Branch! Isaiah 10-14

May the mumbling commence!

On July the Fourth, my family came over to my house to do some yard work.  Some of that work was cutting down a couple of small trees that grew up where it was not good for them to be.  It was a lot of work, and it left a big pile of branches that were withering in the sun… cut off from the roots.

As I was mowing yesterday, I noticed the stump.  It was wet with sap.  Could life spring forth from that stump again?  Could new branches sprout?  There is doubt in my mind.  It was cut too severely back.

I moved that big pile of decaying branches to the north side of my garage.  I took a couple of armfuls of branches at first.  Then, when I grabbed for another armload, the entire pile was drug along the majority of the distance.  That must have been an important set of branches that I grabbed that time!

These things make me think about the Branch that is talked about in Isaiah.  Read about the Branch in Isaiah chapter eleven:

Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot—

yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 

He will delight in obeying the Lord.

He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay. 

He will defend the poor and the exploited.

He will rule against the wicked

and destroy them with the breath of his mouth. 

He will be clothed with fairness and truth. 

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;

the leopard and the goat will be at peace.

Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions,

and a little child will lead them all. 

The cattle will graze among bears.

Cubs and calves will lie down together.

And lions will eat grass as the livestock do. 

Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes.

Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes

and pull it out unharmed. 

Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.

And as the waters fill the sea,

so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. (Verses 1-9)

What a glorious Branch!  It obeys God by defending the poor and exploited… by crushing the wicked… by weaving fairness and truth into the very fabric of its rule.  Peace and safety will abound because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

It’s a beautiful vision.  We must drop the vision of this world that might equals right.  That vision is a rotted branch.  It’s patterned after the will to dominate – like the one-time king of Babylon.  Read the prophecy of Isaiah about his doom in chapter fourteen:

"The kings of the nations lie in stately glory in their tombs, but you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle. You will descend to the pit.  You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed your nation and slaughtered your people. Your son will not succeed you as king.  Kill the children of this sinner! Do not let them rise and conquer the land or rebuild the cities of the world." (Verses 18-21)

Let us choose our Branch wisely… our Vine.  And that Vine is Christ Jesus.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out