Now open your Bibles with me
to the book of Isaiah chapter 4. Isaiah chapter 4. Now the title of this message
is taken from verse 2. The beautiful and glorious branch. The beautiful and glorious branch. Now most of you if not all of
you understand and know that the Bible originally, in the
original manuscripts, the original record of the word of God, Old
Testament and new, that it was not written in chapters and verses. It wasn't divided up like that
originally. In fact, there was no punctuation
marks in the Old Testament Hebrew. There were no vowel points. And
it's truly Obviously, I don't have time
this morning to give you a history lesson on the coming together
of the Bible, but it's truly a miracle of God's grace and
providence that we have the Bible in the form we have it now. I've
told you probably a lot of times I used to be a real skeptic about
the Bible. I used to look for contradictions
and things like that. Uh, the Lord has brought me to
have such a respect for this book that I can't even describe
it in studying it and, uh, uh, understanding the rules of interpretation. There are rules, you know, how
to, and somebody says, well, you see it your way. I see it
my way. Well, there are rules of interpretation. Uh, in fact,
we're putting together a little booklet on that. You know, I
did a series of messages on our television program about it.
But it's needed. How do you interpret the Bible?
Most people don't know. You just go out on a rock somewhere,
read it, and look up into the sky and see how you feel or something.
That's not how you do it. That's not right biblical interpretation. And that's the reason we have
so many denominations, so many different variations of what
this means and what that means. There are rules. But one of the
things you need to understand that it wasn't written in verses
and chapters and all that. The reason I say that is really
verse one of chapter four goes with the prior verses, the last
part of chapter three, because in that last part of chapter
three, the prophet Isaiah, having described the awful state of
the nation of Judah, the nation Israel, because of sin and unbelief
and idolatry. He closes out in chapter three
by talking about the state of desperation that God is going
to bring that nation to. And in chapter four, verse one,
he concludes it with this. He says, and in that day, that
is the day of God's judgment against the nation. Seven women
shall take hold of one man saying, we will eat our own bread, wear
our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take
away our reproach. What he's saying there is in
that day that there's going to be such a physical destruction
and desolation to that nation, Israel, that there'll be such
a scarcity of men because they all have been taken captive or
killed in war. through the destruction of war,
that there be seven women to one man and that they would pursue
that man and contrary to custom, propose to provide their own
food and raiment. You don't even have to take care
of me, they're saying. You don't have to provide for me. I'll
provide for myself. Just let me take your name to
take away my shame. That's how bad it'll get. And
all of this, every bit of this, as Isaiah prophesies of this,
we need to understand is not just simply a description of
the worst people on earth that we can separate ourselves from
but all of it is a description of mankind in sin without God
without Christ dead in trespasses and sins desperate without hope
without any possibility of salvation. There is no salvation in ourselves. And what the prophet is showing
here, what God is showing the people, and I'll tell you what,
this is a good message to America today. And what he's wanting
to say to them is what we want to say to America. Salvation
is not in man. It's not of man. It can never
be of man. Salvation is not conditioned
on man. This country, as much as I love
this country, and as much as I want to see good things happen
to this country, as much as I want to see our leaders be responsible
in this country, this country is not my salvation. It is not my hope for eternity.
I don't preach the gospel of the flag. In other words, if
you're an American, that means you're saved, you're okay, you're
a Christian, and you're going to heaven. That's a false gospel. I realize and recognize, though
I hate it, listen, I'll say it this way, though I hate to see
it come about in my lifetime or my children's lifetime, this
country is going to be destroyed along with this whole world because
of sin. And we understand that. And that's
what Isaiah is saying to his nation. Don't put your hope in
Jerusalem, he's saying. Don't put your hope in Washington.
Don't put your hope in the temple. Don't put your hope in the White
House or the Capitol or even the Lincoln Memorial. It's not
going to help you. When you have to stand before God at judgment,
where's your hope? Where's your assurance? What
are you going to plead? That's what he's saying. And
so what he does, beginning at verse two of chapter four, he
points them by prophetic word to the coming Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he's the hope of salvation. He's the consolation
of Israel. That's what Christ is, you see.
And look what he says, in that day, that is the day of God's
salvation, And he's talking about the days of the new covenant,
the gospel age, which refers to the time of Christ's first
coming all the way up to his second coming. 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. The escaped of Israel is a way
of referring to God's elect. They escape the judgment of God. They escape condemnation. That's
just a term used to describe them. The word Israel means those
who have prevailed with God. That's what it means. How can
a sinner prevail with God? Not but one way. Through Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, the beautiful and glorious branch.
