“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
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—

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.”

Hope. This is what these verses are all about – hope. Hope in the restoration of a people living in exile. Hope for a better world, a better time, to come. It was probably hard to see for the people the prophet Isaiah was writing to- a people facing destruction by their enemy. It would also have been hard to see for the people in those 400 years of God’s silence between the closing of the Old Testament and the days in which the New Testament opens. Yet, it is to an oppressed people that these words gave hope. They had faith that God would deliver them, that God would send them a Messiah to free them from oppression and that Saviour would come from the line of the great King David, Jesse’s son. The people of God waited over 700 years to see this promise fulfilled, but God never fails to keep his promises and we look forward to celebrating the fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah at Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

But these verses hint at another promise – a promise of a place that “will be glorious.” The promise God offers us is not just to go to heaven when we die. No, it is far grander than that. The promise of God is that one day He will bring heaven and earth together as one. The promise of God isn’t to destroy the world, but to renew it. He plans to make it anew where indeed it will be glorious. All that is of sin and death will be no more. And in that we can find hope. We have hope that neither COVID-19 nor corrupt governments will have the last word. Not even the climate crisis will have the last word. God has the final word and he promises that it will be glorious. It can be hard to believe as we hear so much bad news on TV and Twitter, but bad news isn’t the end of the story. Rather it is good news, the good news of Jesus Christ and our hope of new life in him, no matter what we are going through. Thanks be to God.

O Gracious God, we give you thanks that you always keep your promises. And you promise to always be with us , even when all seems lost, even when all in life seems to have been cut down. You are there and you can bring new life into the bleakest of situations. Help us to remember that and help us to always look to you when we face trouble. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Questions

2020 has been a hard year. Are there areas of your life that feel as lifeless as a stump? Have you had trouble holding onto hope? Imagine yourself sitting with Jesus at the kitchen table having a cup of tea. Share your thoughts with him. Ask him where he is in all this. Ask him to help you see the new shoots of life he is bringing.