Let us turn today to Isaiah chapter
4. Isaiah chapter 4. And 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. 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 everyone 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, and the Lord will create
upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion 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 covert from storm and from
rain. The Apostle Peter closed his
second letter by making this statement concerning Some things
in Paul's epistles, his beloved brother Paul, in his epistles,
Peter said, there are some things which are hard to be understood. We could say that about some
things in beloved Isaiah's writings as well. There's some things
hard to be understood, even in this chapter, I believe we would
all agree. It's always best to stick with
what we do understand. When we read the word of God,
to stick with what we do understand and pray and ask God the Holy
Spirit to give us more light on the things which are hard
to be understood. Pray and ask God the Holy Spirit
to give us light because after all is said and done, he is the
author of the scripture. And he is the best commentator,
the best interpreter, God the Holy Spirit. We do see that this chapter begins
with the word and. And is a connecting word. And
I mentioned last week when we looked in chapter three, of two
awful judgments which were prophesied to come upon Judah and Jerusalem. The first awful judgment was
the famine. You notice that in verse one
of chapter three. For behold, the Lord, the Lord
of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the
stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole
stay of water. An awful famine. And we looked
at that scripture that prophesied even before this that a day would
come when God would bring such a famine upon Judah and Jerusalem
that people would actually turn to eating their own offspring,
an awful, awful famine. And then another prophecy in
chapter three that we saw was in verse 25. Thy men shall fall by the sword,
and thy mighty in the war, and her gate shall lament and mourn,
and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. An awful famine, an awful time
of war, in which their mighty men would fall by the sword. This would explain verse one
of chapter four. The fact that so many of their
men had been destroyed in war would mean that the women would
outnumber the men. And in that day, that seven women,
a definite number for an indefinite number, would take hold of one
man and say, we will eat our own bread. wear our own apparel,
only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. From what I've read about the
Jewish people, it was an awful reproach to any woman not to
marry. For her never to marry was a
great reproach upon a Jewish woman. And if we take verse one
to be the last verse of chapter three, I believe that would explain
what takes place. Some commentators say that for
sure. And I would just say this, we
know, when I stand before you this morning, I know that all
scripture is given by inspiration of God, all scripture. But I
can't say that we're not told that about the chapter divisions
and the verse divisions. Men later we know are responsible
for that. But let's look today, beginning
with verse two, at what we see in these last five verses of
this chapter. First, and it is a prophecy,
there's no question about that, the time of the prophecy in that
day. Now we've already seen a few
weeks back in chapter two and verse two The prophet said, it
shall come to pass in the last days. And we understand the last
days by the words in Hebrews chapter one and verse two of
the days of this dispensation. The days, the writer there said
that God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. The last days then refer to the
time from the coming of Christ, the incarnation of Christ, until
He comes again. This is a dispensation. God's
plan, or God's scheme, began in Ephesians 1 and verse 10,
we are told, in the fullness of the times. This dispensation. You know, some people, and this
was very popular, there's a Bible that's been well known for over
a hundred years now, where he's divided the Bible up in, I think,
seven different dispensations. And that's very confusing and
is very humanistic. No, there's two dispensations. That is, the Old Testament and
the New Testament. And this dispensation began in
the fullness of the time. Remember in Galatians 4 and verse
4, the apostle said, in the fullness of the times, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So we are in the
last days. And let me show you another verse.
If you will, keep your place here, but look with me in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10,
the first 10 verses of this chapter, the apostle is reminding people
of what took place in the Old Testament, the Old Dispensation.
But notice in verse 11, he said, now, all these things happen,
all these things happen unto them for examples, and they are
written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are
come. Now Paul wrote that over 2,000
years ago, and he said, upon whom, that is us, the ends of
the world are come. There's an old dispensation,
and there's a new dispensation, and my friends, thank God, there's
a coming final day, which is an eternal day. Heaven, hell,
when men stand before God and are sent are received, there
is no further dispensation. We've been in the last days since
the Lord Jesus Christ came. So this prophecy that we are
looking at in the last day, now I realize it says day, singular,
where before it has been days, but And some people take that
to mean the last time of this last dispensation. And I wouldn't
argue with people, but this prophecy concerns the days in which we
live and in which the church has lived since the coming of
Christ till he comes again. Now, what is prophesied to happen
in this last day or in this day? Notice the scripture back here
in Isaiah chapter four. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and yes, excellent in
that day. Now, who is the branch of the
Lord? That's the first thing we must
determine. Who is the branch of the Lord?
