Isaiah 11:1
1 And there shall come forth [yatsa'] a rod [choter] out of the
stem [geza`] of Jesse, [Yishay] and a Branch [netser] shall
grow [parah] out of his roots: [sheresh] KJV-Interlinear
11 Then a
shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear
fruit. NASB
In the previous chapter,
an invading army is portrayed as a vast and magnificent forest advancing out of
the north with the sole intent of destroying Jerusalem. That forest will be
destroyed and never again exist.
But the army of the north
is more than the single army advancing from Assyria in Isaiah’s day, and more
than the army of the Tribulation which is still future. It represents the armies of history, of the
world, that have conducted invasion after invasion for the purpose of advancing
Satan's agenda through the use of humanity, only to come up short, stopped in
their tracks at the very outskirts of Jerusalem, and halted and destroyed no
less by a simple little sprout.
In contrast, in this
chapter, is the single sprout, a rod, which will spring out of a dead stump,
the stem, Jesse, the father of David. This
is the Messiah, the son of David, the Son of God, both persons united in one
person, the unique person of the universe, Jesus Christ.
Of Jesse, the father of
David, herein designates the family of the line of the Davidic dynasty. Jesse who died and represents the end of the
family with the birth of the last and final member of that line, Jesus Christ.
There is only one Jesse
in the scriptures, and that is the father of David. There can be no mistake
regarding the person of whom this chapter is speaking, it is the Messiah. But
here we also have another topic.
David's line will
continue until the First Advent of Christ, born to Mary and Joseph. After that
the line will cease to exist.
We have in this passage
the shoot which will grow up out of the dead and decayed stump of the family
line which will be terminated.
At the second advent,
Jesus Christ will return to establish the line and dynasty of David as promised
and that dynasty will rule forever.
Jesus Christ is the stem
which will grow up out of the stump, and Jesus Christ is the substance of the
roots of that family tree.
The last chapter left the
armies of the world, having been described as a forest of trees, without life
and without substance, and without a future. That forest grew up over the course
of history and came from all corners of the world. The forest had its own self
defined beauty and power of which it impressed itself.
However, in the space of
a very few moments, that entire forest of wickedness was and will be, cut down
into the dust and destroyed by a single tender little shoot, or stem which grew
up out of a stump which the world supposedly had destroyed.
Will there be more people
born into the line of David? No. Jesus Christ is the sole heir to the thrown
and ruler in the Davidic dynasty and after Him there is no heir to the throne.
He was the first to rule in eternity past (alpha), and He will be the last to
rule (omega). And, He will rule forever.
At the Second Advent, He
will formally seize His rightful reigns of power and hold them forever. The
production of His future kingdom will be tremendous and eternal, as opposed to
the production of the entire history of the human race which will be destroyed
and lost forever in a very short space of time.
