Isaiah 11:1-16 KJV
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

To be in the days of Isaiah and know destruction is at hand, we also must understand the hope God was giving his people concerning things to come and who the Messiah ought to be and was. Last half of this passage some might wander if it is a reflectant of 1948 as the Jewish state was formed, and an continual ushering of the Jewish people from all of the world came to Israel and are continual drawn to Israel. If we stop at our own reflection of change in our world and only focus on the coming Messiah we see something else, that this drawing of Israelites to Israel was at different times in history, a time after destruction, then at the time of taxation. Caesar Augusta of Rome had declared what a taxation to all the known world he controlled. Everyone had to return to their homeland. in this rush to their homeland far and wide Jewish nation came from all over at the time of Jesus' birth. Many of us can remember at the time of hurricane in Texas the images on the news of highway being packed with vehicles leaving Texas to avoid the hurricane. Image the people leaving by not hundreds but thousand and tens of thousands in a grand exit. Those of us never been in a parade of vehicles that size can only imagine the hardship such an exit can cause. Nor can we imagine the large scale event in which we viewed. The news only showing a few travelers running out of gas and people helping or not helping those still trying to leave.

The grand exit also as a problem of a place or location for these people that travel had to go to, a stopping point or relocation place in their journey. We do not know the problems it caused for nearby areas right in the path of the exit. We can only imagine with some of us without toilet paper in the time of the pandemic seen first hand what shortage and crisis was that never seen one. Yet to have it thrusted upon you because people were outrunning a storm no one can imagine what items were left even on a store shelf in nearby areas. Shortage of diapers, baby formula, clothes, food items that did not need cooking or preparation and so forth. The humiility of the situation of out running the problem only caused problems for others their story never told. Fast food and restaurants not handling the overflow of that many either. One if they had food supply could of opened a quick barbecue or hamburger hotdog barbecue grill and made a fortune if you could cook fast enough. Then people making the made dash back home to protect their belongings after crashing through a number of cities and countrysides. Grand exit having the grand return. What do you think it was like to have to go so many thousand of miles back some where at the time of Rome. It would definitely misplace people as will as reconnect people. Security and ID's not so much in vogue in that day and time, as in our world today.

We read the Christmas story in Luke and we only get the picture of Mary, Joseph and the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, but how many understand the grand entrance into Bethelehem, Christ had made to Jews from foreign world not fully grasping who this Messiah ought to be. Biblically we do not know how many people flooded into and through the region of Bethelehem. Nor can we imagine the crowd that may or may not of been at the temple when sacrifices given by Mary and Joseph which were given after 8 days after Mary's purification. Nor can we imagine the food source for the people having to make a trip of any magnitude in the since of more then a handful of people.

God does not tell Isaiah about the taxation but he describes the event around the coming of the Messiah, that the only explanation with the other prophets that makes any sense is a time of taxation by Caesar Augusta. For some would not return from their journey and others would only settle elsewhere. Mary and Joseph went to Egypt for a time period of two years before going to Nazareth and settling in the land of Galilee.

Jesus would be the root of Jesse. Whose the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon: "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD". The time of Christ ministry we see the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and might and knowledge of the fear of the Lord. It was also a time when the wolf would laydown with the lamb and the leopard with the kid(goat). We know Christ time on earth was spent teaching both Jews and Gentiles. Christ coming came with a flood of people not once but twice, once with the rebuilidng of Israel Temple and again with the birth of Christ. The exodus of WWII of the Jews leaving persecution to the grand entrance from many places back to Israel over twenty years ago, we still only gain a little insight to the picture. Christians are spread from the time of Christ birth to even today. We have no homeland other then where we settle and we live and breath in the world we come accustom to and its traditions. Israel being our mother in regards to faith and Christ being our husband by faith and our Father. God being Father of us all. His Spirit guiding his children onward and upward over hills and through valleys. The journey of faith separate and intwines by culture.

Today as believers are continually marching toward the coming of Christ, let us stop and ponder what it took for Christ to be born in the location of Bethelehem. This passage of scripture above being a foretelling of the event and not event that unfolded, leaving scholars to wonder about these events.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we ponder how you orcharestra and event so wonderful predesign by your will, carried by leaders there were not necessarily a believer. And by your design your people came to the homeland of Israel and heard no doubt the announcement of the birth of your Son without understanding what it truly meant. Open in our hearts to the prophesy of our world today and let us hear your voice speak to the hearts of all that truly believe. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Luke 2:1-3 KJV
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.