The Rod of Jesse

Rod of Jesse

• Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
• 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 of the fear of the LORD;

Here we read that hope is coming from the stem of Jesse. Jesse is the father of King David. The Messiah was to come through the lineage of David. This promise of a deliverer was given first to Adam and Eve.

• Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.",

then Abraham 

• Genesis 17: 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
• 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

Isaac 

• Genesis. 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 

and Jacob who later became Israel.

• Genesis: 28 "13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
• 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

It was later given to Moses who was told of another prophet that the Lord would raise up similar to Moses. All who would not hear that prophet would be cut off from all people. 

• Deuteronomy. 18: 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

This prophet and the rod of Jesse had to have been born in Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy. In Micah 5 verse 2 it states: 

• Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." 

This is why the wise men where searching for Him in the book of Matthew.

• Matthew 2: 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
• 6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

The prophets spoke the part about the Nazarene. It is not in the written prophecy that is in the bible as we know it today. He also had to have lived in Egypt at one time 

• Hosea11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

and Nazareth

• Matthew. 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

This prophet, priest and king is none other but our Lord Jesus Christ. He was filled with the Spirit, full of wisdom, knowledge and the fear of God. He didn't come for any other purpose that to fulfill the will of the Father and bring salvation to mankind.

Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary of the lineage of the house of David the son of Jesse. Mary married Joseph who also was of that lineage. Although Jesus was not the actual son of Joseph, being born of his household as a first born son gave Him the right to the throne of David. He was the actual Son of God also which made Him God that came into human flesh. He was able to resist sin and become the first living sinless natural man.

When death slew Him He died unjustly having done no evil. He could then become the perfect sacrifice, the just suffering for the unjust (all mankind). His death counts in our place if we believe in Him and receive Him as Lord.

To reject this is to reject eternal life and salvation. There is no other way to be saved from eternal death and separation from God if we reject the plan God made to save us. The wages of sin is death. All of us have to die eternally for our sins unless we let the death of Jesus Christ count for us by our faith in Him. His shed blood will cover all our sins and make us a new creature in Christ.

• Isaiah 11:3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

Jesus' work on earth was done in the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that all who believe can receive. He did not see as man sees but by the Holy Spirit which was upon Him.

• 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
• 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

He is able to judge with righteousness. This He will do in full at His Second Coming. The earth will be reproved and judged at His coming. The first time He came it was to make a way of salvation and bring the kingdom of believers by faith. When we receive Christ we receive His kingdom in our hearts.

Those that do this will reign with Him when He comes the second time. He comes the second time to set up His everlasting kingdom. This will happen literally. We cannot make the world perfect and force everyone to be a Christian order to prepare the way. Men or women will not do this. This will be done only at the coming of the Lord Himself.

The only thing we as believers are to do is to spread the gospel all over the world. We are to tell everyone of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We are not called to take over the world and force everyone to convert to our religion.

Man has tried to do this and failed. True religion cannot be forced. It has to take place inside the heart of man. We cannot force people to love one another by passing a bunch of laws. We cannot force people to love God with all their hearts. This is done by the conversion of the Holy Spirit abiding in our hearts. This is the new birth. This comes by faith in Jesus Christ.

• Isaiah 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling 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 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
• 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Even animals will be affected in the reign of Jesus Christ

We notice again that in Isaiah. The first and second coming of Christ is seen as one event. Only by studying scripture by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is it possible to actually see two separate events. If we seek to study scripture prayerfully and with a genuine desire to find God we can understand even the King James version which I am most familiar with.

• Isaiah 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Oh wow this is something to look forward to. Gentiles will seek the rest of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will be a day when it will be popular to be a Christian. Today we are ridiculed and even hated. One day it will be the only way to live. True Christianity is one of love, joy and peace. It is not mean, cruel and full of hate like unbelievers sometimes picture it. If a so-called Christian religion is full of hate and meanness then they are Christian in name only, not in reality.

• Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Salvation of the Gentile people does not cause the Lord to forget the children of the promise. A remnant of Israel shall be saved and gathered from all parts of the earth.

• Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

To me Judah means Judah and Israel means Israel. I don't believe that we can take away the true meaning by placing the church in here. The true church may have already been with Jesus at this time. The church is part of spiritual Israel but does not take the place of natural Israel.

Remember when Jesus comes a second time He is to have an army of His faithful believers with Him. This is the probably the church. At what point He gathered them to Himself is yet to be seen. He has not forsaken Israel. Israel was cut off temporarily because of unbelief and rejection of the Messiah. While that happened salvation was preached to the Gentiles.

• Romans 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
• 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
• 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

He will graft in the natural branches at His Second Coming and also to those who receive Him before that time. God has a place for Israel. All who come by faith in Jesus Christ will also be part of Israel by adoption but this does not cancel out the natural children of Abraham. They too will be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.  -Dorna Chambers