Hope Prophesied

One after the other, the kids all pile out of the minivan, boots hit the dirt, and they take off running. The crisp air is charged with excitement as giggles and warm cheeks in hats and coats march through the tree farm to find “the one.” The search is on for the fullest branches, the perfect height and circumference to fit the designated spot in your living room. For us, the Christmas tree is the symbol of the season, everlasting life in its evergreen branches and the twinkle of bright light breaking through the darkness. But the truth is, very few people look back after they cut down their Christmas tree and see a symbol of hope in the stump that’s left after the tree is gone. In Isaiah 11, seven hundred years before the birth of Christ would come to be, we find the glimmer of the hope of Christmas bursting forth from a cold, dead stump.

The prophet Isaiah lived in a very dark time in the history of Israel. The country was divided between two kingdoms: North and South. And the worship of God had been diluted by idol worship in much of the land. The whole region was experiencing political instability and constant threat of attack by neighboring countries. The once thriving Davidic Dynasty seemed to have been cut off like a stump. This was confusing for the people of God because it was prophesied that the throne of David would last forever, but in Isaiah 11, the line of David that used to be a towering tree bearing much fruit was cut off and seemingly dead.

But then comes the prophecy of hope: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots, a branch will bear fruit." This new spring of life from the stump of Jesse (who was King David’s father) would be Jesus Christ Himself! The beginning of Christ’s life on earth was a resurrection of the stump of Jesse. The line of David would once again take the throne, and this time, it truly would be forever.

Maybe where you sit today, you can relate to the stump. Maybe there are places in your life that feel dead and cut off, and you need hope. This Christmas season, as you look back at the stump of the trees in your life that have been cut down, we pray you find the hope of Christ in unexpected places. There is resurrection power at work in all dead areas of your life that are meant to be alive.