And I'm so thankful we're not left in the dark. And we're not
left to speculate. We are told in the Word of God
who is the branch of the Lord. Keep your places here, but turn
to Isaiah 11, if you will. Isaiah chapter 11. In verse 1 we read, And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Now who's
Jesse? Jesse was David's father. There
shall come a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch, a branch
shall grow out of his roots. He is both the root and the offspring
of David. All right, look at another place.
In Jeremiah, turn over to the next book that follows Isaiah,
Jeremiah chapter 23. In verse 5, Jeremiah chapter 23 in verse
5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is his name whereby he shall be called the branch. This is his name whereby he shall
be called the Lord, our righteousness. There's no doubt. There's no
question who the branch is. Now, let me give you one other
verse. in Zechariah, I won t ask you to turn there, but in Zechariah
chapter 6 and verse 12 we read this, Behold, now listen, Behold
the man whose name is the branch, Behold the man whose name is
the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he,
the branch, he shall build the temple of the Lord." The spiritual
temple of the Lord. Who is its builder? The Lord
Jesus Christ said, upon this rock, I will build my church. He's the builder. He's the branch. So go back with me, if you will,
now to Isaiah chapter four. In that day shall the branch,
the branch of the Lord. And it's important to understand
that when the Lord Jesus Christ is called the branch, it is always
speaking of his human nature. Now we know that Jesus Christ,
our Lord, He's God and He's man. He has two natures. He's one
person. And these two natures are so
united that what is said of one may really refer to what is true
of the other. In other words, God cannot bleed. God cannot suffer. God cannot die. Man, he can bleed,
he can suffer, he can die, but he cannot satisfy. You understand
that, don't you? The person, God-man, bleeds,
dies, satisfies, because he is God. Satisfies God Almighty for
his covenant people. So it's important to understand
that when the Lord Jesus is called the branch, it's speaking of
his human nature. What should we learn from this
title, the branch? Well, this title is used to tell
us two important things, two important truths about the Savior. A branch has a root or a stalk
from which it comes. A branch just doesn't appear.
A branch comes out of a root or a stalk. The tree, trunk,
and the branch. And what we know and what we
learn when the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as a branch, Christ
according to the flesh is the seed of Abraham. The seed that
was promised to Abraham, now think about this, God calling
Abraham and promising that in his seed, Abraham's seed, all
the families of the earth would be blessed. In other words, not
just the Jewish nation, but all the families of the earth, Gentiles
as well. Christ, he's that seed of Abraham. He comes out of that root, out
of that stalk. And a branch, when we think of
Christ as a branch, not only did he come out of the stock
in the root of Abraham, but he also, according to the flesh,
he came from David. David, with whom God made a covenant
and promised that of his son, he would have one who would reign
upon his throne forever and forever. God made a covenant with David.
Look at this. Look with me. Keep your places
here, but turn to Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Psalm 89 verses 3 and 4. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed, he's promising David
a son. Thy seed will I establish forever
and build up thy throne to all generations. That's what the
angel told Mary. When the angel revealed to Mary
that she was going to bring forth a son, he told her that he shall
sit upon the throne of his father David and shall reign forever
and ever. God made a covenant with David. In Romans chapter 1 and verses
1 through 4, Paul tells us that according to the flesh, He's
of the seed of David. He was not made the son of God,
but he was made of the seed of David. His flesh, his body came
from that root, from that stock of Abraham and David. And then a second thing about
him being called a branch, the branch is of the same root or
nature from which it comes. So Christ is the seed of the
woman. The seed of the woman. You know,
in Hebrews chapter 5, it speaks about Christ as our great high
priest. I believe it's chapter 5. It
says that he is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. How do you explain that? He's
separate from sinners. He is the seed of the woman. In other words, Adam represented,
Adam was a representative man, and he represented all men, except
the man, Christ Jesus. Why? Because he is of the seed
of the woman. God did a new thing in the earth,
didn't he? He did, that's what the scripture
says. You say, is the virgin birth important? Is it important
that we believe in the virgin? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because
he wasn't represented by Adam. He's the second Adam. He's a
representative man. And all that he represented,
all that Adam represented, we become unrighteous, sinful. And yet all that Christ represented,
his spiritual seed, he makes us righteous. Now that's, you
know that from Romans chapter five, first Corinthians chapter
15, you know those things. But he's the man, when we read
about him as a branch, he's the man, Christ Jesus. For there's
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. His deity is all important, isn't
it? People deny the deity of Christ,
they're lost. They're not saved. You cannot
know God and deny that Jesus Christ is God Almighty in the
flesh. But if you deny His humanity,
it's just as bad. It's just as evil. Why? He must be bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh that He might be our representative, to be
our Savior, to die in our stead and satisfy God for us. He is God and He is man. The Scripture here says, And
in that day shall the branch of the Lord... Who is the branch
of the Lord? It's Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
notice these descriptive words about the branch or about the
Lord in this place. He's beautiful, glorious, and
excellent. Beautiful. You know, in Isaiah
chapter 53, and we're more familiar with that prophecy probably than
any prophecy, any chapter in the book of Isaiah. But part
of its beginning says this, For he shall grow up before him as
a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground, he hath
no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty in him that we should desire him." There's no beauty
in him that we should desire him. But here the branch is said
to be beautiful. How do you How do you explain
that? Well, the words there in Isaiah
chapter 53, I'm convinced that was the opinion of the nation
of Israel. They didn't see anything beautiful
in him. We know who he is. We know his
mother. We know his brethren. Nothing special about him. That's
what the nation of Israel and their leaders said about our
Lord Jesus Christ when He came into this world. That's what
they said. What did God say? He's beautiful. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And I would say this as well.
