The Root of David

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’” Revelation 5:1-5 ESV

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

    and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

    from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

    and they shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10 ESV

Who is this speaking of? It is speaking of Jesus Christ. He is the root of David. And who was slain? Whose blood was shed on a cross to ransom us out of our lives of slavery to sin? Jesus Christ who is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he is our creator God (John 1:1-36). He is the one who formed us in the wombs of our mothers. 

And how is “root” defined? “The basic cause, source, or origin of something” and “seed” and “beginnings,” “the place it starts from” (Oxford Languages Dictionary). 

“Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16 NASB

And Jesus Christ said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” John 8:56-59 ESV

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." Revelation 22:16 ESV

“Who has believed what he has heard from us?

    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

    and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

    and no beauty that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:1-2 ESV

And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” Romans 15:12 ESV

So, we all come from Jesus Christ. He is our creator God. He alone is our Root. Through him all things were made that were created. We all have our beginnings in him, in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is our source, both for physical life and for spiritual life. He is the seed that gave physical life to us all. He was before all things that were created. So Abraham and Jesse and David all came from and through him. They did not create themselves. But, as a human on the earth Jesus also descended from them.

Okay, so in Romans 11 we read about how the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah but how God had planned in advance that this would mean the salvation of the Gentiles. Yet, it says that a remnant will be saved. A remnant of the Jews will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ before Jesus returns for his bride. Although God cut them out of the root, they can be grafted back in by faith in Jesus Christ just like the Gentiles were grafted into the root by faith in Jesus Christ. And that is the point of Romans 11.

So, who is the root and who are the branches being spoken of in Romans 11? It clearly says that the Jews were the natural branches, some of whom were cut out due to unbelief, because they would not accept Jesus as their Messiah Lord. Who cut them out? God did! And the Gentiles are described as “a wild olive shoot,” who were grafted into the root. And when it says to not be arrogant toward the branches, the meaning here had to do with Gentiles who were being prideful that they were included and Jews were cut out.

Okay, so the Jews were the natural branches, and the Gentiles were a wild olive shoot, but all who believe in Jesus share in the nourishing root of the olive tree. And that root is not the Jewish nation, especially since the Jewish nation, as a unit, is antichrist (against Christ). And those who did not believe in Jesus were cut out of the root. So who do Christians get their nourishment from? The Jews who don’t believe in Jesus? Or Jesus Christ? This is not a difficult question to answer but many are teaching the Jews as the root.

So, when this says, “it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you,” this is not speaking of the physical nation of Israel. We don’t have our beginnings in the Jewish nation. We have our beginnings in Jesus Christ. We don’t get our spiritual nourishment from the Jews, but from Jesus Christ, and we are to have no other gods before us. But many are turning the Jewish nation into a god which is above the one true God, and who they say we need to worship as though they created us and made us who we are.

And this is critical that we get this, for this is the message that Paul was trying to communicate here in Romans 11, but not just there. In the book of Galatians they were being faced with a similar situation as we are today where the Judaizers were trying to convince them that they needed to be more like Jews and that they needed to follow some of the Old Covenant liturgical laws and customs, in order for them to have salvation. So, Paul negated that notion all throughout the book of Galatians.

And he made it clear that the promise to Abraham was to Abraham and to Jesus Christ and that if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. He also made it clear that the Jewish nation who rejected Christ were now equal to the Arab nations, no different, for they were still in slavery with their children. And Jesus told the Jews who did not believe in him that their father is the devil, not Abraham, and not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And Paul made it clear that the Jews who rejected Jesus Christ were as if they were of Hagar, the slave woman, and not of Sarah, the free woman, and that the Jews who reject Jesus will never share in the inheritance with those of us who believe in Jesus, unless they repent of their sins, deny self, die with Christ to sin, by faith in him, and now walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands. And he was telling this to the Gentile believers because the Jews were trying to make themselves the god of the Gentiles.

Their situation then is still the one we are now being faced with today, only this is much worse. So many Americans who profess faith in Jesus Christ are not listening to what the New Testament Scriptures teach, with the exception of maybe Romans 11, which most take out of context. And the Judaizers are trying to convince us that they are this root. 

In fact, I read a meme on Facebook today based off Romans 11 which said that the church needs the physical nation of Israel, and that without the physical nation of Israel, without dependency on/in them “we don’t have a ROOT to stand on” (Richard Pearson, Rapture Ready). Do you see what they are saying here? They are to be the ROOT that we stand on. They are to replace Jesus Christ in our hearts and lives and in our loyalty and devotion to our Lord. This is the “replacement theology” that is really going on here.

But don’t buy into the lies of the enemy. Study the New Testament Scriptures IN CONTEXT and see what they teach. Jesus Christ is to be our only Lord, not the physical nation of Israel. Jesus is our only ROOT!

[Rom 9:4-8; Rom 11:17-25; 1 Co 3:16-17; 2 Co 6:14-18; Gal 3:16,26-29; Gal 4:22-31; Eph 2:11-22; Eph 3:6; Col 3:12-15; Tit 2:14; Heb 8:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9-10; John 8:18-19,38-47; 1 John 2:22]

Jesus Only  

Hymn lyrics by Albert B. Simpson 

Music by J. H. Burke

Jesus only is our message,

Jesus all our theme shall be;

We will lift up Jesus ever,

Jesus only will we see.

Jesus only is our Savior,

All our guilt He bore away,

All our righteousness He gives us,

All our strength from day to day.

Jesus is our Sanctifier,

Cleansing us from self and sin,

And with all His Spirit’s fullness,

Filling all our hearts within.

And for Jesus we are waiting,

Listening for the advent call;

But ’twill still be Jesus only,

Jesus ever, all in all.

Jesus only, Jesus ever,

Jesus all in all we sing,

Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer,

Glorious Lord and coming King.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJmunqm5fsw