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.
[isaiah 11:1-2]
to better understand this passage, we must look at the closing of chapter 10.
isaiah 10:33-34 “behold, the Lord God of hosts 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, and lebanon will fall by the majestic one.”
now re-read isaiah 11:1-2.
after a portrayal of God destroying human evil as the felling of a forest, isaiah presents the messiah as a shoot from a remaining stump. there is a shift from judgement upon evil, to hope and a future. and isaiah prophesies that not only will there be life and hope that follow judgement and exile, but that this hope will come from the same line that God had promised it would years prior. this branch will be fruitful, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. this branch was Jesus.
hundreds of years later, God proved himself faithful yet again when Jesus was born in a manger in bethlehem.
this is not how the people of judah or israel would have drawn it up. this is not what they expected, and honestly not the plan they wanted. yet, God’s ways are higher than ours.
isaiah 55:8-9 “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
rather than trying to figure out the future, may we rest in God today. whatever you are going through today, he is faithful, he is loving, and he is good.
1 peter 4:19 “therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.”
God, help us to entrust all of ourselves to you today. give us rest in you.
amen.
~ john sandman