Prophecies of a Triumphant Messiah: The "Branch" is filled with the Spirit of God, Part 2

The previous post presented three links between Jesus and the prophecies by Jeremiah and Isaiah regarding God’s messianic Branch. Jesus’s work reflected a further two aspects of these prophecies: the bestowing of God’s Holy Spirit, and a time of healing and redemption.

The messianic Branch was expected to be filled with the Spirit of God:

“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” (Isa 11:1–2).

Jewish sources interpreted this text as predicting that God’s Spirit would rest upon the Messiah.[4] God also promised to pour out His Spirit at the last days (Isa 44:3; Joel 2:28), and it is significant that Jesus is associated with bearing and imparting God’s Holy Spirit:

• The Spirit of the Lord descended upon Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Matt 3:16).

• God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10:38).

• After his resurrection, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon his followers (John 20:22).

• God’s Spirit is poured out through Jesus (Titus 3:6; Acts 2:38; Rom 8:9). Peter explicitly taught that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:16).

• God’s Holy Spirit was represented by the image of living water (Jer 17:13):

“I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants” (Isa 44:3).

Jesus used this image to represent his own gift of the Holy Spirit:

• “‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said: Streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit” (John 7:37–39).

• “Whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Some Jewish texts actually identify the Messiah directly with God’s Holy Spirit. For example, when God’s Spirit hovered over the waters before creation, this was astoundingly said to be the Spirit of the Messiah himself.[5] It is highly significant that Jesus is regarded as being co-equal with God the Father and involved in the creation of the universe (Col 1:16; John 1:3; 1 Cor 8:6).

A Jewish interpretation of Psalm 21 also predicted that Isaiah’s messianic figure would receive a portion of God’s supernatural glory: “God will bestow a portion of His supernatural glory upon the king Messiah” (Midrash Psalm 21.1).[6] This prediction brings to mind Jesus’s glorious transfiguration on the mountain.

Isaiah’s extended messianic prophecy depicted a time of God’s healing and redemption: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isa 61:1).

We are told that Jesus read this important text from Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth and then identified himself as its fulfillment:

“Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes

of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them,

‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:20–21).

In this way, Jesus associated himself directly with Isaiah’s prediction about God’s time of healing and liberation. Anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, Jesus has come as the chosen Messiah to set God’s people free.

In summary, the messianic figure of the Branch is strongly reminiscent of Jesus in that he purifies and sanctifies believers, speaks for the meek, rallies God’s people, is sought by the Gentiles, bears and pours out God’s Holy Spirit, and ushers in a time of God’s reconciliation and healing.

In early centuries Christians were called “Nazarenes”: followers of Jesus of Nazareth. It is possible that the name Nazareth derives from the root word “netzer,” which is a masculine noun for a sprout, shoot, or branch. This would explain the comment in Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus lived in a city called Nazareth so that “it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene” (Matt 2:23) — or “Branch.”

[1]. These Jewish texts applied Jeremiah 23:5–6 to the Messiah: · Targum Jonathan (an Aramaic translation/interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures) rendered verse 23:5 as: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise to David the Messiah who is righteous and he shall reign a King.”https://archive.org/details/targumsonkelosa00ethegoog/page/n38/mode/2up · “What is the name of the king Messiah? Rabbi Aba bar Kahana said: the Lord is his name . . . and this is his name that he shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness’” (Midrash Lamentations 1.52). https://www.sefaria.org/Eichah_Rabbah.1.51?lang=bi · “God will call the king Messiah after His own name, for it is said of the king Messiah: This is his name whereby he will be called: The Lord our righteousness” (Midrash Psalm 21.2). https://www.matsati.com/index.php/midrash-tehillim/ · Soferim 13.13 associated the prophecy in Jeremiah 23 with the messianic future. https://www.sefaria.org/Tractate_Soferim.13.13?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en These Jewish texts applied a messianic interpretation to Isaiah’s prophecy about the Branch/Shoot: · “That is the Messiah, as it is said: ‘And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse” (Genesis Rabbah). https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.85.9?lang=bi · Targum Jonathan interpreting Isaiah 4:2: “At that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and glory.”https://archive.org/details/chaldeeparaphra00uzzigoog/page/n8/mode/2up · “What is the name of the king Messiah? . . . Shoot is his name” (Midrash Lamentations 1.52). https://www.sefaria.org/Eichah_Rabbah.1.51?lang=bi [2]. https://www.matsati.com/index.php/midrash-tehillim/ [3]. https://www.matsati.com/index.php/midrash-tehillim/ [4]. The following Jewish texts apply the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1–2 to the Messiah: · Pirkê de Rabbi Eliezer 3:13. https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_DeRabbi_Eliezer.3.13?lang=bi · Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 93b. https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.93b.7?lang=bi · Genesis Rabbah 2.4. https://archive.org/details/RabbaGenesis/page/n63/mode/2up [5]. “The Spirit of God hovered: this alludes to the Spirit of the Messiah” (Genesis Rabbah 2.4). https://archive.org/details/RabbaGenesis/page/n63/mode/2up The same belief is expressed in Leviticus Rabbah 14. https://www.sefaria.org/Vayikra_Rabbah.14.1?lang=bi [6]. https://www.matsati.com/index.php/midrash-tehillim/