Jesus, the Righteous Branch
The beginning of the great rescue mission
===
“I, the Lord, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David. He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding and will do what is just and right in the land.
Jeremiah 23:5 (NET)
===
Since this is Christmas week, I thought I’d do a few advent related verses.
Of course the famous passages of Christ’s predicted coming happen in the book of Isaiah. We’ll get to that soon enough.
This verse stands out as part of the prediction that describes how the Messiah will rule:
With wisdom and understanding and will execute justice and righteousness in His land.
Everyone longs for a benevolent ruler.
One who follows the law faithfully, rules justly, and leads people into a greater future.
No one does this better than Jesus — obviously.
Something the early Jews missed while looking for their Messiah when Jesus was walking around was that His Kingdom was a spiritual one first.
Someday it will be a physical Kingdom as well.
But that day has not happened yet.
Instead, we have the spiritual work that Christ did for us: living the perfect, sinless life that we could never hope to live and then — amazingly — dying a death He did not deserve in our place.
It was all part of God’s plan to bring us back to a relationship with Him.
We see the evidence of Jesus’ spiritual victory all throughout the Gospels.
He had absolute authority over the demons He encountered.
He also demonstrated authority over nature itself: calming storms, transforming water into wine, healing the sick, even conquering death itself.
Jesus already showed us He is the King over both spiritual and physical.
We celebrate Christmas as the reminder of the beginning of our King’s great rescue mission.
Merry Christmas indeed!
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.