The Sprout from the Stump

This week’s message explores the relationship between the promotion of the Messiah as ruler over Israel and his resurrection from the dead.

Isaiah hints at this theme in his graphic image of the Messiah as a sprout rising from the dead stump of Jesse’s family in 11:1. It anticipates a widespread prophetic theme that the Messiah will be, not just the son of David, but the restoration of David himself, epitomized in a pun on the verb “to raise”  in Jer 30:9 and Ezek 34:23. Paul makes this pun the main focus of his first major recorded sermon in Acts 13. The Lord’s resurrection uniquely qualifies him to be ruler over all the earth.

• Because he has himself successfully passed the bar of divine judgment, his integrity as judge of all the earth is unimpeachable.
• His ability to conquer death makes his power beyond challenge.
• His resurrection is evidence of the effectiveness of his redemptive work, “raised again for our justification” (Rom 4:25), and thus guarantees his grace toward all those who place their trust in him.