TEXT

The Holy Scriptures, including both the Old Testament and the New Testament, use various plants, trees, and flowers to signify God, Christ, the church, the saints, and the world. This lesson covers eight items: the Shoot of Jehovah, the Shoot of David, a twig coming forth from the stem of Jesse, a branch from Jesse’s roots, the root of Jesse, a tender plant growing up before Jehovah and a root out of dry ground, the fruit, and a green fir tree.

I. THE SHOOT OF JEHOVAH

Isaiah 4:2 says, “In that day the Shoot of Jehovah will be beauty and glory.” Shoot in Hebrew denotes a new, tender sprout, indicating the initial development of the growth of a tree. This shows the initial development of the divinity of God in Christ through incarnation (John 1:14). Christ as the incarnated God is the shooting forth, the sprouting, of divinity.

A. Typifying the Sprouting
of the Divinity of Christ in Him

The Shoot of Jehovah typifies not only Christ’s divinity but the sprouting and development of Christ’s divinity through the incarnation of God.

1. Coming Out of God as
the Branching Out of God Himself

The Shoot of Jehovah is the sprouting of God in Christ. This sprouting comes out of God as the branching out of God Himself for His expression.

2. Being the Sprouting and Development of God
in Christ’s Humanity

The sprouting and development of God in Christ are for the expression of all the riches of divinity in Christ’s humanity, that is, for the rich attributes of divinity to be developed into the virtues of Christ, the God-man, in His humanity.

B. Also Typifying the Divinity That Sprouted
in Christ to Develop unto the Expression
of the Glory and Beauty of His Divinity

In the development of the divinity in Christ, its sprouting is the beginning of the growth of the divinity in Christ. This growth will increase until it reaches its goal, that is, the expression of the glory and beauty of divinity.

1. From His Incarnation to His Entering into
Glory in His Resurrection

The development of the divinity in Christ began with His incarnation, in which He was born to be a God-man. Then it passed through His human living on earth for thirty-three and a half years, in which the divine attributes were expressed in His human virtues, and it also passed through His life-releasing death. Eventually, it reached His resurrection, in which He entered into glory.

2. Passing through His Ascension
to Attain to His Beauty and Glory
in the Kingdom Age

“That day” in Isaiah 4:2 refers to the day of restoration in the kingdom age. By passing through ascension Christ was made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:33-36), seated on the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2), and crowned with glory and honor (2:9). In the day that Christ comes back, the consummate development of the divinity in Him will be manifested as beauty and glory; that is, His divinity will be manifested in the brilliant splendor, precious worth, and dignified position in His kingship in His humanity.