The Miracle of New Growth

This scripture shares the important truth that new growth is coming. What is unique is the growth isn’t coming from a vibrant tree, but from a stump! A stump is the remains of something that once was vibrant and full of life, but is now seemingly dead.

But what appears to be dead is instead going to produce a “tender shoot,” meaning a young, new growth, and out of that new growth the branch will bear fruit.

For Christians, this verse is talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus, who will come from the family line of Jesse. A family that seemingly was done and cut off to just the stump. Yet, he came as a “tender shoot,” as a baby in a manger, and lived a life to bear fruit for his father and ultimately pay the sacrifice for all our sins on the cross.

This verse also points to an important application for us—that God can take things that look dead in our life and cause new growth to appear. Even when it all seems done and dead, the miracle of growth is always possible.