Prophets are not fortune-tellers, but people immersed in seeing with eyes that take in what most others miss. Isaiah was one of those prophets. Watching a world filled with political posturing and power grabbing; threats of war that loomed on the horizon; and his nation distancing itself from its God...he saw something quite different from what the Jerusalem newspapers were printing each day.
He saw the stump of Jesse...a branch from its roots.
Isaiah 11:1-10
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 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.
3 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,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Jesse was David's father. When the prophet Samuel had heard God tell him to anoint a new King, he embarked on an expedition to find this God-appointed King. He went to Jesse's farm. Jesse paraded his sons before him from oldest to youngest - proud of who they were as Men. Each time God spoke to Samuel and said, "No, that's not the one". All but one was there, and they went out to fetch him once they realized none of the others was chosen. The youngest came - David - and God said, "Yes".
But David's glorious rule is 300 years past by the time Isaiah comes on the scene. Yet, he "sees" what others don't.
He sees a stump.
I found one two years ago. I had been looking for a year or so before that. I wanted to find a hollowed out stump, and "voila`" there it laid among the piles of a cut up tree. I asked my friend if he'd sell it to me. "No, just take it...what do you want with a that?"
I filled it with soil and planted a flower within it. The stump was dead, but from it comes life.
Isaiah saw stumps...and God spoke to him and said, "Do not despair, from dead things comes life".
Out of those stumps generations of David's descendants would come and go. Then one day, an angel from God named Gabriel would be dispatched to a little town in Northern Israel. The angel would scare a young virgin girl both with his presence and his words:
Luke 1:31-32
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
From the stump comes a new beginning and she would name him Jesus.
Peace
He saw the stump of Jesse...a branch from its roots.
Isaiah 11:1-10
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 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.
3 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,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Jesse was David's father. When the prophet Samuel had heard God tell him to anoint a new King, he embarked on an expedition to find this God-appointed King. He went to Jesse's farm. Jesse paraded his sons before him from oldest to youngest - proud of who they were as Men. Each time God spoke to Samuel and said, "No, that's not the one". All but one was there, and they went out to fetch him once they realized none of the others was chosen. The youngest came - David - and God said, "Yes".
But David's glorious rule is 300 years past by the time Isaiah comes on the scene. Yet, he "sees" what others don't.
He sees a stump.
I found one two years ago. I had been looking for a year or so before that. I wanted to find a hollowed out stump, and "voila`" there it laid among the piles of a cut up tree. I asked my friend if he'd sell it to me. "No, just take it...what do you want with a that?"
I filled it with soil and planted a flower within it. The stump was dead, but from it comes life.
Isaiah saw stumps...and God spoke to him and said, "Do not despair, from dead things comes life".
Out of those stumps generations of David's descendants would come and go. Then one day, an angel from God named Gabriel would be dispatched to a little town in Northern Israel. The angel would scare a young virgin girl both with his presence and his words:
Luke 1:31-32
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
From the stump comes a new beginning and she would name him Jesus.
Peace
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