!“« (2,10-14).

8. God is fond of employing signs to signal something important to people. He promised Ahaz that all would be well and He sealed this promise with the sign of a virgin conceiving, bearing a son and naming him Emmanuel – God is with us. He gave to the shepherds the sign of the child in the manger. He has given us at the close of 2020 another sign, a sign that the Magi saw 2000 years ago, Jupiter and Saturn conjoining in the heavens. When the Magi saw this they set out to find this newborn Jewish prince so they could worship Him.

9. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims that the Christ is a Prince of peace (Isaiah 9,6). Jesus is „a wondrous king who is spoken of by the prophet, He will take care of such great matters that He will overcome death, sins, the law, reign without a sword and make the world full of joy. For Isaiah clearly says here that all these things arrive because a Child is born to us and unto us a Son is given. ... [Jesus] bears a name that tells us that He is born for us. ... To all of us and for our good He is born. For He had no need to be born for Himself. For this reason all that He is, has and does, by birth or according to His humanity is called ours and is ours. By it our salvation and blessedness are served to us“ (Luther 39-40). Amen.

10. Tonight Luke reminds us: Messiah promised is now Messiah among us. Behold and marvel at the mercy of God who sent His Only Son into our world to redeem us back to Himself. Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart; the shepherds glorified and praised God (Luke 2,19-20). Let us treasure the birth of Jesus in our hearts and glorify God for His birth. This Baby beams with the light of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at His birth. He is our Savior and Friend. He is our Redeemer and Deliverer from the tribulations of 2020. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, born this night our Savior, whom God has sanctified; help us to see this glorious gospel in Word and Carol which proclaims that the Jewish Messiah and the Gentile Christ descended upon the Earth, so that we can rejoice in all things and give thanks to You who is the greatest Gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Isaiah 11,1-10. Christmas Vespers

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