The Fruitful Branch
Bible Study Time 3-5-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 3-5-06
The past couple of weeks we have been looking at Psalms, Chapter 1. First, we saw that the man who delights in the Law of the Lord and shuns the counsel of the ungodly will be prosperous in all he does. He will be able to withstand the various on slots of the devil. God will supply all that is needed for him to accomplish God’s plan and purpose.
Then we saw that this tree planted by the river of waters is an excellent picture of the nation of Israel in that the nation of Israel has been able, against all odds, to survive through the centuries. If you know a person who is looking for proof that the Bible is true, all you need to do is point them to the history of the nation of Israel. There is no logical explanation for their presence on the earth today except that God has personally intervened in a miraculous way to provide for and protect this tiny little nation.
With steadfast determination, God has kept Israel alive and well because it was part of His plan for this tree to bring forth the one that the Bible calls the BRANCH. Isaiah said:
Isaiah 11:1-4 (NKJ)
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 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.
3 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;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Jesse, of coarse, was the father of King David, and the Branch which was to come out of Jesse was the Lord Jesus. Obviously then, if the nation of Israel is an example of one who is planted by the river of waters, how much more is the Lord Jesus, Himself. Isaiah said that the Branch of Jesse will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will be guided, not by the ungodly, but by the counsel of the Holy Spirit. He will judge with equity on behalf of the meek, and He will not judge based on what He sees with His eyes or what He hears with His ears. He will judge according to the righteousness which comes from the Holy Spirit.
This Branch, who is Jesus Christ, is not only the Branch of Jesse, but He is the Branch of the Godhead who came to the earth to establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace. The Apostle Paul confirmed this for us in Colossians 2:9 saying that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is similar to what Paul said in Chapter 1, where he said that Christ is the image of the invisible God. But in Chapter 1, Paul went on to say that Christ is also the firstborn of all creation.
Jesus Christ is eternal. He has always been and will always be. He is Jehovah God, the self existing One. He is not a created being for He always was. But Colossians 1:15, indicates that there was a time when He took upon Himself a body, so that He is the firstborn over all creation.
Now, why did He take a body? It would seem from scripture that He took a body in order to create all things. Let’s read in Colossians 1 again.
Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJ)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Is this Branch of the Godhead fruitful or not? You can judge for yourself. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through Him and for Him. All of creation is the fruit of the labor of the Son of God.
This Branch from the tree of Israel bears fruit and prospers in all that He does. It was He who spoke and there was light. It was He who spoke and the heavens and earth appeared. He made the grass and the plants and the trees. He made the sun, the moon and the stars. He made the animals and the birds. But then God said:
Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJ)
26 . . . "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness . . .
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Man was the glorious crowning achievement of creation. God said, let us make man in our image. What image is that? It was the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in Colossians 1, Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Therefore, man was made in the image of Jesus Christ.
Oh how Adam and Eve must have enjoyed the fellowship with Him there in the Garden of Eden. I can just picture them walking and talking and planning the things that they would do. The temperature was just right. The humidity was just right. Everything grew and brought forth fruit.
There was one thing, however, from which the Lord wanted to protect them. He did not want to them to know anything about good and evil. He told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, in the day that you eat of that tree, you shall surely die. God can have no fellowship with sin, and He knew that even if Adam and Eve had the knowledge of good and evil, it would hinder their fellowship.
We don’t know how long they were able to enjoy this beautiful fellowship which was pure and sweet, but as we all know, it ended when Eve was tempted by the devil and ate the forbidden fruit. Then Adam also ate. Immediately, their innocence was gone. They had the knowledge of sin for they had sinned.
In vain they tried to hide from God. When God found them, they confess their sin, and the Bible says that at that moment a death sentenced passed upon all men. Romans 5 says:
Romans 5:12,14
12 Therefore, . . . through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, . . .
14 . . . even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam . . .
Well, here in the Garden of Eden as the death sentence is to be pronounced, we see the love of God. In a very carefully worded statement, the Lord revealed the He, Himself, would be born into the world as the Seed of the woman and that, as the Seed of the woman, He would deliver a fatal blow to the head of Satan.
Some four thousand years later, the angel Gabriel appeared to a young woman named Mary, saying, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. This Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Mary could not have imaged at that time all that her son was really going to be, but she didn’t have to know. She just had to be willing to submit to the will of God. And so she did. She simply said, “Let it be unto me according to thy word.”
Jesus Christ was the firstborn of all creation. As God the Son, He took a body in order to do the work of creation. When He was born in Bethlehem, He left behind His glorious, immortal body and took upon Himself a body of flesh. He became the Seed of the woman so that He could conquer Satan.
Back in the garden, when the Lord told about the coming Savior, He did something that was very important. He took a lamb and sacrificed it, thus revealing that the shedding of blood would be required to provide a remedy for sin. Jesus Christ had to have a mortal body of flesh in order to die for sin, and as He was there on the cross of Calvary, He said, it is finished. He had done all that was necessary to provide atonement for sin.
We saw in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation, but in Colossians 1:18 we see that He is the firstborn from the dead so that He might be preeminent in all things. When the Roman soldiers put Jesus’ body in the grave, that was not the end of the story. He not only died for our sins, but He rose again to provide everlasting life for all who believe.
He humbled Himself and took a body of flesh. He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name with is above every name. We who believe have been given the opportunity to share in His glory. Hebrews 2:9 says:
Hebrews 2:9-10
9 Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him . . . in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Jesus Christ is the Branch of God who came as the Branch of Israel. In His body of flesh, He was made perfect through suffering so that He, as the captain of our salvation, might bring many sons to glory. Again, we see that Christ bears much fruit, and He prospers in all that He does.
When Christ was raised from the dead, He became the firstfruits of those who have died. I Corinthians 15 says:
1 Corinthians 15:22-25 (NKJ)
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
In Adam all die. Our bodies of flesh have this death sentence upon them. But, in Christ, all will be made alive. Christ was the first to conquer death, and the next group to conquer death will be those who belong to Christ. Then unbelievers will be brought back to face the judgment of the Great White Throne.
The question that remains is this: When will you be raised from the dead? Will you be taken up with those who belong to Christ? Or will you be taken up with the unbelievers to face the Great White Throne judgment? If you don’t know Jesus Christ today, Christ is speaking to your heart, saying:
Revelation 3:20 (NKJ)
20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Won’t you open the door of heart to Him. If you do, Christ will claim you as His own, and you will have no cause to fear death any longer because there is coming a day when all those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead to enjoy eternal life and the glory of heaven forevermore.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a blessing to share God’s word with you. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Then we saw that this tree planted by the river of waters is an excellent picture of the nation of Israel in that the nation of Israel has been able, against all odds, to survive through the centuries. If you know a person who is looking for proof that the Bible is true, all you need to do is point them to the history of the nation of Israel. There is no logical explanation for their presence on the earth today except that God has personally intervened in a miraculous way to provide for and protect this tiny little nation.
With steadfast determination, God has kept Israel alive and well because it was part of His plan for this tree to bring forth the one that the Bible calls the BRANCH. Isaiah said:
Isaiah 11:1-4 (NKJ)
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 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.
3 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;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Jesse, of coarse, was the father of King David, and the Branch which was to come out of Jesse was the Lord Jesus. Obviously then, if the nation of Israel is an example of one who is planted by the river of waters, how much more is the Lord Jesus, Himself. Isaiah said that the Branch of Jesse will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will be guided, not by the ungodly, but by the counsel of the Holy Spirit. He will judge with equity on behalf of the meek, and He will not judge based on what He sees with His eyes or what He hears with His ears. He will judge according to the righteousness which comes from the Holy Spirit.
This Branch, who is Jesus Christ, is not only the Branch of Jesse, but He is the Branch of the Godhead who came to the earth to establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace. The Apostle Paul confirmed this for us in Colossians 2:9 saying that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is similar to what Paul said in Chapter 1, where he said that Christ is the image of the invisible God. But in Chapter 1, Paul went on to say that Christ is also the firstborn of all creation.
Jesus Christ is eternal. He has always been and will always be. He is Jehovah God, the self existing One. He is not a created being for He always was. But Colossians 1:15, indicates that there was a time when He took upon Himself a body, so that He is the firstborn over all creation.
Now, why did He take a body? It would seem from scripture that He took a body in order to create all things. Let’s read in Colossians 1 again.
Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJ)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Is this Branch of the Godhead fruitful or not? You can judge for yourself. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through Him and for Him. All of creation is the fruit of the labor of the Son of God.
