A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of council and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decides by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from lower Egypt, from upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will swep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt (Isaiah 11:1-16 NIV)
Ever since the fall in the garden recorded in Genesis 3, people have been seeking one to come and make everything right again. We see this in the statement Eve makes at the birth of Seth, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew" (Gen 4:25, see Gen 3:15).
Lamech, the Father of Noah hoped that his son was the one to come who would reverse the curse on the ground (Gen 4:29).
Ultimately God raised up Abram with whom He made a covenant, promising to make a nation out of him, and giving him the land where He had called him to dwell. This covenant was made through Abraham's son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob who became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is through this nation that the Messiah is to come.
The biblical history of Israel is filled with tragedy. Called and chosen by God as his special people to represent Him before the world, they turned from Him over and over again, ultimately being removed from the land that was sworn to Abraham as an eternal possession.
But God is faithful to His covenant promises, and the story does not end there. While we as Christians today recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the one who died for our sins, arose from the dead and is coming again, Israel is still waiting for their Messiah. They did not recognize Him at His first appearance some two thousand years ago, and are waiting for one to come, who in fulfillment of prophecy, will deliver the from their enemies and restore them as a nation once again.
In several places in the Bible, and particularly the Old Testament we read of one called the Branch. Two of these passage are quoted above. Someday this Branch, the long awaited Messiah, will come and deliver His people Israel from the nations surrounding them. At this point they will recognize Him as Jesus, the one they pierced and be restored as God's chosen people (Zechariah 12:10-13:2).
Old Testament prophecy ultimately points to this day when Israel returns to the Lord their God, is cleansed from their sin, and once again lives in the land promised so many years ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They will live in peace; in fact the world will experience a peace it has never known since the fall of man, under the rule of the promised Messiah. This land is the place that the Lord God has chosen as His resting place forever. It is here that He will dwell (Psalm 132:13-15).
The scriptures speak of a time of deliverance for Israel, a time when they will be brought back out of the lands where they have been driven because of their sin,
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:5-7 ESV)
The Messiah is to come from the lineage of David. God established a covenant with him that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne (2 Sam 7:22-16, 1Chronicles 17:9-14). We read in Jeremiah 33,
'Behold the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'That I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: in those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgement and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.' (Jeremiah 33:14-16 NKJV)
In those days the Messiah will deliver Israel, and sit upon the throne of David forever. "For this says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.'" (Jeremiah 33:27)
At this time Israel's sin is put away as well. Numerous passages of scripture foretell the day when they are cleansed and restored. For this post I would like to look at Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:1-10. Joshua is standing before the Angel of the LORD, facing the accusations of Satan. He is clothed with filthy garments, which are removed from him representing the removal of his sin. He is then clothed with rich robes, and a clean turban.
Joshua symbolically represents Israel in this vision as we read on,
'Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign; for behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,' says the LORD of hosts, 'And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.' (Zech 3:8-9)
The final passage I will look at is found in Zechariah 6 and speaks again of the millennial reign of Christ. Zechariah's ministry was to the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple. It is in this context that he foresaw the building of a future temple in the days of the Messiah.
"Then speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts saying: Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall Branch out, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; Yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so shall He be a priest on His throne; and the council of peace shall be between them both."' (Zech 6:12-13 NKJV)
The day is coming when Jerusalem will be the center of worship. All the nations will come to worship Jesus the Messiah. His glory will cover the earth (Isaiah 60:1-22). In a touching vision of God's great love for His wayward people, we see imagery of a marriage in the first passage quoted from Isaiah above. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgement and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area if Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy (Isaiah 4:4-5 NASB).
Every Jewish wedding takes place under a canopy. In a stunning passage we see an allusion to the presence of God with the children of Israel who fled Egypt so long ago. The Angel of the LORD (the pre-incarnate Christ) accompanied them in a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. At His second coming He is coming to redeem His chosen people Israel, and to consummate the betrothal He made with them at Sinai. His wayward bride will return to Him and find grace, as He washes their sin away.
There are those within the Church who believe that God has permanently cast off Israel, that He is done with them and has replaced them with the Church. According to this error, all the promises made on behalf of Israel have been transferred to the Church to be fulfilled in a spiritual way. This erroneous teaching could not be further from the truth. The scriptures consistently show that the day is coming when the Lord God will fulfill the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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