“There shall come
forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear
fruit. 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 the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the
Lord. He shall not judge by what his
eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He
shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and with
the breath of his lips He shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist,
and faithfulness the belt of His loins.”-Isaiah 11:1-5 (ESV).
The theme of Isaiah 11 is the coming
Messiah and how He will transform the world.
In Isaiah 10:33-34, Isaiah had pictured the destruction of evil as
cutting down a vast forest: “God…will lop
the boughs with terrifying power, the great in height will be hewn down, and
the lofty will be brought low. He will
cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe…” But “a
shoot from the stump of Jesse” (sprouting from that destroyed forest) will
come forth and bear fruit unto righteousness.
Jesse, the father of King David, will have seed to accomplish the
purposes of God and this twig will grow from the stump that remains after God’s
judgment. This new branch will bear
fruit in a new and different world because the Spirit of the Lord will be upon
Him. He will bear the fruit of the
Spirit in a three-fold manner:
(1)
In wisdom and understanding – manifested in leadership;
(2)
In counsel and might – able to advise about and carry out wise plans;
(3)
In knowledge and the fear of the Lord – wisdom from God Himself and
holiness.
Jesus Himself declared that He was the
fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah:
“The people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of
death, on them a light has dawned. From
that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.’” (Matthew 4:16-17, ESV).
Previously, God’s called-out ones had rebelled against Him and fallen
short of the Lord’s expectations. Not so
the “shoot…branch…from the stump of
Jesse.” The Messiah will be
faithful to God in every respect and live before God in deepest reverence. He will not be deceived by appearances;
neither will He depart from truth, for “the
rod of His mouth” will kill the intents of the wicked. Paul had in mind “the sword of the Spirit,”…“the belt of truth,”..“the breastplate of
righteousness”and “the shield of
faith” from this Messianic prophecy of Isaiah as he describes the “full armor of God” (see Ephesians
6:11-17). The Messiah was truly an
embodiment of one who had on the full armor of God. We are told:
“For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” Hebrews 4:15 (ESV).
Prayer:
(Praying scripture):“Let us then
with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews
4:16 ESV). In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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