In this passage, God foretells how His remnant of Judah that would escape the judgement coming upon their nation would undergo a two-part process to accomplish His will:

And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.  32  For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Isaiah 37:31-32 NKJV

In a clever parallel to the botanical kingdom, God stated that Judah’s remnant would first put down a strong root system to support the “plant,” then reach upward with stalk, leaf, bud and bloom to produce the fruit of righteousness. This is the rule with plants. No fruit until bloom, no bloom until bud, no bud until leaf, no leaf until stalk. And no stalk without root.

So where’s the application for us? Have you ever experienced (or are currently experiencing) a season of barren-ness in your service to God? So often we have a change in heart today, and want to eat the sweet fruits of righteousness by evening. Listen to Peter’s admonition:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,  3  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,  4  by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  5  But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,  6  to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,  7  to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  8  For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9  For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 2 Peter 1:2-9 NKJV 

Our desire as Christians is to partake in God’s divine nature. Part of this is escaping from the trap of lust (evil desires). If we desire to bear fruit in God’s Kingdom, we must root downward into the behaviors and attitudes Peter lists. Just like the plant, it’s a step-by-step process. He promises us that if we graft these things into our life, they cause us to be fruitful. If we lack these things, we are suffering from spiritual short-sightedness and blindness, forgetting that we have been purged from sin to seek God instead. Let’s not forget. Let’s root downward so that we may bear fruit upward.