And this name, the beautiful and glorious branch, the branch
of the Lord is a common name For the promised Messiah in Old
Testament prophecy, I'm going to show you several passages
that portray him as such. But here's the better news. Here's
the good news. Judgment is coming. And that's
not just hellfire and damnation preaching. Hellfire and brimstone,
they call it. Judgment is coming. God is a
just God. He must punish sin. If he did
not punish sin, he would not be God. That would be like a
destruction of his character which is impossible. And judgment's
coming. The only way to escape this judgment
is to see this branch of the Lord as beautiful and glorious. That's a metaphor for faith in
and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's talking about.
Who is my salvation? You see, this whole thing, is
wrapped up in the gospel of who Jesus Christ actually is and
what he actually accomplished. You see, the Old Testament pointed
sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah for salvation. He's
called the hope of Israel, the consolation of Israel. Here,
he's called a beautiful and glorious branch springing forth or growing,
coming into being. That's the idea. And what is
that talking about? Well, that passage in Psalm 85
that Brother Jim just read, he says this at the end of that
Psalm 85. He talks about it in verse 10,
well, verse 9 rather. He says, surely his salvation,
that's God's salvation. That means God's way of salvation.
Surely God's way of salvation is nigh or near them that fear
him, that regard him, respect him, reverence him. In other
words, they have a concern for the glory of God. And he says
that glory may dwell in our land. And then he says, mercy and truth
are met together. Here's mercy, but not without
truth. You see, mercy, God's mercy doesn't
lie to us. Mercy tells the truth. I need
mercy. Why? Because I'm a sinner. You
see, this is why, as a preacher of the gospel, I'm not here to
tell you what you want to hear. I'm here to tell you what you
need to hear. And that may offend. In fact, in a lot of cases, it
does. And here's what I'm saying. If you're going to be saved,
if I'm going to be saved, it's going to be a matter of free,
sovereign mercy concerning something we don't deserve and haven't
earned. You say, well, I've tried to be good all my life. That's
okay, but that won't get you anywhere as far as a right relationship
with God. You see, the branch of the Lord
is a message that tells us of our need. Why is he the branch? That speaks of his coming into
the world and growing. That speaks of his humanity.
Why did he have to come into the world? He had to come into
the world to establish a righteousness that you and I cannot produce.
Even our best efforts will not produce it. So when it comes,
it's mercy and truth. And then he says in verse 10
of Psalm 85, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Now, if God judged me, think about it this way. If God judged
me based on my works, would that be righteousness? No, because
I don't have any. So how could I have any peace
with God? There's no peace without righteousness. Well, where am
I gonna find righteousness? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. They've embraced,
they go together. And then he says in verse 11,
this is Psalm 85. Now this is directly connected
to the branch of the Lord. He says, truth shall spring out
of the earth. Where in the world did truth
spring out of the earth? When Jesus Christ was born. That's what it's taught, it's
a metaphor. The word was made flesh and he says, and righteousness
shall look down from him. Where does righteousness come
from? Not from me, not from you, it comes from God. You see, in
order for us to be saved, we don't need the righteousness
of man. Because first of all, man has no righteousness. Romans
3.10, there's none righteous, no not one. So what do I need
to be saved? I need righteousness from God.
And then he says in verse 12, yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. Now, all that finds its meaning
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a passage. Over in Psalm 53, the Psalm of
the prophecy of Isaiah. He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Messiah. And listen how he describes him.
He says, Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant. Talking about the Messiah. That's
his humanity. His perfect sinless humanity.
And as a root out of a dry ground, He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him there's no beauty that we should desire
him. He's despised, he's rejected of men, he's a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our faces from
him, he was despised, we esteemed him not. Now why was all that
going about? Why did all that happen? Verse
four, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God afflicted, but he was
wounded for our transgression. The sins of God's people charged
to him. Lay it upon him. What a passage. And look back at our text, Isaiah
four. In that day, when Christ shall
come and do his great work, that day, And for us each individually,
it's in that day when we're born again by the Spirit and convicted
of our sins to see no hope of salvation in ourselves or in
any man, but we look to Christ, we see His glory and His beauty
as the branch of the Lord. He says in verse 3, listen to
this, He says, It shall come to pass that he that is left
in Zion, Zion being that picture of the church, and he that remaineth
in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, separate, that's what that
means, distinguished, even every one that is written among the
living in Jerusalem. They survive, they escape, that's
all he's talking about. Verse four, when the Lord shall
have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, now how
does he do that? And shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem
from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the
spirit of burning. How does God wash away the filth
of the sins of his people? There's only one way. I mentioned
it in the Bible study earlier. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. That's the full payment of the
full penalty of all my sins. The blood of Jesus Christ. And
you know what? I didn't contribute one penny.
