Alright, in that day, Isaiah
4.1, it's a day in which the Lord works the work of grace
in the believer's heart. When He works the work of grace
in the heart, in that day, He points us to what He accomplished
at Calvary and what He's doing in our midst right now. And so
when we read here, in that day, we need to look with an eye towards
God's promise to create anew the hearts of those He's everlastingly
loved and to reveal Christ in us. That's how He conquers His
enemies. So we see here, in that day, Seven women shall take hold
of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own
apparel. Only let us be called by thy
name to take away our reproach. Now, we're dealing here with
a wife and a husband, with a husband and his bride. Now, let me say
a word about Christ here as the husband of his bride. God created
one wife for His beloved Son. She is the church made up of
His elect people out of every nation on this earth. Those God
wrote in the Lamb's Book of Life. He wrote their names in Christ's
Book of Life. That's the church that is His
bride. And God espoused this bride to
one husband, Christ Jesus, His own Son. He is her all and she
is his all. The blessing Christ bestows upon
his bride is found in his name, which he gives to her. These
seven women that are mentioned here take hold of one man saying,
we'll eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us
be called by thy name to take away our reproach. The name of
Christ is very important. The maiden name of a sinner is
that of our Father Adam. That's our maiden name. Our maiden
name is a name of reproach, of disobedience to God, a name which
declares we're dead in trespasses and in sins. Have you ever known
somebody with a bad name in your community? I've known in my community
there was a family I won't say their name, but when you heard
their name, you just knew they were bad news. That was a bad
family. Everybody in that family was
rough and bad. Well, our maiden name is Adam,
and it's bad. We're dead in trespasses and
in sins. But Christ gives His bride His name, and His name
declares her reproaches taken away by Him. Now look with me
at Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. Let's look
at this name. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. In His
days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is His name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sidkanu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now look over at Jeremiah 33,
verse 16. Jeremiah 33, 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. His
name is the Lord our righteousness. And the name wherewith she shall
be called is the Lord our righteousness. So there is very much an importance
in Christ giving His bride His name and His name declaring that
her reproach is taken away by Him. She's righteous in Him. And then the blessing Christ
bestows upon His bride is found in His full provision of all
her need. We're in Isaiah chapter 4. It's the full provision of all
her needs. Christ is the believer's food.
He is life. And thus Christ's bride shall
never be found begging bread. She has life. He's the believer's
bread. He's the finest of the wheat.
He's the honey out of the rock. He said this when he prayed that
intercessory prayer, this is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent. Christ is, He gives His bride
His name, the Lord our righteousness. The name he shall be called is
the name she shall be called. And he is our bread, our life. And then Christ is the believer's
raiment of righteousness. Isaiah 61.10 says, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels. Now they said, give us your name,
that it might take away our reproach. We'll eat our own bread. We'll
find our own bread. We'll clothe ourselves. But there's
something else that Christ, the Son of God, does for His bride. He unites Himself intimately
with His bride, with the believer, which Scripture terms the duty
of marriage. That's what God's law calls it,
the duty of marriage. The Son of God unites Himself
to His bride by partaking of our nature, that he might make
us partaker of his nature, and thus he and the believer are
made one." Let me give you some scriptures. Ephesians 5.30. Ephesians
5.30 says this, We are members of his body, of his flesh and
of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they
too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now turn with me
to Hebrews chapter two and verse 11. Both he that sanctifyeth, that's
Christ, and they who are sanctified are all of one. Look at verse
14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily, He took not on Him the nature of angels,
but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. He took our nature. Now, He was made partaker of
our nature, and He crushed the serpent's head. He brought in
an everlasting righteousness, justified His people, and through
His Spirit in us, He makes us partaker of His nature. Now look
with me at 2 Peter 1. And let me read a scripture to
you. The Lord promised through Ezekiel, I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall
keep my judgments and do them. You shall. I've caused this because
I'm going to put my spirit in you. Second Peter 1.3, it says,
according as His divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. Now look at Romans 8, verse
9. One more passage of scripture
on this. Romans 8, 9. This is Christ our husband. He
gives His bride His name, the Lord our righteousness. He is
our life, our bread. He is our raiment of righteousness. And He performs this, He makes
Himself this to us by His duty of marriage, by Him coming into
the heart and consummating this thing and making Himself one
with His people in the hearts of the sinner. Now look here
at Romans 8 and 9. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, He is none of his. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we're
debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. This flesh has
nothing whatsoever to offer. It's dead. Even if Christ dwells
within us, the flesh is still dead. Now this right here is
the duty of marriage of Christ our husband. He took part of
our nature. He's one with our nature. And
He makes us one with His nature. and He becomes a husband to us. We are bone of His bone and flesh
of His flesh. And one day by His Spirit that
dwells in us, we shall be one with Him in body and spirit. Completely. Glorified body. Now,
these seven women that came to this one man in chapter 4, seven
you know is the number of perfection. Well, these women represent a
couple of things here. They represent the backwardness
of the natural heart. This is the way all sinners think
they can come to God before Christ dethrones sin in the heart. This is our sin. This is our
sin. Now let me show you how that
Christ, before we get into this, how that Christ is the fulfillment
of God's law in this law of marriage. Exodus 21.10. Exodus 21.10. Here's God's law concerning a
husband toward his wife. Now Christ is one husband and
He has one bride. And He's not going to turn from
His bride and take another bride. But now sinful men, when sin
entered in, men would take more than one wife. Here's God's law
concerning a husband. And this is concerning his one
wife, his first bride. Verse 10, Exodus 21, 10. If he
take him another wife, this is speaking of that first bride.
