With this post we will
resume our study of the names of God specific to Jesus. Our focus this time is on “the Branch.”
Isaiah 11:1–5 “And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And 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; 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. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”
Jeremiah 23:5-6 “Behold, the days
come, saith the LORD, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Zechariah 3:8-10 “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and
thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH….and I will remove the
iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall
ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.”
Zechariah 6:12–13 “…Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying,
Behold the man whose name is
The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall
bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a
priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
The
Branch is introduced by Isaiah as a descendant of Jesse upon whom the Spirit of
the Lord will rest. This means that the
Spirit will remain upon Him and dwell in Him permanently. The presence of the Spirit will be evidenced
by a life that testifies to His righteousness and faithfulness and the power to
destroy through the spoken word.
Jeremiah
specified that “the righteous Branch” would be a descendant of the royal house
of David, a coming King that would reign prosperously and enforce justice
throughout the earth. He also identified
the coming King as “THE LORD,” another affirmation of His Deity.
Zechariah
declared that “the BRANCH” will remove iniquity from the land of Israel in one
day and its people will dwell in peace and safety. There is only one man ever born of woman that
has lived without sin in the fullness of the indwelling Holy Spirit for His
whole life—the man Jesus. There is only
one man, Jesus the Son of God, who provides forgiveness of sin.
Romans 5:15 “But not as the offence,
so also is the free gift. For
if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the
gift by grace, which is by one
man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
Hebrews 4:14–15 “Seeing then that we
have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast our
profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
Zechariah
then goes on to say that “The BRANCH” will build the temple of the LORD and rule
as a priest upon His throne. This was
an amazing prophecy to the people of Israel—a coming ruler who will be both
priest and king. These two positions
before God were distinct and separate.
I think
Zechariah is making specific reference to the building of the millennial temple
from which He will rule as king since that is the context. I believe, however, that this is also a
reference to the resurrection of Jesus in accordance with His own prophecy as
recorded by John.
John 2:19–21 “Jesus answered and
said unto them, Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years
was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he
spake of the temple of his body.”
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