The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse

The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse Scripture Isaiah 11:1-2, 10 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 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 of the fear of the Lord. ...In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the people; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. Introduction I am continuing to weave my way through the book of Isaiah, and came across this passage from Isaiah 11. There are several aspects of this passage that we readily and easily understand, but some of them may have been lost to us, simply because we have forgotten many of the historical precedents that led to Jesus' appearance 2100 years ago. The Stump of Jesse We readily and easily understand that this passage talks about the life, work and ministry of Jesus. It speaks of his initiation of the Kingdom of God, and of the past, present and future revelations of the Kingdom. But why does the scripture say that a shoot would come from the stump of Jesse? Especially since Isaiah was writing from a time when a descendant of Jesse was still ruling and reigning from Jerusalem? In order to understand this, we have to look forward from Isaiah's time and backward, past Jesus' time. At the time of Isaiah's writing, Uzziah had just recently died. He was the 10th King of Judah. He was also known as Azariah. He reigned for 52 years. Fast forward At the time of the Babylonian intrusion into the territory of Judah, 150 years later, and Jahoiachin is ruling on the throne. He is the 19th King of Judah. He refused to listen to the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah and Babylon overran Jerusalem and carried him off into exile. Only one more Son of David would reign on the throne of Judah, Zedekiah, the 20th King. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and it was under his time that the Temple was destroyed. He had his eyes gouged out and was taken to Babylon, where he lived out his days. When the people returned from captivity, they had governors appointed for them, but they never again had a king. Ever. But the prophesy was still recorded. A son of David, a descendant from his lineage, an heir from Jesse would come. It would be 550 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesse's family was still alive, but the tree of kingship had been cut down. It was only a stump. We see this imagery used elsewhere in scripture. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a dream where the greatest tree was cut down and the stump was banded for seven years. After that time, the bands were removed and the tree was permitted to grow back. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that he is the tree. And soon after this, God banishes Nebuchadnezzar to the forests and fields and he runs crazy for seven years. When he acknowledges the Almighty as ruler of heaven and earth, he is restored to his right mind. But that was seven years, and it was the same person. This is 550 years. But the people are looking for the King. The people are sensing that God is up to something. It has been 5 Centuries since Daniel's prophesy of 70 weeks, (Daniel 9:24). 70 weeks is 490 days and prophetic days generally stand for actual years. The time of arrival is at hand. The holy one is coming. The Son of David, the Shoot of Jesse, the Messiah's time has arrived. The Spirit of the Lord So, what is written about Messiah in the prophets is there for a purpose. God allowed men of old to see images of that which would happen during Jesus' lifetime. At about 30 years of age, Jesus leaves home in Nazareth and begins a time of itinerate preaching, healing and confrontation with the leaders of religion. But before any of this happens, he goes down to the Jordan River and visits with his cousin, John, and convinces him of the need for baptism. When he had come up out of the water, Matthew testifies that something miraculous happens, something prophetic, "... heaven opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him, and a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,'" (Matthew 3:16-17). What was it Isaiah had seen 750 years earlier? The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. Now, we could take that figuratively. We often say of great leaders, speakers or singers, "The Spirit was on him/her." And while it is literally true, we often mean it more in a figure of speech, because we cannot see the spirit "on" that person. We must infer it. But Matthew, and later John, (John 1:32, 33), both testify that the Spirit of the Living God literally and visibly came down from heaven and rested on him. Matthew, particularly, wanted to leave no doubt as to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophesy. He was writing to a largely Jewish audience and he was specifically pointing out that Jesus, the son of David, had experienced exactly what the prophet foretold. What follows is the fulfillment of the rest of the prophesy. Along with the Spirit would come wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord. Luke tells us that not long after Jesus' baptism, he went back home to Nazareth and there read from the prophet Isaiah, and he claimed that the Spirit was upon him to preach the good news (evangelon), release the captives, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed and the year of the Lord's favor. He read from Isaiah 61, but Isaiah 11 also speaks of judgment, the poor, and justice. The Spirit Still Works Wonderfully, Jesus did not greedily reserve the Spirit of God for himself. No, he promised it to his disciples, and to us. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses." So, do you and I, when we believe, when we are born again, we receive the Spirit of God. The same Spirit that fell on Jesus at his baptism, the same Spirit that came on the shoot that grew from the stump of Jesse, the same Spirit that fell on the Day of Pentecost in that upper room. We have received wisdom, understanding, counsel and power. But perhaps most importantly we have received the "fear of the Lord". And by this we turn from our sinfulness and we pursue righteousness, love and peace with a clear conscience- in part because we fear the Lord and much more so, because we also love him and we know that he loves us. 1