This is what he's obligated to do for that first bride. Her
food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish. He must perform these three things.
He must feed her, he must clothe her, and he must not cease to
have that intimate connection with her that a husband and a
wife have. Now Christ fulfills that. Christ is her food, he's
her raiment, and he has made himself one with her. Now, the
proposal of these seven women, though, let's look at it. They
take hold of the man. It's backwards. They take hold
of the man. The God-man, Christ Jesus, takes
hold of his bride. Now look, secondly, their proposal
to the man was, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel.
They're referring exactly to this law right here, where God
commands that the husband's responsibility to his bride is that he has to
feed her and clothe her. In case she can't go by his name,
he has responsibility to her. So what they're saying is, they're
saying, we will fulfill God's law. We'll
feed ourselves and we'll clothe ourselves and you don't have
to do it. All we want is your name. That's
all we want is your name. Now when they say, only let us
be called by thy name to take away our reproach, they are saying
what multitudes think. And they're saying what every
sinner saved by grace thought when he was in his natural condition.
Everyone that's ever been brought to a saving union with Christ,
in their old nature, they thought that all they needed to remove
their reproach was to be called by his name. That's it. They
felt that's all they needed. If I can be considered a Christian,
I won't have reproach anymore. Now, I'll feed myself. I'll clothe
myself. I'll fulfill God's law. I just
want to be called by His name. I want to be called by His name.
Now be sure you get this. Unless Christ is our husband,
that means He is our all. Unless Christ takes hold of us,
then the sinner will go on in this polluted idea that they
are married to Christ when they are married to one who is anything
but the God-man, Christ Jesus the Lord, the husband of the
church. Unless Christ is the perfect fulfillment of God's
holy law on the sinner's behalf, then the husband to whom we say
we are married is no husband at all. He's not fulfilling the
requirements that God lays down for a husband. How can He be
the Savior? How can He be God's Son if He
hasn't provided everything? Unless Christ is our bread, our
life, then we have no life. Unless Christ is our garment
of righteousness, of sanctification, of redemption, of wisdom, if
unless He is the Lord our righteousness unto us, we're naked in our sin. Unless Christ unites himself
in the duty of marriage with our spirit, we may call ourselves
by his name. Yet it's nothing more than taking
his name in vain. We'll still have the name of
our father Adam, our maiden name, and the reproach will remain,
no matter what we call ourselves. These seven women illustrate
the most popular idol of man's imagination. I'll take his name. and I'll fulfill the law. I'll
provide my bread and I'll provide my clothing. Well, we've seen
that Christ is the husband of the church. So how does the Lord
say he'll provide the bread, the raiment, and the duty of
marriage to his bride? How's he gonna do that? Look
here, Isaiah four, verse two. In that day, this is what we
thought. In that day, we were like these
seven women. And we came and we said, we'll
take his name. Take away our reproach. We'll
provide our bread and our wine. But he says, In that day shall
the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of
the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are
escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass that
he that is left in Zion And he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, even every one that is written among the living
in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of
the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem
from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the
spirit of burning." What does that mean? The spirit of judgment
has to do with the law of God written on the newly created
heart. You see, the law of God commands
righteous judgment. It commands righteous judgment.
