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Reading Isaiah 4:1-6 and hearing about the promise of the coming Christ, who will be for us our washing and purification, who makes us holy and calls us His. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Isaiah chapter 4 is a short chapter but in these few verses we've got a powerful promise of a king who is to come and a kingdom that we receive all who believe in his name when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text.
Teaching through a New Testament book on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday an Old Testament book on Thursday and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study.
Today here's Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. In our study of Isaiah we're up to chapter 4 this week and it's a short chapter. We just got six verses here but what I'm going to do is start off by reading all of chapter 4 and then I'll give you an outline of this chapter along with what we'll get into in chapter 5 next week because all of this kind of flows together.
So let me begin here with Isaiah 4 1 through 6 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord and seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes only let us be called by your name take away our reproach.
In that day the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the honor of those of Israel who escape. It will be that he who remains in Zion and is left in Jerusalem will be called holy everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and rinsed away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.
Then Yahweh will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her convocation a cloud by day even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory will be a canopy and there will be a booth to give shade from the heat by day and refuge and a hiding place from the storm and the rain.
Now let me explain here how our two chapters break up. Here's our basic outline. So chapter 4 verse 1 that was actually a carryover from what we read last week out of Isaiah. Chapter 3 verse 1 still goes with Isaiah 3 but I'm gonna recap that verse and kind of explain where we came from as we get into these next five verses of chapter 4 which prefaces the coming of Christ's kingdom in that day the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious.
Now chapter 5 verses 1 through 7 could be a separate section but since we have the kingdom of Christ foretold in chapter 4 and we have the reference of a vineyard in chapter 5 which is actually going to sound a little bit like some things we read previously in song of songs then I'm gonna say that chapter 4 verse 2 through chapter 5 verse 7 goes together since we have the branch of Yahweh that is foretold.
And then the song of the vineyard in chapter 5 verses 1 through 7 all of that kind of seems to be connected. But then we go back to woes against the wicked verses 8 through 23 and then the last part verses 24 to 30 of chapter 5 are detailing the consequences of those who will persist and continue in wickedness.
So let's start back here in chapter 4 verse 1 this is where we ended last week. I went ahead and read this verse. Seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes only let us be called by your name take away our reproach.
So what we saw in the wickedness of Judah. In all of chapter 3 we saw men and women independent of one another. Men were not seeking after women. Women were even rebelling against men. Men were being lazy and not fulfilling their obligations and their duties as men of God protecting Judah and leading this nation.
And so because they were lazy and complacent and had even become effeminate then the women rose up and took charge. And hence you have the woe in verse 12 oh my people their task masters are infants and women rule over them.
If there were any men to be found they were immature children basically lacking both wisdom and strength to be able to lead and deliver Judah. And then of course the women and it was the same thing with them lacking wisdom and strength.
Now that doesn't mean that all women are unwise. But those women were detailed for us as being like the Instagram women of today like I had made the comparison to last week. Women who just flaunted their own beauty.
And they made the men around them weak. And none of them really depended upon men. They just wanted the attention. They weren't humbling themselves to become wives and mothers but they were. They were arrogant and haughty.
But then what will happen when judgment comes upon Judah. In those days seven women will take hold of one man. Now remember numbers are significant in the Bible and that number seven is the number of completion.
So this is talking about a judgment that has come upon Judah that is a complete judgment. And the humiliation of women will be complete in that they did not take husbands in the days when they should have.
So now you've got seven women trying to take hold of one man saying we'll eat our own bread and wear our own clothes only let us be called by your name so that we will not be sold into slavery or prostitution or become destitute take away our reproach.
So that's the leftover from what we read in Isaiah chapter 3 that one verse there at the start of chapter 4 and it says at the beginning of verse 2 in that day. So in the day when the judgment will be complete and the people will be clamoring for deliverance the women are clamoring for deliverance.
And the women there even in chapter 4 verse 1 they're kind of indicative of all of Judah. So it's like Judah coming back to the Lord saying please take us to yourself take away our reproach. But that's kind of the picture that's being painted there.
So in that day when the people will realize their own folly and the consequences of their wickedness their rebellion against God in that day it says in verse 2 the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious.
So this is foretelling the coming of Christ which of course would be 700 years after all of these things are prophesied. And remember that when Christ came Judah had just finished up this period of 400 years of silence.
They hadn't heard from God at all no prophet had even spoken to them. And the the people had become ignorant of God's Word and his law. Hence why you had in Matthew chapter 2 the Magi coming into Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born King of the Jews.
And all the people were alarmed by this. They had no idea what they were talking about because they had forgotten God and his word. They were not even looking for the one who was promised. But there were people who were looking for Yahweh.
