Isaiah 4: The shortest chapter!

This is the shortest chapter in Isaiah and such a short chapter, we should all memorize it! Though I have said this at the beginning of each blog entry for Isaiah, the first six chapters are a judgment against Judah, the southern kingdom. That also includes Jerusalem. At this time, the northern kingdom of Israel was in captivity by the Assyrians and the 70-year Babylonian captivity had not yet begun for Judah and the southern kingdom. Let’s start by reading the entire chapter!

1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
"We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel;
Only let us be called by your name,
To take away our reproach."

2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped.
3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.
Isaiah 4:1-6 (NKJV)
As we begin to study these six verses, remember that the verses have significance historically (to the southern kingdom at this time period, around 700 B.C) and also prophetically. The prophetic significance seems to begin in the Great Tribulation and end in the Millennial Kingdom. We can see this by taking the events described in context. I will explain that further when I get to those points.
1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
"We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel;
Only let us be called by your name,
To take away our reproach."

The previous chapters in Isaiah have been discussing “The Day of the Lord,” a time when God judges the earth and its inhabitants. “And in that day” refers to that time period. As I mentioned before, that can refer to the Great Tribulation or more significantly, the last day of the Great Tribulation when Jesus returns, speaks a supernatural word and vanquishes all who oppose Him. Here, we can see by looking at the context that it is speaking of the Great Tribulation as it is an ongoing event. Continuous action would not take place in the moment that Jesus judges the sinful earth. I am not sure, but it appears by the first verse that more women will be alive in that time than men. In a 7-1 ratio, women will take hold of one man. Remember, in the Bible seven is the number of completeness. While the number does have symbolic meaning, God is also the Master Mathematician. He means what He says and says what He means, which shows us that this number will be just as exact as the numbers in other prophecies. The women are willing to provide their own food and clothing, if the man will marry them and give them his name. I might be stepping into a hornet’s nest by saying this, but what is the prime concern of most women in a relationship? Today, at least from my own perspective, it is financial security. Look at marriage at the time of this prophecy and you will see the same. Families arranged marriages, and the groom had to prove his ability to take care of the bride financially before most fathers were willing to allow the marriage to take place. Most marriages did not begin with the Romeo and Juliet version of true love. By taking the husband’s name, the woman would feel her reproach taken away.
I love how this applies even today to each one of us! In the Bible, all of us who have come to know Jesus as our personal Savior in the Church Age are known as the brides of Christ. In Bible times, as soon as a man proposed to a woman, they were married, but with a certain stipulation. The groom departed to prepare a place for both he and his bride. She waited patiently and expectantly for his return, though she did not know when it would be. In the same manner, Jesus has told us in His Word that we are His brides and in the same manner, He has left us temporarily:

1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:1-6 (NKJV)

When Jesus returns for us in the Rapture, He will take us to a feast in heaven known as the “Wedding Supper of the Lamb.” Additionally, He will take us to places prepared for us. If He created the world with a breath in six days, what will our accommodations be like if He has been gone for almost 2,000 years preparing them for us? As His brides, we should be waiting patiently and expectantly for His return! Do you see how this applies to the first verse in Isaiah?
The bride would supply her won clothing. Clothing is synonymous with our walk. Without Jesus, we are filthy rags. Later in Isaiah, we see a better description of this:

6 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

This is one of those places in the Bible that those doing the English translation tried to soften the language and not offend our ears. The words translated filthy rags actually literally means “used menstrual cloths.” In comparison to God’s righteousness, that is how the holiest of men appears. By taking the name of Jesus, each one of us loses that uncleanness, that unrighteousness, and we are clothed in His righteousness! Let’s go on to the second verse:

2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped.

“The Branch of the Lord” is a title of Jesus! The word “branch” appears 39 times in the Bible, with the first time the word is used referring to the six times the branch comes out of the candlestick, a description of the menorah used in the tabernacle. Let’s look at another verse in Isaiah to give us a strong reference to Jesus with this word:

1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
Isaiah 11:1-2 (NKJV)

To help you with this verse, remember that David is the stem of Jesse, so a Rod will come forth from the House of David, the bloodline of Christ. A Branch shall grow out of his roots tells us exactly that…the Messiah will be born from the line of King David. I included the next verse just because it is an extremely interesting one. In Revelation 3:1, we see “the seven Spirits of God,” and here in Isaiah, we see a description of the seven-fold nature of the Holy Spirit;

1. The Spirit of the LORD
2. The Spirit of wisdom
3. The Spirit of understanding
4. The Spirit of counsel
5. The Spirit of might
6. The Spirit of knowledge
7. The Spirit of the fear of the Lord

By looking closely at verse two, we can see that this refers to the Millennium, as Jesus is described as beautiful and glorious. The fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing. Is it that way now? No! Will it be that way in the Great Tribulation? A resounding, no! It will be this way “for those of Israel who have escaped.” Remember, the Great Tribulation refers to the last three and half years of the seven-year Tribulation. Satan and his hatred of the Jews will rule this time period and it will be worse than in any other time before. That is almost hard to imagine when you think of the 6 million Jews put to death in the Nazi regime, but it will be worse in the future than it has ever been in the past. How many of the Jews will survive that time? Let’s look for the answer in the Bible!

