It should not surprise us that the prophet Isaiah foretold the Messiah who would come 700 years after Isaiah’s time, because the mission of the Messiah was planned by the Lord well before that, even before time began. The Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – took counsel together to establish a way to redeem sinners and reconcile a particular people. The result of God’s counsel was that the Son would become man (the incarnation) and purchase redemption by His death upon the cross. But just as the birth of the Messiah was the beginning rather than an end, so too the death of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was not the end of the Messiah’s work. Isaiah describes in his prophecy how the Messiah would bless the redeemed. The Messiah is incomparably filled with the Spirit, a foreshadowing of the work the Lord would do in His people; He brings blessing to His people with righteousness and faithfulness; and He spreads that blessing throughout the world by equipping His saints to bring the story of love and redemption to a lost world. We go back seven centuries before the birth of Jesus to see “The Messiah’s Character” (Isaiah 11:1-10).

I. One Equipped for the Task
A. Fulfillment of Promises
B. Filled with the Spirit

II. One Engaged to Bring Blessing
A. He Fears the Lord
B. He Judges with Righteousness
C. He is Faithful

III. One Eager to Spread the Blessing
A. He Goes Out Into the Nations
B. He is the Hope of the Nations

Questions for consideration: (1) What does it mean to “fear the Lord?” What does that look like in your life? How can you commit to fear the Lord more in the coming year? (2) What does it mean to treat others with righteousness? How can you do that in the context of your family? Your neighbors? (3) How does the Messiah’s commitment to spread the knowledge of the Lord obligate you?