We read in Luke about Simeon and Anna the prophet and the prophetess who were indeed looking for the coming of Christ and to them the branch of Yahweh was beautiful and glorious to those who were truly seeking the Lord then the coming of Christ was glorious to them.
And this even translates to us today. This is not just talking about what would be fulfilled in Judah although that's certainly the immediate context but even to us today when you come to a knowledge and a realization of your sin and someone gives you the gospel the branch of Yahweh is beautiful and glorious.
The good news that Jesus Christ has died for your sins he has risen again from the dead so that all who believe in him our sins are forgiven. And we have the promise of everlasting life fellowship once again with God.
This is what Judah should be clamoring for. And the resolution or the answer to their cry is the branch of Yahweh beautiful and glorious. And the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the honor of those of Israel who escape now this promise is not going to be fulfilled for several centuries with Christ's first coming his first advent.
Which is why we refer to the Christmas season as the season of advent. This is when Christ came to this earth. And so in that day those who escape the judgment those who in their minds have not been hardened or in their hearts they have not been hardened against the Lord but are still seeking after his word and for the fulfillment of his promises.
In that day when Christ comes the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the honor of those in Israel who escape. And we see Simeon's song of rejoicing when he got the opportunity to hold the Christ child.
So indeed his chance to be there in Jerusalem when Mary and Joseph come on the eighth day to have Jesus circumcised. What a wonderful opportunity for him to be able to see that in the prophetess Anna as well.
It was the pride and honor to escape the judgment of God and be able to see the deliverance of the promised Messiah. It will be verse 3 that he who remains in Zion and is left in Jerusalem will be called holy.
Everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem now this is a foreshadowing of the Lamb's Book of Life which of course we have detailed in the book of Revelation. The book of life is talked about elsewhere in Isaiah.
This is going to come back up again. But there there were books in Jerusalem among Judah and Israel that where they had written down in these books the lives of every single person who lived in Israel and Judah this was part of their census.
It was a census that they took according to the law of Moses. We see it in the book of Numbers. When a census is taken there every tribe and every person is written down. It chronicles to the number how many men were fit for battle in the in the battles that they were going to have to fight coming into the promised land.
All of that stuff was written down that continued even to the day that Isaiah is prophesying this here and even to the day that Christ was born. Remember that it was the the the command that a census needed to be taken that led Mary and Joseph to go from Nazareth down to Bethlehem so that the scriptures could be fulfilled that the Virgin would be with child and he would be born there in the city of David.
All of those things were foretold. All of those things came to pass exactly how God ordained them to happen. This wasn't God using the best of a situation so that oh that thing that I had one of my prophets prophesy I guess I better do something to make sure it happens that way.
So oh look it just so happens that the Caesar of Rome has declared a census perfect. So now we're gonna get Mary and Joseph down to Bethlehem. So yeah what was prophesied would would happen. This isn't the Lord making the best of a situation he had ordained that these things would take place.
He had ordained from the foundation of the world that a man would come along named Caesar Augustus who would declare a census and Mary and Joseph would make the hundred-mile trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem so that the Christ child could be born in the city of David.
All of this was set up by God to happen exactly this way. And again this happens by the edict of a census and keeping track of people and knowing their names and lineages and everything written down in these records.
This was very important to Jews. And so you have this reference here in verse 3 that it will be that those who remain in Zion that's the mountain of God wherever God dwells is referred to as Mount Zion and is left in Jerusalem.
That's the city surrounding Mount Zion because the temple is built there on the on Mount Moriah so that's referred to now as Mount Zion since that's where God dwells. So Jerusalem the city around it will be called holy.
Everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem. So those who would have been driven out by the exile of course which is foretold in Isaiah that the city is going to be sacked that the temple is going to be destroyed that the people are going to be exiled.
All of those things are foretold here. And when all of that happens there will be records of those who were driven out there will also be records of those who remained or who came back. So you will have those who are written down for life in Jerusalem and they will be called holy now.
That's not in reference to those who are able to return from the exile although that may have been what the Jews thought when Isaiah had prophesied that. But again this is talking about what it will be like in the day that Jesus comes when he comes in his first advent when the incarnation happens.
So who will be those that will be written down for life in Jerusalem. Will it won't be those who are literally written down in the census records. It will be those who are spiritually written down in the records of heaven.
Those whom God has preserved a remnant to himself they will be called holy because he makes them holy. Everyone who is written down for life in Jerusalem. And once again this is a precursor to the Lamb's Book of Life.
And it's talked about how in Revelation our names are written in that book from before the foundation of the world go read it. And Revelation 13 verse 8 those whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world will worship the beast.
But those whose names have been recorded in God's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world will not worship the beast. They will not go after the ways of Satan. They will be preserved the preserved remnant who will be the worshipers of Christ.
