ISAIAH - Chapter 11 - The Branch Man
ISAIAH – Chapter 11
The Branch Man
Tuesday Morning Bible Study, 9/10/13, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
The prophet’s eyes are lifted toward the light of another day, the day of the Lord. With judgment imminent, Isaiah yet sees the ultimate issue of it all. He sees the Son of David in verses 1-9: His coming is proclaimed. His anointing by the Spirit of Jehovah is declared. The method of His rule is described, and the glorious results are announced.
This chapter is the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.
11: 1-2: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
There is controversial interpretation over this verse as to whether Jesus is the “branch” or the “rod”. There is one school of interpretation that “We”, the church are the branches which are the extension of him according to Jesus’ own words.
John 15: 1-5: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
I personally do not see it as controversial. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. He is the head, we are the Body. Whether He or the church is the branch, we are one in the vine.
The beautiful and glorious branch of Isaiah 4:2 is the glory of the Christ, and the scepter of the king. The Davidic Covenant has to do with ruler-ship and government. It has to do with the throne of God, which is the authority of God vested in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Branch man (Christ in His Body) is to bear rule! The Greek word for throne means a place or seat of authority. It is not (nor will be) a chair in outer space or the Middle East.
11:2: “The Spirit of the Lord 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.”
The Spirit is the Ruach = “wind, spirit, breath” of the Lord. The new Testament parallel is “Pneuma” = “rest, settle down, to dwell, stay, let fall in place”. This is the Christ (Head and body) being the tabernacle, temple, sanctuary, building, pavilion, mansion, habitation, house of the Lord.
The Seven Spirits of God are:
- Spirit of the Lord = ‘Yahovah” = “The Self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah; the Lord” The Chaldee renders this as “the spirit of prophecy from before Jehovah” (Rev. 19:10; Jn. 6:63).
- Spirit of Wisdom = Chokmah” = “Wisdom (in a good sense); skillful or witty; to be wise (in mind or word or act); teach wisdom.” It also means “to deal wisely with implication of teaching; discrimination; to be wise in actions; the what, when, how, to whom and where of Isa. 50:4; knowledge with sound judgment.
- Spirit of Understanding = “understanding; knowledge, perfect meaning; to separate (mentally) or distinguish; attend, consider; cunning; diligent; discern; have intelligence; to mark; perceive; prudent.” It also means to be able to distinguish truth from error.
- Spirit of Counsel = “advice; by implication, plan; prudence; purpose; to advise; to deliberate or resolve; advertise; consult, determine, devise, guide, steer.” To be strong and shows the authority of the one who imparts strength. This counsel is obtained in counsel with the Lord, and is the exact counsel that Jesus would give. This counsel is always right and is ministered at the right time.
- Spirit of Might = “force, valor, victory; mastery, might (act, power), power, strength;” powerful; warrior, tyrant, champion, Chief, excel, giant, mighty man, strong man, valiant man; to be strong; to prevail, act insolently; exceed, confirm be great or mighty.”
- Spirit of Knowledge = “knowledge; cunning, aware; to know or ascertain by seeing; observation, care, recognition, acquaintance; discover; familiar friend, feel ” Relationship and revelation; a knowledge of Christ’s ways and person.
- Spirit of the Fear of the Lord = “fear; reverence, fearing, reverent, to frighten, dreadful, terrible. The reverential awe or respect is the key to worship. The man who fears God will be feared.
The branch of the Lord is linked with the study of the seven spirits of God (Rev. 1:4; 4: 4-5; 5:6). This term denotes the fullness of the Spirit.
John 3:34: “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God does not give the Spirit by measure to Him. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”
This anointing rested upon Jesus, the Head of the church; it will also come upon His body, the church! These seven Spirits are the One Spirit of Eph. 4:4.
Eph. 4:4: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling.”
