Messiah: Rod of Jesse, Full of Wisdom and Power

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 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. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears…Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” (Isaiah 11:1-3, 5. NKJV) [Read Isaiah 11:1-10]. “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:34-36, NKJV)

Continuing the idea of the Righteous Branch from the ‘stem of Jesse,’ King David’s father, Isaiah writes a dynamic prophecy of the coming Messiah and describes His kingdom, full of wisdom and power. How we thrill to the reading of the beautiful Messianic poem in Isaiah 11 when the wolf and the lamb dwell together, unafraid, and all the wild animals are tamed and under control. Of course we realize that this is a symbolic and metaphorical rendering of the reign of Christ, and it goes beyond the earthly time of the Messiah’s life to the everlasting kingdom which is yet to be fulfilled. Isaiah pictures the future Divine Ruler in three aspects: perfect in intellectual endowment (wisdom and understanding), perfect in practical qualities (counsel and might), and perfect in religious spirit (knowledge and the fear of the Lord) which crowns all the other gifts of wisdom and power. The girdle about His loins indicates that He is ever ready to bring about righteousness and faithfulness. In John’s affirmation of the Messiah, he declares Jesus as sent from God, full of righteousness and power, able to save, and God “has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35).

I am reading a Christian classic book entitled Abiding in Christ by the Rev. Andrew Murray, born in 1828 in South Africa and for many years a pastor and missionary there. The thesis of his book is that we readily accept the invitation Christ extends, “Come to Me” (Matthew 11:28). But we sorely neglect His second invitation which allows us to tap into His wonderful resources of wisdom and power. That invitation is “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). Jesus desires that we come to Him, and especially that we abide in Him. Murray writes: “Who would be content, after seeking the King’s palace, to stand in the door, when he is invited in to dwell in the King’s presence, and share with Him in all the glory of His royal life? Let us enter in and abide, and enjoy fully all the rich supply His wondrous love has prepared for us!” (p. 15-16). How can we more closely ‘abide in Him’? First, cast off the shackles that prevent abiding: unfaithfulness to Him with no time set aside for regular Bible study and prayer; busyness that prevents our taking time to seek the Lord and abide in His presence; failure to recognize that abiding in Him is a priority for the Christian life. Then, after determining that we must take time to “abide in Him,” Murray gives strong suggestions for how we can do that: “Come, fellow believers, and let us day by day place ourselves at His feet, and meditate on this Word of His with an eye fixed on Him alone. Let us set ourselves in quiet trust before Him, waiting to hear His holy voice—the still, small voice that is mightier than the storm that breaks the rocks—breathing its life-giving spirit within us as he speaks, ‘Abide in Me.’ (p. 17).

A new year is about to dawn. Can we make a resolution (and keep it!) to more closely ‘Abide in Him’ the coming year, and learn more of His wisdom and power that He wants to bestow upon us? Murray declares: “The soul that hears Jesus himself speak the Word receives with the Word the power to accept and to hold the blessing He offers” (p. 17). May we draw close to Him, abide in Him. It’s the only safe place to be in the perilous times in which we live.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, December 10, 2010

Messiah: Branch of Righteousness

“In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; He will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord of Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:15-16. NIV). “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, Who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’ “ (I Corinthians 1:30-31. NIV). “But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’ “ (Hebrews 1:8. NIV).

God declared He would fulfill His promises to save His people through an anointed descendant of David. The “Branch of David”—a shoot from the stem of Jesse—would bring about righteousness, justice and perpetuation of the kingdom promised to Abraham long ago. Much store was put on the Branch. It was very symbolic and a metaphor for the Ruler who would come to restore the kingdom and set the people of God at liberty. Of course, the Jewish people expected this Branch to set up an earthly kingdom and bring back the Jewish exiles from the nations where conquests by foreign kings had scattered them. But God had in mind a Branch of an entirely different nature. The Branch He would send would be a “Branch of Righteousness.” This Branch would cover all people, not just the Jews. And being grafted into the Living Branch comes through faith and belief, not in being born a Jew. It even took the disciples a time to grasp the Lord’s meaning of the Branch of David. But when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost and Peter stood to deliver the sermon he was inspired to preach, the true meaning of the Righteous Branch was made clear. Any who heard the new and dynamic message of the Lord could attain entrance to the Branch of Righteousness, the Messiah, the Savior. Righteousness was, indeed, to be the scepter of the new Kingdom and faith its stronghold.

