Slices
Prepare
Pray: Holy Spirit, open my eyes to the presence of Jesus around me: ‘all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together’ (Colossians 1:16,17).
Bible passage
The branch from Jesse
11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 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 –
3 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;
4 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.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash round his waist.
6 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.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 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.
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting-place will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile towards Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.
They will subdue Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The Lord will dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the River Euphrates.
He will break it up into seven streams
so that anyone can cross over in sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.
Explore
From tiny acorns, so the saying goes, mighty oaks grow. And this reading says much the same thing, albeit using a different aspect of horticulture. A shoot springing out of a stump is hardly a promising beginning, but that’s what the prophet imagines.
Amid danger and calamity for Judah and Israel, something else is happening. It’s small, barely noticeable, but God is bringing life out of something that seems dead. He discerns movement in a family tree, stirrings of promise in the line of King David’s father, Jesse (v 1). Through his line will come one who will bring justice and fairness for the poor of the earth (v 4). I am reminded of the way justice is personified outside many law courts across the world. She carries the sword of truth in one hand and impartial scales in another. And she is often blindfolded. She dispenses her justice without fear or favour. By God’s Spirit, this promised one – ‘the Branch from Jesse’ – will rule justly and do the right thing for the poor (vs 3,4). We have hope in him (Hebrews 6:19).
Respond
Pray: King of the nations, Lord of the nations, the Lord who is my shepherd, I bring you my adoration and praise now.
Deeper Bible study
Your kingdom come – and start with us here and now.
Political and business leaders cast visions of how things might be – a transformed and ideal future. They aim to lift the heart and eyes to a new era, away from the flawed present. The present for Judah is the great kingdom of David, now reduced to a stump. Human leaders’ plans get derailed by peoples’ weakness and unpredictability.
The Spirit of God takes this dried-up stump and creates something so fruitful that our hearts leap in anticipation. The same Spirit produces a wise decision-maker. Decisions that derive from the fear of the Lord mean that power does not oppress but blesses the needy and the poor (v 4). How we treat people whose needs are easily ignored is always a marker of the Spirit’s ministry in us. It is a sign of the healing of relationships that he brings (vs 6–9), with both internal and external hostility overcome (v 13).
In politics, a focus on the future is often ultimately disappointing. Isaiah’s vision is built on the unbreakable promises of God. His vision is enhanced for us in the signs of their fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. He uses weak things to shame the strong. He smashes barriers between peoples, creating peace through his cross and uniting them in his love. He brings people home from every nation, protecting them to the end. We pray ‘your kingdom come’; and, as we feed the poor, work against discrimination, forgive and strive for unity, we express the desire to see that future kingdom displayed in our present communities.
What’s your vision for the future? Has your church prayerfully considered how that vision impacts your engagement with the community today?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Esther 8–10; Luke 13
Pray for Scripture Union
Ask God to bless Wendy Asher and all the other volunteers serving on SU holidays and missions this year. Please pray that as they share their faith and God’s love that their own faith will be strengthened and deepened too. (This week's prayers relate to these stories: A real game-changer! and Celebrating volunteers: Wendy's story.)