(Ezekiel 34:29)

"For He (hall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground" (Isa. 53:2).

Here we have one of the many symbols God uses in His wonderful Word to portray to us the beauty and glory He sees in His blessed Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The entire chapter is taken up with the humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah, Israel's Redeemer, and the Redeemer of all mankind. When we read it we are standing at Calvary, where the Son of God in all the divine fulness of His love gave Himself for our sins that He, by virtue of His most precious blood poured out as a vicarious sacrifice to God, might bring us to Him.

When our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world He did so by way of incarnation. He was the Child born and the Son given, spoken of in Isaiah 9:6, the same prophet having previously spoken of how He would be given:"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign:Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

In His incarnation He identified Himself with the Jews, and thus became as to His humanity a Jew. He was planted in the midst of that peculiar nation. They were Jehovah's chosen people whom He had taken into covenant relationship with Himself through Abraham, the root of that nation, and later on through David, of whom concerning our Lord Jesus Christ it is written, "I am the Root and the Offspring of David." As the Root of David He was David's Lord. As the Offspring of David He was the Son of David, in incarnation having come by way of that posterity.

Four times He is spoken of as "The Branch." In Isaiah 4:2 He is called "The Branch of the LORD," and we read, "In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." We see Him here in all the glory of His essential Deity, of which glory John tells us so much in his wonderful Gospel and his other writings. When He comes to establish His glorious administration in the earth and set up His kingdom in peace and righteousness, He will be fully manifested to restored Israel as Jehovah in perfect Manhood, having taken the body prepared for Him.

In Isaiah 11:1 we read, "And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Of this Branch Jeremiah tells us, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jer. 23:5). Again he says, "In these days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land" (Jer. 33:15). Here we see the King, "of the seed of David according to the flesh," reigning in all His glory, the Branch of David. Matthew in his Gospel gives us a wonderful unfolding of Christ as the true King, the Son of David, who will sit one day on the throne of His father David and take the reins of universal government into His hands. The earth will never enjoy true peace and righteousness until He comes.

"Behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch" (Zech. 3:8). Here our blessed Lord is before us as the lowly gracious Servant of Jehovah. Down here He served both God and man, and when He is brought forth again (Heb. 1:6) it will be to make peace and plenty abound where strife and poverty are now known. Mark gives us the lovely picture of the true Servant as viewed in lowly grace taking the "form of a servant," and in deepest love going all the way to the cross in His faithfulness that He might glorify the Father. Isaiah and Zechariah see this Servant both in His humiliation and exaltation. "Behold, .My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men:so shall He sprinkle (startle) many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him:for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider" (Isa. 52:13-15). "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose name is THE BRANCH:and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord:even He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne:and the counsel of peace shall be between them" (Zech. 6:12,13). Zechariah refers to The Branch as "the Man," and Luke hi his Gospel portrays the perfect Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. There we see Him in His moral glories as the perfect Man. This is the Man who one day will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Once on earth, living and serving in marvelous grace, He went to the cross, there to die that poor sinners might be saved, and future glories assured. Then, come forth in the glory of resurrection, we hear Him proclaim that all power in heaven and earth is given to Him, and soon, leaving earth's scenes behind, He ascends into the glory from which He had come. There He takes His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Soon He will come to take His Church out of the world, and then at the close of the great tribulation as Son of Man He will come to reign in power and glory.

John got a glorious vision of His coming administration, and wrote, "He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month:and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:1, 2).

The psalmist sang of this Blessed Man, "And He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth His fruit in His season; His leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper" (Ps. 1:3).

Adam and his posterity have proved to be failures in every dispensation. Conditions continue to grow worse and worse, and soon these perilous times will close with the rapture of the true Church which is the Body of Christ, His Bride. After the translation of His true people the dispensation of the great tribulation will run its course, marked throughout by; the most terrible forms of evil, but, thank God, when it is darkest, Christ will come in glory and light up the scene with His divine presence and institute His perfect government. What a glorious day it will be! Then Israel, now scattered and dispersed, will be regathered and restored to their land, becoming the chief nation in the earth. T. W. Carroll