A TENDER PLANT

“He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.”   (Isaiah 53:2)

“Our Lord, King Messiah – born of Mary and begotten by Elohim – grew up before His Father as a Tender Plant; as a Vine of whose fruit men may eat and never hunger more; as a Tree from whose branches the fruit of eternal life may be plucked.

“But he grew up also as a Root out of dry ground; as a Vine in arid and sterile soil; as a Tree for which there was little soil and sun and water in the dry garden where he had been planted by His Father.

“Our Lord, King Messiah, grew up in the arid soil of a spiritually degenerate society – in a Holy City that had become like Egypt and Sodom; among a people who chose darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil; and in the midst of a people who had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof.

“He grew up in the arid and sterile soil of a Judaism where the priesthood was bought and sold; where his Father’s house had become a den of thieves; where sacrifices and feasts and fasts and Sabbaths all testified of a then-unknown Jehovah.”

-        Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 1

As Christmas approaches, I am always reminded that Christ came to be The Suffering Servant of the Father that Isaiah so eloquently prophesied of: a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, who was oppressed and afflicted (Isaiah 53:3-7). It makes me want to weep for that baby in the stable.

Knowing He was planted in ‘the arid soil of a spiritually degenerate society’ makes it even worse. No wonder He wept over Jerusalem, a people He led out of captivity to be a royal priesthood, the children of the covenant, a privileged people above all others, yet the only nation on earth who would crucify their God  (Luke 13:34; 2 Nephi 10:3).

I have to remind myself of the second part of the Isaiah’s Messianic Prophecy which heralds the coming of the King of Glory who shall come to assume the government of the world upon His shoulder, whose name shall be Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). This is the time I yearn for; when He shall reveal His glory to all the ends of the earth.

The Messianic Prophecy is such a significant prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah that it can be found in all the books of scripture (see Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Acts 3:22; 3 Nephi 20:23-24; D&C 133:63; Joseph Smith-History 1:40). It fills all who cling to it with hope for the peaceful reign we have been promised. A time of no sorrow, sickness or death. A time to wait for with bated breath.

Now more than ever we need to keep our eyes on the prize. As we focus on the baby in the stable this Christmas may we see in Him the King of Glory also, coming to bless this earth with a Millenial peace such as we have never known before.

In the words of John the Revelator who responded to the Saviour’s claim that He shall come quickly:

“Even so, come Lord Jesus…..”    (Revelation 22:20)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Clouds of Heaven by Chris Brazelton)