_______________________________________
THE PROMISE OF HOPE
Part Three : The Righteous Branch Will Be Our Good King
Justin Winthers
_______________________________________
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.
– Isaiah 10:1-11
_______________________________________
Last week we learned that God is the one who will cause the fulfillment of His promise to Israel and Judah to have the King from David’s line, and this King will execute perfect justice. In 11:1-10, Isaiah the prophet sets our hopes not only on the first coming of the promised King, but namely the Messiah’s reign after his second.
And even more, the permanency of His reign.
The Bible tells us that Christ is the Bridegroom, and we the church are His Bride. Scripture affirms God HATES divorce. And while we are separated from Him physically, He promises to return and be eternally wed to his beloved church. And oh, how life-giving it is to confidently hope for that day we’ll be able to fully rest and finally gaze upon the beauty and fullness of God in His visible glory.
And what will his reign be like?
Rev. 5:5 tells us to “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
And how confident can we be in his second return?
God kept his promise in the first coming, by restoring David’s line… and he’ll keep his promise to restore us into glory through the blood shed by our Messiah, Jesus Christ. Let’s rest our hopes in the coming of our righteous and good King. Let’s eagerly wait for the day we are reunited with our perfect Bridegroom…
Jesus, the promised Messiah and restorer. Jesus, our model of righteous living. Jesus, our good shepherd and perfect judge. Jesus, our deliverer. To Him belongs the throne of David. Through Him shall we enter the kingdom of God. For Him shall we wait in these days of distress. By him shall we dress in the full armor of God. And weep no more; The righteous branch, our good King shall come for His beloved. God alone is our Glory!