That's right. He paid it all. All the debt
I owe. We sang it last week. I didn't
pay one penny. You say, well, doesn't your good
works count for something? No, they don't count for anything.
They don't count. They do mean something. They
mean, number one, that God is powerful. They mean, number two,
that God is gracious. And they mean, number three,
that I'm accepted before God in Christ. That's what our good
works mean. But they don't count on the accounting sheets or the
accounting books for anything. They don't earn me anything.
I have all that I have by the grace of God through the blood
of Jesus Christ. I stand before God righteous
in him. And look at verse four. He says,
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 the spirit of burning. You know what that is? That's
zeal for the gospel of God's grace, which preaches Christ
crucified. Then verse five, and the Lord
will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon
her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, the shining of a flaming
fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be a defense. You
know what that means? All who are in Christ, God shall
keep them. He shall protect them. That cloud
and fire, you remember back when God delivered the Hebrew children
out of Egypt? He guided them as a pillar of
fire by night and a cloud by day. That was their protection. God was going to keep them for
that purpose. Well, eternally and spiritually, he keeps all
who are in Christ. He preserves us. We are secure
in him. And then he says in verse six,
there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from
the heat and for a place of refuge and a cover from storm and from
the rain. That's Christ. Christ is the
tabernacle of God. Look over at chapter 11 of Isaiah. This branch of the Lord. I'll
tell you what, it's one of the most beautiful pictures of Christ
in the Old Testament. It's always connected, not only
just with his person, but with his finished work. Who is Jesus
Christ? He is God and man in one person. He's God in human flesh without
sin. He's Emmanuel, God with us. Why
did he have to become the branch? The offspring, that's what that
is, the shoot. Why did he have to do that? To
stand in the place of his people and die for their sins. That's
why he had to do it. God cannot die, but Christ, who
is God, he did die. Man cannot give and sustain life,
but Christ who is man, he does give and sustain life. How do
you account for that? He's God and man in one person. But look at verse one of Isaiah
11. It says, and there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. You see that? Jesse, who was
Jesse? Well, he was David's father.
He lived at least eight generations after Judah during the days of
the prophet Samuel. He and his family, they lived
in the town of Bethlehem, you remember, in the territory of
Judah for several generations, at least up until the time of
Boaz. Remember Boaz and Ruth? Matthew 1 and Luke chapter 3
both mention Jesse in their genealogies. And so what it's showing us is
that as far as his humanity was concerned, Christ was born of
Jesse, born of the seed of David, according to the flesh. Paul
connects this descendancy from Jesse to the hope of the salvation
of the Gentiles in Romans 15. In other words, the coming of
Jesus Christ into the world is the salvation of his people. He didn't come to try to save
anybody. He didn't come to make salvation possible. If he did,
we'd all be doomed, according to the scripture. But look down
at Isaiah 11, look at verse 10. It says, and in that day there
shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of
the people, and to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall
be glorious. You know what his rest is? That's
his finished work. That's our Sabbath. Christ is
our Sabbath. Did you know that? Sunday's not
our Sabbath. If it was, we'd break it all the time. Christ is our Sabbath. We rest
in what He accomplished, what He finished. Romans 10 verse
4. Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the establishment,
the perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe it. We rest in Him and that rest is glorious. Now He
had to be born of a woman in order to accomplish that. Jesse's
female ancestors included three Gentiles. Tamar was one of them. Rahab, yes, Rahab the harlot
out of Jericho. And then Ruth, a Moabitess, an
idolater. And their ancestors of the humanity
of Christ. So you see, this branch of the
Lord not only ensures The salvation of God's chosen people among
the Jews, but also among the Gentiles. Aren't you glad that
Tamar and Ruth are in that lineage? You see salvation, you know,
somebody said, well, salvation is for anybody who wants it.
That's exactly right. The problem is man by nature
doesn't want it God's way. He wants it his own way. He wants
it Cain's way by his works. But if you want salvation as
a sinner seeking mercy, it's a guarantee, folks. It is, isn't
it? God has never turned away any
sinner, Gentile or Jew, who comes to Him begging for mercy His
way. What is His way? Beg for mercy
through the branch. Beg for mercy at the mercy seat.