All of this from before time began. God has determined and decided these things. We read later on in Revelation how at the great judgment books will be opened and people will be judged by the works that are written down according to those books.
And another book will be open. And it's the Lamb's Book of Life. So those who did good works will be written in the Lamb's Book of Life because they did the will of the Father. Jesus talks about that in Matthew chapter 7.
In Matthew chapter 25 those who did the will of the Father are those who were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But those who did the works of Satan will not have been written down in that book. When you come to faith in Christ you came to faith because your name was written down in that book from before time began praise the Lord for his grace and his mercy toward you.
You are called holy because your name was written in that book. David talks about this Psalm 139. Every day for me was written in your book before one of them came to be before one of those days came into existence.
They were all written down in God's book for us. Verse 4 when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and rinsed away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.
Comma. So that's not a complete sentence there. But let's talk about what we've read. So the the Lord will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion. That's how we concluded chapter 3. Remember we concluded chapter 3 reading about these haughty puffed-up slutty women who were flaunting their beauty and wooing men but not humbling themselves or committing themselves to becoming wives and mothers.
They were prostitutes. They acted like prostitutes. And if you think my language about that is harsh go read what the Lord says about them in Ezekiel 16. May want to read that chapter first before your kids do so.
The Lord has washed his bride. The Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion. And you when you come to Christ you are part of his bride the church. And he has washed us and made us clean.
As said in Ephesians 5 we are sanctified by the washing of water with the word he has rinsed away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst all those things that we were guilty of the blood that was on our hands because of our rebellion against God the Lord washes us clean when we come to faith in Jesus Christ.
We read about that back in Isaiah chapter 1. By the way this reference to having bloody hands wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. The Lord says to Israel. So in coming to Christ he washes us. He makes us clean by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.
Now spirit there is not capitalized. It's not a capital S. So it's not in reference to the Holy Spirit at least not directly. But you could take this as meaning the Holy Spirit indirectly. Consider it once again the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and rinsed away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.
What did Jesus say about the work of the Holy Spirit when he promised the Holy Spirit to his disciples. In John 16 8 he says. When he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
Concerning sin because they do not believe in me. And concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged.
And remember that John the Baptist talking about the coming of Christ preparing the way of Christ he said in Matthew 3 11. I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove his sandals.
He will baptize you. How. With the Holy Spirit and with fire. So it's not directly in reference to the Holy Spirit. But you could certainly take it to be in reference to the Holy Spirit in an indirect way.
God will wash us by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning the spirit of judgment. In that our hearts will be convicted. We will recognize our sin the spirit of burning and that we will be purified by his spirit.
Verse 5. Then Yahweh will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her convocation a cloud by day even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory will be a canopy.
Now you know what this is in reference to right. This is looking back at the fact that the Israelites were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night in the Exodus when they were leaving Egypt and heading toward the promised land.
Of course there's the wandering in the desert for 40 years but they were led by the spirit of God in this way. And whenever the tabernacle was pitched God came down in the pillar of cloud or by night.
It was that pillar of fire that descended upon the the Holy of Holies there at the tabernacle it lit the entire camp. Even at night the people knew that the Spirit of God was with them because they could look and see that the pillar of fire is there.
The Lord is with us. And same sort of thing is being said here in verse 5. The Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion this this is his church because it's where God dwells and over her convocation a cloud by day even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night.
For over all the glory will be a canopy. We know that God is with us. It's not in the same way that Israel knew it. We know it because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And if ever we doubt the love of God we look at the cross that God gave his son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
We know that God loves us because he gave his son that we might be with him. And then verse 6 and there will be a booth to give shade from the heat by day and refuge and a hiding place from the storm and the rain.
And that's Jesus Christ who tabernacles with us. You can see how what we've read this week in Hebrews chapter 8 just leads right into what we're reading here in Isaiah 4. Even what we just celebrated at Christmas time comes out of this passage that we're reading here.
It's a short chapter but it's powerful a preface to the coming of Christ. Prophecy concerning the coming of Christ and even the building of his church all that we receive the blessings of God in Christ Jesus our Lord spoken about symbolically here in Isaiah 4.
And we're gonna read about this further when we get into chapter 5 next week. Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly father we thank you for your goodness toward us. The giving of your son for our sins. We know we are saved by looking to Jesus Christ who has ransomed us to himself.
So because he paid such a price for us giving his own life for us. May we live our lives to his glory. And to his name as said in Psalm 23 lead us in paths of righteousness for your namesake. May we live unto you this day putting our hope and trust in Christ living our lives to his name in Jesus.
Name we pray amen. This has been when we understand the text of pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts episodes videos books and more visit our website at www .utt .com if you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email when we understand the text at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word. When we understand the text.