The Root and Branch of Jesse

The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the Old Testament lesson appointed for the second week of Advent. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hope is the theological virtue of looking forward to the future with a confident expectation that heaven and eternal life are still to come for us as the children of God. It is the firm conviction that—come what may—God is for us and will bring us to himself.

This hope we have as Christians is based upon the promises of God. The Bible says that we are to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hope is meant by God to be his cure for discouragement, depression and despair. And yet all of us are tempted this way at times. Why is that?

It is because we have based our confidence about the future upon things that we can see and touch and experience. We put our hope in a retirement plan or social security only to see them face insolvency. We put our hope in vitamins and check-ups and healthy eating only to face an incurable disease. We put our hope in our nation’s might and power only to discover that it can’t really protect us from the evil in the world.

In hope that is misplaced -comes discouragement, depression, and despair. That is what the people of Isaiah’s day were facing. God raised up the Assyrians to chastise his people and punish them for their sinful disobedience. Despite their confidence in wealth and military might and strategic alliances—the northern kingdom fell. 140 years later the southern kingdom fell to the Babylonians and the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. The dynasty of Davidic kings came to an end.

Isaiah was called by God to prophesy in those days—to warn Judah about what was to come in God’s judgment-- but also to comfort them with the good news that judgment was not God’s last Word—but that even from the midst of ruins—God was able to bring blessings. Those blessings were still in the future—but they were so certain and sure that the people of God could hope even in the midst of dark days.

Isaiah’s words still have that same purpose—to give God’s people hope—and even more so for us than them--because we know many of his promises to be fulfilled. And so tonight, as we listen to God’s prophet speak of the Root and Branch of Jesse, we can set aside doubt, despair, and depression and look forward to the future with hope. Isaiah prophesied:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Very few things look as hopeless and desolate as a clear-cut forest—to see a place that was filled with towering plant life turned into stumps and mud-- is just heart-breaking and thankfully it’s a lumbering practice largely abandoned in our country.

But that’s how things looked in Isaiah’s day. Those giants that God raised up in David and Solomon and their offspring no longer ruled God’s people. Instead, Israel was ruled by wicked men-- and Judah was ruled by men who tried to have it both ways when it came to God and their pagan neighbors. None of them inspired hope in God’s people.

But Isaiah promised that from the desolation that was the Davidic line brought low, God would raise up new life—a shoot from the stump of Jesse (David’s father) who would be anointed with the Spirit—and he would rule with justice and restore creation and redeem the world.

700 long years later, in the city of Bethlehem where David was born to Jesse, two descendants of David, Joseph and Mary, delivered a baby named Jesus—the virgin-born fulfillment of that promise of Isaiah made long before—the one upon whom the Spirit of God would rest. Isaiah promised:

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.

We know very little of Jesus’ life until he was thirty years old when he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and the Spirit came to rest upon him in the form of a dove and the voice of God from the heavens declared: “You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased.” Throughout his earthly life he was led and guided by the Holy Spirit life as no one before or since. He said of himself: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim Good News.” He conducted his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And not only was he anointed with the Holy Spirit for his work as Messiah, he was the giver of the Holy Spirit to all who trusted in him. John the Baptist told the crowds that Jesus was the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed on his chosen twelve and gave them the Holy Spirit. At his ascension, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit upon the whole church.

The only cure for the spirit of discouragement, depression, and despair that threatens to destroy hope in us-- is to know Jesus Christ- and be filled with the Holy Spirit- and receive his gifts of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and the fear of the Lord. These are the spiritual gifts that help us to live in hope towards the future and in holy obedience to the Lord’s rule here and now. Isaiah said:

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 he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, 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.

Last week we talked about how in the Advent season we hear promises from God’s Word that are “even now and not yet”—that is, there were promises fulfilled when Jesus came the first time and their will be promises fulfilled when he comes again—but all of them ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

That is what we have here in these verses. When Jesus comes again in glory he will judge the living and the dead. The earthly injustice, inequality, and animosity that robs us of hope-- will be dealt with. All people who have ever lived will undergo this final judgment. There will be no hiding the truth about ourselves from others or from Jesus-- for what is true about us in the deepest recesses of our hearts will be laid bare.

Those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb—who are clothed in his perfect righteousness—will be commended for the good they have done while on earth and enter into eternal life. But those who never had a part in the Savior’s life—those who tried to cover their sin under a cloak of self-righteousness-- will be shown for the wicked people they really were in God’s sight and given over to eternal death.

That judgment is still to come. But in a very real way every person who lives on this earth is already judged and it has been that way going back to the Messiah’s birth. The wise men and shepherds worshiped him and were right in God's sight. Herod tried to kill him and was guilty in God’s sight. During his earthly ministry many came to him in faith and were right in God's sight. But many of the religious leaders and Pontius Pilate rejected him and remained in their sin.

So it still is today. Those who believe in Jesus are innocent in God’s sight—those who don’t, are guilty and remain in their sin. Jesus is the absolute dividing line—the measure of judgment—between those who are innocent and those who are guilty.

The only difference between today --and judgment day-- is that this day is a day of God’s grace when the guilty still have an opportunity to forsake their sins and receive God’s forgiveness in Jesus and live with him in everlasting peace. Isaiah prophesied about that day when evil comes to an end:

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. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 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.

The scene that we have here is one of those Messianic blessings that is still in the future---the restoration of God’s good creation which has been destroyed by sin.

A couple of weeks ago in the adult bible class we had a question about why our physical resurrection matters since our soul goes to heaven when we die. It was a good question and the answer is that God created us with bodies and souls—he created a world where mankind and nature were in perfect harmony—a world in which there was not death at all. That is what Jesus came into the world to redeem and restore and renew.

His own resurrection from the dead is the beginning of that—the first-fruits of a harvest of life that will follow—not just in mankind but in all creation. Death is not the end for us and destruction is not the end of the world—we will rise from our graves and there will be a new heaven and a new earth—all of it unaffected by the sin, death, and devil that destroyed it—because the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth.

Standing in the midst of a redeemed humanity and a renewed creation will be the root of Jesse. The Bible says:

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.

I don’t know if you caught it or not, but we began our meditation on God’s Word talking about a branch from Jesse’s root—a fresh, new shoot. But we conclude our meditation tonight hearing that this new branch is actually the root. How can this be?

It is because this shoot is not just the Son of David—he is also the Son of God. The angel Gabriel told Mary: He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. The Old Testament prophets knew this about the Messiah as well. Isaiah promised that he would be a virgin-born child but he also called him the Ancient of Days.

The Branch and Root of Jesse is Jesus—David’s Son and God’s Son—the God-in flesh-redeemer of the world who has ascended to heaven to prepare a glorious resting place for his people and will come again to take them there. That is the promise of God and in the light of that glorious promise discouragement, depression, and despair must give way to hope.

But it also calls us to action right here and now—it gives us a purpose until Jesus comes again. Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to be a "signal" for all people—a rallying point that people from every nation, language, tribe, and culture can come to and take their own place in his glorious presence.

And so the Lord calls us to make Jesus known in word and deed to a world around us that is still held captive in darkness and death. That is our mission as a congregation—that is our purpose in life as individuals—and when we are about the Lord’s business—there is simply no place for discouragement, depression, and despair. Resting on his promises--active in his kingdom--may God grant us the gift of hope that looks forward with confidence to the future! Amen.

And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.