Picture the shepherds of Christmas on the hillside watching their sheep. An artist once painted that scene with the shepherds gazing awestruck into the heavens. Above them the angel choir sang, “Glory to God in the highest….” Meanwhile, at the shepherds' feet stood one of their dogs. He stood tall, alert, head up, swiftly glancing all around. But he didn't look into the heavens. Something was going on. The dog could feel it. But he didn't know what it was. He was completely oblivious to the grand news the shepherds were hearing.
A similar thing is true today. Every December there are two groups of people that witness the Savior's birth. There are those like the shepherds who listen to God's messengers with joy and are aware of the great news they have heard. Then there are those who know that something is going on, but they don't really understand what it's all about.
Let me give you an example. Over the next several weeks you will hear and sing many carols. One of them is called, “Behold, A Branch Is Growing.” To many that carol will have great meaning. The Branch is Christ and He brings us many gifts. Others who hear that carol will have no idea what it's truly about. For all we know they might think it's a carol about a Christmas tree, since it talks about a branch. They won't understand it because they don't know that it comes from this prophecy of Isaiah.
Here God speaks through the prophet giving a picture of the work and the effect that Christ will have on believers. If you talk about a branch in any other connection, it has little significance. But if you link the connection of the growing branch to Christ, the words take on new meaning.
As he did to Old Testament people, the prophet cries out today. Behold, A Branch Is Growing; It Grows for You. It's a branch that I. grows from a stump, and a branch that II. produces great fruit. A Branch Is Growing For You.
I. Isaiah begins, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” A branch grows from a stump. What does that mean? Let me begin with an illustration. Over 12 years ago we planted a tree in our side yard that was supposed to give shade to the house. It grew well and was doing fine until last winter. Then the ice storm struck and the entire tree came down. All that was left was about 6 feet of the trunk. No branches, just the trunk. Last spring we cut it down to just a stump, barely above ground level. But it became a very persistent stump. It refused to recognize that it was dead. Week after week it defied my lawn mower by sending up new shoots.
The family line of King David had started with his father, Jesse. Jesse was not royalty. He was a private citizen whose youngest son tended sheep. At first it seemed like nothing special could come out of that family – no one to help Israel in its fight against their enemies, the Philistines. But then God raised up the most insignificant of Jesse's sons, David, the little shepherd boy. He defeated the giant Goliath, routed the Philistines, and then became king over Israel during its most prosperous golden years.
After David his son Solomon rose to be king, the wisest man that God has ever given. With him following David it seemed that Jesse's heirs showed great promise as being a family of rulers that God could use to protect Israel. They came out of nowhere and rose to prominence. But soon the hope faded as one king after another departed from God's ways and ruled the people poorly. Oh, every now and then there was a good king from Jesse's line. But it didn't take long before the family tree of Jesse came down with a crash. God had the Assyrians cut them down and take the Israelites away into captivity. No more kings from Jesse's line arose to sit on the throne. It appeared that the family tree had ended.
But the greatest glory of that family tree was yet to come. Unexpectedly a new ruler would grow out of the stump of Jesse's line, the Messiah. He would come out of nowhere and would gain greatness through the power and wisdom of the Spirit of God. He was a different king of king who delighted in doing everything the Lord told him, something that even David and Solomon didn't do, something we haven't done. In fact, the Messiah would count it a great pleasure to do the heavenly Father's will by bringing justice and righteousness to a world of poor sinners, being their champion, righting all wrongs, and providing for their needs.
Do you not see whom this Branch is, dear friends? It's Christ Jesus, God's Son, your Savior.
Already in His childhood Jesus was counting it a pleasure to do
what His Father willed. Do you remember how his parents found him in the temple after they had begun their trip home from the festival in Jerusalem? What did He tell them then? He said, “Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house – doing His business.” Then, years later in the difficult hours of Gethsemane we hear Him praying to His Father, “Not what I will, but what you will” (Mk.14:36). Your will be done.
That delight to do the will of His Father brought our Lord Jesus to the cross to suffer and die for our sin. Without that we would be lost and this season would bear no lasting significance for you at all. But because The Branch Grows from a stump and delights to do God's will to pay for our sin, you live in God's favor and this season means everything. What does it mean?
First of all, it means God has kept His promise to help us. The kings of Jesse's line didn't. God found it necessary to cut them down, and He would find it necessary to cut us down, too, in our sin. Yet He held true to His Word to raise up another, a branch that would grow from the stump that could do what was needed - a Savior. God promises and He delivers. He always keeps His promises. Not a one of them fails.
The same cannot be said of us for because of sin we live in a world of uncertainty. Like Isaiah said, we can only see with our eyes or decide things by what we hear. But sometimes we don't see things clearly or see the whole story, nor do we hear everything correctly. Even in our court system, judges get it wrong and the innocent or imprisoned. Our eyes and ears can be deceived; even the human mind can be deceived.
Yet, amid such deception, uncertainty, and broken promises, God stands faithful, just, and holds Himself to a higher standard for your sake. He promises that His Word never passes away and His righteousness shall prevail. Like the Psalmist said, “The words of the Lord are flawless…He will keep us safe and protect us…forever,” (12:6). You have His word on it.
And Christmas reveals it in the highest way: a Savior promised; a Savior come for you . Behold, A Branch Is Growing – It Grows for You. And in Him we find hope.
Hope - that's one of the biggest fruits this new branch produces. God promises hope, especially the hope for peace in a world gone bad. And He goes even further. He promises to lead us to a world where perfect peace reigns and nothing can ever go bad again.
II. A branch that produces great fruit.
Isaiah writes, “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 hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.”
Have you ever seen such a thing – wolves living with lambs, cows and bears grazing side by side, children playing with poisonous snakes that don't bite? It's unheard of in our world. Yet God tells us that a time will come when predator and prey will live together in peace, and hostility will give way to perfect harmony. How? Such peace is only possible in one way – through Christ.
That's what the angels sang about at His birth – God's peace and goodwill now coming upon men. Through the Messiah an armistice would be arranged between God and mankind. Through Christ God does not deal with us according to what we deserve, but according to Jesus' prayer: “Father, forgive them.” The relationship between God and man is no longer lived out in the courtroom with God as judge and man as the accused; it is lived in the family with God as Father and with us as His dear children. And under that Fatherly care, even nature is no longer an enemy to be feared. Nothing harms – nothing.
“Ah,” you say, “I know that will be the case in heaven.” True, because in heaven sin and its consequences no longer touch us. But it's not only in heaven where this great fruit is produced . Our hope is not only for a future age. The branch produces this great fruit and it even now begins its growth in the heart of all who believe that the Lord Jesus was born to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The fruit will ripen into its fullness in heaven. But even now it is growing for in Christ God and the sinner are reconciled.
Let this heavenly peace possess your hearts and minds in a special measure during the coming days, and the branch's great fruit will be produced within you. It's not just a state of mind; it's a reality for all who look into the heavens to see and hear the Good News – a Savior is coming. God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.