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Isaiah 4:2-6 - Good News In The Bad News · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle talk. Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle talk. Today we are in Isaiah chapter
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  4, Isaiah chapter 4, and actually Isaiah 4 is a very,
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  very short passage of scripture. And so we're going to be taking
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  almost the entire chapter. We ended last episode with
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  chapter 4 and verse #1 as it's all kind of 1 section in there,
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  as Isaiah is prophesying about the southern Kingdom of Judah,
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  about as we saw or heard last episode, God's judgment on the
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  women of Judah, even as he had prophesied about his judgments
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  on the men of Judah. And so we saw some different
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  aspects of that. And then this episode kind of
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  has the good news with the bad news.
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  So over the last several episodes, since we ended chapter
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  2, it's been all pretty, pretty bad.
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  Chapter 3 is here's God removing former places of trust, people
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  that Judah and Jerusalem would have relied on in order to give
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  them safety or security as a nation and as people.
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  And so now God says, yes, I'm taking away a bunch of stuff
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  from your lives, but there is going to be something good that
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  happens when you guys lose everything except for me.
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  And so let's read chapter Yeah, chapter 4, verses 2 through 6
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  right now about the good news, even with the bad news of
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  Judah's exile. He says on that day when
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  everything else has run out for Judah, for Israel, says on that
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  day, the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious, and
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  the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's
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  survivors. Whoever remains in Zion and
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  whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy.
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  All in Jerusalem written in the book of Life, When the Lord has
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  washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed
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  the blood guilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of
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  judgement and a spirit of burning, then y'all we will
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  create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by
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  night over the entire side of Mount Zion and over its
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  assemblies. For there will be a canopy over
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  all the glory, and there will be a shelter for shade from heat by
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  day, and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.
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  So here, as Isaiah thinks about the hardships that the people
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  would encounter, he wants to give them hope even in the
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  brokenness. And he looks forward in time.
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  And certainly he can see Israel's survivors there.
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  He can see those that would not be taken away captive to
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  Babylon. But he sees even further past
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  that to what God is ultimately doing.
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  You see, though God was bringing judgement on Israel and Judah
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  for their sin, He was not done with them.
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  He wasn't throwing them away. Instead, He had future plans for
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  their spiritual prospering. So let's look at some of these
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  things that are specifically stated in verse #2 It says on
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  that day, the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful and glorious,
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  and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of
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  Israel's survivors. Here.
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  This branch of Yahweh is someone.
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  It is a person and I want to highlight that real quick
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  because the latter half the verse talks about the fruit of
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  the land. So that would be the crops that
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  are produced or the animal herds that would be around that would
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  be able to be killed for meat or perhaps for, you know, to be
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  sheared for clothing, things like that.
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  So God says there will be enough plenty in the land to be able to
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  be the, if you will, pride and glory of Israel's survivors
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  here, that there is able to be sufficient provision for the
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  needs of God's people. What a joy that we can find
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  sufficient provision from our God for the needs that we have
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  today. I think about the Lord's Prayer
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  some that I pray nightly with my kids.
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  Give us this day Our Daily Bread, or as I kind of
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  paraphrased it for my kiddos, give us what we need today, That
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  every single day that goes by, you know, if I ask God, hey God,
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  give me enough provision for next Thursday.
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  Right now it's a Saturday when I'm recording this.
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  Like God could give that to me, but it wouldn't do me any good
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  until I got to that Thursday. I, I don't need it until
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  Thursday, but when Thursday comes, I'm going to be really
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  glad for the Lords provision. And so even here with the
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  remainders there in Israel, the survivors that are there, they
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  are grateful for God's provision.
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  And God says I am going to take care of you.
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  Just because you have messed up, just because there had to be
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  consequences for your actions does not mean that I do not love
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  you, that I do not care about you, that I don't have a purpose
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  even in the hardship. And I want to encourage you.
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  Sometimes in our lives we go through difficulties and we we
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  have not, if you will, earned it, quote UN quote that just as
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  a result of us living in a fallen world as a result of us
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  having the enemy of our souls, Satan himself that is against
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  us. Sometimes we will go through
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  hard times. There are times, and we would
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  read this throughout Scripture where we do fail the Lord and as
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  a result, we go into a time of testing or hardship so that God
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  is able to, as he talks about here in these verses, refine us
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  through, if you will, through fire.
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  That as our lives heat up, what was sin in our life kind of
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  rises to the top and we begin to recognize bad habits or bad
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  language or vocabulary that have just become a part of who we
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  are. And so we recognize, man, this
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  has to go. If I'm going to be one of these
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  God people, one of the Jesus people, then I can't continue to
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  be who I've been. And so we pursue that.
