The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 5

My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. The Lord has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord God of hosts.
Isaiah 3:12-15

God still claims His people as His own and He will not abandon us during judgment of our nation. The view here in Isaiah is of a severe judgment. The leadership is compared to an infant indicating immaturity and an inability to make decisions based on the appropriate criteria. They react to situations without wisdom and show no prudence. The reference to women is likely a reference to the harem and how an immature king would be manipulated and distracted from leading by a harem. Their guiders misguided them. We see the analogy of a courtroom as God judges the leadership. The reference to devouring the vineyard may be to allowing your cattle to graze the vineyards of others. Good for the cattle but bad for the vineyard owner. And then in other ways they bleed off the wealth of the poor and place it in their houses.

One thing we can easily lose sight of in the midst of a trial such as described in Isaiah is that you can't fix this by changing leadership. You don't even delay God's judgment by changing leadership. You fix this problem by getting your life right with God, praying for guidance in being prudent in all your ways, and praying for your nation. Don't complain about leadership for any more minutes than you pray for them each day … and may I say that you'll still be sinning if you're actually expressing anxiety (Phil 4:6).

The Lord said: Because othe daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of othe daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.
Isaiah 3:16-26

Well you knew God would catch up with the trophy wives eventually. Seriously though, Zion is personified here in her daughters. The attitudes expressed are present in the whole culture and not just in these young women. Everything is designed to impress the eye and the heart attitude is judged. It isn't the adornment as such but the heart that is wearing it that needs judgment. Instead of mourning they wear evidence of opposite and God removes it. Some of the items such as the “crescents” were likely the charms for pagan gods. So these adornments are to show others their wealth, to provide wealth in emergencies, and protection. God was ignored and the glory, provision, and protection that are His and His to bestow were given to wealth. We tempt God's to judge us when we allow pride a foothold in our hearts seek provision and protection apart from Him.

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
Isaiah 4:1

Sometimes our chapter divisions are inconvenient. Here for example the verse is part of the previous verse. The consequence of “your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle” along with “her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.” The picture is of Israel as a whole in desperation. There is an awareness of reproach and failure but the solution isn't sought in God. The solution sought in men in the middle of failure and without real hope. The contrast drawn by Isaiah also shows men who put their faith in men for leadership unable to find anyone who would take the position of leader (Isaiah 3:7b “you shall not make me leader of the people.”) and women who put their faith in their ability to manipulate and attract men (Isaiah 3:16 “the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,) fail completely and are eventually willing to settle for just the name. As people come to the end of their abilities they begin to turn to the Lord but we do seem to need to bottom out before we turn our eyes up.

As Isaiah delivers such a heavy message to a people that will not hear it, we still have flashes of light that let us see what God will do. When we have no security in leadership, money, and power then God shows offers eternal security. Leadership with prudence, wealth that will not fail, and power that is perfect and without limit.

I'm thankful for the following verses this Easter. We have a security in Him that we can take comfort in. A title for Christ that points to his kingly and priestly offices is “The Branch of the Lord”.

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

The Branch of the Lord also is an indication of “Family Tree”. We have a Righteous Branch for David at places (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15) but here we have “The Branch of the Lord”. Jesus does have the dual ancestry in that He is rightly in David's line and in God's line. Remember that Jesus has 2 complete natures. He is fully God and fully human and will be so forever. Here we have His humanity in view as the “Branch” is the “fruit of the land that is the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel”.

The Chalcedonian Creed (451 AD) summarized Scripture by teaching that Christ is to be acknowledged in two natures, without mixture, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of the natures is not taken away by the union, but each nature is preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

He really did suffer and die on a tree a couple of thousand years ago. The Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious. His beauty is not an outward adornment but rather a quality of His being. He was a Jew and He is our pride as we boast only in the Gospel. We honor Him and all we give Him glory and He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. We are Holy in Him. He has imputed His perfection to God's children. We are washed by judgment and suffering. The price for our sins was paid and in Christ we are saved by works we couldn't accomplish as His grace is poured on us.

We have are justified in Him and yet God is not finished with us. The verse says that those who remain will be called Holy and it is emphatic. We will be made fit for living in the presence of God. We have our names recorded (as in Exodus 32:32-33). Our survival is not accidental. Our salvation is not accidental. God has been for us.

God will establish us in His presence. We have not yet seen this fulfilled. Isaiah is using imagery from the exodus to describe what God will do. We will dwell in His presence continually (cloud by day and fire by night) and over all the manifestation will be a “canopy”. The canopy means a marriage chamber. The marriage supper of the Lamb with the Church (the Bride of Christ).
I remember someone saying of a Christian that had passed on that “nothing can now disturb their bliss” and I think that concept fits well with the last portion of Chapter 4. We will have every sorrow and every tear wiped away. Not by a spiritual drug but by dwelling in the truth and holiness of God. This is what Christ bought for us at Calvary and it is why we have something to celebrate in the resurrection. Happy Easter. He is risen.