The Branch

Isaiah tells us of a righteous Branch that would come from Jesse and would reign in Chapter 11. In verse 1 we find a prophecy being recorded “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.” And then we find recorded in verse 10 “Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious.”

We know that this prophecy is concerning the coming Messiah, Jesus, who would come after Isaiah’s time and He would be the standard (the signal) for all people of every nation. Jesus does stand as an ensign for all people and it is unto Jesus that all nations shall seek.

Isaiah makes some interesting points concerning Jesus of how He would reign and judge when He came among the people. We find that in His ruling it would be guided by the Spirit of God that would rest upon Him. Verse 2 states “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him…” and in Isaiah 42:1 we read “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him, and He will bring forth justice to the nations.” We find others in the scriptures where the Spirit of the Lord was placed on individuals by God. Joshua (Deut.34:9; Num. 27:18,23), Bezalel (Exo. 31:3; Exo. 35:30,31) and Moses along with the 70 elders (Num. 11:17,25,26).

We find recorded concerning Jesus in Luke 2:40 “And the child continued to grow and became strong, increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him” and in Luke 2:52 “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”

We find further in Isaiah chapter 2 that this Branch would be filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding. He would also have the spirit of counsel and strength (might) and have the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The spirit of this Branch would have this mind set and would make up His disposition and therefore His speaking would consist of all these qualities. We find in the scriptures this being said about Jesus and His teachings in Matthew 7:28 “The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teachings;” and from those in His home town in Matthew 13:54 “And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue so that they became astonished and said, Where did this man get this wisdom…” and then in Luke 2:47 “And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”

We next find in Isaiah chapter 11 of how this Branch would judge and rule. We find that this Branch would delight in the fear (reverence) of the Lord and most importantly He would not judge by what His eyes were seeing nor making decisions by what His ears heard. Human wisdom and reasoning would not be used by this Branch and He would not vindicate or punish by what He saw or by what He heard and His decisions or His reproving would not be based upon those influences of men but His judgments and His reproving would be based on righteousness and with fairness or equity. Men today can be swayed in their decisions and judgments by what others say or do in trying to alter the judgments and decisions, but this will not be the case with Jesus. Jesus in judging with righteousness will do such justice in conformity with what is right according to the Father’s will, the Father’s laws and the Father’s statutes.

It will be with fairness and it will be with straightness and with uprightness along with no partiality or injustice. Isaiah offers us a very concise picture of how Jesus would be when He came into the world to reign and how we would be treated in His judgments and in His reproving.                     

- Larry Bumgardner