We can compare the seven spirits of God with the golden candlestick in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of Moses which had seven lamps. Rev. 1-5 reveals the seven horns, which speaks of complete or all power. The seven eyes speak of complete understanding or all-seeing. We can compare this with the seven colors of the rainbow which was about the throne, and then compare the multi-colored coat of Joseph. Then the best robe of the prodigal in Luke 15. These principles speak of ruler-ship, government, and the throne of God.
The “Him” of this verse is the many-membered man comprised of Jesus the Head and the body of “Him” who will not be ashamed to call them brethren. This “Him” is Christ and His body, the Church.
The whole earth shall be governed in righteousness by Christ and “by them” the Lord shall rule in the glory and order of the Kingdom. The Lord Jesus, our heavenly Aaron (High Priest) is lighting the Candlestick! (Ex. 30: 7-8). The Lamp-stand had no measurements, showing this anointing is unlimited (Col. 2: 9-10). This is Immanuel’s enduement of anointing.
11: 3-5: “And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall He slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”
This is a further description of Jesus Christ and His brethren. With delight, he discerns the fear of the Lord and those things which are worthy of the Kingdom. He will have a living understanding. He would judge with righteous judgment, without prejudice and partiality with the wisdom that is from above. He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. There is no humanism in His administration. He will deal with the man of sin. He is a just and faithful King. Through the creative, spoken word He will produce that which is of God and not of man. This is Immanuel’s equitable government, the righteous ruler’s advent, anointing and authority.
11: 6-9: “The wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my Holy Mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Here the prophet sees Eden restored. The Kingdom on earth will be restored. Like I said, “Isaiah was blessed by the Lord to see it all and to write it down as Holy Writ for all posterity.”
Each of the animals denotes a nature. The wolf, leopard, young lion, bear, lion, asp, and cockatrice reveal dimensions of Adam, the old nature. There are 15 natures in all. This is the number of rest. The two key principles in this passage are peace and security. These animals of all descriptions are living in a state of harmony. Al these natures have been reconciled. All hostility will have ceased! God will have raised Himself up an army of peacemakers, reconcilers, curers, and deliverers. This is Immanuel’s peaceful Kingdom.
Under the reign of the Messiah and His brethren, such a change will be produced so that those who were by nature violent, severe, and oppressive; and those who were ferocious, bloodthirsty, and poisonous, would be subdued, changed, and disposed to live in peace and harmony with the others.
11: 10-12: “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest shall be glorious. It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His Hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the Sea. He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
This passage reveals the magnetic quality of the Lord Jesus unto the nations. Yet the ensign is many-membered. Ensign means to lift up anything on high; standard; banner.” A King-Priest ministry breaks down every wall, ministering to all men. This is the rest of the Feast of Tabernacles. The result will be the restoration of unity between God’s people, and their victory over their foes. All this will be accompanied by a manifestation of the power of God as the fathers saw in connection with the Exodus from Egypt. The Passover of the Kingdom, the Rod and the Root.
11: 13-16: “The envy (“ambition; hatred”) also of Ephraim (ten tribes) shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the West; they shall spoil them of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the sons of Ammon shall obey them. The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”
The Egyptian sea is no doubt the Red Sea.
The drying up of the river appears to be the Nile which flows into the Mediterranean in 7 streams. In like manner the Euphrates will be dried up preparing the way of the kings of the east, but that is not the reference here. (Rev. 16:12).
The thought is the Lord will gather His remnant from all lands regardless of how many miracles it will take to gather them. The reunited people of God will forget their ancestral rivalries. We can also rejoice in the day when Christian denominations and leaders will come into complete unity as the “Branch”, the “Vine” and the “Root” out of the “stem of Jesse”. From the Jewish nation (the “stem of Jesse”) came the Holy Bible, the Messiah and the 12-apostles, who in turn birthed “the church”.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Principles of Present Truth of Isaiah by: Kelly Varner. Also, see sermon notes on The Seven Spirits of God on the website, www.eastgateministries.com