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  We pursue the holiness of God, but he does so through the
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  purpose of that refining fire like gold or silver, you heat
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  up, it turns to liquid. All of the impurities, the
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  imperfections. What is not gold or silver rises
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  to the top. You scrape that off and what you
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  are left with is pure and pure gold and silver.
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  So that's sorry, I went on a little bit of a detour on that
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  second part of our the first part of the earth.
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  The part I wanted to talk about was on that day, the day of
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  judgment. The branch of Yahweh will be
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  beautiful and glorious. The branch of Yahweh is a person
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  that's going to be referenced and talked about throughout
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  Isaiah. And this would be ultimately
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  Jesus. It is God Himself and His
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  presence within us that as Isaiah fleshes this out through
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  many chapters of his prophecies and poetry and writings, he
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  makes it clearer and clearer for us who this branch of Yahweh is.
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  Jesus in John 15 talks a little bit about these same thoughts
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  that he says I am the vine and you are the branches, if you
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  will. He is that main branch, that
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  main shoot and we are the offshoots.
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  And so Jesus talks a little bit about that.
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  I'm going to leave that particular phrase alone for the
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  moment because there are going to come many more chapters where
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  where we will dive into more detail as more detail is given.
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  Verse #3 I think is so beautiful.
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  It's something. Well here, let me read it again
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  for you and then I can talk about it.
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  Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem
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  will be called holy. There's going to come a day as
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  Isaiah thinks about the people of God and their story together.
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  And he says when God has done his purifying work, not only
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  will he provide for our physical needs there of, you know, the
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  fruit of the land being the pride and glory of Israel's
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  survivors. He says not only will God care
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  for our physical needs, but God is going to care for our
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  spiritual needs. That's why He created us.
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  And what he says there is that whoever is left in Jerusalem,
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  whoever's remaining in Zion, will be called holy.
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  All in Jerusalem. Written in the book of life.
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  The Apostle John would pick up that thread.
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  I believe this will come up a few times as well in the
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  remainder of Isaiah and John writes about this book of life
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  in which those that have been redeemed by the blood of the
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  Lamb, we had our names written in that book from before the
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  foundation of the world. And what a joy that that is,
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  that our God who sees all, who knows all.
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  He was the one that wrote my name down before the earth was
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  ever formed, before Brian and Sally self, my parents before
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  they ever met. That God had a plan for my life.
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  He had a plan for my redemption. And the same is true for every
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  person that has ever or will ever put their faith in Christ
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  Jesus the Lord. That our God has good plans for
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  us, as we would read in Jeremiah.
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  Plans to prosper us to, to help us, to aid us in the work that
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  he has called us to do. His plans are not to harm us or
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  to cause the detriment of our goal, but instead that we would
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  be able to enjoy our relationship with God.
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  And I love this. Even today, at the time that I'm
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  recording this, I'm walking through a monthly book study of
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  Paul David Tripp's book Do You Believe?
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  12 Doctrines of God and their practical effects on our
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  everyday life. And today's chapters were on the
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  holiness of God. And so I think here, whoever
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  remains in Zion, whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called
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  holy. All in Jerusalem written in the
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  Book of life. That God's holiness, that
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  holiness that we're going to read about in just two chapters
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  in chapter 6, that holiness of God, that the angels surrounding
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  the throne of God day and night cry out holy, holy, holy is the
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  Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with
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  his glory. That is the holy God that then
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  gives His Holiness to his people through the work of the Holy
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  Spirit and though we are not yet who we will be on that wonderful
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  day when the branch of Jesse this is also I'm going to jump
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  back real quick as well. Here's the problem with it isn't
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  actually a problem. I love that scripture is so
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  interconnected and that we are called to read it and reread it
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  and love it over and over and over again.
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  And as we do so, we will find new threads throughout the
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  biblical story over and over again.
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  I wanted to look because I could not recall offhand if the branch
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  of Jesse was something that was mentioned in one particular book
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  of the Bible. Nope, because that would have
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  been pre Jesse. So.
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  But Jesus is this one that is, He is ruling over us.
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  He is the ultimate pride and glory that we have.
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  He is beautiful, He is glorious. He's providing for the needs of
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  His people. They have now become holy.
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  They are set apart, they are righteous.
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  They are no longer the awful sinful people that we used to
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  be. That Jesus is accomplishing all
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  of this. I love in verse #4 when the Lord
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  has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion.
