Day 4, Wednesday (March 13) - Living into His Name

Posted on: March 13, 2019
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

COME, LONG EXPECTED JESUS!

Root of Jesse and Son of David
Day 4 Wednesday

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EXPLORE THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

For us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8: 6).

ISAIAH 11: 1-5, 10

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

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 the fear of the LORD.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

LUKE 1: 67-72 (ZECHARIAH)

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

CONSIDER

Isaiah 11 is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. In this passage, note how the prophet speaks of both a shoot from Jesse and the root of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, Israel’s great Shepherd/King. The idea of a shoot from Jesse’s lineage makes sense. The Messiah would be a distant offspring of King David.

But how could a man yet to be born be the root, the source, of Jesse who lived long ago?

Only the One who is both God and man could exist before David, yet be born after David. Paradoxically, Jesus is both the Son of God who created the world and then came in a particular time to us as a particular man, born in the lineage of King David himself.

The LORD had made promises to David of an eternal line of kings (see 2 Sam. 7: 13). When Israel went into exile, it appeared those promises were broken. But then Jesus, David’s long distant heir, entered the world to become king, not only of Israel but of the world.

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PRAY THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Begin with the Jesus Prayer. Pray it reflectively several times, for yourself or on behalf of another.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Then pray the day’s prayer slowly and repeatedly for at least a minute (that’s about seven times). Allow the prayer to take you into the meaning of the day’s facet of Jesus’ name. Pray it for yourself and/or on behalf of another. Take your time and trust this process!

Lord Jesus Christ, father of David and son of David,

you are the eternal promise come true.

Extend your steadfast love and faithfulness to all the earth.

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Live into the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
so that through them you might become partakers of his divine
nature . . . For this very reason, supplement your faith with
virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,
brotherly affection and love (2 Peter 1: 4-7).

REVELATION 22: 16-17

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

CONSIDER

The last chapter of the Bible records Jesus himself taking up the title of both the root and descendant of David. There follows the longing of Christ’s bride, the church, for this new David to return. And there follows an invitation for all who thirst to drink from the deep roots of the true David, to be grafted into his family tree.

Take some time today to acknowledge the eternal story of Jesus and invite him to graft your life’s story into his great redeeming plan.

Close by praying this name of Jesus, first through the more literal translation of this O Antiphon,

O Immanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Savior:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

And then sing this verse of “O Come, O Come, Immanuel,”

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,

Unto your own and rescue them;

From depths of hell thy people save,

And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.