The Branch: The King

During this Christmas Season I thought it would be a good idea to contemplate several Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. The prophecies that we will look at concern someone known as “The Branch.” My goal is that as we study these prophecies together our faith will be strengthened and our joy increased.

Have you ever wondered why there are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, instead of just one account of Jesus Christ’s life? Did you ever wonder why there are genealogies concerning the lineage of Jesus in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark or John? Though similar in many ways each author gives us a view of Christ from a unique perspective. Matthew desires to show Jesus as the rightful heir to King David’s throne. Mark reveals Christ as the Servant of Yahweh, the one true God. Luke portrays Jesus as the perfect man. And John’s goal is to help us believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Each of these perspectives in the four gospels flow from the Old Testament prophecies of the One called “The Branch.” The Hebrew word is tsemach. The word means a young plant, or sprout. The two prophecies that we will examine today concern a coming king. The first is from Isaiah and the second is from Jeremiah.

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD [Yahweh] shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears (Isaiah 11:1-3).”

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jeremiah 23:5-6).”

Both of the prophecies above concern the coming of a king. Jesse was the father of King David, Israel’s greatest king. By the time Isaiah and Jeremiah wrote these words there had been a long procession of kings from David’s lineage. Some were good but most were evil and because of this evil, Jerusalem would suffer great destruction, which it did. Centuries followed with no one ruling from the house of David. It was as if a great royal tree and been cut down never to flourish again. But God promised that from the “stem [or stump]of Jesse” He would “raise to David a Branch of righteousness.”

Matthew wrote his gospel to show that Jesus was this promised king. He began his account of Jesus’ life writing, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David (Matthew 1:1).” Jesus is called the son of David more times in Matthew than in any other gospel. The adoptive father of Jesus, Joseph, is also called by an angel “son of David (1:20), establishing the fact that Jesus had a legal and royal right to rule.” Only Matthew records the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12), who came looking for the new born king.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus uses Psalm 110 (Matthew 22:41-46) concerning himself. This was a familiar Messianic psalm concerning David’s heir. Matthew’s gospel also speaks about the kingdom of heaven/God more than the others. And there are ten parables unique to the book all of which relate to a king. Finally, when Jesus was crucified this charge was hung above his head: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37).”

Matthew shows us that God kept His word about the birth of this promised king. Therefore we can trust that there is a day coming (and each new day brings us closer) when Christ will return and “The kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15).”

This Christmas season remember that God keeps His promises (He always does!): a king was promised, a king was born and he will reign over the world. One day we will literally sing “Joy to the world! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King.”