Jesus in His wonderful discourse on the Vine and the branches taught us what it is like to abide as branches of the Vine. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:5-8). The principle of abiding is vital to the Christian’s life. Apart from the vine, we (the branches) cannot have spiritual sustenance. Neither can we bear fruit worthy of the Vine. In the rush of this Christmas season, take time to abide in the true Branch.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, December 8, 2010

Parable of the Vine and the Branches

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit…I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15: 1-2, 5, 7-8, NKJV) [Read John 15:1-9]

Just as the parable of the Good Shepherd was about Jesus, this parable of the Vine and the branches is about Jesus Himself. Christ identified Himself to His disciples as the true vine—the sole source of spiritual life and soul sanctity. This parable followed Christ’s instituting the Lord’s Supper. The imagery of the fruit of the vine was fresh in the disciples’ minds. As students of Old Testament writings, the disciples would have been familiar with Psalm 80:14-15: “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root Your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for Yourself.” This referred to the vine, the people, the Lord brought out of Egypt and nourished, planting them in the land of Israel. The song of the vineyard is found in Isaiah 5:1-7. In this vineyard the vines did not always yield to their potential because they did not follow the vinedresser as they should. Yet read the delight the Lord has in His vineyard and His identity with it: “The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His delight” (Isaiah 5:7). Christians are the new Israel.

Jesus wanted His disciples (and us) to understand that He is the true vine, the link that nurtures and sustains our life with God. To reject Him is to ignore the vital line that supplies nurture to the Christian’s life. Without the vine, the branches are useless. Unless we abide in Jesus, our lives do not produce as Christians. He expects us to bear fruit. Someone has aptly said: “The fruit of a Christian is another Christian.” We have an obligation to tell others of the love of Christ and how they can be linked up to the True Vine; moreover, we should want to witness. To bear fruit, we must allow the Father to prune out anything that is non-fruit bearing in our lives—bad habits, worldly pleasures, neglect of prayer and Bible study, failure to grow in grace. We are judged if we do not bear fruit. If we bear fruit, we will have our prayers answered. And when we bear fruit as Christians, we glorify the Father. Abiding in Jesus is the key in Vineyard expansion. We don’t have to worry about the results in evangelism and spiritual growth. These will come if we are abiding in Him.

The greatest gift of all expressed in the Vine and the Branches is that we are recipients of His divine nature. If we abide in Him, He abides in us!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, September 12, 2010

Friends Are Good to Have

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend does so by hearty counsel. Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, Nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; For better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away. As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:6, 9, 10, 17, NKJV).

Several references are made in Proverbs to the value of friends. Go back a few chapters and read in Proverbs 17:17a: “A friend loves at all times.” And in Proverbs 18:24: “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Think of your friends, or more specifically a “best” friend. We used to have a saying when I was young, although of incorrect English, to specify a very special, extremely close friend: “______is my ‘bestest’ friend.” To place the superlative form at the end of the adjective indicated “above all others.” Friendship is such an important human relationship that Jesus taught about it within the context of His teaching on love: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatsoever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all thing that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:12-15, NKJV).

Like iron applied to iron to fashion and sharpen it, so a friend can hone, cheer, encourage and help another friend. It is a good thing when one spouse can say of another, first and foremost, “He/she is my best friend.” Many great writers have penned words on the value of friendship. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature.” He also wrote, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” Today, think of some dear friends. Thank God for them, and pray for them by name. Better, still, contact one and tell that person how you value his/her friendship. But above all, value your relationship with Jesus Christ, the Friend above all friends, the One who “sticks closer than a brother.”

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, July 31, 2010

On Grandchildren, Friends, and Laughter

“Old people are distinguished by grandchildren; children take pride in their parents. Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.” (Proverbs 17:6, 17, 22, The Message Bible).

What a broad subject is today’s topic: grandchildren, friends and laughter. How can these be tied together? First, the verses were underlined in my study Bible, meaning I have noticed them for years. In the KJV, I have them memorized, but I particularly wanted to share The Message version of these verses printed above.

Mr. Peterson rendered “Children’s children are the crown of old men,” as “Old people are distinguished by grandchildren.” I thought: How true! When I meet up with someone I don’t know who is somewhat aging, I often ask: “Do you have grandchildren?” That is always a conversation point. We all like to talk about our grandchildren. They are blessings of growing older. Just now, if you have grandchildren, take time to thank God for them. Pray for them in whatever area they may need strengthening. And if you are blessed, as am I, to have great grandchildren, how “distinguished” indeed! We have lived to the ripe age of seeing children of our children produce children. The blessings continue.

