Pray: That God’s Word would be a light shining into our darkness; ‘a light to our path’.

Read: Isaiah 11; 1-9

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 around his waist.

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.

Last week we continued to look at Isaiah’s prophecies of ‘light coming into darkness’, and how Jesus comes to us as the light of the world, and how He takes on Himself our darkness and sin on the cross.

In Isaiah’s third prophecy, Isaiah tells us that:

“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”

What is this stump of Jesse? And what is this shoot?

Jesse was King David’s father. In the time when Isaiah writes, Israel had been exiled to Assyria, and Judah was shortly to go into exile in Babylon.

The great days of David’s kingdom will soon be reduced to a mere stump in contrast to its former glory.

But out of this stump, a shoot will come.

In our garden at home we had a huge eucalyptus tree which became a danger to the house, so we had to have it chopped down. But out of the stump that was left, a shoot started to grow. That shoot has now grown to about 6 feet tall, as it stands in front of the old tree stump.

Jesus came from the bloodline of Jesse and David. He stands in front of the old kingdom and totally eclipses it.

As Isaiah says: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him”

The Spirit overshadows Mary as she is given the news that she is to bear a Child who will be called Jesus. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:31)

As Jesus begins His ministry, He says these words, also prophesied in Isaiah:

“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.” (Luke 4:18)

And then Jesus rolls up the scroll and says:

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”

Here is the light shining in the darkness.

Here is the light of the world coming to bring us GOOD NEWS!

God loves us so much that He sent His One and only beloved Son to rescue us from our slavery to sin and our darkness. He comes to release us from the grip of sin and the fear of death. He comes ‘to set the prisoner free’.

What a Gift!

Light from God Himself to shine into our dark world, and our own darkness! Christ is born in Bethlehem!


Category: The Bridge , Thought for the week