A Taste of Isaiah
In the weekly Bible Study we’ve been looking at the fantastic book of Isaiah. This week we’re going to have a taste of Isaiah’s message as we look at the picture of salvation that he proclaims.
Isaiah 11:1-3 NIV
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. [2] The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— [3] and he will delight in the fear of the Lord….
Isaiah foresees a time when Israel will be defeated by the Assyrians and scattered because they have only paid lip-service to God, going to ‘church’ but without living just and generous lives. They have been unfaithful and unfruitful for God. All seems lost, they are like a felled tree. But God can bring life from death and Isaiah sees a time when growth will come from the stump, growth, which unlike Israel, will be fruitful. He – this growth is identified as an individual – will delight in God and his ways. Full of the Spirit, he brings hope of renewal.
Father, there are times when the church seems dead in the this country, dwindled, a stump. In your mercy, we pray for this restoration through your Son and the Spirit!
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