A Root Out of Dry Ground

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form of comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:1-2, NKJV)

Isaiah 53 is known as the Crucifixion chapter, depicting Christ as a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” and as the “One who was smitten of God and afflicted … wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities” (Is. 53:4-5). And yet, in all this graphic language of Christ’s crucifixion and death, there is a glimmer of hope, a ray of sunshine, and a seedling of serendipity found in the phrase, “a root out of dry ground”!

Think about it. Jesus is the Root that needs nothing else to thrive. He doesn’t need prestige or power or position or politics. He doesn’t need economics or education or prognostication. Because He is the Root, all He needs is someone to plant Him in some dry ground. Allow me to simply share two challenges …

1) Let’s plant Him in the Dry Ground of our World!

When you see the chaos in our world—good being called evil and evil being called good—you simply need to plant the Root there. The Apostle Paul said, “This know first, that in the last days perilous times will come…” (2 Tim. 3:1-5). One can have the discernment of a jellybean and recognize that perilous times are upon us when…

• Christ is being kicked out of schools and universities.
• Children are receiving teaching with an Anti-Christ agenda.
• Transgender boys are being allowed to have access to girls’ locker rooms.
• Mass shootings are happening monthly.
• People are looting stores in broad daylight without consequences.
• Chaos may be gripping the globe, but we can still plant Him as a root out of dry ground! We can plant Him in a…
• Darkened America and watch Him grow.
• Communist China and watch Him grow.
• Post-Christian Europe and watch Him grow.
• Atheistic Russia and watch Him grow.
• Post-Covid world and watch Him grow.

Let’s not give up on America or the nations of the world. There are still 7400 unreached people groups, and God just needs someone to plant the Root in some dry ground. He is not looking for young people or old people or gifted people or talented people; He’s looking for obedient people.

2) Let’s Plant Him in the Dry Ground of the PCG!

Some people still look at the PCG as dry ground while saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But they don’t understand the result of the root out of dry ground! The PCG is not a lemonade stand operation; we are a global church with a global mission. A 2nd-Century PCG is engaging on the mission field and not on the sidelines, waging war against the enemy, sitting at the table of Kingdom impact, and playing on all sides of the tracks!

I used to ask the question, “What unique contribution is the PCG making in these last days?” But we’ve moved passed that question because we are no longer another organizational machine in duplicate form. We’re making a unique contribution by establishing a presence in 100 nations! When I see young leaders investing in KUEST for Kids, the Forerunner Experience, Messenger College, and our online credential process, I see the result of the root out of dry ground.

Did you know that virtually every major revival that has taken place in the world has been led by people in their twenties and thirties? Martin Luther was just thirty-four when he catalyzed the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Evan Roberts was only twenty-six when the Welsh Revival broke out and over 100,000 souls came to Jesus in Whales over the course of nine months. At that time, a young Evan Roberts met with some twenty-somethings and began praying, “Lord, bend us. Lord, bend me.”

Young Agnes Ozman was a student in Topeka, Kansas in 1901 when Pentecostalism broke out in the U.S. She began speaking in tongues (or actually Chinese!) for several days and couldn’t even speak English. Then the Azusa Street Revival broke out just five years later in 1906, led by a thirty-six-year-old African American, William Seymour. It lasted for eight years and touched people all over the U.S and world.

I know John Wesley talked about one hundred preachers who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, but I say, “Just give us twelve preachers who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and we will shake the gates of hell and turn the world upside down for Heaven’s sake.”

As our opening Scripture in Isaiah 53 declares, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The question is difficult, but the answer is simple... He is revealed to those who have decided to plant the root out of dry ground!