We turn to God's Word again in
that portion that we read and in particular I want to direct
you to those last two verses in our reading in Isaiah chapter
4 and verses 5 and 6. The end of the reading, Isaiah
chapter 4 verses 5 And six, the Lord will create
upon every dwelling place of Manzion, and upon her assemblies
a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire
by night. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense, and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat. and for a place of refuge and
for a cover from storm and from rain. I want us to consider then what
is spoken of here in terms of the Lord's presence, protection
and power. The Lord's presence, protection
and power. In the context here we see that
there is a very real connection between what has been said in
the previous chapter. As we know the divisions that
we are so familiar with, the chapters, the verses, they are
very useful to us, helping us to find our way more easily around
the word of God. and yet we have to recognize
that in a sense they're quite artificial. They're not part
of the original inspired words, helpful as they are. So we must
never take account of the different context and the connection between
the various parts of the words of God. And clearly, what is
spoken of in chapter 4 relates to what has been said in chapter
3. In the opening words, it says, And in that day, it's the day
that has been spoken of previously, 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. He has been speaking previously
then, the end of chapter 3 in particular, about the pride of
the daughters of Zion. Look at verse 16 there. Moreover
the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk
with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, walking and mincing
as they go, making a tinkling with their feet, And so he describes
them in the verses that follow. The prides of the women and God's
judgments that will come. There's going to be a great scarcity
of the men. Thy men shall fall by the sword,
he says. Thy mighty in the war. All God's judgments are abroad. The context of course is that
that runs up to the time of the Babylonian captivity. Isaiah is ministering God's word
about 100 years before that terrible catastrophe that fell upon the
city of Jerusalem, upon the kingdom of Judah. For the judgment of God was going
to come and there would be a terrible overthrow because of the wickedness
of the people. In the opening part of chapter
3, Behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts, I take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread,
the whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war,
the judge and the prophet, and the prudent and the ancient,
the captain of 50, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the
cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. It was all the best of
the people who were removed, who were taken away into exile,
as we read there at the end of 2 Chronicles. And God says, I
will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule
over them. Now God's judgment would come. This is a general context in
which we find these remarkable words that I read just now for
our text, which speaks of God's care of his people, God's watching
over Mount Zion, which of course in the Old Testament is to be
understood in terms of the church. Manzion is a type of the true
church, the true people of God. And it is remarkable how that
in the midst of all this that is said in chapter 3 concerning
God's judgment, when we come into the fourth chapter, we see
how that in Roth God remembers his mercy. because surely here
in chapter 4 we have the promise of the Lord Jesus, we have a
prophecy that centers in Christ. In that day, it says in verse
2, 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. There will be a remnant preserved
in the exile brought out in due time but more than that Here
we read of the branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious. Well, what are we to understand
by this branch of the Lord? Well, later we learn something
further concerning the branch. We turn to chapter 11. Isn't this the same person that
is being spoken of? There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his
roots, and 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. Who is this one descended from
Jesse, Jesse the father of David? Why this is none other than him
who is the roots and the offspring of David. If we go right to the
end of Scripture, there in the book of the Revelation, right
at the end in chapter 22, the Lord Jesus Himself speaks and
declares, I am the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning
star. Oh, He is the root of David,
but He is also the offspring of David. Does that not speak
to us concerning the person, the two natures? He is David's
roots, when we think in terms of his divine nature, he is God. And yet, he is David's offspring
because he is the son of David, or the deity, and the humanity
of the Lord Jesus. And now the Lord Jesus himself
silences his wicked opponents, there in the Gospel in Matthew
chapter 22 and the end of that chapter when the Pharisees are
gathered together and trying to catch him out with their questions
they come and ask of Jesus and Jesus responds to them and he
puts questions to them and the question that he puts is the
most telling one What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?"
is the question that the Lord asks. And they say rightly, he
is the son of David. The Messiah is the son of David.
