a title of Messiah: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a BRANCH shall grow out of his roots," Isaiah 11:1 . See also Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15 . When Christ is represented as a slender twig, shooting out from the trunk of an old tree lopped to the very root and decayed, and becoming itself a mighty tree, reference is made,
1. To the kingly dignity of Christ, springing up from the decayed house of David;
2. To the exaltation which was to succeed his humbled condition on earth, and to the glory and vigour of his mediatorial reign.
Richard Watson was one of the greatest theologians the Methodist Church has ever known. His dictionary has proven to be a highly valuable resource even today.Wikipedia
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