Friends are people we don’t want to do without. “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24 NKJV). Jesus taught: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John 15:13-14, KJV). The principles of friendship are noted: Be friendly so that you can have friends. Love friends, even to the point of being willing to lay down your life for them. And, of course the highest friendship of the one who “sticks closer than a brother” is Jesus Christ who invites us to be His friends. A wise pastor once said, when teaching on prayer: “When someone comes to your mind, take time to pray for that person. It was not at random that the name crossed your consciousness. He or she needs prayer, then.” Now think of a friend and pray for that person.

And we end with laughter. The KJV renders verse 22 thus: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Laugh often. It takes far fewer muscles to laugh than to frown, and the results are better for the one who laughs and they who hear. Some people have what seems a natural sense of humor. They can find laughter almost everywhere. They can even laugh at their own mistakes, and seek with merriment to correct them. The Message renders the verse in a very understandable way: “A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.” When we have grandchildren (and great grandchildren!) and friends, we have cause for merriment, for laughter. All cheer our spirit and we’re not in gloom and doom, bone-tired and with dried-up bones. Laugh today! Renew a right spirit within. Thank God for children’s children, friends and laughter.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, July 16, 2010

Abiding in the True Vine

“I am the vine and My Father is the vinedresser…Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” --John 15:1, 4, 7-8 [NKJV; read John 15:1-8].

Jesus was in the last days of His earthly ministry. Already, He had “set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem,” knowing that his arrest, trial, and crucifixion were impending. It was almost as if an “emergency” situation existed (indeed it did), and Jesus was having to teach His disciples so very much in such a short time. He also had to undergird and underline what He had already imparted to them of His kingdom, His purpose, and their responsibilities as disciples. The discourses of Jesus during this time reverberate with the utmost urgency. “Abide in Me” was one of them.

How many times did Jesus teach using a familiar metaphor! “I am the Vine” Jesus said. The disciples would have known the importance of viticulture, for in that arid land, where water was at a premium, the fruit of the vine and wine were necessary to life. Remember, even Jesus’ first recorded miracle had to do with turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana in Galilee. Even that miracle had its symbolic meaning in God’s purposes through Jesus and His Kingdom. The disciples would have known, too, that Israel, the Chosen of God, was likened unto a “choice vine” and a “cluster of grapes” (See Hos. 9:10 and Amos 9:13-15, among a few of the Old Testament references to the Chosen People as God’s vineyard.)

The disciples would have known the Vinedresser’s important business of pruning off unproductive branches so that the main vine could flourish and the healthy branches could produce much fruit. I can just picture my Grandfather “Bud” Collins dressing his grape vines on his farm in Choestoe where we lived. He had his vineyard on a rise so that good drainage was possible. But because he pruned and dressed the vines, the harvest was abundant with lush grapes. This sort of production can come in the life of the Christian if we but “Abide in the Vine.”

Can I think of myself as a beautiful, useful, and refreshing cluster of grapes, one, which as Paul taught us in Galatians 5:22-23, bears “the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Jesus gave the principle of abiding in Him and bearing much fruit as He said to His disciples, “Abide in Me.”

How can we abide in Jesus, the True Vine? First, we are “grafted into” the True Vine by repentance, belief, faith, acceptance. This is the only way to have Life in the Vine.

Then He tells His disciples: “Without me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Jesus is the only way, not only to salvation and attachment within the Vine, but He is our only hope for living a productive life in the vineyard. We “abide” through His Word. That is so readily available; let us not neglect to study, think about, ponder on and assimilate His Word.

Then Jesus said “Ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” This we call prayer. Alfred Lord Tennyson, the great English poet, wrote: “More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of.” Jesus had already made this concept very clear as He told His disciples: “Ask…Knock…Seek.” All these are aspects of a prayer life focused on the principle of Vine and branches, and abiding in the True Vine..

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. With all the “hoopla-la” of the Irish and the “wearing of the green,” St. Patrick was a real person who lived in a real time. Born about 387 in Roman Britain, he was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. Eventually, he escaped and went back to Britain and his home. But there he had a vision, and Naomh Padraig (later St. Patrick) returned to northern Ireland as a missionary to the very area where he had spent six hard years as a slave. He died on March 17, 493, the day we celebrate as St. Patrick’s Day. Known in the Catholic Church as “The Patron Saint of Ireland,” this man of long ago did much to produce fruit for the Lord as he was attached to the True Vine.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for being the True Vine in my life. Help me to bear much fruit as I abide in You and Your words abide in me. May my life produce that wonderful cluster of grapes that demonstrates love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. And all of this, Lord, is to glorify the Father, the Vinedresser. Amen.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, March 17, 2010