Friday, July 5, 2013

And In That Day...


A Devotional by Margot Cioccio


And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. Isaiah 12:4


I'm using the Bible Gateway verse of the day for today's post. My first thought upon looking at this verse was "What day?" So I pulled up the whole verse. It was just more of the same, good stuff that will happen "In That Day". So I went back a chapter where I found the answer.


"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." Isaiah 11:1-2


You may still be feeling lost if you have not spent much time reading the Old Testament stories. I happen to love them, believing from cover to cover the Bible tells the story of Jesus. So who is this Jesse guy, you may be wondering.  He is the father of king David. So David is the Rod from the stem of Jesse, but he's not who all the "In that day" verses are talking about. Our verse today goes on to say "a Branch shall grow out of his root." You might be thinking it must be his son Solomon. He was a great king. He was the wisest of the wise. You would be wrong. He got off track with his foreign wives and worshiped their gods. While God did not directly curse Solomon he did curse his son king Jehoiachin.
It is interesting to note that Jesus did not come through Solomon's family line. God cursed Solomon's descendant, King Jehoiachin, saying that none of his descendants would inherit the throne (Jeremiah 22:30) Maybe the note from that section from the Reformation Study Bible, will help open it up for you.

"Though Jehoiachin had children (1 Chr. 3:17, 18), none of them would reign as king over Judah. Promises of future Davidic kingship (e.g., 23:5, 6) were fulfilled beyond the scope of the historical Israelite and Judean kingdoms—in Christ the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13 and note), and the greater son of David (Matt. 22:41–46). Even the promise to Zerubbabel (Hag. 2:23), Jehoiachin’s grandson (1 Chr. 3:19), finds fulfillment in Christ, since Zerubbabel never reigned as king. Israel was abandoned until Christ came (Mic. 5:3)."


Isaiah 4:2
In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped.
 Jesus is beautiful and glorious. We who are bearing fruit in him are His appealing to Israel and to all who are lost with out Him.


Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, 
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; 
A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 
 Notice that it is a branch of righteousness.


Zechariah 3:8
‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
 
Jesus came as a servant, he is the BRANCH.


Zechariah 6:12
Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: “Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the Lord;
 
Look at how far Christianity has come from Jesus and 12 guys who followed him. He has built His temple and it is not built with brick and mortar. We believers are a temple built of living stones. 1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


John 15:5
“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.



So I gave you the quick version, but you could certainly spend more time studying. In a nut shell Mary's family line came through David's son Nathan. It was a line of David that did not fall under the curse on Solomon's family line. There are a lot of hidden things to find if you spend time searching and studying your Bible. This one I think is pretty amazing. God always finds a way to fullfil His word and his promises. A remnant always remains that God works through.


Here's something you might not realize. We live "In That Day". Jesus has given you authority to be His agents in the earth. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;


Our verse today is a reminder to us that we, the people of THAT DAY are to "Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted."


• We praise Him
• We can call upon His name
• We declare his deeds among the peoples
• We mention that His name is exalted.


In Luke there is a story of Jesus going to the synagogue and being asked to read the Holy Scriptures from (Isaiah 61). Luke 4: 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus is the long awaited Messiah and He is the branch spoken of in our verse today. We His people are called to continue doing His work in the earth. Because He has sent us his Holy Spirit and he has anointed us to bring the good news to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. To help the blind to see, to bring liberty to the oppressed. We proclaim His love, favor, acceptance, and truths to the world.  

Prayer: Lord help each one reading to catch a deeper glimpse of your plan and purpose for their lives. I pray that you give them boldness and fill them to overflowing with your Holy Spirit. That your Spirit will lead them to deeper and fuller understanding of your word. That they will move beyond knowing the Word to knowing You, the author of the Word.    

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