SouldOut

Today’s Antiphon is another Old Testament name for the Messiah. We’ve looked at Wisdom and Adonai so far, and they are amazing pictures of Jesus Christ- Our Sovereign Lord and the Wisdom of God. This name, “Root of Jesse”, builds on the other 2 and gives us another view of the person and work of Jesus.

O Root of Jesse, standing as an ensign before the peoples, before whom all kings are mute, to whom the nations will do homage; Come quickly to deliver us.

This name comes primarily from 2 passages- one in Isaiah and one in Revelation. But it is important to see that this name and concept is seen throughout the whole Bible, and we will look at some of those verses too.

Isaiah 11:1-10 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.  ² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  ³ And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; ⁴ But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.  ⁵ Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.  ⁶ And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion ¹and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.  ⁷ Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox.  ⁸ The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.  ⁹ They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.  ¹⁰ Then in that day 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. NASB

Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” NASB

When we read these passages, it is important to place ourselves in the context. In Isaiah, the people are looking and longing for a Messiah who will restore Israel to its place of prominence and greatness in the world such as when David was King.  But the promises in Is 11 are amazing because they obviously go far beyond anything an earthly king or kingdom could accomplish. When you look at what the Messiah will do, it is evident that He will completely reorder the natural world as well as the spiritual. Jesus does not just work in the unseen “spiritual world”, He works to change and reorder those things in His creation that are disordered by sin. His miracles are pictures and “down payments” of what he will completely do in the end. Someday, everything will be new and in that day, we will see the lion lie down with the lamb. But for now, we need to understand that he is still at work in His world and in His people. It will be an amazing day when all this happens, but in the mean time, something even more amazing is happening. Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

I think we often times forget just how amazing a miracle it really is when someone gets saved. It is as amazing as a lion changed into a grazing animal. In one sense, it is beyond comprehension, but we have all seen it happen. Michael Ramsden, from RZIM tells the story of the man who was on the FBI’s most wanted list because he was head of the KKK and was responsible for assassinations, bombings and just about any crime you could think of. But he got saved in jail, and became a new creation. In fact his life was so completely re-ordered, that the FBI agent who brought him in, recommended that he be released after only a few years. He is now the head of the CS Lewis Institute and preaches to everyone he can. That is the power of being tied into the Root.

So why is this title so important? For one thing, God promised David, Jesse’s son, that his throne would last forever. Forever is a long time. So if God were to make good on His promise, He would need to do something extraordinary- something eternal. That is why Jesus describes Himself in Rev 22:16 as both the root and the descendent of David. As the descendent of David, He fulfills the promise that his throne would last forever. As the Root of David, He is the only one who can claim “foreverness”. He is the eternal One, and He alone can give meaning to the word “forever”.

Finally, we need to look at the word “ensign”. What does it mean to say that Jesus is an ensign (Is 11:10) before the people? An ensign is a banner or signal. Jesus is the banner of everything that God is. But in this case, He is the banner of salvation. He was hung on a cross as a signal and banner of salvation, and anyone who comes in faith to the cross where Jesus was lifted up, will be saved.Isaiah said that the nations will resort to the Root of Jesse. The word “resort” means to seek and trust- it implies a solution. In the end, He is the only one you can resort to.

Sometimes we speak of a “last resort”. It usually means the least most popular option that might work. It doesn’t sound right to speak of Jesus as a “last resort”, but that is what He is. For many people- maybe everyone, when we have tried everything else the world has to offer, Jesus is our last resort and our only resort. He is the root that nourishes the tree and in His own words- without Him, we can do nothing. He is the One who defines “something” or “nothing”.

Romans 15:12-13 “Again Isaiah says, “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE.”  ¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

We celebrate Advent- the arrival of the Messiah- because in Him we have hope, joy and peace. Without Him, we have nothing.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Category 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.