Isaiah 4:2-6 - Secure From All Harm

Amen.

I'd ask you to take your Bible and turn over to the book of Isaiah.

If you're new with us or you don't have a Bible, you'll find a Bible in the pew in front of you and you can turn to page 600.

And we'll be in chapter four.

So that's like page 602, somewhere in that area.

Isaiah starts on page 600, and we're just in the early chapters.

We started our study of Isaiah following a study of the book of Matthew, and when we studied the book of Matthew we reached back into the Old Testament and pulled in a lot of the themes and pictures and imagery of the Old Testament as Matthew unfolded the revelation of Jesus Christ in his gospel.

And now we're in the book of Isaiah and we're kind of doing the same thing, but from the opposite perspective.

Now we're in the book of Isaiah and we're going to see its themes brought forward into the New Testament, and so this morning we're going to capture a glimpse of that in the passage that we're going to be looking at.

Before we do, let's pray together.

Lord, we ask your blessing upon our time and your word.

Give us an illumination by your spirit to understand those things that you have for us today, and we pray this in Christ's name, amen.

My Bible happens to finish.

We're on one page where we finished the sermon last Sunday.

We stopped at chapter four and verse one.

Then the very bottom of my page here is chapter four and verse one.

And when you look at chapter four and verse one you're going to note a little phrase there.

It says on that day, and then it describes something very grim about the future of Judah and Jerusalem.

There's this speak about seven women grabbing a hold of one guy saying we're going to eat our own bread, we're going to provide our own clothing.

Just let us bear your name and take away our disgrace.

Here's seven women binding together to provide for their own needs but making a marriage alliance with one guy.

Because so devastating has been the war that there's been that much loss of life among the soldiers that seven women have to grab a hold of one guy and say we just need a marriage.

What a horrific picture that is.

So terrible is the pronouncement of judgment in chapter 3 that we get here.

But when you look at the beginning of chapter 4 and verse 2, you read the same words on that day and you pause and you think well, I've just read these words in verse 1, on that day and what's going to come next?

And we wince like I'm not sure I want to read more.

How much horrible can it get?

What's coming next?

More humiliation, more death, more despair, more brokenness, more judgment.

What's on that day?

Despair, more brokenness, more judgment.

What's on that day?

But look at verse 2.

On that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.

What an abrupt movement from judgment to glorious beauty.

Where God promises an abundance in place of desolation, or cleansing in the place of blood, guilt and filth.

Where God threatens no more loss but rather a bounty.

Where, as we go through the rest of the chapter, we find that he's creating something new and something better.

What is this sudden movement from judgment to hope?

Well, it's something we've seen before.

Look at the end of chapter one and see how it moves into chapter two, the end of chapter one of Isaiah.

You will become like an oak whose leaves are withered and like a garden without water.

The strong one will become tender in his work.

A spark, both will burn together, with no one to extinguish the flames, judgment.

And then verse one of chapter two, the vision that Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem In the last day, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills.

All nations will stream to it.

Many people will say come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.

Judgment, hope, judgment, hope, judgment, hope, just sandwiched together Judgment in chapter 1, judgment in chapter 2 and 3, judgment, as you'll find out next week, in chapter 5.

But the filling inside the three slices of judgment are hope.

What's going on here, this shift back and forth from judgment to hope?

Well, the structure is teaching us something.

It's teaching us that judgment's going to happen, but it also tells us that hope is also going to be realized.

And to understand, that is to understand the whole book of Isaiah.

We're learning something here, just in these first few chapters, these themes in which we come across these prophecies, in which God reveals his terrible majesty, and when we read these things we can only be moved to pray that God might not speak that way to us, so terrible are his judgments.

And yet at the same time, we find ourselves leaning into words that, in addition to his plans of judgment, he also has purposes to show his mercy.

God cannot leave Judah and Jerusalem alone wallowing in the shameful consequences of their sin.

He's not merely inflicting his righteous indignation against them and showing them the vengeance of his wrath.

He's also opening up a way and even more so for his grace.

For his grace, Isaiah has been called the fifth gospel.

Like a strange thing.

It's in the old testament.

It's not sandwiched up next again Matthew, mark, luke and John, but it's called the fifth gospel and Isaiah, as a prophet, has been called the the fifth evangelist.

There are statements in here that we can transfer directly over into the life of Jesus Christ without skipping a beat.

But there are also themes that talk us about the gospel hope that's coming, that push the people in the Old Testament forward to a day that's now realized in our own time.