But the Lord answers, How then doth David in spirit call him
Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, set thou on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Quoting the words
of the Psalm, Psalm 110, if David then call him Lord, how is he
his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither does any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions, he silences them. He is both David's Lord
and he is David's son. He is that one who is the branch.
the stem out of the roots of Jesse, the branch. And he's not only spoken of in
that way by Isaiah, but we have him also there in the book of
the Prophet Zechariah. Behold, God says, I will bring
forth my servant, the branch. Behold the man whose name is
the branch. Oh, it's one of the names then
that belong unto the Lord Jesus. And so, here as God is speaking
in terms of the sin of Israel and the terrible judgments that
must be visited upon such a sinful people, in the midst of all of
this we have these gracious words spoken in chapter 4. in that
day, the great gospel day, shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful
and glorious." And then coming to the words that I really want
us to take up for our text at the end of the chapter, "...and
the Lord's will create upon every dwelling place of Manzion, and
upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining
of a flaming fire by night." for upon all the glory shall
be a defense and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat and for a place of refuge and
for a cover from storm and from rain. First of all, to seek to
say something with regards to that promise of the Lord's presence
that we have here. What is being spoken of? Are
we not to understand the words that we have here in terms of
that provision that God made for the children of Israel on
a previous occasion when He delivered them out of Egypt when He brought
them forth out of that furnace of cruel bondage and He leads
them by the way there in Exodus chapter 13 Exodus chapter 12
of course we have the the Passover and God brings them out and immediately
in the next chapter we have that promise of how the Lord is going
to lead and direct them. We're told in chapter 13 how
they took their journey from Sakoth and then camped in Etham
in the edge of the wilderness and the Lord. went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by
night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before
the people." Now observe what it says, it's the Lord who goes
before them in that fiery, cloudy pillar. a pillar of clouds in
the daytime, a pillar of fire at night time. And it is a re-echoing
really of that same promise. that we have here in verse 5,
upon her assemblies of clouds, and smoke by day, and the shining
of a flaming fire by night. And I was so struck as we were
singing that lovely hymn, that remarkable hymn of John Newton,
so familiar to us, glorious things of the outspoken Zion city of
our God. And we have it there in verse
3, round each habitation hovering see the cloud and fire appear
for a glory and a covering showing that the Lord is near. Oh, it's a token of the Lord's
presence. It's a token of God being there in the midst of his
people. Thus deriving from their banner
light by night and shame by day, safe they feed upon the manna
which he gives them by the way. This is the promise that we have
here then, in the text before us tonight. It's that promise
of the Lord's presence in the midst of his people. The Lord's
went before them. But then, interestingly, when
we turn over to the next chapter there in Exodus, Exodus 14 and
verse 19, it says the angel of God The angel of God went before
the camp of Israel. It's the Lord, it's the angel
of the Lord. Again in chapter 23 of Exodus, Behold, I send
an angel before them. Verse 20 and then verse 23, Mine
angels shall go before them. Who is this angel? This angel
of course is the angel of the law. This angel is the Lord Jesus
Christ as he appears time and time again in the Old Testament. Remember Abraham and Abraham's
experience and how the Lord himself speaks of Abraham the father
of all the faithful. There at the end of John chapter
8, he tells those Jews, your father Abraham rejoiced to see
my day and he saw it and was glad. How was it that Abraham
saw the day of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or did he not see it
there upon Mount Moriah? Remember the two mounts in Jerusalem,
Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah where the Temple
of the Lord was to stand. And down there in Genesis chapter
22 we see that strange test, the trying of his faith that
God visits upon his servant Abra. He is to take his son,
his only son Isaac, and he is to sacrifice him there upon the
mount. Take now thy son, thine only
son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And here is Abraham,
he's about to slay his son in obedience to this commandment
that God has given him. But God is testing his faith.
Oh God did tempt, oh God did test Abraham. And as he is about
to do the deeds, what do we read? Abram stretched forth his hand
and took the knife to slay his son, and the angel of the Lord
called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abram, Abram. And he
said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son, from thee. And what does the angel do? Why,
Abram lifts up his eyes, and he beholds a ram caught. in a
thicket and he is to offer that ram instead of Abram. What is
Abram being taught here? The great truth of substitutionary
atonement. The ram is to be offered instead
of his son Isaac. And it is, as Paul says in Hebrews
11, as if Abram receives his son again from the dead. All
that chapter is full of cross. the doctrine of substitutionary
atonement, yes, but also the doctrine of the resurrection.
