3 And it will come about that the rest of the living in Zion, and of those who have been kept from destruction in Jerusalem, will be named holy, even everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem:
Do not be glad, however, because you have power over spirits, but because your names are recorded in heaven.
Awake! awake! put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the holy town: for from now there will never again come into you the unclean and those without circumcision.
As saints of God, then, holy and dearly loved, let your behaviour be marked by pity and mercy, kind feeling, a low opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and a power of undergoing all things;
And nothing unclean may come into it, or anyone whose works are cursed or false; but only those whose names are in the Lamb's book of life.
The beast which you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the great deep, and to go into destruction. And those who are on the earth, whose names have not been put in the book of life from the first, will be full of wonder when they see the beast, that he was, and is not, and still will be.
And all who are on the earth will give him worship, everyone whose name has not been from the first in the book of life of the Lamb who was put to death.
But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.
Let your desire be for peace with all men, and to be made holy, without which no man may see the Lord;
And I make request to you, true helper in my work, to see to the needs of those women who took part with me in the good news, with Clement and the rest of my brother-workers whose names are in the book of life.
Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:
And the Gentiles, hearing this, were glad and gave glory to the word of God: and those marked out by God for eternal life had faith.
On that day all the bells of the horses will be holy to the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house will be like the basins before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of armies: and all those who make offerings will come and take them for boiling their offerings: in that day there will be no more traders in the house of the Lord of armies.
For I will take you out from among the nations, and get you together from all the countries, and take you into your land. And I will put clean water on you so that you may be clean: from all your unclean ways and from all your images I will make you clean. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my orders and do them. So that you may go on living in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you will be to me a people, and I will be to you a God.
And my hand will be against the prophets who see visions without substance and who make false use of secret arts: they will not be in the secret of my people, and they will not be recorded in the list of the children of Israel, and they will not come into the land of Israel; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 4
Commentary on Isaiah 4 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 4
Isa 4:1-6.
that day—the calamitous period described in previous chapter.
seven—indefinite number among the Jews. So many men would be slain, that there would be very many more women than men; for example, seven women, contrary to their natural bashfulness, would sue to (equivalent to "take hold of," Isa 3:6) one man to marry them.
eat … own bread—foregoing the privileges, which the law (Ex 21:10) gives to wives, when a man has more than one.
reproach—of being unwedded and childless; especially felt among the Jews, who were looking for "the seed of the woman," Jesus Christ, described in Isa 4:2; Isa 54:1, 4; Lu 1:25.
2. In contrast to those on whom vengeance falls, there is a manifestation of Jesus Christ to the "escaped of Israel" in His characteristic attributes, beauty and glory, typified in Aaron's garments (Ex 28:2). Their sanctification is promised as the fruit of their being "written" in the book of life by sovereign love (Isa 4:3); the means of it are the "spirit of judgment" and that of "burning" (Isa 4:4). Their "defense" by the special presence of Jesus Christ is promised (Isa 4:5, 6).
branch—the sprout of Jehovah. Messiah (Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zec 3:8; 6:12; Lu 1:78, Margin). The parallel clause does not, as Maurer objects, oppose this; for "fruit of the earth" answers to "branch"; He shall not be a dry, but a fruit-bearing branch (Isa 27:6; Eze 34:23-27). He is "of the earth" in His birth and death, while He is also "of the Lord" (Jehovah) (Joh 12:24). His name, "the Branch," chiefly regards His descent from David, when the family was low and reduced (Lu 2:4, 7, 24); a sprout with more than David's glory, springing as from a decayed tree (Isa 11:1; 53:2; Re 22:16).
excellent—(Heb 1:4; 8:6).
comely—(So 5:15, 16; Eze 16:14).
escaped of Israel—the elect remnant (Ro 11:5); (1) in the return from Babylon; (2) in the escape from Jerusalem's destruction under Titus; (3) in the still future assault on Jerusalem, and deliverance of "the third part"; events mutually analogous, like concentric circles (Zec 12:2-10; 13:8, 9, &c.; 14:2; Eze 39:23-29; Joe 3:1-21).
3. left in Zion—equivalent to the "escaped of Israel" (Isa 4:2).
shall be called—shall be (Isa 9:6).
holy—(Isa 52:1; 60:21; Re 21:27).
written—in the book of life, antitypically (Php 4:3; Re 3:5; 17:8). Primarily, in the register kept of Israel's families and tribes.
living—not "blotted out" from the registry, as dead; but written there as among the "escaped of Israel" (Da 12:1; Eze 13:9). To the elect of Israel, rather than the saved in general, the special reference is here (Joe 3:17).
4. When—that is, After.
washed—(Zec 13:1).
filth—moral (Isa 1:21-25).
daughters of Zion—same as in Isa 3:16.
purged—purified by judgments; destroying the ungodly, correcting and refining the godly.
blood—(Isa 1:15).
spirit—Whatever God does in the universe, He does by His Spirit, "without the hand" of man (Job 34:20; Ps 104:30). Here He is represented using His power as Judge.
burning—(Mt 3:11, 12). The same Holy Ghost, who sanctifies believers by the fire of affliction (Mal 3:2, 3), dooms unbelievers to the fire of perdition (1Co 3:13-15).
5. create—The "new creation" needs as much God's creative omnipotence, as the material creation (2Co 4:6; Eph 2:10). So it shall be in the case of the Holy Jerusalem to come (Isa 65:17, 18).
upon—The pillar of cloud stood over the tabernacle, as symbol of God's favor and presence (Ex 13:21, 22; Ps 91:1). Both on individual families ("every dwelling") and on the general sacred "assemblies" (Le 23:2). The "cloud" became a "fire" by night in order to be seen by the Lord's people.
upon all the glory—"upon the glorious whole"; namely, the Lord's people and sanctuary [Maurer]. May it not mean, "Upon whatever the glory (the Shekinah spoken of in the previous clause) shall rest, there shall be a defense." The symbol of His presence shall ensure also safety. So it was to Israel against the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Ex 14:19, 20). So it shall be to literal Jerusalem hereafter (Zec 2:5). Also to the Church, the spiritual "Zion" (Isa 32:18; 33:15-17; Heb 12:22).
tabernacle—Christ's body (Joh 1:14). "The word 'tabernacled' (Greek for 'dwelt') among us" (Joh 2:21; Heb 8:2). It is a "shadow from the heat" and "refuge from the storm" of divine wrath against man's sins (Isa 25:4). Heat and storms are violent in the East; so that a portable tent is a needful part of a traveller's outfit. Such shall be God's wrath hereafter, from which the "escaped of Israel" shall be sheltered by Jesus Christ (Isa 26:20, 21; 32:2).
covert—answering to "defense" (Isa 4:5). The Hebrew for defense in Isa 4:5, is "covering"; the lid of the ark or mercy seat was named from the same Hebrew word, caphar; the propitiatory; for it, being sprinkled with blood by the high priest once a year, on the day of atonement, covered the people typically from wrath. Jesus Christ is the true Mercy Seat, on whom the Shekinah rested, the propitiatory, or atonement, beneath whom the law is kept, as it was literally within the ark, and man is covered from the storm. The redeemed Israel shall also be, by union with Him, a tabernacle for God's glory, which, unlike that in the wilderness, shall not be taken down (Isa 38:20).