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  We learned about that last episode that these people that
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  were proud, that were immoral, that were greedy and covetous
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  and hoarded wealth, instead of being generous towards those in
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  need, that God is going to forgive them to wash away their
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  sin. It is not that God only loves
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  those who have never done anything wrong.
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  Instead, what we're told here is that those that were filthy are
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  being washed clean. He says and has cleansed the
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  blood guilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of
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  judgement and a spirit of burning.
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  That they're in Scripture. Fire is talked about as this
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  purifying thing. You can remember when we were
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  back in Hebrews many, many months ago now, that it says our
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  God is a consuming fire. That fire, yes, is God's
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  judgment, but God's judgment is for a purpose.
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  It is so that what is left behind after the judgment is
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  pure and good and right. And so certainly that has its
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  greatest application when Jesus returns, that on that day, it's
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  going to be a day of incredible judgment all over the world.
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  But what remains after will be good verse #5 then Yahweh will
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  create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by
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  night over the entire side of Mount Zion and over its
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  assemblies. So here again, as Isaiah is
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  thinking about the story of the children of Israel, he remembers
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  back to the wanderings in the wilderness and when Israel was
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  coming out of captivity in Egypt, that they were led by the
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  pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night that
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  guided the Israelites to where they needed to go.
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  And so, if you will, out of the captivity of Babylon, God would
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  then lead his people back, out, back into the promised Land
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  where they would receive the promises that God had given
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  them, even as he told them in Numbers and in Deuteronomy that
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  he knew Israel would fail. They would walk away from him.
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  They would live and sin. He would need to judge them.
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  They would need to because they had been behaving and believing
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  and acting like all of the nations around them.
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  God would send them into exile for a time to say, you want to
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  behave like the other kids, fine, you get to be with the
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  other kids now. But then he would bring them
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  back in again after exile. And so Isaiah here is
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  prophesying, just as God brought his his people to the promised
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  land from Egypt, God will bring his people back from Babylon,
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  from Syria as well and would bring them back to the promised
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  land. It says there will be a canopy
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  over all of the glory, or the glory will be a canopy.
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  That is, God's presence will be the overshadowing thing over all
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  of Zion and Jerusalem, that God's glory goes out from that
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  place, not just in, if you will, the Holy of Holies, not just in
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  the temple, but over all of Jerusalem, over all of Judah.
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  God would be there and his glory would be incredible, and it
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  would be a place of safety, which as you think about the
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  biblical story, is such a comfort that most people when
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  they encountered God's glory, they were rightfully fearful
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  because they didn't want to be destroyed, to encounter God's
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  holiness. Even as we went through the book
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  of Leviticus together. It's a little bit like
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  encountering radiation without a radiation suit.
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  And so you could fear for your life, but hear what God says is
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  His glory is going to be there, not just in one room or in one
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  building, but over all of His people.
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  And it's going to be a place of safety, not a place of hardship.
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  And how God describes it, there is a shelter for shade from heat
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  by day and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.
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  You're not going to experience a heat stroke there.
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  You're not going to have to fear lightning or, you know, getting
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  a cold from being out in the rain.
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  That there is safety within the glory of God.
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  And what a joyous thing that as we think about Jesus and what
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  Jesus accomplished for us, that He made the glory of God, which
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  once was a fearful thing, that we could not boldly go to God or
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  be in His presence for fear of our own destruction.
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  That Jesus is the one who has made the way so that we could be
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  made new. That we are indwelt by the Holy
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  Spirit, and that instead of us trying to get to God and be holy
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  enough for Him, God's Holy Spirit took up residence inside
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  of us, changing us from the inside out.
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  Until one day we stand before Him in the presence of His
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  glory, blameless with great joy, even as we hear in the end of
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  Jude. I love this picture and this
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  thought of what God has accomplished, what he did with
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  the children of Israel, the promises that he made.
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  And even we know God did bring back the children of Israel into
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  the land after the exile. That's even how Jesus and his
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  family and the priests and the sacrificial system and all of
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  that was there in Israel in the 1st century AD, hundreds of
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  years after all of this took place and after Isaiah
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  prophesied that though Isaiah humanly could not have known
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  what was going to happen 5 or 600 years into the future, God
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  knew. And in his Holy Word, He
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  outlined exactly what would happen so that we could trust
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  that this God who knows the future, who knows the past, who
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  knows who we are in the present, that we can give ourselves holy
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  and entirely to Him. Thanks for tuning in.
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  I hope that you have a wonderful day.
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  See you next episode as we begin Chapter 5.