Who is that? Jesus Christ. Turn over to Jeremiah
chapter 23. Here's another mention of the
branch. Let me give you just a couple of scriptures here and
then we'll conclude. Look at Jeremiah 23, look at
verse 5. Jeremiah, now he prophesied years
after Isaiah. And his prophecy, his preaching
was done during the time that Israel, that Judah rather, the
southern kingdom, the northern kingdom Israel had already been
destroyed by the Assyrian empire. Jeremiah was prophesying during
the time that Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire was
coming down on Jerusalem and Judah and the temple in Jerusalem
were about to be destroyed. It was right before they were
taken into captivity. And Jeremiah's message was the
same basically as Isaiah's. There's no hope of salvation
in this land, in this physical temple, in this physical nation,
in this physical city. But there's a better day coming.
The Messiah has been promised. He's coming. And look at verse
5 of Jeremiah 23. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David. Now David, remember Jesse? Jesse was David's father, so
it's coming through this human line. He said, I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. There's that beautiful and glorious
branch. And what does that mean? It means a king shall reign and
prosper. He's not going to fail. There's
no possibility of Jesus Christ failing to do what the father
sent him to do. And what's he going to do? He
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. I mentioned this
in the Bible study this morning, that the main ethic in God's
way of salvation in God's government is justice. Yes, God is love. Yes, God is
merciful. Yes, God is gracious. Every time
we preach the gospel, we preach the love of God to his people,
the mercy of God upon his people, the grace of God to his people.
But it's not without justice. Why did Christ come? Just because
he loved somebody? Well, that's part of it, but
he came to execute judgment and justice in the earth. Now, how
did he do that? He was made sin. Christ who knew
no sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's how he did it. He died on the cross, bearing
the sins. having the sins, the debt of
our sins imputed to him and he satisfied the justice of God
through his death. He did not die as a martyr. He
did not die as an example. He died as a substitute, as a
surety. And what did he do? Look at verse
six of Jeremiah 23. In his days, Judas shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That's what it's
all about. If you want to talk about the
love of God, right there it is. Mercy, grace, Christ is my righteousness. And over in Jeremiah 33, listen
to how he puts it here. It's the same thing, but there's
a little difference. In Jeremiah 33 15, he says, in
those days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness.
There he's called the branch of righteousness. to grow up
unto David, coming through the human line of David. He was born
and made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. And he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. And 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."
Now back over in chapter 23, Jeremiah says, this is the name
whereby he shall be called. But here in Jeremiah 33, this
is the name whereby she shall be called. What's he talking
about? He's talking about the bride
of Christ. You know, when a bride marries her intended, she takes
his name. And when we're married to Christ,
we take his name. He is our righteousness. That's
what this branch, that's why the branch is so beautiful and
glorious. Let me show you a couple more
in this. Turn to Zechariah. Find the book
of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter three. You know, both of the human parents
of Jesus Christ were of the line of David, Mary and Joseph. It's documented in the Bible
that Christ was not born of man, but he was the seed of woman
conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit. But
he had a human mother, he had a human nature without sin and
that human nature was of that seed and both Mary and Joseph
were of the line of David. God chose the line of David to
reign over Israel and ultimately in his humanity to produce the
King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is well known
during his ministry that Jesus was the son of David. That was
a messianic title. Before his conception, Gabriel
told Mary the Lord will give him the throne of his father
David. The fulfillment of an eternal
kingdom, not in King David himself, but in the son of David. And
that's what Paul reminded Timothy of. But look here in Zechariah
3. You know this whole passage of
Zechariah 3. is a picture of how God saves sinners by his
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord, Satan the adversary
accusing him. He's standing there in filthy
rags it says. That's a metaphor of our works.
A person who comes before God pleading his or her works for
righteousness, for salvation, the Bible says would be like
a person coming before some king in this world dressed in the
most filthy, stinking rags you could find. If you were going
to have an audience with a king or a president, you'd probably
take a bath and dress up pretty good, I think. Here's a picture of Joshua, the
high priest of Israel, standing before the judge in filthy rags. That's a picture of man by nature.
We're sinners. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And then the advocate, the son of God
steps in and says, hold on, take those filthy rags off and put
on him another robe, a beautiful robe, a robe of righteousness.
That's Christ. Look at verse 8 of Zechariah
3, it says, Here now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy
fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at.
In other words, the priesthood, they were signs. For behold,
I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Joshua, high priest
of Israel, what an office! What a responsibility! You only
hope Joshua is that branch. Your only hope is that righteous
branch. Your only hope is Christ. And
then one more that's over a few pages, Zechariah chapter six,
look at verse 12. Speak unto him saying, thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts saying, behold the man whose name is the branch. That's Christ. And he shall grow
up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
That's the church. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord,
and he shall bear the glory. The glory will go to him, not
us. And shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a
priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between
them both. There'll be peace. Peace with
God through Jesus Christ, that beautiful and that glorious branch. All right.