The Branch and the Branches

"Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit." Isaiah 11:1

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, 'The Lord our Righteousness.' (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

"In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth." Jeremiah 33:15

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." John 15:4-6

The three Old Testament passages that mention the "Branch" are of course referring to Christ and how God was planning to raise him up from the house of David to rule over Israel, the symbol of the Church or the elect. The John 15 passage is the one that we are most familiar with. Here Jesus is talking about how we as Christians are dependent on Him entirely. We can have no part of Him unless we bear the same fruit that He did. If we are rooted in Christ we cannot help but bear fruit because our roots are very much alive! This does not imply that fruit will come effortlessly, but what an encouragement it is that our life and fruit is not dependent on ourselves. I chose this picture because I think that it depicts perfectly the life that we have in Christ. This branch is flourishing because it is well rooted and nurtured.