Scripture Reading : Isaiah 11
Theme : The Branch, Messiah
Rising from the Ashes (1-2). God prophesied that the promised Messiah in Is. 7:14 and 9:6 will be a shoot rising from the ashes of dynasty of David, referred as the stump of Jesse, who is David’s father. Jesse is used, instead of David, to emphasize the collapse of the Davidic Kingdom. This is exactly what happened in history. When Jesus was born, the Davidic Kingdom had completely disappeared. No Davidic king was on the throne of Israel, not even a puppet one. Being from the line of David, Jesus was not born in a palace, instead in a lowly manger. These two verses prophesize about His first coming. This prophesy was written about 700 years before the first coming of Jesus.
Restored World (2-9). These verses prophesize about the Messiah’s second coming when He will restore the world to the time of Adam and Eve and rule the world. Jesus will judge the world not by what can be seen with the eyes, but by supernatural insight because He is God. He will restore the animal world. They will once again be herbivores and will not be in conflict with humans. The whole earth will know God through Jesus.
Restored Israel (10-16). God will unite the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In the end times, God will gather them from the surrounding nations because they will have been attacked, exiled and enslaved in these countries. But the Messiah will return and lead them to destroy their surrounding nations, including Philistines (modern day Gaza), Edom, Moab, Ammonites (Jordan and Saudi Arabia), Egypt and Assyria (Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey). This end times judgment against Israel’s surrounding nations is also a repeated theme in OT prophetic literature (Num. 24:17, Eze. 38:3-6).
Praying the Scripture
- It is stunning how much prophesies God has fulfilled in the OT. There is absolutely no chance these amazing, detailed prophesies can be made up by man. We can fully trust God’s word even when we don’t fully understand all of it (Prov. 3:5-6). Do not ever use yourself or man’s understanding to measure God’s truth. This is what foolish and arrogant people of the world do. They read about a talking serpent in Genesis 3 and then ridicule the Bible because they use themselves as the referent/standard of truth, instead of the creator of the world. The problem with the world is that it is self-referential. Paradise was a lot different than the world now. People were supposed to live forever too. We must boldly believe in the Bible and reject pseudo-science like Darwinian macro evolution. Pray that God will strengthen your faith through His fulfilled prophesies and look forward to the return of Jesus.
经文：以赛亚书11
主题：枝子弥赛亚
从尘中抬起（1-2）。神在7:14和9:6预言那位应许的弥赛亚将是一条从大卫之根生出的枝子；“耶西的本”指的就是大卫之父。经文选用耶西而不是大卫作描述，以此强调大卫的王朝会衰败。这便是我们在历史中所见的。耶稣诞生时，大卫王朝已全面消失。统治以色列的不是大卫的后裔；他们就连作傀儡政府也不是。耶稣虽然是大卫的后裔，但祂不在皇宫里诞生，乃在一个不起眼的马槽里出世。这两节经文预言了祂的首次降世。这个预言是在耶稣首次来世前的700年写的。
复兴的世界（2-9）。这段经文预言弥赛亚二次降世时将修复这个世界，重现亚当和夏娃时代的茂盛，并作统治者。耶稣不会凭眼见审判世界，乃要凭超凡的洞察力，因为祂就是神。祂也会复兴动物世界，使它们再次成为草食动物，不会与人发生冲突。全世界将借着耶稣认识神。
复兴的以色列（10-16）。神会使分裂的以色列和犹大国再次联合。末日时，神将从邻国招聚他们，因为他们那时候已经受到攻击，并被掳到这些国家作奴隶。然而，弥赛亚末日时必要回来，带领他们消灭这些国家，包括非利士（现代加沙）、以东、摩押、亚扪（约旦和沙地阿拉伯）、埃及和亚述（伊拉克、叙利亚和部分土耳其）。对以色列邻国的末日审判亦是旧约先知书中一个重复性的主题（民24:17；结38:3-6）。
用经文祷告
- 神应验了旧约众多的预言——这是令人惊叹的。这些奇妙、详尽的预言绝对不可能出自于人。即便我们无法完全理解一切记载，我们仍可以全然信靠神的话（箴3:5-6）。绝对不要用自己或世人的看见判断神的真理；这是愚昧高傲的世人所做的事。他们在创世纪三读到会说话的蛇就嘲笑圣经，因为他们以自己的理解作真理的标准，而不是从创世主的角度思想。世人的问题就是以自我为标准。天堂与今日的世界截然不同；人原本是要永永远远地存活的。我们必须壮胆，相信圣经，拒绝假科学如达尔文的大进化论。祈求神会借着祂已应验的预言坚固你的信心，叫你盼望耶稣的归来。
