From Isaiah we learn that the “sprig of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1, 10) is an end-time servant or messianic savior.
The “sprig” in Isaiah’s mini allegory is a “shoot” or young branch that is grafted into the “rod” or watersprout which is “cut off,” leaving only its stump that bears the graft.
The “sprig” represents the Davidic servant who comes forth in the end-time and is grafted into the current ecclesiastical organization after its useless part, symbolized by the upper part of the “rod,” has been lopped off or removed (Isaiah 9:14; 22:25).
Also identified as God’s “righteousness,” the servant is raised up out of obscurity or comes out of hiding (Isaiah 41:2; 49:2). Scriptural types that match his persona are Joseph the son of Jacob, David the son of Jesse, Lehi, Abinadi, Samuel the Lamanite, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith, to name a few.
The Davidic servant is young (a “sprig”), as was David the son of Jesse when he was called and anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel. Other youthful types are Nephi the son of Lehi, Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, etc.
The sprig matures into the “branch” that bears good fruit and glorifies God (Isaiah 4:2; 11:1; 60:21; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15).
Under his alias of “Righteousness” or “righteous branch,” the servant stands in as a surrogate of God—“the holy God showing himself holy by his righteousness” (Isaiah 5:16; emphasis added; cf. 1:27; 11:4-5).
“Righteousness,” and the “followers of righteousness,” establish a “City of Righteousness,” or Zion, to which the Lord comes (Isaiah 19:18; 33:5; 59:20).
The Lord’s “righteous right hand,” or “Righteousness, my right hand,” protects God’s people who are of the Jacob/Israel category (Isaiah 41:8-13). He is God’s “right hand” man.
