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Home , Isaiah 4

Isaiah Chapter 3 and 4: Past and Future

Introduction Today we’re going to study chapters 3 & 4 together as chapter 4 is very short. These chapters begin with judgement on , but end with a picture of Jerusalem’s future under God’s protection. Remember chapter 2; it began with the picture of the renewed Jerusalem during Christ’s reign on earth, and then described the Day of God’s Wrath in graphic detail. So taking these two weeks studies together, we see that chapters 2 – 4 have a symmetrical pattern: Hope / Judgement – Judgement/ Hope Some of these passages in Isaiah describing judgement may seem a wee bit depressing, but they help us to see how deeply God feels about sin, particularly sin in His own people. Sin is very serious and God never takes it lightly even if we do. We can learn just as much about how not to live through these chapters as we can through parts of the which highlight good, upright and faithful people. As we unpick the poetry and find the teaching, let’s consider the kind of people God wants us to be.

3:1-7 God announces what He’s going to do - Jo 2:22 said “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?” So the focus immediately shifts from mortal man, to eternal God: For behold, the Lord God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread And the whole supply of water; 2 The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, 3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter. 4 And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them, 5 And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable. 6 When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,” 7 He will protest on that day, saying, “I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

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V1 - Lord God of Hosts! This is an awesome title for God. Hosts means “a mass of persons organized for war” (an army); I usually understand it to mean God’s angelic warriors; so here we have a picture of God as a general, in charge of a vast and super powerful army; a God you don’t want to mess with. And what does the Lord of Hosts say? He’s going to remove His protection and provision from His people. Isaiah is not addressing the whole of mankind anymore; his focus has narrowed down again to God’s own chosen people, Jerusalem in the nation of Judah. He’s going to remove the supply: the essentials of bread, water and clothing (v1): Events in March gave us an idea of what happens when the supply is removed. Empty supermarket shelves after panic buying gave us a tiny glimpse of how we’d feel if the whole country suddenly ran out of bread. Thankfully the shortages for us only lasted a few weeks before the supply picked up again, but what if it hadn’t? God will also remove the support: all the capable leaders who enable society to function. (v2&3 mention diviners & enchanters, this does not mean that God endorsed them, but that such people had become leaders in the nation and were now respected, something God never intended for them; they should have been expelled.) One translation has “prop and pillar” instead of “supply and support”. What will happen then? Take the pillars away from a building, and it collapses. So we see society in Jerusalem falling apart as a consequence of God’s protective hand being removed from the city. V4-7, inexperienced people, like children, will be thrust into leadership and those who do not want the positions will be placed there. V6 – someone will be asked to lead just because they look the part or have the right clothes! They’ll protest that they don’t have the supplies or the skills to do the job, but there’s no one else. So society will teeter from side to side and the result will be total instability for lack of strong leadership. When was this going to happen? I believe this prophecy was fulfilled over 100 years later when the Babylonians invaded Judah. Maps – Assyrian & Babylonian Invasions During Isaiah’s lifetime the Assyrians totally decimated the northern kingdom of and took them all captive. The following year the Assyrians returned with their sights on Judah. They captured all the walled towns in Judah except Jerusalem. (721BC). They would have taken many people from Judah captive too. You can find the Biblical account of this in 2 Kings 18-19 and 2 Chronicles 32. For the next century, Assyrian power was waning, and ’s was increasing. The capital of was Nineveh, and historians tells us Nineveh fell to the Babylonians 109 years after Assyria’s failed attempt to capture Jerusalem (612BC). From then on, Babylon became the dominant world power. Turn map off About 15 years after conquering Assyria, and 124 years after Assyria tried to capture Jerusalem, the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem, removed the Jewish king

Isaiah Chapter 3 And 4 2 and took all the leading men of Judah to Babylon. Daniel and his friends were undoubtedly in this group. 2 Kings 24:8-17. 8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. … 9 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father had done. 10 At that time officers of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself arrived at the city while his officers were besieging it. 12 Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother, his ministers, officers, and functionaries, surrendered to the king of Babylon, who, in the eighth year of his reign took him captive. … [jump to verse 14] 14 He deported all Jerusalem: all the officers and warriors of the army, ten thousand in number, and all the artisans and smiths. Only the lowliest of the people of the land were left. 15 He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, his wives, his functionaries, and the chiefs of the land he led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All seven thousand soldiers of the army, and a thousand artisans and smiths, all of them trained warriors, these too the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17 In place of Jehoiachin the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king; he changed his name to Zedekiah. So you see, while God as general could command His heavenly army to march in and execute His judgement, it was not time for that yet. It would be too terrifying. It’s as if He doesn’t want to show His hand completely until the last days that we read about in chapter 2. Instead, God uses human armies to execute His judgements. At this stage in the history of His chosen people, He used all the nations around Israel and Judah to punish them for their sins.

3:8-15 God explains His reasons – Jo For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord, To rebel against His glorious presence. 9 The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. 10 Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions. 11 Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him. 12 O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them.

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O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths.

