A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash round his waist.
Isaiah 11:1-5 NIVUK
I remember back to a much unhappier time, when I was facing redundancy. My company had paid for an expensive agency to come and prepare us for the job market. I thought to myself, ‘Well, these guys are about to lay me off. I might as well cost them as much as I can.’ So I decided to go to the training sessions – every last one of them.
One of them was about writing your CV (resumé for my American-speaking friends). Writing a document like that is not something you can do lightly. It’s something of an art form. You have to get it right. You are telling people who you are and what you do in the hope that they will pay you money for your services. You have to send in a document that gets past search engines, algorithms, and, nowadays, probably AI, not to mention the HR guardians at the gate, to land in the hiring manager’s inbox. And when it gets there, you have to somehow satisfy as many parts of the job description as you can, without seeming over-qualified or giving the impression that the job is beneath you.
It’s not easy. It can be very demanding. Looking for a job can take up almost as much time as actually being in a job.
What we see here is the CV (or resumé) of the Messiah: how the Jews perceive that He should be. And Jesus fulfils it. Every single line. Because when He came to earth to be born as a baby, this is who He came to be.
Firstly, we see His pedigree. Pedigree is important. We judge animals on it: from horses, to dogs, to cows.
We judge people on it. We compare them to their parents and siblings. We accept or reject people based solely on their family connections, the neighbourhood where they were raised, their alma mater, their company, their job title... Ultimately, it’s all a little foolish, but we do it nonetheless.
But Jesus’ pedigree here is seemingly far from exceptional.
Allow me to explain.
Here we see a root growing from a tree stump. But what is it that creates a tree stump?
Anyone who has walked in woodland or a forest will tell you: a tree must fall, either through natural causes or through being cut down.
And that is the point. Isaiah is one of the prophets who prophesied the Exile: when the Israelites lost their royal family, lost their intelligentsia, lost their leaders, and only the poor and needy were left. Many thousands of people lost their lives in the destruction caused by the Babylon army. Anyone of any importance was exiled far away.
One of those returnees seventy years after this shocking catastrophe, a man who came with the sole intention of rebuilding Israel, was Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel (Ezra 2:1-2).
Zerubbabel was governor of Israel for a time. Ironically, he should have been so much more than that. This man was of royal lineage (1 Chronicles 3:17-19). So he was a king without a kingdom; a Prince without a principality; a ruler with nothing to rule; a big shot forced to become a flunkey of a pagan overlord.
If anyone represented the ‘stump’ of the Israelites, it was him.
And yet, Zechariah says this about him:
‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. ‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?’ Then I asked the angel, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’ Again I asked him, ‘What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?’ He replied, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ ‘No, my Lord,’ I said. So he said, ‘These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.’
Zechariah 4:9-14 NIVUK
Zerubbabel was one of those men. He was one of those branches.
We see His name again in a wonderful place: Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:12-13). God took this man, a governor of a small backwater kingdom, reduced to poverty and living off the benevolence of a foreign power, and He used Zerubbabel. Even though he was nothing and a nobody who lived a perilous life in a ruined city, God used Him.
And do you know something? This is a picture of what God did at Christmas.
Jesus was born to a humiliated people, annexed by cruel pagans who had no respect at all for them or their religion. The Jews were taxed, harassed and persecuted – overseen by an elite that cosied up to their cruel masters to keep their place in society.
Their world was in a mess.
Yet Jesus was born into that world to redeem it.
Christmas teaches that no matter how downtrodden and downcast we are, God can still lift us up. And that is a precious, precious truth.
However, pedigree is meaningless. A bite from an mongrel or a poodle is still a dog bite.
There are members of the aristocracy all across our world who are the most awful people. Just having a fancy title and royal blue blood pumping through your veins does not in any way guarantee that you are a nice person – I would argue it’s more likely to guarantee the opposite.
But we also see here something of the character of the Messiah, the Christ. And that character is formed and moulded by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord –
Isaiah 11:2 NIVUK
Jesus Himself, in His first sermon in His home town, taught that the Spirit of God was upon Him, in one entrancing moment:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’
Luke 4:14-21 NIVUK
Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2. However, He is also clearly and unequivocally aligning Himself with similar teaching in Isaiah 11. In other words, to His Jewish audience, Jesus is identifying Himself as the Messiah.