And so this morning, when we go through Isaiah, chapter 4, I want us to discover this gospel movement that Isaiah has to capture a little better, why he's called the fifth evangelist and to recognize why we're looking here in the Old Testament at something that's easily and very aptly described as the fifth gospel.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

So I want us to look at this by way of asking some questions and answering them.

We're going to have five questions this morning in order to pull out of chapter four this gospel hope, this gospel hope.

And the first question we want to answer and we'll do so very, very briefly is when will this happen?

When will this happen?

Well, it goes back to that phrase that we just looked at.

Take a look at verse 2.

On that day.

That's all it says.

On that day, it looks into the future, but it doesn't give a date.

It looks into the future, but it's still vague and undefined.

It looks to the future, not so we can circle a day on the calendar, but so that we might know that there's going to be a time when God acts, and when he acts it will be so dramatic that no one will miss it.

On that day, the only chronological indicator that we get is that day of hope is going to come after judgment.

That's all we've got.

But God will continue to act beyond the judgment into a place of hope.

On that day, the second thing we're going to ask ourselves is well, where is that hope found?

Where is that hope found?

And in verse 2, we're given an understanding of where that hope is.

It gives us an understanding by way of some imagery in order to identify where that hope is.

On that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.

So, before we get to the identity, let's just sit a little while with this imagery that's here, this branch of beauty, this branch of glory.

Now, our English word branch brings some things to mind that the Hebrew didn't necessarily seem to indicate.

Seem to indicate.

We've got words that we could use branch, shoot, sprout and none of them really, really, really work.

We think of a branch, we think of a part of a tree.

When we think of a sprout or a shoot, we think of the little beginning parts of growth.

It's better described as the growing thing, the growing thing that has promise of a flourishing growth.

It starts out small but it will develop and develop and grow.

It's a growing thing with abundant vitality and fresh life within it.

So take that image and picture, if you will, judah and Jerusalem after the devastating war that has come across them, as Babylon has wiped away everything homes, rubble strewn throughout the area, the temple emptied of all of its instruments of worship, the people vacated from the land, taken in captivity to Jerusalem.

Picture, if you will scorched earth, war and devastation, emptiness and brokenness.

Nothing seems alive.

And if you've been to a desert, that sort of barrenness of desert or if you've been to a place where a lava has strewn itself across the place, a lava field, that's just one expanse of emptiness.

Expanse of emptiness.

That's what we're looking at here.

Here is this desolated land, not one green thing left.

The lava of God's holy wrath has spread its devastation along a ruining path the whole of Israel, barren like a desert, lifeless, like a lava field.

And in the middle of it, in the middle of this devastation, there shoots up a green thing, a branch we call it in this translation here this growing thing, this living sprout.

It starts off extremely small.

It starts off very insignificant, so small, so insignificant that the eyes don't see it.

It's hidden, still to our eyes, unrecognized for what it is.

The sprout of life is submerged under the movements and processes of human history.

We don't even see it, and if we thought about it.

We might even be doubtful that it's actually living, but the promise is that it is alive and that it's going to grow and its vitality is going to be strong and it's going to come to the place where it's a bounty there's a fruit of the land, there's a harvest that's overflowing.

This is the imagery here.

Now let's understand what is this branch, what is this growing thing?

Well, it's ambiguous in this passage because it's just been introduced to us, but it doesn't mean the Old Testament's silent about this idea.

The identity of this branch comes into fuller and fuller and fuller revelation and exposure.

It tells us that something, someone is coming and will bring this new life to the people.

Isaiah, chapter 11, just a few pages over.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

Let's read the first verse.

Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

Lord, the branch coming from the stump of Jesse, and this imagery moves us into the identity of someone who is the Messiah, and this term branch becomes a messianic title.

Title Maddie, read for us Jeremiah, chapter 23, verses five and six.

Jeremiah 23 · chapter mention

Look, the day is coming this is the Lord's declaration when I will raise up the righteous branch for David.

He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.

And in his day Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.

And his name will be called the Lord.

Our righteousness, the branch is becoming identified as this one from the line of David, this one who will act with justice and equity and righteousness and will stand as the righteousness of his people.

Jeremiah 33 almost exactly quotes Jeremiah 23.

In those days, at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to sprout up for David and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

Those days, at that time, will cause a righteous branch to sprout up for David and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

And then we get to Zechariah, chapter 6.

Zechariah 6 · chapter mention

This is what the Lord of Army says.

Here is a man whose name is the branch he will branch out from his place and build the Lord's temple, the branch he will branch out from his place and build the Lord's temple.

