A Future Day

Isaiah 4:2-6

“In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.” (Isaiah 4:2-6, ESV)  What a powerful picture of a future day, a day of salvation.

This writer is so far over his understanding when it comes to Isaiah, for one thing Isaiah is well written, it is a combination of both prose and poetry.  He writes hymns and poetry and we are told Isaiah has a rich vocabulary, in using over 2,200 different words.  It seems that his goal is to draw people to the Holy One of Israel, and when the people do so they receive blessing, and when they chase after foreign gods, he was there to condemn them.  God used all Isaiah’s skills and gave him vision of what would come to pass in what we call future, though for God it is all present, for God is not limited by time.  With that said; Dear Lord thank you for sending each of us Your Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth, open our eyes to Isaiah so that we may apply these truths to our daily living.
Beginning with the branch, if we turn to the prophet Jeremiah who prophesied after Isaiah 626-584 B.C. we see him telling about a time still in the future when God will fulfill the promise of the branch.  These are Jeremiah’s words in chapter 23:5-6, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.”  This branch is referring to the coming of Jesus, do you recall the priest and leaders being so upset when the crowd began to cry out on Jesus’ entering Jerusalem, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  (Matthew 21:9)
You will find 15 times in the book of Jeremiah the days are coming pointing to messianic times, the Branch of David refers to the Messiah.  We will also find this in each of the four Gospels.  When referring to the fruit as the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel, it could be referring to the riches of the land and the blessing of God on them.  If we turn to Isaiah 27:6, “In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”  The promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 has happened, the whole world has been blessed by Israel, all a person needs to do is look at what great blessings God has provided through His chosen people.  I’ve seen with my own eyes a land filled with rocks, producing fruit at this time for the world.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice