Message Seven

Enjoying Christ
as the Sprout and the Branch
to Grow in Christ
and as the Banner and the Standard
to Propagate Christ
in the Principle of the Restoration of Life
for a New Revival

Scripture Reading: Isa. 11:1-16

1. In studying Isaiah 11:1-16, our emphasis is not on its future fulfillment but on the principle of the restoration of life; Isaiah 11 describes the scene of a recovery, a revival, a restoration—v. 1; Heb. 6:5; Acts 3:19-21.
2. We need to enjoy Christ in the principle of the restoration of life as a sprout from the stump of Jesse and as a branch from the roots of Jesse—Isa. 11:1-9; Heb. 6:5:
   1. Christ is typified by a sprout from the stump of the great tree of the house of David, which had been hewn down to the roots; Christ’s coming in incarnation as the sprout from the stump of Jesse was the revival of David’s deprived and “hewn down” royal family—Ruth 4:17b; cf. Isa. 10:32-34:
      1. According to our thought, Christ has two comings, but according to God’s realization, He has sent His Son once for all; when Jesus was born, that was the beginning of God’s sending His Son to the earth, and this sending is still going on; it will be completed at the time the Son of Man comes to the earth in an open way—Matt. 24:27.
      2. Christ’s coming forth, His going forth, His appearing, is a continuous matter; at the time of His incarnation He began to come forth; then He continued to go forth through His human living, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His outpouring of the consummated Spirit (who is the reality of Christ Himself), His spreading through the preaching of the gospel to the whole inhabited earth, and His growing within the believers and the church—Micah 5:2.
      3. The completion of His being sent by God is accomplished in three ways: by His building up of the church, by His preparing of Israel, and by His adjustment, His judging, of the nations.
   2. A sprout from the stump of Jesse indicates the restoring power of life in freshness—Isa. 11:1a; 7:14; 9:6; Exo. 13:4; Acts 3:19-21; Titus 3:5; Eph. 4:23; 5:26; 2 Cor. 4:16.
   3. A branch from the roots of Jesse indicates the hidden deepening power of life with growing power and fruit-bearing power—Isa. 11:1b; cf. Phil. 4:12-13; Col. 1:9-11; 2:7; Matt. 6:6; Psa. 91:1; Luke 8:11-15; John 15:5; Jer. 17:8.
   4. Christ as the sprout and the branch is full of the Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah; because this Spirit is of seven items, we may say that He is the sevenfold intensified Spirit, who is the presence of the Triune God in the church—Isa. 11:2; Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; cf. Col. 2:2b-3; 1 Cor. 1:24:
      1. The branching out of Jehovah is altogether a matter of the Spirit; Christ was born of the Spirit; that is, He was constituted of the Spirit as the divine essence—Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35.
      2. Moreover, He was baptized, anointed, with the Spirit—Matt. 3:16; Luke 4:18.
      3. The Spirit was with Him all the time and was one with Him—vv. 1, 14; 10:21; John 1:32; Matt. 12:28.
      4. He walked by the Spirit and lived a life in, with, by, and through the Spirit; in His human living the Spirit was manifested with all the attributes of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah; no human being has ever feared God as much as Jesus did.
      5. The Spirit is the reality of Christ—John 14:16-20; 1 John 5:6b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
   5. As the sprout from the stump of Jesse and the branch from the roots of Jesse, Christ carries out the administration of Jehovah—Isa. 11:3-5.
   6. Wherever Christ as life grows in freshness and depth, there is the Spirit with His riches, there is the government of God in righteousness and justice, and there is the restoration of life.
   7. The administration of Jehovah brings in the restoration of life, where all have their nature changed through Christ as the indwelling, sevenfold intensified Spirit of life in His restoring, deepening, growing, and fruit-bearing power:
      1. In the age of restoration the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, the cow and the bear will graze, the lion will eat straw like the ox, the nursing child will play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will stretch his hand upon the viper’s den—vv. 6-9a.
      2. In the restoration Christ’s restoring power will cause a change in the inward nature of all the creatures; thus, the situation among them will be pleasant, peaceful, and loving; the reason for this change is that the knowledge of Jehovah, the knowing of God, will fill the earth—Rom. 8:19-21; Isa. 11:9.
   8. Because the church life is a foretaste of the coming age, what will happen in Isaiah 11 should be among us today as a foretaste; among us there should be no “wolves,” “leopards,” “bears,” “lions,” and “vipers”—cf. Acts 20:29-30; Ezek. 34:25:
      1. The church life may be considered as a “zoo” of the restoration of life, where all have their nature changed through the Spirit and by Christ as the sprout and the branch—Heb. 6:5; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2.
      2. Through the divine transformation of our inner being, we are able to practice the Body life, where the knowing of God prevails, the peace of Christ arbitrates in our hearts, and all is pleasant, peaceful, and loving—Isa. 11:9; Col. 3:15.
3. Through our inner enjoyment of Christ, our growth in Christ, and our propagation of Christ, He becomes a banner to the peoples and a standard to the nations for a new revival—Isa. 11:10-16; Phil. 1:20; 2 Cor. 5:20:
   1. Christ as the banner is full of explanation, description, and instruction concerning the revival and restoration in the church—Isa. 11:10; cf. John 1:1, 4, 29, 32, 42, 51:
      1. The divine glory, which is God Himself expressed, will be Christ’s resting place—Isa. 11:10b.
      2. This indicates that the divine glory is one with Christ; it also implies Christ’s divinity and indicates that Christ and God are one—John 17:5, 24; 10:30.
   2. Christ as the standard to the nations is a great magnet to draw, attract, call, collect, and gather all the people of the earth to Himself—Isa. 11:12; John 12:31-32; 3:14-15; 8:28-30; 6:44; Jer. 31:3; S. S. 1:4a; Heb. 12:2a.
   3. Isaiah 11 couples Christ as the sprout and the branch (v. 1) with Christ as the banner and the standard (vv. 10, 12):
      1. In the church life, when Christ as the sprout among us grows bigger and bigger, this growing-up sprout becomes a banner, which describes, explains, designates, and even gives instructions to the peoples of the earth concerning what Christ is to God’s people—cf. Exo. 17:15.
      2. The same Christ as a branch grows up to be a standard to call and gather the nations of the earth.
   4. Christ as the banner to the peoples and the standard to the nations brings in the return of God’s people in the one accord and the submission of the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth—Isa. 11:10-16; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 6:2; cf. Acts 16:6-9.
4. “In these days we need to pay our full attention to the all-inclusive Christ, who is the centrality and universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing of Himself into His elect. In the church life for the Lord’s recovery, where the proper revival and restoration of life are taking place, Christ should be the sprout, the branch, the banner, and the standard. First, we ourselves must have a restoration of life. Then this will be propagated and will be designated by a banner, Christ. He will then be sought after by the nations, and He will become a standard to them. Hallelujah for Christ!” (Life-study of Isaiah, p. 275).