Not only do we know that God said this, But this is what every
quickened sinner, everyone who is quickened by the Spirit of
God, every man and woman, boy and girl that is born again of
the Spirit of God, and we are convinced of our sinfulness,
of our depravity, of our need, and we see Christ. He's beautiful. He's glorious. He's excellent. The world doesn't say that. The
world doesn't think that. But to you who believe, he's
precious. He's precious. Now look at these
three words. What would make a branch to be
beautiful? Well, fruit. That would make a branch to be
beautiful. Fruit. And in him, the apostle
Paul tells us in Acts chapter 13, are the sure mercies of David. If you could just imagine a branch
on a tree, and it's loaded down with fruit. Christ, the branch,
one fruit, pardon. Isn't that beautiful? That your sins may be pardoned,
And right behind that or next to that, justification. That's
even greater than pardon, isn't it? One thing to be pardoned
is something else to be justified. Just as if you had never sinned.
Another fruit on this branch might be reconciliation. Reconciled to God. Come into
this world enmity with God and yet through Jesus Christ, the
branch, be reconciled unto God. Adoption might be another fruit
on this branch, to be adopted into the family of God. What
a blessing it is, isn't it, to be able to bow our heads and
say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And to know him through Christ,
the branch, as our Father, Not just as our Creator, in that
sense, He's the God and Father of all men. Yes, but all to those
who know Him through the branch, through partaking of the fruit
of the branch, adopted into the family of God, and knowing God
to be your Father. And there's so many different
fruits on this branch. It's beautiful. What about sanctification? He is our sanctification. He's
our righteousness. That's on this branch. It's beautiful, isn't it? The
branch is beautiful to those who have been enlightened by
the Spirit of God and have come to see Christ for who He is. And then when I think about the
fruit on this branch, I think about the fruit of the Spirit.
You know, the scripture says this, that when he was baptized,
the Spirit of God came upon him, descended upon him, and remained
upon him. That he was given the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, the God-man, Jesus Christ, he was anointed
with the Holy Spirit without measure. And you think of the
fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians 5, love. Look at this branch. Look at
this fruit. It's beautiful. Love. Who ever
loved like Christ, my friends? A man laid down his life for
his enemies. There's no way that we can even
begin to understand and comprehend the love of Jesus Christ and
joy Remember one day his disciples came back to him, he had sent
them out, he'd given them power, and they came back saying, wow,
even the spirits were subject unto us. And he said, well, that's
fine, but rejoice in this. Your names are written down in
the book of life. And he rejoiced. The scripture
says he rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Because thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and has revealed them unto babes. He rejoiced in the Lord. And
then the peace. Can you ever see anything in
what's recorded or imagine anything that might have happened in the
life of Jesus Christ when his peace might have been ruffled
just a little? Just a little, maybe like you
and I. Our peace sometimes, it gets
ruffled, doesn't it? And why is that? Because we're
not trusting in our Heavenly Father like we should. He never
was guilty of that. He always had peace. And that's
just one of the fruits of the Spirit of God. I think of his
long suffering. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
And you read through the Gospels and you see those 12 disciples. You're talking about slow learners. Right? And yet He was always
patient and long-suffering with them, just like He is with you
and just like He is with me. Long-suffering, meek, Didn't he say, for I am meek
and lowly? Meek. And faith, faith is the fruit
of the spirit. And where do you see faith any
more than when Jesus Christ was hanging upon the tree, forsaken
of his father, and yet he said, my God. My God. He continued to believe and trust
in God. The branch is beautiful. That's
what makes a branch beautiful. It's the fruit that's upon the
branch. And then I thought, well, what about it being glorious?
