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Isaiah

Sermon: Tree/Stump Regeneration

ARTICLE I: By: Brian Barth works in the fields of landscape architecture and urban planning and is co-founder of Urban Agriculture, Inc., an Atlanta-based design firm where he is head environmental consultant.

He holds a Master's Degree in Environmental Planning and Design from the University of Georgia.

His blog, Food for Thought, explores the themes of land use, urban agriculture, and environmental literacy.

Stump sprouting is a natural mechanism for plant regeneration.

It allows a forest to return after a fire and prevents the death of saplings after they have been browsed by deer.

A root system stores some of the energy produced in photosynthesis and directs it into new growth from the stump...

A tree that has a single trunk makes numerous sprouts after it has been cut so only a stump remains.

If the sprouts are allowed to grow, a multitrunked tree develops over time, with the long limbs growing at an angle to the stump.

Those new trunks are prone to storm damage, often cracking at their connection to the stump.

Repeated cutting worsens the problem.

All new foliage generates energy that is stored in the roots, which is why some stumps seem to sprout indefinitely.

The root crown gets bigger every year in a tree or shrub managed this way, making digging out the stump more difficult that it would be otherwise.

If all new growth is removed as soon as it emerges from a stump, the energy reserves in the root system become exhausted and the plant dies.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-stumps-grow-back-90467.html

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-stumps-grow-back-90467.html

ARTICLE II: University of California: prepared and edited by John M. Harper and Richard B. Standiford; written by: Douglas D. McCreary Natural Resource Specialist, U.C. Sierra Foothill Range Field Station

Douglas D. McCreary

Natural Resource Specialist, U.C. Sierra Foothill Range Field Station

Several recent inventories of California oaks have indicated that for several native species there is insufficient natural regeneration.

That is, there are not enough young seedlings becoming established to take the place of older trees that will eventually die.

One of the species reported to have this regeneration problem is Quercus douglasii, commonly called blue oak.

This species grows in vast ranges in the foothills surrounding the central basin of California.

While the amount of natural regeneration of blue oak is highly variable and is greatly influenced by specific site factors, the recognition that there are areas where few young seedlings are starting to grow has prompted studies to test alternative seeding and planting techniques.

These studies have revealed how difficult it is to establish blue oak seedlings and have shown that there is a wide variety of pests that damage acorns and young plants.

Grazing from wild and domestic animals often prevents seedlings from developing into saplings.

Predation of planted acorns and young shoots by rodents and birds can wipe out entire planted areas.

And competition from grasses and forbs can severely limit soil moisture and result in seedlings mortality from drought.

While there is an obvious need to develop successful artificial regeneration techniques so that blue oaks can be re-established on lands where they have been eliminated, an alternative management approach in areas where they are currently growing is to incorporate a system of partial harvesting, with sprouting from cut stumps as a means of establishing new trees.

From a regeneration standpoint, sprouting has several potential advantages over artificial regeneration.

First, since no acorns are involved, there is less risk of damage from insects, rodents or birds.

Second, since the root systems of established trees are massive in comparison to those of planted seeds or seedlings, they have a greater ability to tap soil moisture and maintain a more favorable water balance during the hot, dry summers characteristic of the blue oak region.

And finally, the initial growth rate of sprouts should be greater than that of planted seedlings since stored carbohydrates in the roots provide an abundant food reserve unavailable to small seedlings.A rapid initial growth rate may be critical to successful establishment since it should allow plants to grow above the level where they are susceptible to clipping or repeated browsing.

http://ucanr.edu/sites/oak_range/Oak_Articles_On_Line/Oak_Regeneration_Restoration/Stump_Sprouting__An_Alternative_Regeneration_Approach/

Talking Points:

the image of the stump is introduced

In the outline of Isaiah, chapters 1-12 are dealing with the Lord as the Holy One of Israel.

We saw this by looking at His names Lord/Adoni= Sovereign and LORD/YAWH= Holy.

