Monday, 18 August 2008

The Inner Court of Prophetic Revelation

The prophesy of the BRANCH of Jehovah

Two hundred years after God spoke to David and Solomon, God gave His Word to the prophet Isaiah by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the prophecy of the coming Messiah. It is recorded in Isaiah 4:2 “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.” In Hebrew the word for BRANCH is “tsamach.” It is a special name given by the Holy Spirit to the Son of God. He is the Branch of Jehovah because He entered into the human scene on this planet earth. What He actually is, of the extension of the triune Godhead above that we can not see, and no man has ever seen the invisible eternal Godhead. That is why, 1 Timothy 1:17 said that Jesus Christ is the invisible as well as immortal. So Jesus Christ is the only One who becomes visible. He is like a branch from the invisible tree coming into you on this earth and He is the branch of the Lord.

There are two things that we need to watch about from the study of Isaiah 4:2. Firstly, the Branch will be beautiful and glorious. Secondly, the fruit of the earth will be the survival of Israel. This is another name for Jesus that he is the fruit of the earth. In Isaiah 4, 7, 9, and 11, Christ is depicted that He has two natures namely divine and human. He is God and man in one person. He is the fruit of the earth because Christ came to this earth through the conception of Mary as the human mother, which we know clearly that Mary came from Adam. In that sense Adam came from the earth. During the ministry of Jesus Christ, He has a 100 % human body and not glorified body. Thus, though the early Christians were very hard to understand this truth but now we notice clearly that Christ is the fruit of the earth which will be the survival of Israel.

The prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The prophet Isaiah tells us that there will be a sign given by God as a overwhelming, spectacular sign. The question is asked, what is this sign that causes people to behold? The answer is because a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The word ‘virgin’ ‘almah, in Hebrew always means in the Old Testament Scripture, the virtue of the unmarried woman. Therefore such woman shall conceive, it must be a miracle. In the New Testament it says the same thing as quoted by Matthew as a proof that Jesus is a virgin born. “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Thus the prophecy of a virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else. Christ is the human because He has the human mother and He has a natural born just like all of us but He was not conceived like us. His name is called Immanuel. Immanuel is derived from two words namely ‘Imma’ means ‘with us,’ and ‘el’ means “God.” This is to say that Jesus was not only human by virtue of having the human mother but He is also God with us, God-incarnated.

The Prophecy of the names of Christ

Isaiah 9:6-7 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” In this prophecy we can see the more amazing truth and the twofold nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word ‘a child’ here is the same word mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 namely referring to the Lord Jesus Christ which describes His humanity. The phrase “unto us a son is given” is referring to His divine nature. The focus of the meaning of the word ‘a son’ here is not so much to depict that He is the son of Mary but the Son of God. We need to understand clearly that from eternity, God has the son. In fact in Proverbs 30:4, two hundred years before this prophecy was given to Isaiah it was already asked this very question, “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?” So God who created the universe has the Son and always has. That is why, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

The phrase “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” tells us the human and divine nature of the Son is in one person. Knowing this fact, the question is raised, what this person will be like? The answer is “the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” We need to understand that the Counsellor here is different with so called ‘counsellors’ today. Therefore we need to be careful with those psychologists who claim to be counsellors. But what Isaiah 9:6 describes is referring to the names of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father and The prince of Peace.” He is the only Prince that can bring peace to this world that He will accomplish when he comes again. Right now no human is able to rule the world which is full of deprived and sinful people but only the One who is God and man, who is perfect and sinless namely Jesus Christ who is able to rule the world. Thus we may say, “Lord, thy kingdom comes.”

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