Check out all the previous Christmas readings here.

Christmas Reading Plan | Week 1 | Day 3

Prayer

Take a moment to be silent and still. In order to be fully present in body and mind, take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Do this three times. Pray that God would open your eyes to wonderful things from His word today.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 11:1-9

Read these verses three times slowly.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Reflection & Questions

We’re continuing this week in Isaiah, reading the prophecies of Jesus. Written hundreds of years before Christmas day, these prophecies are quite remarkable. Today’s verses speak of a shoot to come up from the stump of Jesse. It was a stump, because Israel was all but dead and gone. There was no hope. They had rejected God and there was no sign that this would change. But out of this seemingly dead stump a “shoot” began to grow. A sign of hope. This “shoot” is described here in Isaiah as one who would be filled with the Spirit, who will rule with righteousness, will strike down the wicked, who will bring justice and a peace that none could imagine possible (“The wolf will live with the lamb”) and through his reign “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” It is an incredible picture of what the reign of King Jesus will look like!

Now there is a subtle but wonderfully amazing way this prophecy points to Jesus. The word “shoot” in Hebrew is “nazareth.” Nazareth is the name of the town where Jesus grew up! In fact, it seems that the town of Nazareth was established by people who believed that out of their community the Messiah would come. When we read that Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth, for those with Isaiah 11 in their minds, we are hearing much more than the town he came from, we are reading that Jesus is the “shoot”, the new hope, the promised Messiah. He is the one who will bring a reign unlike the world has ever seen.

1. As you read these verses about Jesus, what sticks out to you today? Why?
2. Are you or someone around you feeling like life is a dead stump, without hope? Spend time praying for Jesus to bring hope like a shoot from the stump.

Prayer

Talk to God in response to today’s reading.

Worship Song

You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:

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Questions?