Describing the coming Messiah

I was reading John Crotts' book Craftsmen this morning and in chapter 3 he's discussing the wisdom of Jesus as outlined in the book of Isaiah, which describes the coming Messiah.  In Isaiah 11:4 we read:

but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

So far, so good.  Very wise.  Good standard.  But then Isaiah goes on to the second half of verse 4:

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Knowing what we do about Jesus and His life... this doesn't seem to describe Him.  From our New Testament theology we know that His future work will include this kind of judgment... but other than the famous "turning over the tables in the temple" incident, Jesus really didn't do the striking and slaying thing.

I have to admit, if I witnessed my "messiah" being beaten to a pulp and dragged into an electric chair or gas chamber by the foreign government that occupied my country, and if I knew anything about the book of Isaiah, I'd think that these things don't really line up.  Do they?

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