God Reveals Hope

"God Reveals Hope"
Isaiah 11:1, 10

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."
-Isaiah 11:1
"In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him and his resting place will be glorious."
-Isaiah 11:10

Jesse is David's father

Stump of Jesse = family tree

"See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low. He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;"
-Isaiah 10:33-34

Israel had become like a stump.

This is a picture of hope.

Hope = This sense that with God, new life is possible.

"Hoping does not mean doing nothing . . . It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying. And hoping is not dreaming. it is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what He said He will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it His way and in His time."
- Eugene Peterson (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)

The King will come from the stump of Jesse and He will change everything.