This Branch from the tree of Israel bears fruit and prospers in all that He does. It was He who spoke and there was light. It was He who spoke and the heavens and earth appeared. He made the grass and the plants and the trees. He made the sun, the moon and the stars. He made the animals and the birds. But then God said:
Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJ)
26 . . . "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness . . .
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Man was the glorious crowning achievement of creation. God said, let us make man in our image. What image is that? It was the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in Colossians 1, Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Therefore, man was made in the image of Jesus Christ.
Oh how Adam and Eve must have enjoyed the fellowship with Him there in the Garden of Eden. I can just picture them walking and talking and planning the things that they would do. The temperature was just right. The humidity was just right. Everything grew and brought forth fruit.
There was one thing, however, from which the Lord wanted to protect them. He did not want to them to know anything about good and evil. He told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, in the day that you eat of that tree, you shall surely die. God can have no fellowship with sin, and He knew that even if Adam and Eve had the knowledge of good and evil, it would hinder their fellowship.
We don’t know how long they were able to enjoy this beautiful fellowship which was pure and sweet, but as we all know, it ended when Eve was tempted by the devil and ate the forbidden fruit. Then Adam also ate. Immediately, their innocence was gone. They had the knowledge of sin for they had sinned.
In vain they tried to hide from God. When God found them, they confess their sin, and the Bible says that at that moment a death sentenced passed upon all men. Romans 5 says:
Romans 5:12,14
12 Therefore, . . . through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, . . .
14 . . . even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam . . .
Well, here in the Garden of Eden as the death sentence is to be pronounced, we see the love of God. In a very carefully worded statement, the Lord revealed the He, Himself, would be born into the world as the Seed of the woman and that, as the Seed of the woman, He would deliver a fatal blow to the head of Satan.
Some four thousand years later, the angel Gabriel appeared to a young woman named Mary, saying, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. This Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Mary could not have imaged at that time all that her son was really going to be, but she didn’t have to know. She just had to be willing to submit to the will of God. And so she did. She simply said, “Let it be unto me according to thy word.”
Jesus Christ was the firstborn of all creation. As God the Son, He took a body in order to do the work of creation. When He was born in Bethlehem, He left behind His glorious, immortal body and took upon Himself a body of flesh. He became the Seed of the woman so that He could conquer Satan.
Back in the garden, when the Lord told about the coming Savior, He did something that was very important. He took a lamb and sacrificed it, thus revealing that the shedding of blood would be required to provide a remedy for sin. Jesus Christ had to have a mortal body of flesh in order to die for sin, and as He was there on the cross of Calvary, He said, it is finished. He had done all that was necessary to provide atonement for sin.
We saw in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation, but in Colossians 1:18 we see that He is the firstborn from the dead so that He might be preeminent in all things. When the Roman soldiers put Jesus’ body in the grave, that was not the end of the story. He not only died for our sins, but He rose again to provide everlasting life for all who believe.
He humbled Himself and took a body of flesh. He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name with is above every name. We who believe have been given the opportunity to share in His glory. Hebrews 2:9 says:
Hebrews 2:9-10
9 Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him . . . in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Jesus Christ is the Branch of God who came as the Branch of Israel. In His body of flesh, He was made perfect through suffering so that He, as the captain of our salvation, might bring many sons to glory. Again, we see that Christ bears much fruit, and He prospers in all that He does.
When Christ was raised from the dead, He became the firstfruits of those who have died. I Corinthians 15 says:
1 Corinthians 15:22-25 (NKJ)
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
In Adam all die. Our bodies of flesh have this death sentence upon them. But, in Christ, all will be made alive. Christ was the first to conquer death, and the next group to conquer death will be those who belong to Christ. Then unbelievers will be brought back to face the judgment of the Great White Throne.
The question that remains is this: When will you be raised from the dead? Will you be taken up with those who belong to Christ? Or will you be taken up with the unbelievers to face the Great White Throne judgment? If you don’t know Jesus Christ today, Christ is speaking to your heart, saying:
Revelation 3:20 (NKJ)
20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Won’t you open the door of heart to Him. If you do, Christ will claim you as His own, and you will have no cause to fear death any longer because there is coming a day when all those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead to enjoy eternal life and the glory of heaven forevermore.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. It’s been a blessing to share God’s word with you. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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