The Branch of the LORD

Isaiah 4:1-6 

1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
"We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel;
Only let us be called by your name,
To take away our reproach."

2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped.

3 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

After judgment comes to God’s people in the previous verses, the cry is to be called by God’s name as His remnant and not left out in the reproach of their sin, dead and without hope.  The Branch of the LORD is then brought forth to gaze upon for that hope of escape from death and destruction of judgment, the one who is both full of glory and all beauty in our sight.  This is far more than just a physical nation facing judgment, and the Branch is identified as the Messiah in places such as Jeremiah 23:5, with the further promise of Him being our safe place of His righteousness to be delivered from certain judgment on our sin.  Yes, our fruit in Him, like Israel, is to be excellent and appealing, full of splendor and honor, for we who have escaped God’s wrath which we all deserve as much as God’s people in the time of Isaiah.  Our fruit ultimately is in Christ as we now understand, which thing was veiled at that time, seemingly only an allusion to bearing many crops or winning battles and multiplying the nation again.  Our fruit is given in the righteousness of the Branch to show God’s beauty and to honor Him for his work on our behalf which we could never do in our own strength or wisdom.  We have escaped!  We have a purpose in serving Him!  We are seen as holy in Christ now, recorded among the living as an allusion to our record in the Lamb’s book of life.  He has washed us clean (Revelation 1:5, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Titus 3:5) in the sacrificial blood of His righteousness, taking away the filth of our sin and our worthless and ineffectual sacrifices of ourselves which fall ever short.  He created the place for Israel to worship Him in the ‘cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night,’ as when He led them out of captivity through the desert for forty years.  Such we will see when we see Him face to face (Job 19:26-27) on the throne in the New Jerusalem!  His glory that covers Him will be our place of eternal refuge (2 Corinthians 5:1-2) to shelter us from sin’s presence and penalty through all time.  How excellent and appealing for all His people called in Christ, His Branch of righteousness!