Glory. What makes a branch glorious?
And my thought is because it's strong, it sustains the fruit. I'm sure you've seen plants or
trees, and yes, a branch may be loaded down with fruit, but
it starts bending down, doesn't it? And before long, the fruit's
in the ground, and the limb, the branch itself, may be in
the ground. Why? Because the branch is not
strong. But oh, this branch, the beauty
of this branch, he is strong. God said, I have laid help upon
one who is mighty. He's mighty to save, he's the
mighty God. You lay your soul, the salvation
of your soul upon Jesus Christ and him alone. Can he handle
that? Absolutely. You say, you don't
know what I've done. Well, you don't know who this
branch is. It doesn't matter what you've done. He is mighty. He's glorious. And then it says
that he's excellent, the excellent branch. What, what may that mean? Well, to me, it means that he,
he is the branch that continues to bear fruit. You know, from
the first sinner that was saved, that was Abel, or whoever it
was, until today, and until he comes again, he still is that
branch that is excellent, that he has the power, his power never
diminishes, his ability to save never grows weak. He's an excellent
branch. I have a plant. Let me try to
illustrate this. I have a plant in my garden.
It's a vegetable plant. And if you saw it, if you went
to my house and looked at it, it's a beautiful plant. It's
green and it has blossoms on it. But you know what? It doesn't bring forth any fruit. Back in the springtime when I
planted it, it blossomed and it bore fruit. But after a period
of time, it continues to blossom, but it doesn't bring forth any
fruit. You say, well, explain that to me. I can't explain that
to you, except I know this, that plants have a growing season,
a producing season. And after they've produced, they're
just not gonna keep on producing. This is an excellent branch,
my friends. How long it's been, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He's been saving His people. All those that the
Father gave unto Him from the foundation of the world, they
were given unto Him before the foundation of the world, but
from the foundation of the world, He's been saving His people,
and He will continue to do so until He comes again. He's an
excellent branch. Now, I want to take just a few
minutes if you, I want to show you five things about all those
who know Christ as this beautiful, glorious, excellent branch. Five
things that are true. I'll just name them. If you have
your Bible still open here to Isaiah chapter four, there are
five things that are stated about those who know him. Number one.
Their names are written in the Book of Life. That's in the last
part of verse 3. Even everyone that is written
among the living in Jerusalem, or it could be translated everyone
that is written unto life. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Second, they are called holy
unto Him. That's also in verse 3, the second
part of verse 3. They are holy unto Him. And they're holy because He's
called them with a holy calling and because He is their holiness. They're sanctified. They're set
apart by God the Holy Spirit. And number 3, they remain. That's in the first part of verse
3. They remain. And all of God's children Persevere,
all of God's people persevere. The Apostle Paul was able to
write the believers in Philippi and he was able to say, I'm confident
of this. I'm confident of this. He which
hath begun a good work in you. Who begins a good work? God does. He begins the work. And Paul
said, I'm confident that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it, will perfect it, until the day of Jesus Christ. God's people persevere. And the
fourth thing, we see God's people are filled with the Holy Spirit.
And I see that by promising that as the nation of Israel was led
through the wilderness by that pillar of cloud and and fire,
so God's people have God the Holy Spirit to lead us through
this wilderness of world. And the last thing, God's people
have a refuge. We have a refuge. He's called
a shadow of covert. Notice that in verse six. And
there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from
the heat. and things you're going through
this life and things are troublesome and persecution, trials, afflictions,
whatever it may be, compared to heat, you've got a refuge. You've got a refuge, a place
of refuge. A covert, when the storms of
life come and the rain comes, as our Lord said, the rain comes
down Water comes up, the rock that's not built upon the house,
it goes away. But those that are built upon
Christ, we have a covert from storm and from rain. I thought
about that hymn, safe in the arms of Jesus. God's people are
safe, no matter what comes our way in this life. God's people
are safe in Christ who is our refuge, our covert. Well, I pray
the Lord would bless this word to his people. I think if nothing else, you
will agree with this. There are some things hard to
be understood in the word of God, but it's still God's word
and we must search it out. and ask God the Holy Spirit to
teach us. Let's turn to hymn number 40.