The Branch Foretoldseen by three prophets

The Branch Foretold

For he grew up before him like a young plant,    and like a root out of dry ground

Is 53:2

The three most quoted prophets in the New Testament

speak of a man called branch

• Isaiah 11 (mostly in 11, but spread thru the book)

• Zechariah 3 and 6

• Jeremiah 23

Picture a forest with every tree cut down to stumps

• and out of a stump, from the line of Jesse, a shoot grows

• Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament from the old

• Isaiah pronounces seven woes, the last on himself ‘woe is me for I am undone’ in Isaiah 6

• He has a vision of his own sin before a holy God and Israel will be hardened and cut to a stump

• But a shoot will come from the stump, a branch from Jesse (King David’s father)

• The branch will be referred to with both shoot and root language

• Reminiscent of Jesus as ‘the root and offspring of David’

• The branch will be from the line of Jesse (King David’s father)

• The shoot will be fruitful

• The Spirit of the Lord will be on Him

• Seen 7 ways - with wisdom, understanding, council and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord

• He will give justice and equity for the poor

• He will decide in truth and not with superficiality.

• Righteousness his belt, faithfulness his loins (reminiscent of the armor of Ephesians)

• Israel will be saved

• Nations will hope in Him

• Nature transformed. The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the cow and bear, the lion and lamb together

• The earth will be filled with knowledge of God

• His resting place shall be ‘glory’

• While there are other uses of the branch in Isaiah, Isaiah 11 is the most extensive, the rest being much more terse

• The phrase is introduces in Isaiah 4:2 “In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.” The Targum paraphrase for this says ``at that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and glory;''

• The last reference is similar Isaiah 60:21 “Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.”

Isaiah 11 as reflected in the New Testament

• The branch is related to the name Nazareth or Nazarene

• The early part of 11 is a near term fulfillment in Jesus life on earth, Jesus suffers, dies, is raised and enters into His glory and also perhaps in the church wearing the armor of the spirit in Ephesians reflects parts of Isaiah 11.

• The later part of 11 is a fulfillment seen by Paul in the antichrist ( who will be slain by the breath of Jesus mouth) and by John in Revelation (where Jesus will rule with a rod striking the earth ) and in a new creation where all things are new.

• People from every family, tribe and tongue will come to Jesus in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to bless every family in his descendent the Messiah

Isaiah 11 as reflected in the Psalms

• In Psalm 138 we hung up our harps and could not sing in Babylon at the exile but in the next 8 Psalms King David picks up that his harp and plays like never before about the day coming when all Kings will sing, all people, all creatures and everything with breath will glorify God

and we sometime get a glimpse even now

Picture a priest wearing a filthy garment

• The priest stands accused by Satan and Satan is rebuked by God

• New garments given the priest

• and the priest crowned, a priest king

• Zechariah is 2nd most quoted prophet from the Old Testament in the New

• Has 8 dreams in a night in a staircase (chiastic form) with the emphasis on the center dreams and followed by one summary dream

• The center dream and the summary dream speak of a man called branch, a priest king

• Both priest and king, like Melchizedek in Psalm 110

• Gold and silver collected from some exiles from Babylon (reminiscent of the gold, silver and bronze from the exiles from Egypt used for the Tabernacle)

• A crown is made and placed on Joshua’s head (same word as Jesus)

• The crown left in the temple as memorial (of things to come)

The branch in Zechariah as reflected in the New and Old Testament

• In the near term, the branch reflects Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel who are re-establishing Jerusalem post Babylonian exile. In the longer term it’s about Jesus.

• Jesus will take away the sins of the church where ‘all your works are as filthy rags’ but you have ‘wrapped me in a robe of righteousness’ to borrow phrases from Isaiah

• Jesus is both the high priest and king of the church

• Israel will be saved and the nations will come to Him

The branch in Zechariah as reflected in the Psalms

• In Psalm 109 the poor man is accused but helped by God and in 110 lifted up like Mechizadek, a priest King

• Psalm 109 and 110 are prelude to the Passover redemption Psalms

• These Psalms tie together with Joshua (same name as Jesus) substitutionary death for sinners, his being made a priest king like Melchizedek

Picture a righteous shepherd, who is also a king• Whose name reminds us that our righteousness is

not our own somehow

• Jeremiah is the 3rd most quoted prophet from the Old Testament in the New

• Jeremiah has 22 chapters of relentless reminders of Israel’s sin and wrong worship

• In 23 a song of a man, a good shepherd who is a King and the branch and who’s name reminds people that ‘the Lord is our righteousness’

• He will be a ‘righteous’ branch

• He will make Israel to ‘not fear’

• We see the good shepherd, next to the good king theme in the Psalms several places as well

• Psalm 23 ( good shepherd) and 24 (good king)

• Psalm 95 and 100 are short ‘God is shepherd’ psalms that bookend the enthronement ‘God is King’ Psalms

Jeremiah 23 as reflected in the New and OldTestament• In the near term, it’s reflective of good leadership

re-establishing Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. In the long term, it’s about Jesus.

• Jesus is the good shepherd

• Jesus is the king of kings

• It is Jesus work and righteousness not our own that’s the ground of our salvation

Jeremiah 23 as reflected in the Psalms

• The priest king motif of Jeremiah 23 is seen in the Psalms several places

• Psalm 95 and 100 are short staccato like psalms about God as shepherd bookending the enthronement Psalms where God is king

• Psalm 22, 23, 24 are the cross, the crook and the crown Psalms where we see the good shepherd laying down his life for His sheep, the King

see Dwelling in the Word https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jer23-righteous-branch1.jpg

Putting the together, the branch is or will be:• A messiah from the line of David

• A priest king

• He will maintain justice and equity for the poor

• The spirit of God will be upon Him,

• wisdom and understanding

• council and might follows

• His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. His joy is to stand in awe of God

• Will somehow take away the sin of the land in a day

• Our righteousness is in the Lord

• The nations will hope in the branch

• The branch will fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God

• He will somehow be the root and offspring of David

• He will enter into ‘glory’ - His resting place shall be ‘glory’

“Just as a branch, when it first begins to shoot forth, appears small and fragile and easily broken, so would the Messiah first appear to be inconspicuous and unattractive. "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2). Yet this same fragile branch will one day become a great vine, with innumerable branches (John 15:5) that will spread its excellent fruit throughout all the earth.” Henry Morris ICR

see http://www.icr.org/article/18767

The Branch Foretoldseen by three prophets

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