Isaiah 4
(An End Time Prophecy)
By James C. Taylor
Some commentaries on Isaiah chapter 4 consider the entire chapter of six verses as part and parcel of the previous chapters about “Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Isa 1:1). And, at least one commentary says the first verse of Isaiah 4 belongs to the previous chapters; while verses 2-6 relate to the future time of the Messiah and his Kingdom: Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.
While it is true that much of Isaiah 4 could certainly refer to the time of the above mentioned kings of Judah – and quite possibly does refer to that time – it seems to me that the whole chapter can also be set apart as a prophecy of the End Time. I see the entire chapter as most likely an example of “dual interpretation;” and, as such, it’s the level of meaning that points to the End Time that is of interest to those concerned with the Time of the End and the days leading up to it.
I see Isaiah 4 – the entire chapter – as a reassurance by God that he will be with his Faithful Few on earth to the end: that he will care for them, provide for them, and protect them in the days of evil that will come on the earth during the Tribulation of the End Time – the time during which the Antichrist (the Wicked One) will come to power and try to control the world and destroy the Church that Jesus Christ established.
The Apostate Church
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.”
(Isaiah 4:1)
Have you taken a good look at the professing Christian Church today? For the most part it has left its first love – Christ – and is making its own rules, its own commandments, and following its own leading. The professing Christian Church today is, by and large, eating its own bread and wearing its own apparel. It still wants to be called by the name “Christian” because, for now at least, that name still has the ability to outwardly take away their reproach: to atone for their sins in the eyes of the onlooker.
The professing Christian Church today is busy serving itself rather than serving God. The symbolic “seven women” take hold of the hem of the garment of the Lord and Master Jesus Christ, but they don’t want to eat of the bread of life – the truth of the Gospel – because it’s too hard to live by. They want to have the name, but do things their own way. They want to eat their own bread and wear their own apparel. No longer do the professing people of God long to wear the white robes of the saints – to be holy as God is holy, to be of the same mind as the Lord Jesus Christ – but they want to wear the clothing of the day: greed and a desire for power which they call ambition; along with lust for the things of the world which they say is just “keeping up with the Jones’s.”
The Faithful Few
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.”
(Isaiah 4:2)
In spite of the waywardness of the professing Christian Church in the End Times, a remnant – a small part of the whole piece of cloth - will remain faithful to the Lord and will allow him to be the Lord of their lives. They will eat of the bread of life and will wear the apparel of the holy ones of God.
They will be the “fruit of the earth” that will grow from the Branch – the Messiah – Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David. “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse (the father of David), and a branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” (Isa. 11:1-2).
The faithful few, the remnant that will be saved - as the fruit of the Branch - will be provided for by that Branch. They will be “excellent and comely” in their service to the Lord – and he will provide “the fruit of the earth” for those who are saved out of the earth by his grace through their obedience.
Called Holy
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:
(Isaiah 4:3)
The faithful few who remain loyal to their Christ rather than to the divergent and apostate ways of the professing Christian Church – those who are “left in Zion” (the highest place in Jerusalem) and “that remaineth in Jerusalem” – will be the ones who “shall be called holy” and can “rejoice, because (their) names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
They will be cared for by their God because they have chosen Jesus Christ and his ways – and strive to serve God rather than themselves or the world. In the Time of the End, they will be the only ones on earth who are alive in Jesus – and God will provide for “the living in Jerusalem.”
“Ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem… to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all” (Heb. 12:22-23).
The Cleansing
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.
(Isaiah 4:4)
In the End Time, “judgment must begin at the house of God” (I Pet. 4:17) because if the Christian Church on earth doesn’t get its own house in order, how can they possibly think of calling on others to become what they are not able to be?
Most of the professing Christian Church in the End Time will simply ignore this admonition from the apostle Peter – or will not even be aware of it to begin with. They will continue to serve themselves thinking they are following the Lord. Jesus said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?” (Luke 6:46).
But there will be some – the remnant – those who are “left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem” who will strive to be all they can be in Christ Jesus. They will hear and understand the need to bring their personal lives – and thereby the Christian house - into order: to be the fruit of the Branch that can truly be called holy. By and through their total submission to the will and the word of the Lord, he will “wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion” and make them holy as he is holy.
The judgment of all things – the house of God first, then the world at large – will come in the time leading up to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ: in the time Jesus called the “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21). It will be in that time that the “spirit of judgment” and the “spirit of burning” will reign on earth to give reward to the righteous and the fire of judgment to the wicked. “Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (II Thess. 2:8).
A Defense
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 defence.
(Isaiah 4:5)
The faithful few – those who have come out of the apostate church, those who have chosen to give themselves up completely to God, to be called “holy” – will be lead by the Spirit of God in those days; and will be provided with a sure defense against the wicked of the time. Every home, every gathering, and every congregation of the righteous in Christ will be guided by the Spirit of God; and “upon all the glory(of those in Christ in that day) shall be a defence” provided by God
As with the children of Israel when they went out of Egypt, so it will be with those who come out of Egypt/Babylon in the Time of the End. “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” (Exod. 13:21-22).
A Place of Refuge
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.
(Isaiah 4:6)
“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” (Isa. 26:20-21).
God’s people, in the time of the Great Tribulation spoken of by Jesus, will be guided, protected and provided for by God. During that time of the “spirit of judgment” and the “spirit of burning,” a “tabernacle” will be provided by God to protect his people from the evil of the day. It will be “a place of refuge:” a hidden, “covert” place of protection and provision: a place known to the people of God, but hidden from the evil eyes of the Wicked one. “To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time (3½ years), from the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:14).
Some of God’s people – those true to the Lord, those who listen to his guiding and follow it – will remain in their “dwelling place” if directed by the Lord. Others will be led into “assemblies” to find their “tabernacle,” their “place of refuge” in the Time of the End.
In the past, I have believed that all of God’s people would be expected to physically move to “places of refuge” prepared by God’s people as provided for by God. But, in further reading of Isaiah 4, I must say it seems to tell us that some of God’s people will remain in their “dwelling place” while others will be lead to “places of refuge” – most likely located around the world in various places because the Faithful Few of the Church are all over the world. Wherever they may be, the promise of the Lord is that they will be “nourished for a time, times, and half a time (3½ years), from the face of the serpent.”
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