"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." Isaiah 11:1
Did you know there is a Christmas tree of sorts associated with Jesus' coming? It's nothing like a Martha Stewart tree; more like a stump sprouting a bit of new, fragile growth.
Jesse's family tree became a royal family tree when Jesse's son David became Israel's second king. To make a long story short, that tree was chopped down a few hundred years later when the Babylonians captured Israel and removed her king. What would become of God's promise to David that a king from his family would sit on his throne forever?
Isaiah's prophecy answers the question. The tree was chopped down. Only a stump remained, but that stump would produce new growth--a shoot and a branch that would bear fruit. Of course we understand this to mean the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. He came from David's family. He was heir to David's throne. Yet He was not obviously a king when He came and He did not become the king of national Israel at His first coming. He was born in the humblest of circumstances and lived a humble life. Yet there was new life and there was fruit. And one day when Jesus returns, that royal tree will be fully grown and glorious. He will be the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Sticking with the plant motif, I like the illustration of the century plant.
This plant is so named because it takes many years before it blooms-not 100, but often 15 and sometimes as many as 50. In its resting stage the century plant is a decent looking plant, but really gives no idea of what it will become. Suddenly one day, after preparing itself for many years, it springs to life. A tree-like stalk begins to rise from the center of the plant. Growing as much as an inch an hour, it can reach heights of 40 feet!
Then comes the flowers--large clusters like cauliflower. These blooms multiply daily. One 50 year old plant had one bud open one day. Two days later there were 23. The next day there were 43 more! Once it starts it is something you don't want to miss.
That's a picture of Jesus' coming. His first coming was largely unnoticed. Many people celebrate it today, but give little thought to who He really is, why He came, or that He is coming again. But the day is coming that the stump of Jesse will once again become a magnificent tree.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Grace and peace,
Dave
Twelve-year-old "Lia" of Toronto has become a star at her school and online with her five-minute pro-life speech, crafted for a school competition. Despite discouragement and outright opposition, Lia's presentation was so well done that she reportedly won the contest she was told she would be disqualified from, due to the "controversial" message of her speech. "What if I told you that right now, someone was choosing if you were gonna live or die?" begins the charismatic seventh-grader. "What if I told you that this choice wasn't based on what you could or couldn't do, what you'd done in the past, or what you would do in the future? And what if I told you that you could do nothing about it?" Lia's mother says that the topic was of her own choosing. "She was told that if she went ahead with that topic, she would not be allowed to continue on in the speech competition," the mother wrote in an email. She also said the girl's homeroom teacher was supportive of Lia's speech, even though she was pro-choice. The mom noted, "After helping Lia do the speech (the teacher) said, 'It really got me thinking.'" At the schoolwide competition, the mom said one pro-choice teacher on the judge's panel "didn't even want to hear" the speech and stepped down from the panel before Lia began. After the speech, the judges initially told Lia she had indeed been disqualified, but controversy among the judges eventually led to a reversal, and Lia's family learned the next day that the panel agreed the girl deserved to win the competition. Lia presented her speech at a regional competition last week, representing her school. 