It says things like this, Leviticus 19.15, you shall do no unrighteousness
in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the persons
of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness
shalt thou judge thy neighbor. That same chapter, verse 35,
says you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meat yard, in
weight or in measure. but without the spirit of judgment.
We think it's righteousness to take Christ's name and attempt
to provide our own life in righteousness as the seven women did. Therefore
this filth must be washed from the daughters of Zion. The polluted
blood must be purged from Jerusalem both at the cross and in the
heart. These enemies, this fulfillment
of this prophecy is fulfilled when Christ comes to the cross
and puts away their filth and puts away this pollution of blood
that we got from Adam, from our maiden father, from our maiden
name. And then he comes in the heart
and gives the spirit of judgment and he writes his law on our
hearts. This whole prophecy that we've
been looking at from Isaiah chapter 1 all the way up to this point,
the Lord declares through Isaiah a great calamity in the land,
a stripping away of every false way and of all those things which
men look to for their own provision. And we've seen prophesied here
that by Christ's work the land will be left desolate and barren.
when He's done. So when Christ sends forth the
Spirit in power and grace, He makes our land desolate and barren. He does just what He's saying
He'll do here to the land. And when on the cross He cried
out, it's finished. When He cried out, it's finished.
And that fell in the temple rent in two pieces, right down the
middle. Top to bottom, it declared that Christ has satisfied God's
broken law in the place of his bride. It declared that Christ
has fulfilled the righteousness of God's holy law on behalf of
his bride. As Paul said to the Colossians,
it declared he had blotted out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way by nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in it, in what he did. And there is now no provision
to be found in the rudiments of the earth, that is, in touch
not, taste not, handle not. So let us behold that the thought
of providing any aspect of our standing with God is eating our
own bread and clothing ourselves in our own raiment. And then,
when the Lord writes His law on the heart, then, as the psalmist
said, the meek will He guide in judgment. And the meek will
He teach His way. He teaches us that judgment has
been laid to the plumb line in His Son, Christ Jesus. He declares
that every just weight and every just measure that He requires
in His law has been perfectly fulfilled in Christ His Son.
And he teaches his bride, he teaches the individual sinner,
his way, Christ the way. And now, the spirit of burning
has to do with a zeal which the spirit gives the regenerated
man for Christ. He gives him a spirit of judgment
to behold, I've not fulfilled this law. I can't come to him
and say, just give me your name. I can feed myself and clothe
myself. I can't do that. That's all upside down. That's
not even righteous judgment to think that. To think that I can
come to Christ for righteousness and then go back to Mount Zion
for sanctification. Crazy! That's unjust balances
and weights and measures. That's unrighteous judgment.
There's no spirit of judgment there. But God gives a spirit
of judgment in the heart and He gives a spirit of burning,
a spirit of fire for Christ Jesus. And then, when He does that,
when He stripped His people of these things, when He shall have
washed away this filth by the spirit of judgment and given
them the spirit of burning, Then in that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped
of Israel. And it shall come to pass that he that is left
in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called
holy. Every one, not a one will be lost, that is written among
the living in Jerusalem." Now this work doesn't end till all
have been brought to Christ. And it doesn't end in those that
he's brought to behold, given this spirit of judgment and this
spirit of zeal for Christ. It doesn't stop when he's given
it to them. We meet in several places in Scripture where those
whom the Holy Spirit has first quickened ask something like
this, men and brethren, what shall we do? Or like the Philippian
jailer, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Because the thought
we always had was the thought of these seven women. We always
thought that we'll eat our own bread and wear our own apparel,
all we need's your name. That'll take away our reproach.
But the old nature remains in this sinful flesh, which thinks
we can somehow provide for ourselves and yet be fulfilling God's law
at the same time. And this nature is contrary to
the new man created in the new birth. But thanks be to the triune
God, He continues. Once He's begun this work, He
continues this work. Look in Isaiah 4-5. And the Lord
will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion. That's every
individual center in Mount Zion. Everyone that's written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. He'll create upon every dwelling
place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies. The places where
He plants His bride. He'll create a cloud and smoke
by day. And He's that cloud and that
smoke by day. and the shining of a flaming
fire by night, and He's that shining of flaming fire by night.
