THE SHOOT FROM JESSE

The salvation arrangement of God started long before the coming of Jesus Christ; God in His plan designed that generations upon generations will occur before the salvation plan was effected. God chose David from the household of Jesse to be a central lineage of Jesus, after Abraham.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1

Even though, the reign of David had long been gone, the scripture asserts that something remained, something was left behind – the stump- which had the capacity to reproduce a shoot which in turn would bear fruit.

The Sovereignty of God

The Sovereignty of God is demonstrated in everything we see including His plans. The plans of God are always perfect and must not be underestimated. They are what anyone should see as the WINNING STRATEGY, a strategy that is always on point! When God was giving the prophecy of a shoot to Isaiah, it would have sounded ludicrous to an ordinary mind to imagine such a thing happening several years after the death of David. God is Sovereign and He does His best work in the midst of seemingly hopeless situations.

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The Embodiment of The Shoot

The Shoot of a plant is made up of the branch, the stem, the flowers, the buds and the fruits. Jesus, in John 15: 1-5 describe the embodiment of the shoot that was prophesied by Isaiah; He explained that He was the vine, and through Him the branches and fruits come. These depicts the off-shoot, the fruit bearing branches i.e. the believers who remain in Christ, the believers who carry the DNA of Christ and are linked to His body (the Vine). The embodiment of the shoot reveals Jesus as the true vine (the shoot from the stump of Jesse) whose roots will release a branch that in turn will bear fruit.

In God’s plan, there would be a remnant that would spring forth from the shoot and they would be sufficient to carry out His sovereign purpose. All genuine believers are off-shoot of the shoot from Jesse and they represent the remnant whom God uses to extend His Kingdom here on earth.

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The Divinity of The Shoot

“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – 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; 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. Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist”- Isaiah 11:2-5

The epitome of Christ became clear when He walked the earth. In Matthew 3:16, Jesus received the constant dwelling of the Holy Spirit, which rested upon Him thereon. His Divinity became evident by the presence of the Holy Spirit who made Him to abound in wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In all His earthly interaction, Jesus demonstrated His divinity without compromising despite being subject to passions of human nature and the impact was felt throughout all the world. Jesus bore fruits while He remained here on earth because the essence of His being was directed towards pleasing the Lord. Infact, He lived for God!

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The Fruit-Bearing Branch

The branches of the shoot refers to all those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, all those who made a conscious decision to follow Him and all those who willingly obey His words. The mandate that God has given to all the branches of this vine is to BEAR FRUITS THAT LAST. The concept of bearing lasting fruits is heavily dependent on some criteria as we can see that Jesus was able to bear lasting fruits because He maintained His presence in God. Any branch that must bear lasting fruits must follow the recipe.

The recipe for bearing fruits is ‘Abide in me, and I abide in You”- John 15:4

Jesus gave the recipe for bearing fruits which is ‘Abide in me, and I abide in You. No branch can bear fruits of himself, except it remains in the vine- John 15:4. The risk for fruitless branch is to be cut off, for being useless to the Kingdom of God.

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The Qualities of a Fruit-Bearing Branch

In Isaiah 11:2-5, Prophet Isaiah listed all the qualities of the shoot (Jesus Christ), which in turn becomes the qualities of His fruit (Believers). It would be impossible for a fruiting Maize plant to bring forth mango or to bring forth a fruit that does not carry the traits and nature of maize. Anyone who is an off-shoot of the original shoot (Jesus Christ) must of certainty carry His nature and divinity here on earth; which means that they easily begin to reveal the same qualities that Jesus Christ carried while He was here on earth.

Let’s discuss them as it affects you and me:

1. The Spirit of Lord will rest upon them: In Acts 1:8, the Bible stated that “And you shall receive Power when the Holy Ghost shall come upon you”. The Holy Spirit is the person of Trinity responsible for residency, since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He resides in the heart of every genuine believer upon conversion and He comes with His gifts- wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of God. He enables us to be able to do exploits for God by His power. Only those who are genuine in their acceptance of Jesus Christ can manifest His presence like Jesus did, to bear fruits for God’s Kingdom.

2. He delights in the fear of the Lord: The term delight means to be “pleased with” or ‘happy with”. A fruit bearing branch will have a high degree of commitment to pleasing God. The fear of the Lord is the wisdom of God in all things. A fruit bearing branch will delight in walking along the wisdom of God which ultimately delivers him from death and prolongs his life. Job 28:28; Proverbs 14:27; 19:23

3. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears: The fruit bearing branch will not be guided by his/her visuals, appearance of things or opinions of people, rather he/she is guided by the will of the Father. John 5:30

4. He will judge with righteousness and justice: Righteousness means doing what is right before God. The fruit bearing branch will be guided by God’s unchanging standards of right and wrong, not by the shifting whims of culture, tradition, system or style. Psalm 41:1 He/She would not succumb or compromise for the sake of the rich against the weak or the poor.

5. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth: A fruit bearing branch would not be afraid to speak the truth always. The word of God is his/her mouth as the truth and he will not mince words in expressing the truth of God’s word in righteousness.

6. He will be girded with Righteousness and faithfulness: The conduct of a fruit bearing branch would not be devoid of faithfulness to God and righteousness as his consecration. All motives and emotions must spring forth from a faithful heart. Psalm 26:2

As a joint heir with Christ, realize that you are an offshoot of the original shoot. Your life is now the conduit through which Jesus expresses Himself on earth. Bearing lasting fruits for God is your unique mandate for staying alive and you cannot do this without His Spirit and your deliberate personal walk with God. Keep on walking with Him, He would see you through.

God bless you!