Mahwah, NJ Bible Conference 2021 - Study 3: Gods Righteous Government

What this episode covers

This third session presents God's perfect, righteous government to come. This period has been called the Millennium, the world to come, established at Christ's appearing in glory. If we love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8), we will love and revere Him right now. God has always looked for a man to rule over the world-- and He has found Him! It is Christ, His well-beloved Son. The government of the world will rest upon His shoulder-- not "shoulders," plural, but "shoulder," singular. His strength is great. In context, this section of the prophet Isaiah emphasizes the great threat from the Assyrians. This was a present danger to the people of God. We read, for example, about the siege against Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36-37). This is a literal danger in Isaiah 10; and there is also a prophetic aspect when the Assyrian will be a future threat to Israel during time known as the Great Tribulation. But that threatening government will be lopped off and chopped down (Isaiah 10:33-34), and then God will say, " I have a Branch. My Ruler will be installed in His rightful place" (11:1). In some translations, chapter 11 begins with the word "And," showing that it is intended as a direct contrast to the closing of chapter 10. Later, chapter 11 is followed by a beautiful song of praise in chapter 12. There is no one like Christ, the great Ruler in righteousness. He displays perfect wisdom, might, and counsel. Even if these characteristics are totally lacking in government today, He will bring them in. Isaiah presents "the Son" as the answer to the unrighteousness around us. In chapter 6, King Uzziah had died. He was the king who defiled the temple by imposing his presence among the priesthood. Isaiah goes into the presence of the Lord and sees Jehovah's glory; and then, in chapter 7, God's answer was the Son who would be conceived and brought forth by a virgin (verse 14). He is even linked with Jesse instead of David (Isaiah 11:1, 10) as if even David must be set aside in comparison to Christ. The Spirit is upon Him-- the "Spirit," singular, who has all these wonderful characteristics. Isaiah 11:2 presents "the Spirit of the Lord" and then six more features. This verse can be linked with Revelation 5:6 (and three other references in Revelation) where "the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" are mentioned. Of course there is only one Holy Spirit. Indeed, there is only one God; yet He is known in a three-ness or Trinity of His being. The Holy Spirit is seen here like that. It takes all these features to express how He is present during the reign of Christ. It's beautiful to see that even on the throne Christ will still be that dependent One as He administers the kingdom for God. Although He has received the right to judge, He only judges according to the will of His Father (John 5:22, 30). The Spirit rested upon Him in His time of humility and will continue to rest upon Him in His reign of power. Also, He obtains victory by the breath of His lips (Isaiah 11:4). This is a reference to the Word of God (see Revelation 19:21). We too have these resources: the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Notice that Christ will not judge merely by what He sees or what He hears (11:3). How many times have we concluded something based upon what we saw on the Internet or heard through social media or some other means? People say, "I know what I saw; I know what I heard." Well, perhaps; but you don't know what you did not see, and you don't know what else you should have heard. By contrast, Christ will judge in righteousness (verse 4). If we desire to exercise the same type of righteous judgment, we must interpret the present in light of the future. If we study the Lord, we will discern the difference between truth and falsehood. He will not rule in extremes but in equity. Th…

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