Abraham receives his son again from the dead. The Lord Jesus
is that one that we see, that we are to discern there, and
he is that one who speaks to Abraham, the angel of the Lord. And it is so evidently so that
that angel of the Lord that we read of in Exodus 23 is the Lord
God himself. Remember the Lord was the one
who went before the children of Israel. But it is in particular
God the Son who is leading them in the way through all their
wanderings through the wilderness. What does God say? Exodus 23,
21 speaking of the angel, beware of him and obey his voice, provoke
him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name
is in him." All beware of him. Do not provoke him. Why? He will
not pardon your sins. Now, those scribes who were so
like the Pharisees always wanted to catch the Lord Jesus Christ
out. What do they say? And they say
right words. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 7,
who can forgive sins but God only. It's that miracle where
those friends bring their, the paralyzed man, their friends.
and there's a great crowd, a great press of people and they cannot
get near to the Lord Jesus and we know the incident how they
make a way, they go into the top of the house and they let
the man down to where the Lord is and Christ says to that man,
son thy sins be forgiven and it's said that those scribes
say who can forgive sins but God only, it's God's prerogative
to forgive sins But what does the Lord Jesus do? He then performs
the miracle and tells the man to take up his bed and walk.
Or He demonstrates His deity. All beware of Him. Obey His voice.
Provoke Him not for He will not pardon your sin. This is God. My name is in Him, says God. He is one with the Father. As
He says Himself in the course of His ministry, I am in the
Father. and the father in me. He is the eternal son of the
eternal father. He is the image of the invisible
God. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father. He
has declared it. Oh, it's the presence. It's the
presence of the Lord, it's the presence of Christ that is being
spoken of here in the text. This is the beauty of Mansi and
the glory of the church upon her assemblies. The clouds and
smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for
upon all the glory shall be a defense. Oh, it is the Lord in the midst
of his church. and that is the glory of the
church yes it's the angel of the Lord
but it's the same as the Lord himself and it is so interesting
to observe the distinctions that we see in the Godhead in that
passage that I made reference to in Exodus chapter 23 where
God repeatedly speaks of this angel who is going before the
children of Israel and leading them in the way. Look at what
he said. Verse 20, Behold, I send an angel
before them, to keep thee in the way, to bring thee into the
place which I have prepared, beware of him, and obey his voice,
provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions,
for my name is in him." There are two persons here. There's one who speaks in the
first person, and he speaks of another in the third person.
We have the words I and my. but then we also have the pronouns
he, him and his. There is a distinction you see
between the father and the son. There is a distinction of course
between the three persons in the Godhead. We never to lose
sight of that. We're not to confuse father,
son and Holy Spirit. They are distinct persons. And
yet they are one undivided and one indivisible God. Oh, that is a remarkable thing.
That is a remarkable thing and we see it even in the Old Testament
scripture. all these indications, these
intimations that are given time and time again. Although the
great truth that stands forth, of course, in the Old Testament
is the unity of the God. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. All there is but one living and
true God, but there are those three distinct persons. And here
is the promise you see. And in particular, what is the
promise that God is giving to his people? It is the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will create upon every
dwelling place of man's own, and upon her assemblies a cloud,
and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense, the Lord himself. the language of the 132nd Psalm,
the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever, he says,
here will I dwell for I have desired it. Oh, it's the presence,
the presence of the Lord. But not only the promise of the
presence of the Lord, But also here we have the great promise
of the Lord's protection of His Church, His preservation of His
Church. It says, upon all the glory shall
be a defense, and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and
for a covet from storm and from rain. now we have to go back again and
again of course here to that that is spoken of with regards
to God's dealings with the children of Israel as they come out of
Egypt and now we see there that the Lord or the angel of the
Lord to be more precise time and again will come between Israel
and Egypt Yes, He will lead the children of Israel in the way,
but He doesn't always go before them. Look at what we're told
in chapter 14, Exodus 14, 19, the angel of God, which went
before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them. And the
pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind
them. And He came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud
and darkness to them, but he gave light by night to these,
so that the one came not near the other all the night." Here
is protection. Is the Lord's presence the glory
of the church? It is. But the Lord's presence
is also the protection. Oh, He is keeping the children
of Israel safe from the armies of the Egyptians who are pursuing
them, who would seek to destroy them. It says there in Exodus
chapter 11, in the course of the plagues, how the Lord hath
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. When those terrible plagues were
visited upon Pharaoh and his people as God's judgment, the
Lord puts a difference. The plague affects the Egyptians,
but it doesn't touch the Hebrews. And of course when we come to
that great last plague, when God sends the destroying angel,
how the The Israelites find safety as they shelter under the blood. God says, the blood shall be
to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Oh, they're
safe. They are sheltered now under
that blood. The Passover lamb has been slain
and the blood has been taken and it's been put upon the doorpost
and the lintels and they are to remain in their houses as
that destroying angel comes visiting God's judgment upon Pharaoh and
all his people. Again, look at the language.