V8, Why has Jerusalem fallen? “Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence.” This is what Isaiah witnessed in Jerusalem; the people were living in God’s city but they were probably blaspheming as everyone does today with their mouths and they were living contrary to God’s Holy ways. The Temple in Jerusalem should have been a resting place for God’s presence, but His own people were living as if He couldn’t see them. Their words and deeds showed they didn’t care what He thought of them. As Christians we need to be careful that we do not live this way, we too can be born again of the Holy Spirit but continue living our own way. Just like Jerusalem the blessing of the Lord would lift from our lives too! V9, The people proudly go about their daily life hardly considering the Lord at all, and not even aware they are sinning. But their sin to God is like Sodom, parading it publicly. We have similar situation these days, it reminds me of Pride marches! For all these reasons, God must lift His protection from them. V10-11, are just like Psalm 1, describing the two roads, the two ways. Everyone has a choice: even though God is punishing the city, godly individuals within the city will be saved and blessed, even though they might be saved out of the fire! There’s a biblical principle here: God deals differently with nations and individuals. Often in the we read of God’s judgement against nations, and this gives the impression many people have that the God of the Old Testament is more harsh and less loving than Jesus, when you look closely, He’s always preserving a remnant of people who are faithful to Him, and they will always be blessed. However, since the vast majority in Jerusalem & Judah were sinners, God would allow the nation to fall; but save those who hold on in faith! V12 you can hear God’s sorrow and love in this verse. Even though He’s judging Judah, these words express a longing that things were different, and give us an understanding of His reasons for their ultimate restoration.

God as Judge: 13 The Lord arises to contend, And stands to judge the people. 14 The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. 15 “What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the face of the poor?” Declares the Lord God of hosts.

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V13-15, A powerful Court room picture here, with God as the Judge making His entrance. Who is in the dock? V14 all the corrupt Leaders!! This sheds light on why Nebuchadnezzar took all those influential people into exile first. God blames them for the nation’s depravity. V14, “You have devoured the vineyard!” (Chapter 5, The Vineyard is an Old Testament picture of Israel) The leaders (government) had spoiled the nation. V14-15, “The plunder of the poor is in your houses.” They had abused the needy people! When God gave the law through Moses, it had many provisions within to protect poor people, especially orphans, widows and foreigners. This has always been God’s heart, but He’s accusing the leaders of failing in this duty.

3:16 – 4:1God denounces the pride of women (Jerusalem) – Andy Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of are proud And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps And tinkle the bangles on their feet, 17 Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.” 18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, 19 dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, 20 headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, 21 finger rings, nose rings, 22 festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23 hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils. 24 Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction; Instead of a belt, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty. 25 Your men will fall by the sword And your mighty ones in battle. 26 And her gates will lament and mourn, And deserted she will sit on the ground. 4:1 For 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!”

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We are looking at the Society of Isaiah’s day with God’s eyes and as we look at Jerusalem, we are looking at our own Nation too. The most beautiful Hollywood actresses and Models standing for their pictures at the Oscars with £10,000 dresses and jewellery to match, living the millionaire lifestyles. The women that everyone look up to in our culture. But if they do not know Christ, this is how God sees them, they are dirty and unclean on the inside and like everyone else without Christ they are heading for destruction! V26, These women just discussed become a picture of how God sees Jerusalem, a city who should have been Holy, God’s Bride, but is far away like one of these proud women, now brought to ruins! This is also how God sees every Godless Nation.

4:2-6 God describes Jerusalem’s future hope – Andy 2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. 3 It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, 5 then the Lord will create over the whole area of and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6 There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. There is hope, though God has pointed out where Jerusalem will end up and for what reasons, there is another day coming. This vision stands as a mirrored bookend to the vision we looked at last week in :1-!!!!! V2, In that day, Isaiah sees the Jerusalem after Christ has returned again. “The Branch of the Lord,” This is a special title for the Messiah, we gain extra light on this in Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s Prophecies. :5-6, “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will raise up for a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’

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Zechariah 6:12-13 “Then say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. 13 “Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honour and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”’

Is. 11:1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of , And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Prophets agree that, “The Branch” is a person and • He is a descendant of David. • He is a King. • Judah will be saved through Him. • He will be the Lord of righteousness. • He will build the new Temple in Jerusalem. • He will be both King and Priest. So in the Prophecy of Isaiah 4, Isaiah is looking at a time when the Branch will be sitting, “beautiful and glorious” on the throne in Jerusalem. With Him will be all the “survivors,” all those who lived Godly lives through all the centuries! V3, We will be there too friends, if we are truly saved, because our names will be written in God’s book of life. Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” V4, Jerusalem will go through the final Judgement along with the rest of the world, in the time of the Great Tribulation, where God will judge sin in this fallen world, but out the other side, Jerusalem will be saved and raised to life again as the Holy City it was always meant to be, when the King sits on the throne. V5-6, Jerusalem will be the place of holiness because the presence of the Lord will be there. As the Israelites travelled through the Wilderness they witnessed the physical Presence of the Lord as a pillar of cloud by day and flame by night, this is what we shall see over Jerusalem, Jesus will be on the throne and God Himself will be physically visible in the manifestation of cloud and fire. “Glory will be a Canopy.” The Shekinah glory of God covering the whole city, just as the Israelite people used to marry they would stand under a canopy, here we see God Himself covering the people that he has covenanted to protect and provide for. So in these verses Jerusalem moves from corrupt to Holy. Those of us who are born again of the Holy Spirit will one day in our resurrection bodies witness the Holy Jerusalem with King Jesus sitting on the throne, just as we have read it here. The two verses which tie this teaching together is,

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Ch 3:8, For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To crebel against His glorious presence. For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence. Ch 4:5, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. In Isaiah’s day and today, the Leaders of Jerusalem rebel against the glorious Presence of the Lord, many deny God’s existence, or do not seek relationship with Him. But it is God’s city. One day the glorious Presence will live there in a physical way, and we will live to see it.

Conclusion / Application - Andy V10-11 Friends, this is clear gospel teaching, the one who followers the Lord down the narrow way will be blessed, regardless of what happens to the Godless Nation. Let us pray for our Nation and our Leaders, but in the end, we may be on a very different path to most of them and most in our societies. But just like Pilgrims progress, the path of the righteous person leads eventually towards the Holy city. Many people who will not surrender to the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross and they are heading for judgement!

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