“And that day they 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.”
–Isaiah 11:10
The root of Jesse here in Isaiah 11:10 is Jesus. This is a prophecy about the coming king from the Davidic line.
Jesus will be made known and praised and proclaimed among all
nations of the world.
Isaiah 11:10 Wants Jesus To Be Made Known In All Nations
The whole picture here is the nations will inquire of him. His standing shall be a signal to the peoples, so the picture’s all the peoples coming to Jesus. All the nations coming to Jesus and so this passage is one of the clearer pictures we see in the Old Testament of how Jesus will be made known, and praised, and proclaimed among all the nations of the world. That people from every tribe, and tongue, and people will gather around to give him praise.
It’s interesting, Paul actually uses this verse in Romans Chapter 15 when he’s talking about his ambition to see Christ preached where he’s not been named. He wants to get the gospel to those who never heard it, and so he draws on Isaiah Chapter 11, Verse 10 to say, “The nations need to know about Jesus, the root of Jesse.” The same thing is true today. There are nations, there are people groups, there are tribes, languages, where the name of Jesus is not known.
I think about people. I was actually reading this passage, I remember one time, as I was walking through some unreached villages in Nepal. By unreached, I mean not yet reached with the gospel, with the truth, or even the name of Jesus. I would go up to people in these villages. We would talk through a translator, say, “Well, what do you know about Jesus?” And they would say, “Who’s that?” They thought, “Is that somebody in the next village that I’ve not met? Who are you talking about?” They don’t know the name of Jesus. There’s people like that all around the world. Hundreds of millions of them even.
This Verse Prays For the Southern Uzbek People
I think about today praying for the Southern Uzbek people in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Over three million of them, very few of who are followers of Jesus. In fact, most of whom have little to no knowledge of Jesus. I’m just provoked to pray for them. I want to lead us to pray for them and many others like them. Let’s pray.
Isaiah 11:10 Prays For God To Be Praised In All Nations
Jesus, you deserve the praise of all the nations. One day all the nations will praise you, so God, bring them about. We pray, bring the nations to praise the name of Jesus. Bring them to know the name of Jesus, and then to trust in the name of Jesus and to praise the name of Jesus. We pray for Uzbeks, and Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Lord, we pray for the spread of the gospel among them. Then we pray that men, and women, and boys, and girls who have little to no knowledge of the name of Jesus would hear the name of Jesus. God, use our lives, use our churches to make that a reality.
Please, oh, God, use our resources to make that a reality so that they know you, and they worship you, and they rejoice in you, so they inquire of you so that they rest in you. God, bring in about for the Uzbek people and thousands of other people groups like them. So God, we pray, use our lives, use our families, use our churches to cause the nations to worship Jesus. In his name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
