Netzer Branch In Israel

Netzer Branch

Recently I was in Nazareth, the village where Jesus lived  until He began His ministry.

While there, I was reminded of an important promise God fulfilled

When He sent His only begotten Son to Earth.

Most people are not aware that olive trees don’t come from the pits found inside olives.

To reproduce, the root of the olive tree must send up a shoot,

called a netser in Hebrew.

The shoot is like a small branch;

and it must be severed from the tree, along with a small portion of the root,

and replanted for a new olive tree to grow.

Nazareth derives its name from the word netzer.

But what does that have to do with the birth of Jesus Christ,

Which took place in Bethlehem about 100 miles to the south?

Speaking of the coming Messiah more than six centuries before His First Advent,

Isaiah prophesied,

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stump of Jesse,

And a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (11:1).

The word we translate as “branch” is the word netser.

Was it a coincidence that Jesus grew up in a town

named for the branches that spring from the roots of olive trees?

Of course not.

God placed Jesus in a village named after the netser

To point us to the truth Isaiah prophesied more than 2,600 years ago.

Both of Jesus’ genealogies, found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3,

Connect Him with the line of David and David’s father, Jesse.

Jesus’ birth two millennia ago fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy

that God would raise up a Branch from the line of Jesse.

The majority of the promises God made in Isaiah 11  concerning the coming Messiah

will be fulfilled when He returns

to reinstate righteousness and equity on the earth.

When the Branch of Jesse comes the next time,

He will restore God’s theocratic Kingdom on the Earth

And rule over it with wisdom and understanding.

The Christmas season is a reminder that,

as great as the Lord’s First Coming was,

His second Coming will be even better!

May this season of celebrating the birth of Christ

bring you assurance that God’s marvelous plan to redeem the earth

is certain because of the Branch that grew out of the root of Jesse.

Gratefully yours in Messiah,

Jim Showers, DMin

Executive Director/President

The Friends of Israel