7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
Against the Man who is My Companion,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
"Strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered;
Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass in all the land,"
Says the LORD,
"That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
But one- third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, 'This is My people';
And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.' "
Zechariah 13:7-9 (NKJV)

These verses tell us what will happen in those days. Two-thirds of the Jews will die. Right now, there are 5.5 million Jews in Israel alone, with an estimated world population of somewhere between 12 and 14 million. With my fascination with numbers and God’s exactness, I have often wondered if the Rapture will occur when He has replaced the lives of those lost in the Holocaust. With 6 million Jews dead in that time period, it is interesting to see that there are now 5.5 million Jews in Israel, with that number growing daily! The Bible describes the time of the Jews beginning when “the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.” (Romans 11:25) That is when the last Gentile accepts Jesus as their Savior, and God’s exact number of Gentile souls saved is completed. The rapture occurs, with the Church being removed from the earth. Then God’s promises go back to the Jews, whose eyes have been blinded in part as far as seeing Jesus as their Messiah, their “Meshiach Nagid.” God will refine them, test them through fire and tribulation. At the end, all of them remaining will have accepted Jesus. Look at the New Covenant in either Jeremiah 31 of Hebrews 8:7:

31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD, for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NKJV)

Notice that it says, “all shall know me.” By that time in the Great Tribulation, God will have sifted the believing Jews from the unbelieving ones. The one-third remaining will be sealed for protection and will survive the Tribulation, and live as humans in the Millennial Kingdom, repopulating the earth. This description also applies to Isaiah 4:3-4:

3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
All of those remaining will be called holy.

How is it that an unholy man, filled with iniquity and sin, can be called holy? Once again, we will be judged based on the life that Jesus lived just as He was judged for the lives that we have lived! We are clothed in His righteousness, covered in His blood, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb who was sacrificed!
I think it is time for a rabbit-trail, a search through the Bible to reveal something related to this. In Genesis 6, when God destroyed the earth with a flood, He told us why. Satan had tried to ruin the bloodline of Christ by sending his demons to the earth to take wives. Let’s look at those verses:

1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:1-4 (NKJV)

The “sons of God” refers to angels, and not the angels fighting in God’s army but the one-third who joined forces with Satan in mutiny against God (read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 for more information on this event). The “daughters of men” refers to exactly what it seems like, with the word man being “Adam” in Hebrew. God explains at the end of that passage that there were giants on the earth in those days and afterward. The word for giants in Hebrew is “nephilim.” Noah’s bloodline was still pure and God spared his family. What does this have to do with this passage in Isaiah? In Luke it tells us that the days before the Tribulation will be very similar to the days before the Flood. Why would Satan try the same plan if it didn’t work the first time? I’ll answer that question with a question…why would Satan try to defeat God, who he knows is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent? Pride, the same reason Lucifer fell from being the greatest angel in God’s heavenly kingdom!

26 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 "Remember Lot's wife. 33 "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 "I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 "Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 "Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left." 37 And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?" So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."
Luke 17:26-37 (NKJV)

To apply this to the verses in Isaiah, I see that the “Lord has purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.” I don’t know that this is the case but it may apply to the same event happening again. I know that some Bible scholars believe that the antichrist will be a by-product of an earthly mother and nephilim (remember that in Hebrew “im” as a word ending signifies male and plural). As Satan copies everything God does, it makes sense that the antithesis of Jesus (who was born of God and a woman) would be born of woman and of the closest thing Satan could pull off, his demonic spirit. Okay, enough of that side trip, let’s finish Isaiah 4:

5 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

This is an interesting passage that I never noticed before. The Shekinah Glory of the Old Testament will be around again in the Millennium! Interestingly, many of us as Christians have heard that terminology referring to the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that remained with the Jews in their 40-year desert journey. Yet the word “Shekinah” never appears in the Bible. It is a term later generations of Jews used in reference to the presence of God in those forms. Regardless of the lack of this word in the Bible, it is the Old Testament representation of “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us.” What is the New Testament representation of the same word? Well, in Bible times, “God with us” was Jesus walking daily on this earth. In times since His departure to heaven, “God with us” applies to the Holy Spirit, who dwells inside each of us believers. While it must have been amazing to see that pillar of cloud and fire, for light and protection, and amazing to walk on this earth beside Jesus, I think that what we have is the most amazing gift of all. God inside of us, going everywhere we go, being with us when we are awake and with us when we are asleep! Over all the glory there will be a covering. God lived in a temporary dwelling place for many years on this earth, as the Jews moved the tabernacle as they moved. Solomon built the first temple so that God would have a permanent dwelling place in Jerusalem. This passage refers to the fourth temple, the Millennial Temple. I always thought the Millennial Kingdom would return everything to the way they were in the days of Adam and Eve, before sin, but we know from this passage that won’t be entirely true. In the days of Adam and Eve, there was no rain. In fact, until the Flood, no one had seen rain, as all the plants were watered from underground. But we see that in the Millennium there will be storms and rain as there is a tabernacle for refuge from both of those. This passage is another that demonstrates the return of the Shekinah to the Temple. Here is another of those passages:

Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw--like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
Ezekiel 43:1-5 (NKJV)

That finishes this short chapter!