FRIDAY 17 December 2021 “A Royal Stump” Isaiah 11

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

One week from today is Christmas 2021, but I’m sure I didn’t need to remind you of that, did I? I wonder what great Christmas traditions you cherish? Is finding and cutting down your own, fresh Christmas tree something you’ve done? If so, did you ever return to the same tree cutting place the next year looking for your old tree stump? Did you find it? Were you expecting to see a new tree growing from it?

Since Christmas has its roots in the Bible, that is where we go for our best understanding of this great event which, I believe, has had more impact on our world than any other single event in history. In recent days we’ve been looking at how God began describing His Christmas plan, several hundred years before it actually happened. Several times God spoke prophetic messages to great men of faith, who wrote down what God was speaking to them, even though they could not have fully understood it, nor expected to see its fulfilment in their lifetime. Isaiah was one of those men, and in his 11th chapter Isaiah gives us more insight into this special person whom God would raise up to be what the Hebrews called their ‘Messiah’. Isaiah wrote: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit…” (Is. 11:1) Remember what I asked you about Christmas tree stumps?

Trees are remarkable things, aren’t they? Deep roots which feed the tree and hold it sturdy in storms. Strong tree trunk and branches, and then of course leaves and fruit. But when a tree is cut down, all that remains visible is a STUMP. So what was God saying to our world through Isaiah when describing ‘the stump of Jesse’? Do you remember the man named Jesse was the father of David, the most revered of all the kings of Israel? (1 Samuel 16) The royal monarchy line had continued from King David’s day, through more than 200 years of time, to the days of Isaiah the prophet. But then, in 586bc, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. The king of Israel at that time was dethroned and taken into captivity… the royal tree was cut down. But even though they were captives in Babylon, babies were born and carefully, with each new generation, the royal line was traced, even though never again has there been a royal throne, a king, in Israel.

This prophetic statement claimed that an important criteria for identifying the future Messiah would be that he could trace his lineage to the royal line of David and his father Jesse. Do you remember the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The LORD God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, His kingdom will never end.“ (Luke 1:30-33) But how could this be? Jesus was this miracle child, and He was born in Bethlehem because his heritage was traceable all the way back to king David. Remember the tax census? (Luke 2) But in the days of Jesus there was no royal Davidic throne, because Israel was not a Sovereign nation, it was a puppet State of the Roman Empire. Thus Jesus did not rise up to take the throne. Instead Jesus introduced a different kingdom, the kingdom of God! Remember how often Jesus spoke of this kingdom?

Isaiah continued: “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD…” (Is. 11:2) Now for the people in Isaiah’s day this was welcome news for immediately they would have thought of their hero King David. When he was anointed king, 1 Samuel 16:13 says “…from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” And the people would have remembered David’s son King Solomon, the wisest man of all time. He was so wise because the Spirit of the LORD had come upon him. 1 Kings 3:12 reports that God told Solomon “I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”

But in Isaiah’s day, and for centuries after that, no such person arose… until Jesus. Luke 4 describes for us the shocking day Jesus announced that HE was the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy! One Sabbath day in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus was invited to read the scroll of the Old Testament for that Sabbath. The record says: “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Jesus. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the LORD is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.” (Luke 4:17,18) Jesus was reading from Isaiah 61:1 and do you see how it is the fulfilment of Isaiah 11:2?

Let’s return to Isaiah 11 for one last statement. Isaiah wrote: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him and His place of rest will be glorious.” (Is. 11:10) Can you see, my friends, how this is fulfilled in Jesus? Jesus calls the people of ALL nations to come to God through Him. Remember Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by ME.” (John 14:6). And Jesus also said “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt. 11:28,29)

Once again today, my friends, let’s celebrate that in so many ways Jesus is the complete fulfilment of the prophecies God made through Isaiah the prophet 700 years before Jesus was born! Can you take great encouragement from that? More than 1000 years ago, did God already know everything about YOU? As God was creating you in your mother’s womb, did He already know everything that would transpire in your life, every situation you’d ever face, every need you’d ever have? As Jesus now reigns Sovereign and Supreme over all things, is He ready to apply the powerful truths of Isaiah chapter 11 into your life and mine? Here’s a song of worship that will help you and me contemplate these great truths found in Jesus. Let the children of Uganda, Africa call us to consider how completely aware Jesus is, of everything going on in our lives, and His readiness to meet us right at the point of our need, today!

Today’s Scripture is Isaiah 11.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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