Today we have a foretaste of what God wants to accomplish fully in the next age – the restoration of life, the restoration of all things to Himself, and the restoration of Israel to God. Through the restoration of Israel, Christ will become a banner to the peoples and a standard to the nations!
When people see what God does in the church and with His people, they will need an “explanation” – Christ becomes the banner full of explanation, description, and instruction. Actually even among us in the church life – when Christ among us grows bigger and bigger, eventually we will have Him as the banner.
Christ grown-up and matured in us becomes a “Banner” to describe, to designate, and to explain His wonderful work done in the church. He as the banner will instruct people concerning the revival and the restoration of the church.
This is how the church is the pillar and the base of the truth: we enjoy the Lord, we grow in Him, and He grows and develops in us – with the result that He is magnified and expressed in us in full. What others see is just Christ as the explanation and definition with instruction – of what He is to us, what He desires, and what He does in us and among us!
He started as the sprout – a tender sprout from the stump of Jesse, and He grows and develops until He becomes a full definition and explanation! When we have Christ as a sprout growing among us, this growing-up sprout becomes a banner which describes, explains, designates, and even gives some instructions concerning what Christ is to the church!
Lord, Amen, grow in us more!
On the other hand and at the same time as He grows in us as the banner, Christ as the branch from the root of Jesse becomes the Standard for all the nations! In Isaiah 11:10-12 we see that,
10. And in that day the root of Jesse, Who stands as a banner to the peoples – Him will the nations seek, And His resting place will be the glory.
11. And in that day the Lord, By His hand for the second time again, Will recover the remnant of His people Who remain, from Assyria and from Egypt, From Pathros, Cush, and Elam, From Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
12. He will lift up a standard to the nations, And will gather the outcasts of Israel; And the dispersed of Judah He will assemble From the four corners of the earth.
Hallelujah, Christ becomes a standard to all the nations – drawing all the people to Him! A standard is for gathering people from wherever they are to the place where the standard is. Christ grows and expands in us until He has the influence of the calling and gathering power – in that day, He will draw all the people to Himself (John 13:32)!
He is the branch out of the root of Jesse with the power to bear fruit and grow, and He increases, grows, and becomes a standard to the nations! The day will come when all the peoples of the earth will turn to seek after Christ and will be happy to be His people! We are expecting that day, and we are hastening it by enjoying the Lord, growing in His life daily, and being built up with the saints in His Body!
Lord, increase in us! Become the great magnet drawing all the peoples to Yourself!
[inspired by the Life-study of Isaiah as quoted in the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(1), week 7] [read this portion in Spanish via Cristo como el vástago llega a ser el pendón (bandera, insignia) y como la vara llega a ser el estándar para todas las naciones]