In chapter 6 we have the Prophetic call and Revelation of God’s Holiness

God is set apart and He is setting apart a people for Himself.

Israel - is rebelling against God, meaning those called to be set apart are not living set apart, they are not in recognition or Holy submission at this time to the sovereign and Holy Lord God Almighty.

As a result, serious pruning must take place that life be saved…enter the terebinth or oak which has fallen and only a stump remains.

Word’s Defined

Stump

matstsebeth - pillar, stump, substance

matstsebeth - pillar, stump, substance

This word is used to reference a monument, a personal memorial at an altar or a stump.

I see both usages adding to the depth of our understanding.

Obviously given the context it is a stump of a tree, but also given the context that stump remains as a memorial, as a reminder of the sovereignty and holiness of God.

It is also important to note the meaning, “substance” within this word.

The KJV actually uses the word “substance” in its translation.

Substance is that which is real.

It is the life or that which is needed in the existence of something.

Thus, here we read, that though the tree has been cut down, it’s “substance” (the real, true life) remains and that “substance” (the real, true life) is the holy seed.

(that which is the line of and leading to Christ)

Seed

zera` - Seed, Sowing, Offspring

This is the substance needed to produce life.

Their remains life, and a life producing quality within the stump.

When this word is used in the moral sense (figuratively) it speaks of or represents a practitioner of righteousness.

Isaiah

Talking Points

Remembering that the stump is the “holy seed” let us now look at

The stump which was referred to as the “holy seed” is now referenced as the “stump of Jesse”.

Jesse.

The father of David ()

David inaugurated a great kingdom, but the greater David (Jesus) now only a tender plant will rule a greater kingdom.

The seed here has produced a shoot and a branch from it’s root which shall bear fruit.

A shoot is a young branch and branch is a Messianic title for Jesus, who yields spiritual fruit.

David (the son of Jesse) inaugurated a great kingdom, but the greater David (Jesus) now only a tender plant will rule a greater kingdom.

EXORTATION:

There is a life that you have perhaps worked hard to have.

Like Israel you have sought hard to create a life of substance in your pleasures and idolatries and forgotten that the very substance of life is in God alone.

Beloved we each begin in such a state, a state of growing in darkness, a state of needing to be rescued by God, a state of needing God’s work and plan of regeneration to take affect in us, whereby we may be uprooted from the path of sin and transplanted or born again by the Spirit of God in the regenerative work of Christ Jesus.

Regeneration -

1. Reproduction; the act of producing anew.

2. In theology, new birth by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and his law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and his law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart.

Wayne Gruden - A secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us; sometimes called “being born again.”

He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. .

He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. .

Gruden - A secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us; sometimes called “being born again.”

A. It is totally a work of God.

Though in conversion, sanctification and perseverance we are given by God an opportunity to play an active part, regeneration is a total work of God.

We are born of God, not of human will or effort.

This passivness on our part in the work of regeneration is further driven home when it is spoken of as being “born again.”

This work of regeneration is testified to:

by nature

Prophesy concerning Christ: Isaiah

Prophesy concerning our new heart: Ezekiel

Regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit, but in describing the process or rather the indescriblness of the prossess, Jay Gruden states:

Sometimes the term irresistible grace is used in this connection.

It refers to the fact that God effectively calls people and also gives the regeneration, and both actions guarantee that we will respond in saving faith.

The term irresistible grace is subject to misunderstanding, however, since it seems to imply that people do not make a voluntary, willing choice in responding to the gospel - a wrong idea, and a wrong understanding of the term irresistible grace.

The term does preserve something valuable, however, because it indicates that God’s work reaches into our hearts to bring about a response that is absolutely certain - even though we respond voluntarily.

Exactly what happens in regeneration is mysterious to us.

We know that somehow we who were spiritually dead () have been made alive to God and in a very real sense we have been “born again”.