that we find in Exodus 8.23 God says I will put a division between
my people and thy people God is speaking to the Pharaoh and God tells him quite straight
through his servant Moses I will put a division interesting to
read the margin there the alternative reading, the more literal reading
of the Hebrew. It's the word redemption. I will
put a redemption between my people and thy people, God says to Pharaoh. Or the difference God puts between
the elect and the non-elect. What is that difference? It is
the blood. It is the great truth, the great
doctrine of particular redemption. The truth that that work of the
Lord Jesus Christ is for a specific people even as many as God had
given to him in the eternal covenant. And is it not a most comforting
doctrine you say? It's the most comforting truth
that we have. This truth of a definite salvation. because he speaks to us of that
defense of the Lord is to his people, how the Lord protects
his people. That is what's being said here,
when God puts that division, when God makes that distinction,
puts that difference between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. Always the truth of that doctrine
is the blood, and that blood that actually accomplishes the
salvation of sinners, it doesn't just make salvation a possibility
for all men, that's the truth or the lie, we should say, of
those who would contend for a general redemption. That general redemption
is not secured salvation for anyone, it's just made salvation
possible. But the great doctrine which
we contend for of particular redemption says that the blood
of Christ has secured the pardon of all the sins of his people.
All those that he died for, their salvation is secure for time
and for eternity, they are safe and their protection is guaranteed,
they can never perish. They can never perish. None can
pluck them out of the Saviour's hand. The Father who gave them
to Him is greater than all. None can pluck them out of His
Father's hand. There's security there in the
eternal covenant of grace. Lord, this is the protection.
But look at the language that we have here in verse 5. concerning
the way in which the Lord protects his people. Isn't something intimated
here? It says, there will be a cloud
by day and a fire by night, and that's how it was. It was a pillar
of clouds in the daytime, but it was a pillar of fire at night. But it is the same Lord, it's
the same angel of the Lord. It's the God who never changes.
The one who says, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. Oh, it's that angel of the Lord,
Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday and to die and forever. But what do we learn? What is
it that we discover when we think of the difference in these clouds? A cloudy pillar is very different
to a fiery pillar. You see the Lord's ministry is
suited to the various circumstances that the children of God are
brought into. There is night as well as day
in the believer's experience. Just as in God's government of
the world he has appointed day and night, the sun to rule the day, the
moon to rule the night, he has given his promise as long as
the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter, day and night, shall not cease." It's not just a matter
of day and night. He has also spoken of all the
various seasons. And what is true in that natural
realm, is it not also true when he comes to the spiritual realm? Are there not seasons of the
soul? There in Psalm 55 we read of
the ungodly man. The ungodly has not changed.
For it says they have no changes therefore they fear not God. Oh but God's children what changes
they experience. And sometimes they are in the
dark. Sometimes they feel night has
come into their souls. And in the midst of all that
darkness what do they need? They need a brighter and a clearer
manifestation of the presence of the Lord and the protection
of the Lord. So in the night season it's a
fiery pillar. It's a fiery pillar. Oh how they
need it. The promise is given there in
Zechariah 14 and verse 7 at evening time. it shall be light." Or when God's children find themselves
in the midst of darkness. Think of those words that we
have here in the end of Isaiah chapter 50, you know that passage,
those closing verses of the chapter. Didn't J.C. Philpott preach one
of his remarkable sermons, his most famous sermons, from the
verses at the end of chapter 15. The heir of heaven walking
in darkness, the heir of hell walking in light. It wasn't just
Philpot. You could go back to the Puritans
and Thomas Goodwin. The Puritan has a whole book
dealing with this same passage. The child of heaven walking in
darkness and the child of how walking in the light who
is among you it says that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice
of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let
him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his guard
for there's the child of the light you see and the contrast
In the last verse, Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire,
and in the sparks that ye have kindled, these shall ye have
of my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. There's the child
of darkness. And he has kindled his own fire.
