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Ezekiel 17:22-24 JESUS: the SHOOT from WHICH the CHURCH GREW Rev

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Ezekiel 17:22-24 JESUS: the SHOOT from WHICH the CHURCH GREW Rev Ezekiel 17:22-24 JESUS: THE SHOOT FROM WHICH THE CHURCH GREW Rev. John E. Warmuth Sometimes when preaching on Old Testament texts, especially gospel promises like this one, a brief review of Old Testament history leading up to the prophecy helps to understand the prophecy. That’s because these gospel promises were given to bring comfort and joy to hearts that were hurting under specific consequences for specific sins. We begin our brief review at the time of King David. Under his rule Israel was a power to be reckoned with. In size it was nearly as big as it would ever be. It was prosperous. Spiritually, it worshipped the true God and enjoyed his fellowship. The people looked forward to King David’s “greater son,” the Christ, the Savior to come. Under King Solomon, David’s son, the nation continued to prosper, worldly speaking. But as often happens, worldly prosperity brought spiritual depravity. False gods found their way into the people’s lives. After Solomon died the nation was split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The kings of the northern kingdom all worshiped false gods and led the people to do the same. God sent prophets who warned them of their sin and urged them to turn them back to God. Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom of Judah, some kings were faithful to God and set the example for the nation while others were not. God finally became fed up with the sin of the northern kingdom and sent the Assyrian Empire to destroy it. The people were deported and assimilated into other societies. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel ceased to exist. This startled the two tribes of the southern kingdom. Yet, they did not fully dedicate themselves to the Lord. They turned to other nations for help. They took up worship of some foreign gods together with worship at the temple. They started to dream of glorious days ahead when the Christ would come. Surely God would make his people mighty and prosperous once more. Surely God would not allow Judah, Jerusalem and the beautiful temple to crumble and fall. God had prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah warn them that if they did not put away the false gods and follow him only and get rid of alliances with foreigners, he would destroy Judah, Jerusalem and the temple. The people refused to believe it. Finally God sent Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians who destroyed everything as God said. The Jews who were not killed in the onslaught were carried off to Babylon and other parts of its empire. The land of Judah was left barren except for a few hundreds of people. It was like the world was coming to an end. No more kings from the line of David. No more Jerusalem. No more temple. Would Judah, Jerusalem and the temple ever be rebuilt? Would the Christ, the Savior come? That’s the way the remaining Jews felt a thousand miles from home. That’s the setting for the gospel promise of our text. The promise of JESUS: THE SHOOT FROM WHICH THE CHURCH GREW. I From the looks of things the family tree of King David was done. The tree was dead. No more kings for Israel. But what seems hopeless to man is not to God. He would take “a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it.” He would “make the dry tree flourish.” We can take a sprig from the top of a cedar, put it in the ground and water it all we want, but it won’t grow. The same with trying to bring a dead tree back to life- we can’t do it. God can and did. Jesus Christ is that shoot. He was not born to a reigning king attached to the mighty trunk of the house of David. He was born to poor parents descended from David. Throughout his ministry he “did not have a place to lay his head.” He was looked down on as a Galilean, from an area that was considered somewhat backward or of simple people. Though he attracted many to him by his miracles and authoritative teaching, those who were the “ins” and eventually even the crowds saw him as a withered tree to be cut down. Though some hoped he would be the one who would set the nation of Israel free from the rule of the Romans, eventually they saw he had no such ideas for himself and they counted him as a small-town upstart who would have no wide and lasting influence of any kind. II Yes, Jesus had a humble origin as this prophecy said. Yet, it also points to Jesus’ prominence in the New Testament Church. He was planted “on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel” our text says. The city of Jerusalem was built on several of the highest mountains in Israel. There Jesus was established to the place of prominence in the New Testament Church. There God raised him up as not only the Savior of Israel but the Savior of mankind. Though his enemies put him to death on a cross as a common criminal, a blasphemer, though his heavenly father forsook him there, his death was the payment for the sin of the world. God accepted his suffering and death as the ransom that sets us free from the damning effects of our sin. Proof of that is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and subsequent ascension to heaven where he rules as Sovereign Lord over all things and rules in the hearts of his followers as King. Such prominence does he have now that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Only God could bring such prominence out of such humble beginnings. III Along with that God foretold the extent of the New Testament Church in which Jesus is prominent. “It will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.” Jesus echoed that truth in today’s gospel lesson when he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32) That’s a splendid depiction of the New Testament Church. It’s like a huge tree in which robins, orioles, finches, Cardinals, birds of every feather find a place to nest. In the church Europeans, North and South Americans, Asians, Africans, yes, people the world over have come to know Jesus Christ as their God and Savior. For God is no respecter of persons. He wants all people to be saved and to come to the know-ledge of the truth. IV And what truth, what blessings he offers in his church! In Jesus’ church every believer finds refuge, safety and peace that can’t be found anywhere else. In Jesus Christ alone we have forgiveness of sin. His righteousness is counted to us. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No one can pluck us out of Jesus’ hand. Then there is the blessed fellowship with each other in which we encourage each other in our faith and comfort each other in time of need. We even commune with Jesus as he gives us of his body and blood in assurance of forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper. The people in exile in Babylon could only look ahead to when God would bring this about. Yet, this promise comforted them. It let them know God was not forsaking them even if they had forsaken him. How blessed you and I are to be able to look back at a prophecy like this and see how God in his amazing grace brought it all about. May his grace keep us from backsliding like Israel did. Enjoying this wonderful fulfillment of prophecy as we do, we can’t help but seek, with his grace, to remain faithful to our faithful God. Amen..
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