A Branch and King…

That is actually not the beginning of a joke :)

My memory verse this week is, Jeremiah 23:5-6 and prompts me to think of the Lord as my Righteous Branch, King and Savior.

What most struck me in these verses is the {juxtaposition} of Christ’s descriptions as “Branch” and “King;” the Lord first declares that he will “raise up for David a righteous Branch,” and the righteous Branch is described as “a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the Land.”

While I love that we have a wise and just ruler (especially recognizing the corruption and injustice in our world), in this moment I am excited and drawn to Jesus as my Branch – that which is:

Humble.

Strong.

Sturdy.

Fruitful.

Isaiah provides additional descriptions of this Branch; a shoot coming from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) and my favorite:

“…a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem (Isaiah 53:2-3).

{Beauty} here is the same word used to describe David as “fine-looking” in 1 Samuel 16:18. In this case, however, it reads as what Jesus is not. Meaning He who will called our Righteous Savior and King is not “fine-looking,” and gives no impression of what one might imagine as royalty!

Christ came from humble beginnings and not only that, He lived His entire earthy life in humble circumstances, even physically He was not made necessarily to appeal to us (as God knows how easily we’re coerced by what is most aesthetically pleasing). He lived the life worthy of His calling and it was not until His after His death that He was rightfully acknowledged as King; this is when He was exalted to royal status.

However, “in that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the Fruit of the Land will be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel” (Isaiah 4:2).

I feel like climbing a tree and letting its limbs hold me a while. Don’t you?

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One Response to A Branch and King…
  1. […] and yet still it is hard for me to admit fault or imperfection (primarily with Andy) and exhibit Christ’s humility. There is a laundry list of explanations for this tendency, but giving it would be the exact […]