Isaiah 11:10 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a further prophecy of the growth and advance of the Messiah’s kingdom, shown under the picture of Judah’s flourishing state near the end of Hezekiah’s reign, after Sennacherib was defeated. That earlier event was a partial fulfillment. The great things God did for Hezekiah and his people became like a banner that drew nearby nations to come and ask about the wonders God had done in the land. That is why the king of Babylon’s envoys came. The Gentiles sought out Jerusalem, the place where the Jews lived, and it was then made glorious (Isaiah 11:10).

At that time, many Israelites from the ten tribes were forced to flee when Assyria destroyed their kingdom. They scattered into nearby countries and even into distant lands, including the islands of the sea. Now they were encouraged to return to their own land and place themselves under the protection and rule of the king of Judah. This was all the more natural because it was an Assyrian army that had ruined them, and that same army had been broken. This is called a second recovery of them (Isaiah 11:11), as great a work of God’s power and kindness as their first rescue from Egypt.

Then the outcasts of Israel would be gathered home, and the people of Judah who had fled for safety when the Assyrian army approached would also return. The old hostility between Ephraim and Judah would be forgotten, and they would join together against the Philistines and their other common enemies (Isaiah 11:13, Isaiah 11:14). Those who have shared afflictions and mercy, danger and rescue, should remember that and unite for their common safety. It is a good sign for the church when Ephraim and Judah are one against the Philistines. Even if the return of the scattered people seems difficult, the Lord will find a way to remove every obstacle, just as he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan when he brought Israel out of Egypt (Isaiah 11:15), and led them through a vast and threatening wilderness (Isaiah 11:16). He will do the same thing again, or something equal to it. When God’s time for deliverance comes, mountains of trouble become level ground before him. So we should not lose heart when the church seems very low. God can quickly turn dark days into bright ones.

This prophecy also looks ahead to the days of the Messiah and the bringing in of the Gentiles to his kingdom. The apostle applies Isaiah 11:10 to Christ in Romans 15:12, saying, “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust.” That gives the key to the prophecy. It speaks of Christ as the root of Jesse, or a branch growing from his roots (Isaiah 11:1), a root out of dry ground (Isaiah 53:2). He is the root of David (Revelation 5:5), the root and offspring of David (Revelation 22:16).

Christ shall stand, or be set up, as a banner for the people. When he was crucified, he was lifted up from the earth so that, like a signal raised high, he might draw the eyes and hearts of all people to himself (John 12:32). He is also set up as a banner in the preaching of the good news, where ministers, like standard-bearers, display the banner of his love to draw us to him (Song of Solomon 1:4), and the banner of his truth, under which we may join ourselves to fight against sin and Satan. Christ is the banner to which the children of God, scattered abroad, are gathered together (John 11:51), and in him they find their center of unity.

The Gentiles will seek him. We read of Greeks who did this, saying, “We would see Jesus” (John 12:21). On that occasion Christ spoke of being lifted up to draw all people to himself. The apostle, following the Septuagint, says, “In him shall the Gentiles trust” (Romans 15:12). They will seek him with dependence and faith.

His rest shall be glorious. Some understand this of Christ’s death, because even the triumphs of the cross made it glorious. Others understand it of his ascension, when he sat down to rest at the right hand of God. It may also mean the gospel church, that Mount Zion of which Christ has said, “This is my rest,” and where he dwells. Though the world despises it, it is truly glorious, because it has the beauty of holiness and is a glorious high throne (Jeremiah 17:12).

Both Jews and Gentiles will be gathered to him (Isaiah 11:11). It will be a remnant from both, a small number compared with the whole, and it will seem almost like a rescue from great difficulty and danger. As God once delivered his people and gathered them from all the lands where they were scattered (Psalm 106:47; Jeremiah 16:15, Jeremiah 16:16), so he will do it again, in another way, by the powerful work of the Spirit of grace together with the word. He will set his hand to the work, and his power, the arm of the Lord, will be made known in it.

There will be a remnant of the Jews gathered in, the outcasts of Israel and the scattered people of Judah (Isaiah 11:12). Many of them, at the time they were brought to Christ, were Jews of the dispersion, the twelve tribes scattered abroad (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). They would come flocking to Christ, and probably more of those scattered Jews were brought into the church, in proportion, than those who stayed in their own land. Many of the nations, the Gentiles, would also be brought in by the lifting up of the banner. Jacob had foretold that to Shiloh the gathering of the people would be. Those who were once strangers and outsiders would be brought near. The Jews were jealous when Christ went to the dispersed among the Gentiles and taught the Gentiles (John 7:35).

There will also be a happy peace between Judah and Ephraim, and both will be safe from their enemies and stronger than them (Isaiah 11:13, Isaiah 11:14). The joining of Judah and Israel at that time was a type of the union of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church, where they had long been at odds. The house of Judah would walk with the house of Israel (Jeremiah 3:18) and become one nation (Ezekiel 37:22). In the same way, Jews and Gentiles are made one new man out of two (Ephesians 2:15). When they live at peace with each other, those who oppose them both will be cut off.

They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines, striking like an eagle at its prey, and spoil those to the west of them. Then they shall extend their victories eastward over the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. The gospel of Christ will succeed in every part, and people from all nations will become obedient to the faith. Everything that could hinder the progress and success of the gospel will be removed.

Just as God brought Israel out of Egypt by drying up the Red Sea and the Jordan before them (Isaiah 63:11, Isaiah 63:12), and later made the return path smooth when he brought the Jews back from Babylon (Isaiah 62:10), so he will remove every barrier when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in the gospel church. Obstacles that seemed impossible will be overcome in surprising ways, and the blind will be led along a road they did not know (Isaiah 42:15, Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 43:20).

Converts will be brought in chariots and litters (Isaiah 66:20). Some think this also points to the later gathering of large numbers into the church in the prophecy about the drying up of the river Euphrates, so that the way of the kings from the east may be prepared (Revelation 16:12). This seems to fit the same line of thought.

The lesson is clear: when God’s time comes to bring nations, or individual people, to himself, his grace will overcome every resistance. At the Lord’s presence the sea will flee and the Jordan will be driven back. Those who face heaven will find the way far less hard than they expected, because there is a highway there (Isaiah 35:8).