CHRIST AS THE BRANCH OF DAVID

My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God and Savior,

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!35

CHRIST AS THE BRANCH OF DAVID

"In those days, and at that time,
will I cause the Branch of right-
eousness to grow up unto David,
and He shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land"
[Jeremiah 35:15].

By these words, the holy Prophet Jeremiah prophesied the coming of the Holy Savior descended from David. The Branch of Righteousness IS HE LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF. And these words can be applied TO NO-ONE ELSE, FOR, AT THE TIME OF THE COMING OF CHRIST, NO FURTHER PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID SAT ON THE THRONE IN JERUSALEM, but a stranger, Herod of Idumea. Nor from that time until today has there been any other Branch of David, either as an earthly or a spiritual ruler. At that time of the birth of Christ, there were left only a few of the House of David, and those unknown and impoverished. Among these were numbered both the Most Holy Virgin Mary and the Righteous Elder, Joseph the Carpenter. It is clear, therefore, that in the thousand years after this prophecy was spoken, there had been no other Glorious Branch of descent from David but THE ONE, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. This becomes yet clearer from the words that follow: "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me" (33:22). These words can be meant only FOR THE SPIRITUAL DESCENDANT OF DAVID THROUGH CHRIST THE LORD, THAT IS, FOR CHRISTIANS, FOR ONLY THE NUMBER OF CHRISTIANS (and certainly NOT the physical descendants of David, of whom none remain) in these twenty one centuries can be measured by the stars in the sky and the sand of the sea.

Oh, my brethren, let us rejoice that we Christians fall among that numberless people of God, among the greatest people in the history of the world, both as to numbers and as to character. Let us rejoice still more that we also belong TO THAT DIVINE BRANCH OF DAVID, who bought us by His Blood from thes stranger and adopted us, MAKING US HEIRS, AND FELLOW-HEIRS WITH HIM OF THE ETERNAL KINGDOM.

O MOST GLORIOUS LORD, Thou hast delivered us prodigal sons from swinish debasement and hunger, and hast made us sons of the Kingdom. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen. [Resources:  The Prologue from Ochrid]

________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos

+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Glorious and Life-Giving Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George