Catastrophic events such as occurred on Sunday, December 14 at Bondi in Sydney, give us pause and challenge us to see life with new eyes. Many are now looking for their leaders to chart a course to preserve life and secure livelihoods.
Throughout the ages people have expressed their desire for good and just leaders. Plato wrote about this theme with the notion of a philosopher king in his Republic. In recent times JRR Tolkien addressed the longing people have for a trustworthy leader in Lord of the Rings.
Good and upright leaders are rare, and even good leaders are not perfect. Yet, as every election shows, people long for a leader who will use their position to provide for justice and peace, the welfare and security of the nation. Indeed, in a fallen world the freedom to elect leaders is important and very precious.
Now, as we begin a New Year, is there any hope we might find a true and good leader?
Two and a half millennia ago hopelessness was staring the diminished kingdom of Judah in the face. In the 8th century BC the Assyrian imperial army rampaged through the Middle East and sacked the northern kingdom of Israel. A century later the Babylonian armies were on the rise, and it was only a matter of time before Judah received the unwelcome attention of those powerful forces.
How would Judah survive? She had no significant army, no money and no allies. Greater nations had already been cut down. Political obliteration seemed inevitable. Yet despite the odds, Judah’s morale was not destroyed. A glimmer of hope was on the horizon.
Isaiah, one of the prophets who had spoken of doom and despair, wrote about a special leader who would be raised up. In Isaiah chapter 11, features of God’s promised king unfold.
A leader after God’s heart. Isaiah was disappointed by the politicians of his day. They were corrupt: they took bribes, ignored the poor, and turned a blind eye to injustice. King Ahaz for example, had broken every trust given to him. He had even used the gold of the Temple to try to bribe Assyria and prevent her march on Jerusalem. He’d failed. As a ruler he’d let his people down.
Time and time again, rulers and governments do that. In most western democracies today election promises are constantly consigned to the trash.
In chapter 11 verse 1, Isaiah offers hope: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
Jesse was the father of King David, the great king in the Old Testament. Just as David himself had come out of obscurity, Isaiah is saying, so too a new king would emerge, and he would be greater than David and his son Solomon.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2-3).
Wisdom, understanding and knowledge would characterize this king’s rule. But fundamental would be his willingness to learn from God. There would be no political blunders in his rule. Furthermore, corruption would not plague his government; the media wouldn’t be able to destroy him – either over his personal integrity or his policies. No one would be living in poverty or without a home.
A leader who would use his power for peace. The metaphors in verse 6 are vivid: The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Peace would be the mark of this leader’s rule.
Periods of world peace are fleeting. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have expunged the view that the world has at last entered a time of safety, security and prosperity. Yet Isaiah insists, under God’s ruler there will be no incompetence, no corruption, no violence – only peace. Could it be true?
A leader who draws his people from the nations. Isaiah doesn’t stop there, for in chapter 11, verses 10 though 16 he portrays people coming from all parts of the world to rally around this ruler. It will be a victorious, redeemed community, he says (11:15). People will come from the East and the West. Highways will be built so that people from every nation can come. It’s a vivid and poetic picture.
Understandably we ask, ‘Could it happen?’ ‘Who is this root of Jesse, this ruler to whom the people rally, who will restore creation to its pristine harmony?’ Jesus!
Some seven or eight hundred years before Jesus came, Isaiah predicted the first coming of God’s king as well as his return. This is one of the amazing things about the Bible that convinces me that it is what it says it is: namely, God’s deliberate, progressive, self-revelation.
Furthermore, centuries before Jesus came, Isaiah opened a window on Jesus’s life and work. Wise men did come from the Far East to pay him homage at his birth (Matthew 2:1-12). And people from around the world have been coming to him ever since his death and resurrection.
The Gospel writers reveal that, unlike many leaders today, Jesus did not just teach, but acted, revealing God’s compassion for a sick and sorry world. He fed the hungry and healed the sick, he stilled a storm and even raised the dead to life. He overcame the forces of evil.
As the New Testament unfolds, we learn that the coming of God’s king is in two parts: his first coming was a rescue operation; his return will reveal the king in all his might, majesty dominion and power. He will bring his perfect justice to bear and, with the unveiling of his own glory, will reveal the glory of all who have truly turned to him.
His first coming we celebrate at Christmas. In the season of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we focus on the reality of his return.
Hope is bound up in God’s king. For the death of the Messiah on the cross came between God’s good creation, ruined by human sin with which the Bible begins, and the promise of a restored creation with which the Bible ends. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes… there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4).
In the meantime, God has given us all the opportunity to turn to Jesus the true king, with deep, heartfelt sorrow that we have not honored him as we should. He also now calls on us to adopt his moral compass for life and follow his example, showing love and compassion, praying for enemies, and looking for ways to point family, friends and all with whom we have connections, to the one true Lord of heaven and earth.
May you know the riches of God’s mercy and love in the New Year.
Prayers. Almighty God, the protector of all who put their trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply your mercy upon us, so that with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal: grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lord, we beseech you, pour out your grace into our hearts; so that, knowing the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection by his cross and passion. We ask this through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
