LIFE FROM DEATH
Shoot from Jesse
Isaiah 11: 1

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for tonight’s meditation is from the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 1:  “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”  This is our text.

In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dear Christian friends.  When I was in Junior High School, a year or two ago, my Grandfather’s neighbor, Mr. Harris had a huge Weeping Willow tree in his back yard.  It was so big that it was taking up most of his back yard — so he decided to cut it back — and cut it back he did.  He cut it back to where only 4 or 5 short limbs were left on the trunk — but you know what — it still lived, and came back stronger and healthier than it had been before the pruning.  And although that pruning might be a good example for tonight’s text, there is still another example that is even more descriptive of our lesson.  You see, my grandfather Kelly is the one who pruned that tree for his neighbor — and one of those limbs that he cut off, he trimmed back to nothing but a stick, about 2 inches thick and 5 feet long.  He then took that stick over to our house and with a hammer drove that stick into the ground, to mark a point in the middle of his garden where he wanted to dig a straight line to the street in order to get water to drain from the garden.  That stick developed roots, and put on limbs, and began to grow.  The last time I went by the old house back in Alabama, that stick was a beautiful Weeping Willow tree, about 30 feet high and 20 feet around. The dead stick had become a beautiful tree!

That’s what Isaiah is talking about in our prophecy for tonight — out of the stump of Jesse would come a righteous branch, that would bear much fruit.  Out of death, would come life.  The people that Isaiah was writing to were very discouraged.  They had lost a war, they were a captive people, and they thought they had been abandoned by God.  The once great nation of Israel, under the leadership of Jesse’s son, King David, had been a great and mighty nation.  And under David’s son, Solomon, the kingdom was extended even further.  But that once great nation had turned away to false Gods.  They had forsaken the true God.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets had foretold of the destruction and ruin that was coming, but they didn’t listen.  This once great kingdom was now dead and destroyed.  Israel was like a tree that had been cut down — like a tree that had been cut apart and thrown onto a fire — and all that was left was nothing more than a dead stump.

But God had a message of comfort for his people Israel.  God promised that out of this stump of Jesse — out of the lineage of King David, a living branch would come.  Out of the dead stump would come a descendant of David, who would bring life, not just to Israel, but to all peoples of the world.  Isaiah was talking of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah was talking about God himself, becoming a man — a descendant of King David.  This promised branch would bear much fruit.

Christ did just that.  He himself was the first-fruits of many to come.  He lived the perfect life demanded of all people, but which we could not live.  He died a horrible death even though he himself was innocent — for sinners like us who deserved that death, and then he arose from the dead promising new life to all who believe in him.  Like his Father David, Jesus would be a King.  Jesus told Pilate, “Yes, I am a king.  But my Kingdom is not of this world.”  Jesus the kingdom that he will rule is not an earthly kingdom — but the eternal kingdom of heaven itself.  And he rules our hearts as our King now and for all eternity.  Life from Death.  Jesus is the branch that grows out of the stump of Jesse.  Jesus is the one who gives us life instead of death.  Jesus is the one who lives and reigns for all eternity.

Just as Israel waited for God’s promised fulfillment, so also you and I wait for Christ’s coming.  We wait to celebrate that first coming on Christmas day.  And we wait for his second coming, when he will lead us and all believers into eternal life with him in heaven.  In Christ, the righteous branch of Jesse, we have life.

To God alone be glory.  Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.