He's made himself a religion. So different these characters
that are spoken of, but we're thinking more particularly of
the one spoken of in the 10th verse. The man that fears the
Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that obeys the voice
of Christ. He's walking in darkness, he
hath no light. What is he to do? He's to trust
in the name of the Lord. He's to stay himself upon his
God. All the Lord makes provision,
you see. whatever the circumstances that his children find themselves
in. Here we have it in verse 6, there shall be a tabernacle
for a shadow in the daytime from the heat and for a place of refuge
and for a cover from storm and from rain. And again, is not
the tabernacle really a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ? the
tabernacle in the Old Testament is typical, is typical of Christ.
He is the true tabernacle, that that the Lord pitched and not
man. The promise is Christ you see, a shadow in the daytime
from the heat. Or how we feel it in these days,
the scorching heat of the sun and how pleasant to be out of
that and sitting in the shade. A shadow in the daytime. and
then a place of refuge in the covet it says from storm and
from wind or when there's a storm there's that covet, there's that
shelter that shelter where we can escape from the storm and
find peace and safety it speaks of all that protection that is
provided for Zion only in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And
again the imagery is taken up later in chapter 26 verse 20, Come my people enter
thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about them hide thyself
as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. or there's a place of shelter,
there's a place of safety. For the Church, and it's found
only in Christ, in the person of Christ, in the work of Christ,
that One that we sought to say a little of this morning, that
One who is the Great Head of the Body, the Church, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. We have then here the promise
of the Lord's presence. Upon Zion's assemblies, upon
every true church, a cloud and smoke by day, a shining, the
shining of a flaming fire by night. And the Lord's protection,
upon all the glory shall be a defense. And then thirdly here, finally,
are we not also reminded of that great power that belongs unto
the Lord? or the necessity of that power. The Lord, it says,
will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion. It's the
Lord's creation. It's the Lord's doing. It's the
Lord's work. And He is that God who has given
His Word. We read of a light that shineth
in a dark place. there in 2nd Peter 1.19 speaking
again of the Lord Jesus the light that shineth in a dark place
oh how the true light has come doesn't he declare himself to
be that light I am the light of the world he says he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light
of life he is that light But though we
have these words in Scripture, these promises of God, yet there
must be an application of these things. It was the Spirit, of
course, who inspired all the writers of the Scripture, Old
Testament, New Testament. They all spoke as they were moved
by the Spirit of God. But the Spirit who was first
given the Word and given the promises and given these words
in our text are not. It is the same spirit who must
himself come and apply that word. The Swami says thy word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The Lord is the
one who does guide, lead and direct his people. But how there
must always be that gracious application. The spirit must
come and he must work these things in the heart. What is all our
preaching? What is all our hearing of sermons?
What is all our reading of the Word of God? All our study of
good literature? What is it all? Except we know
that gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost. But we're told that
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There it is.
All that gracious in shining into the soul when God comes
and does His gracious work, performs those sovereign operations in
the soul of the sinner. And we need that the Lord Himself
would do the work. The Lord will create upon every
dwelling place of Zion. Only the Lord can do it. Remember
again the words that we've already referred to, the contrast that
we have there at the end of chapter 50, between those two characters,
the heir of heaven and the heir of hell. And what did we see
concerning the latter? All ye that kindle a fire, that
compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of
your fire. and in the sparks that ye have
kindled. Or there are those who would make themselves religious
and imagine they can make themselves Christian, who make their decisions
and their commitments. What God says is this, This shall
ye have at mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Or we need
the Lord himself, we need that gracious power of the Spirit
of God to come. and to apply the truth and to
make it a reality in all of our souls. The Lord's will creates
upon every dwelling place of man's eye and might He do it
here in this man's eye. Upon her assemblies a cloud and
smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for
upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle
for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of
refuge and for a cover from storm and from rain. Oh, the Lord grant
that we might know the truth of it, as the Lord is pleased
to graciously work the experience in our very souls. The Lord bless
His word to us. Amen.