For upon all, all that are written in the Lamb's book of life, the
glory, His glory shall be their defense. And there shall be a
tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and He's
that tabernacle. And for a place of refuge, and
for a covert from the storm and from the rain. Here's what I
want you to get. When he makes us to see that
no fruitfulness can come from such a proposal as these seven
women offered, that we can provide nothing for ourselves, when he
purges away our filth and polluted blood by the spirit of judgment
and creates a burning fire for Christ, then the longer the believer
lives in spirit within this body, The longer the believer lives
in spirit within this body, this body of sin and death, the more
the Holy Spirit reveals the beauty and excellency of Christ. And
we go from beginning saying, men and brethren, what shall
we do? Sirs, what must I do to be saved? To where Paul said,
I'm the chief of sinners. God forbid that I should gloriously
save in the cross of Christ. And we say, as Paul said in Galatians
2.20, I'm crucified with Christ. This body of death has been crucified. Me, I've been crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. It's all a reversal of looking
at me to looking at Christ. It's all a reversal of thinking
this flesh is getting better to being able to see this flesh
is what it's always been. And it's just decaying into the
dust. And Christ is all my holiness. And He's my husband. He's my
provider. He's given me everything that
I need. He's given me His name, the Lord, Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord our righteousness shall she be called. He's fed me the
bread from heaven, His life. He's clothed me in the garments
of His righteousness. United himself to me in spirit
I in you and me and me and you we're one with one another and
I'm complete in him I'm Accepted of God in him I'm holy in the
beloved and I have no more Nothing else to do to be more complete
than I am in Christ and that brethren is a believer sanctification
That's when God has made Christ unto us sanctification when we
behold he is becoming more and more everything, and our hearts
and our flesh becoming altogether nothing. And now everything that
takes place here, the man who loves to talk about prophecy
and the end of times and when things are going to happen, He'll
miss it. He'll miss the whole point of
the message because the way God brings everything to pass that
he says in this word is by what Christ our husband accomplished
at Calvary and by what he accomplishes in the heart of his people. And
that's exactly what Isaiah is preaching. He's preaching the
gospel. He's preaching the gospel. He's telling what Christ is going
to do. He's telling what God's going to do in the hearts of
his people. He's telling us how that he's going to put down all
our enemies. And at the same time, He's telling them, and
God knows that remnant right there who was listening to Isaiah.
God's taking that very message that he's delivering, and he's
revealing Christ, their husband, in their hearts, and conquering
all the enemies around them. Taking off those jewels and those
ornaments that they thought were righteousness, taking it all
away. Taking away that polluted idea that all they need is His
name, that they can provide their own bread and their own garment,
taking it all away. And then, brethren, the adornment
of the bride becomes no longer her flesh, but her husband. But her husband. Christ the branch
is beautiful and glorious, and therefore His bride is beautiful
and glorious. He is excellent and comely, and
by Him His bride is excellent and comely. He is holy, therefore
those written in His book of life are holy. He is her cloud
and smoke by day and her shining flaming fire by night. His glory
is her defense. He is her tabernacle for a shadow
from the heat. He is her refuge and covert from
storm and rain. And as the Spirit grows us in
this new spirit of judgment and zeal, we behold that Christ our
husband is indeed our holiness and our all. And we behold all
the more that in our flesh is nothing good. And this, brethren,
this right here, is how Christ, our Husband, is made to be all before our
eyes and how He makes His church a faithful bride. That's how
He does it. That's exactly how He does it.
Now, we're going to take our application from Isaiah and everything
that he's said, the practical application he's given us up
to this point. First, we're going to start Isaiah 1.18. This is
for those who are yet trying to provide their own clothing
and feed themselves and just take Christ's name. Isaiah 1.18,
Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you
refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword, for
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Isaiah 2, verse 5. For those of you who have his
word, who have the light of the Lord, O house of Jacob, come
ye, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Let's walk in it. And here's a word for all of
us, Isaiah 2, verse 22. Cease ye from man whose breath
is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of? And
here's a word for all of us, Isaiah 3.10. Say ye to the righteous
that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit
of their doing. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with
him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. That's Isaiah's
practical application that he's given in his messages. And it don't get more practical
than that. That ought to be the practical application of every
message we preach. See she for man. walk in the
light of the Lord. He's our husband. He's our all. He's our all. These seven women
here, that number of perfection that come to lay hold of one
man. He's the one man that will take away the reproach. And that
seven being the number of perfection. Just like the believer who first
comes thinking that he can have Christ and His works of righteousness. God reveals that Christ is all.
It strips Him of all of that. And every one, He says there,
every one that's written in the last book of life, that's left
when I've purged them of all this filth, every one that's
left, and that's every one of them, they'll be called holy.
Because He made them that way. He made them holy.