Not long earlier, the Spirit of God had rested on Him in the form of a dove while He was being baptised (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 3:22).
But what did it do to Jesus?
Did it cause Him to fall backwards, or to speak in tongues, or to foam at the mouth, or make animal noises?
Nothing of the sort!
It gave Him wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and fear of the Lord.
There are plain echoes here of Solomon, and what he prayed when he became king (2 Chronicles 1:10).
And how does this wisdom manifest itself?
As Jesus preached: in the lives of those who were unable to stand up for themselves.
As Jesus lived: with a poise and balance that were unmatched in extremely unbalanced times.
These are quite remarkable verses.
Nowadays, perhaps more than ever, we are aware of the frailties and follies of our human leaders. We long for someone to rule over us with wisdom and knowledge and courage and strength, not beholden to party doctrine or to fickle popularity or to their own petty self-interests.
When we long for that, we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Jesus tells us that we will be filled (Matthew 5:6). And we have been: by Jesus Himself.
And it was Christmas that caused this to be.
As well as His pedigree and character, we also see His nature – how this character presents itself.
And what a nature!
And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash round his waist.
Isaiah 11:3-5 NIVUK
There is one word that recurs more than any other in these wonderful verses: righteousness.
But what is righteousness?
These verses describe it perfectly. It is not just being morally sound. It's also thinking sound thoughts, reaching sound conclusions: being scrupulously fair and even-handed in your judgements.
I would say that it is in seriously short supply nowadays. More often than not, mob rule reigns. Our technology hasn’t made us wiser, for all the knowledge it has brought into the palm of our hand. No, if anything, it has made us quick-tempered and unthinking. We have forgotten this advice:
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
James 1:19 NIVUK
But this was not true of Jesus. Even in his angriest moments, there are hints of planning and consideration (see Mark 11:11, which is followed by the clearing of the Temple).
Jesus was righteous. More than any other person who ever had walked this earth or ever will walk this earth. Jesus judges rightly. He came to seek and save the first time (Luke 19:10), but one day He will return to judge – fairly and righteously (Revelation 6:10-11).
So, one again, we have a deeply seated need within ourselves for righteousness. Jesus came at Christmas to give us the opportunity to repent before He comes again in judgement to deliver the righteousness we crave.
As well as pedigree, character and nature, we also see His rule.
And what a rule!
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6-9 NIVUK
Now, before scoffers turn on these verses and mock them, I should state that Isaiah is clearly not meaning this literally. He is not a nature TV documentary presenter. He is not literally saying that in the future wolves will not harm lambs and leopards will not harm goats.
No, this is poetry. It is symbolic. It is symbolic of a future when danger is removed from the picture. It is symbolic of a time when every threat against us is nullified.
It is symbolic of a time of absolute peace, in every sense of the word. Of absolute well-being.
And what will usher in this wonderful time of peace?
The second coming of Jesus.
His first coming was highly significant. Don’t misunderstand me. But its purpose was to prepare us for the second coming: to make us fit and ready for it.
‘Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 22:12-13 NIVUK
Christmas is delicious, but it is only the entree. The full feast? That’s the second coming. Because that is when Jesus will put it all right forever.
My in-laws are always excited when we tell them that we’re coming back to the Philippines. But it's not just us as people that they’re excited about. They love the experience of being with us: the days out, the free food, the second hand clothes my daughter doesn’t want to wear anymore, the European chocolate...
At Christmas, we are often distracted. There is so much to distract us! We might easily get swept up in the food and the presents and the music. If we remember Jesus at all, we remember Him as a baby in a manger.
But the Bible teaches us so much more than that. It teaches that He grew up to be a Man of impeccable and unimpeachable character: a Man who loved us more than any other ever could; a Man who died on the cross for us, who defeated death for us and will one day return to earth for us.
Don’t leave Jesus in the manger. He is so much more than that.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I marvel at the Man You became and wonder at the joy of Your return. What a wonderful plan! Help me to remember this Christmas that the story of Your coming is the story of My salvation. Amen.
Questions
1. Why is it so easy to forget that Jesus grew up? Who did He grow up to become?
2. Why is it significant that He is a root from a tree stump?
3. How can you make sure to remember who Jesus really is this Christmas?
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