Our Promises in Christ
By Pastor Matt Black
30 April 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 4:3-6
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 4. The title of tonight’s message is “Our Promises in Christ.”
[Read Isaiah 4:2-6]
First we see in Chapter 1—A summary of Israel’s Depravity
God begins His indictment of Israel’s depraved state with a report card in chapter one and verse 4…
Isaiah 1:4: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”
Israel had become utterly hypocritical religiously to the point where God said, in 1:14, “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them.”
Isaiah 1:21 says summarizes it best, “How the faithful city has become a harlot.”
God’s own people had become His enemies, as He says in Isaiah 1:24, “I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.”
Then we see in Chapter 2-3:11—A summary of Israel’s Destruction
Thus far in Isaiah, we have seen great judgment. Essentially what Isaiah is predicting is the utter fall of national Israel. Judah and Jerusalem will be ransacked and pummeled.
Chapter 2 describes the Day of the Lord that was coming against Israel and Judah, and Chapter 3 describes how God was going to take all the physical and earthly protection away.
Isaiah sounds two very clear warnings:
Isaiah 2:22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
The Destruction will be quite visible as you look at the long list of all that will fail in Israel—Isaiah 3:1 “God doth take away the mighty man (HEROS), the man of ware [ARMIES]” …. And even their generals “captain of fifty,” etc.
He also says again in Isaiah 3:11: Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. Man shall be judged according to his works. There is a promised pay day!!
So we see Israel’s Depravity in chapter 1, Israel’s Destruction in Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3. Then we see Israel’s Domestic Life in the rest of Chapter 3 up to Chapter 4 and verse 1. You see whenever you look at Depravity and Destruction, it’s roots are always most clearly seen in our homes—in our domestic life.
So we see in Chapter 3:12-4:1—A summary of Israel’s Domestic Life.
We looked at the men in Isaiah 3:12-15. What are the signs of a lack of God’s presence in the leadership of the home? Well there is a lack of three things:
1. There is a lack of leadership.
2. There is a lack of stewardship.
3. There is a lack of servanthood.
Men without these three ingredients, you cannot “dwell with your wife according to knowledge,” and neither can you love your wife “as Christ loved the church.”
-Leadership
Without the integrity of character to exhibit real leadership, as Isaiah 3:12 says, your “children” will be your “oppressors” and “women” will “rule over” you. Any saved woman with a loving and firm leader can and will submit to God’s proper order of the home.
-Stewardship
Without the realization of real accountability with God, you will hoard your resources as if they are all yours to begin with! But God knows, as Isaiah 3:14 says, that “the spoil of the poor is in your houses.” If the finances of the home or the leadership of the home is out of control it is always the man’s fault.
-Servanthood
Selfishness instead of service is characteristic of someone who is not right with the Lord. Isaiah asked some pretty shockingly descriptive questions remember in Isaiah 3:15, “What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?” You are not a true leader if you are not a servant first. If you think that a proper order of God’s home is having your wife be your slave, you do not understand the love of Christ.
Then we see dispersed and scattered
throughout Chapters 1-4, a summary of Israel’s Deliverance.
Chapter 1
Deliverance through Man’s Salvation: Responsibility of Repentance and Obedience (Faith). (Man’s Perspective)
Verses 18ff Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Verse 25-27 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Chapter 2
Deliverance through God’s Sovereignty: The Dominion of God through His Kingdom. (God’s Perspective—these are things that only God can do)
Verses 2-5 it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Chapter 3
No Promises!
Chapter 4
Deliverance through the Saviour: The LORD Jesus becomes God robed in human flesh—this is the only way to the Father.
This brings us up to speed.
Isaiah 4:2 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 [REMNANT] of Israel.
Last week, we looked at the prophecy of the BRANCH. Jesus Christ is the Branch because He is branched off from Abraham and David.
How does the New Testament begin?
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
It was well known that Christ would be the Son of David, but the Lord specifically points out His position of diety. The Pharisees didn’t like it!
Matthew 22:41-45 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
He is the promised seed. He is the fulfillment of all the promises given to Abraham for a seed and all the promises given to David for a Kingdom. Are you a child of Abraham? Are you under the sovereign rule of the Kingdom that will never end?
Of course He is as a twig that comes out of the rotten old dead tree stump of Israel. Amidst all the destruction and doom of the seed of Abraham, will come the promised Son of God—and we further learn that he will be God
Isaiah 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious
Of course we learned that the branch is “beautiful and glorious” two terms that refer to diety in Isaiah. It is not saying that the Branch is just beautiful and glorious, but literally says, the Branch is the essence of beauty and the essence of glory. This is very clear in the Hebrew. These terms in this context belong only to diety.
Remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus in Mark 10, and he called Jesus “good Master.” What did Jesus say in verse 18?
Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Christ was pointing out that there is no one who is perfectly good except for God. In the same way, Isaiah is attributing qualities that ultimately only belong to God. He says the Branch is all that is Beauty and all that is Glory.
Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another,
What did David say about God’s beauty?
Psalm 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
But He is also called “the fruit of the earth”—that is He is not only divine, but he is human. Jesus Christ is the God-man. He is God, but he also has taken upon Him eternally a human nature, and He has taken it upon Himself to be all that His people need. He is excellent and comely. He is the beauty and excellency of His people. And who are His people? “Those who are the escaped of Israel.” God always has His remnant.
So last week we looked at the Sovereign Reign of the Messiah, and today we are going to look at the Subjects of the Messiah and the Promises that we have in Christ.
So now, let us look at all the promises that come with Jesus Christ, the Branch of Israel.
I. Promises for God’s People
A. Preservation
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem,
After such cataclysmic judgment on the world (as described in chapter 2) the only ones left for Zion are those whom God has preserved. This is a promise throughout Scripture.
Ultimate preservation is found in John 6.
John 6:37-39 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
John 17:6ff I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
B. Justificaton
shall be called holy, With the word “holy” we enter into theological grounds. These who are left have been spiritually changed. The emphasis could not be stronger. The word Holy is actually first in the sentence so it literally reads, “The one who remains in Jerusalem, HOLY shall he be called.”
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Paul wanted to be “found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).
C. Election
even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
Here we come to the concept in Scripture of what we would know as “the Lamb’s book of life.” The ones who are written in Zion are those whose names are written in the book of life before the foundation of the world.
The idea is presented throughout Scripture. Remember Moses in Exodus 32:32, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin––;and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”
Philippians 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
D. Purification
(verse 4) When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
1. A Sovereign Purification. It had to be sovereign as these people did not think themselves to be filthy. They thought they were fine, just at the proverb says.
Proverbs 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Isaiah’s generation was also filthy, and God is always the ONLY ONE who can take away sins! When God removes sin—it is never heard of again!
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
What was God’s promise in the very first chapter of Isaiah?
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
2. A Sobering Purification “filth,”—literally means “vomit.” This has the idea that they are defiled with what comes out of them.
Isn’t that what the Lord said in Matthew?
Matthew 15:18-20 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Wow, that’s what God thinks of Israel. They are NOT ok—they are filthy. We hate to tell the truth to ourselves, but we must! We need God to cleanse us from our filth.
Zechariah prophesied of a time when those who would identify with Christ (the house of David) would be clean!
Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
3. A Searching Purification
(verse 4) and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof … God not only cleanses the heart, but he also promises to purge the actual consequences of their sins—they have killed—they have blood on their hands. In salvation, ultimate redemption is not only that we will be from the power and punishment of sin, but we will be free from the very presence of sin!! God will wipe away all tears!!
Isaiah 25:8 (Cross reference Revelation 21:4) He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
4. A Spiritual Purification How does this purging from blood and wiping away of the filth come about? By the Spirit of the Living God! You will not have a true purification of sin, unless the Spirit of God has done His ultimate work in you. That is what the last part of verse 4 says. God will purge the blood of Jerusalem…
(verse 4) by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
Remember what John the Baptist said of Jesus about being baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost?
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
And of course Christ Himself prophesied of the burning baptism of this Spirit upon a lost person:
John 16:7-8 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
So we see in verses 3-4 the Promises to God’s People, now let’s look at verse 5. We see…
II. The Promise of God’s Presence
A. God’s presence requires a work of Creation.
(verse 5) And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion,
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
B. God’s presence also requires Communion.
(verse 5) 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.
Of course, the imagery in this verse is that of God’s promised presence in Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.
Exodus 13:21-22 And 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: 22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Do you see where God’s presence is? In the assemblies. This word “assemblies” has the idea of our NT word “ekklesia” or church, which is a “called out assembly.” The idea here is the body of Christ. We touched on this a bit in the morning service. Believing Israel or any believing Gentiles in the OT were part of the body of Christ. Remember that the evangelization of all nations was a mystery in the OT, but Ephesians 3:6 tells us, “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Notice the Church is not a building, it is a body!
John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
And where ever God’s people are, and where ever they are, and in what ever time period they lived, the promise is still true as Jesus said…
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
God’s presence is also a defense as the last part of the verse says. Look over again at Exodus 14:20-22 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 21 ¶ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
That brings us to our last point. We not only see The Promises of God to His people, and the promises of His presence…
III. We see finally, the Promise of Protection
6 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 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
How do I know if I’m hiding in God?
Colossians 3:2-4 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Are you hiding in God or hiding from God?
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Conclusion: Are you trusting in the promises of God? Hiding in God?
Closing Hymn: 462 Hiding in Thee