The Branch of the LORD...

Chapter 3 in Isaiah picks up where Chapter 2 left off except it is clear that it is Judah and Jerusalem which God has in view when speaking in regard to the coming judgment.  God's people had fallen into a pattern of continual sin. They had rejected their God who had brought them up as a loving Father...cared for them and provided for all there needs and instead were trusting in things that did not profit and would lead them into death. (man, gold, silver, horses, chariots, themselves, the work of their own hands)  As you read the first several verses it seems that God Himself is weakening them and preparing them for judgment.  He gave them children to be their princes and babes to rule over them.  Think for a moment what it would mean to have children or a baby ruling over you. An infant is self-centered, self-focused, cannot control its own body functions and absolutely cannot guide anyone down a right path.  Disorder, confusion and chaos result when God does not have first place in a society. There was a leadership vacuum because no one wanted to take charge when things were so bad.

Hope comes in verses 10 and 11 when God says it would be well with the righteous...they would get their reward and as for the wicked it would be ill with them and they would receive the reward of his hands.  

Verse 8 speaks to exactly what happened.  "For Jerusalem has stumbled and and Judah has fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord.  Their word and deed were against their Lord.  Isaiah goes on to say that they were provoking the eyes of His glory and that the look on their faces witnessed against them.  He also says that they did not hide their sin but declared it openly and have brought judgment on themselves. Rather than being ashamed of their sin they flaunted it...they were proud of themselves for what they were doing.

Isaiah goes on in verses 13 to condemn the oppression of the poor and then speaks specifically  to the women of the land who he says were haughty and walking in pride.  They had become ensnared by wealth,  fashion and status and no longer valued spiritual things. They were living on substitutes that were empty and would have no meaning in the day of judgment.  His words to them at the end of chapter 3 are very pointed.

"And so it shall be:  Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a rope;  Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground."--Isaiah 3:24-26

Chapter 4 speaks to a better day coming. This day is in direct contrast to the day of judgment.  It is the day that Jesus, "the Branch of the Lord"  returns.  He shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and appealing.  The Lord will come in glory and rule on the earth.  Isaiah's words are beautiful.

"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. 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.  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,  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.  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."

If Jesus dwells in your heart, you can have this today...right now.  Why wait???  Bring Jesus, beautiful and glorious into your life.  He will wash you clean and His presence will dwell within your heart.  He will be your shade in the daytime from the heat.  He will be your refuge and your shelter from the storm and rain.  Jesus is your recourse...accept the refuge that He affords.  Matthew 11:28-30 speaks to this perfectly.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Love
Mom