So here in the Old Testament, even in this statement here, as ambiguous as it is in its first declaration.

It gets clearer and clearer and clearer again that they are to expect someone who's going to come, someone from this devastated line of Davidic kings brought into captivity and no king sitting on any throne anywhere.

There's going to come, one who will and his reign will not end, and his reign will be described by justice and equity and righteousness on behalf of his people, and that he's going to build a meeting house with God and people, called a temple, and that the people are going to say this is the Lord, our righteousness.

Well, hang on with me for a moment as we kind of bring this into the New Testament, as we go into the New Testament and as Matthew begins to unfold the gospel of Jesus Christ for Jewish people who are familiar with the Old Testament, who have read it many, many, many, many times, who have expectation of this branch who is to come, who are looking forward to a Messiah who will arrive.

Matthew is speaking in a language they understand.

He's speaking with themes that they know and he knows they know to look for a branch.

And so in Matthew, chapter 2, and in verse 23,.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

And in verse 23, writing about Jesus, he says these words.

Then he went this is Jesus and he settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene.

Now just hang with me for a second.

We'll get to the point.

Jesus grew up in a town called Nazareth.

He's called often in the scriptures Jesus of Nazareth, just like we might say Ethan of Valley Stream.

Right, there's so many Ethans in Valley Stream we got to around our area.

We have to say this is the Ethan of Valley Stream, as opposed to the Ethan of New Hyde Park or the Ethan of Franklin Square, whatever.

Jesus of Nazareth.

But Nazareth was an obscure Galilean village.

In fact, in all of the writings that we have of Jewish literature, from the 7th century BC all the way up to the time of Christ, there is not one single mention of this village.

Nazareth, it's just an obscure little village.

No one paid any attention to None.

No one paid any attention to None, literally none.

You could go to the wiki page for Nazareth in Jesus' day and it'd be blank.

It's a town in Galilee.

Next item, that's all it would say.

Notable people from Nazareth.

Nobody's listed.

But here's Jesus Went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

Now notice the next phrase of Matthew 23.

So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene.

So where are all the prophecies of Jesus, the coming Messiah, being called a Nazarene?

Nowhere.

Have we just found the first big mistake in the Bible here.

Wait a second.

No, not just one prophet.

The prophets speak about this coming one being called a Nazarene.

Well, he's obviously not quoting any direct Old Testament prophecy, because there is no direct prophecy talking about the Messiah coming from Nazareth or being called a Nazarene.

This is why, when in Jesus' day they all went, how could he be the Messiah?

Can any good thing come from Nazareth?

What's going on here?

Matthew is a Jewish man speaking to Jewish people, telling them about the Messiah and the themes that they've understood, and he's peppering his gospel with these little clues that aren't so little if you understand what he's trying to say.

The prophecy of Isaiah 11, the prophecy of Isaiah 4-2, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.

The word for branch in Isaiah 11 is nasser, a netzer.

The word for Nazareth and Nazarene net, nazareth, nazarene.

They sound in Hebrew and Aramaic almost identical.

Matthew is making an association of sound here with the name of the town and the word title branch.

He will be called a branch.

He lives in Nazareth because he will be the fulfillment of the branch.

He will come from an obscure place like this little shoot rises out of the obscurity of destruction, the sound and the spelling.

If you reduced the Hebrew and the Aramaic to its consonants, nazareth and branch have the exact same three letters.

Matthew's point is here that sprouting up from this obscure little village in Galilee is a branch, is a branch.

He is identifying for us the fulfillment of Jesus.

In the prophecy of Isaiah, in chapter 4, in chapter 11, in Jeremiah 23, in Jeremiah 33, and in the book of Zechariah, the branch is here.

He came to his own and his own received him not.

We looked and we didn't see it.

It was so small, it was so insignificant we didn't even think there was life in it at all.

There was nothing to see.

We thought Nothing but continued judgment and devastation.

But God says on that day a branch is going to rise and it'll start off small.

It'll start off insignificant, but that branch is going to flourish and the power and the effect of that branch is going to be unmistakable for all eyes to see.

It's going to be beautiful and glorious.

That new growth is going to be splendid beyond anyone's imagination.

Later, in the book of Isaiah, isaiah says that when the Messiah comes, he'll have no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him, that he's a reproach of men.

We turned, as it were, our faces from him.

This is visage was marred more than any man's.

Oh.

But he's not like that anymore.

He's ascended into the heavenly, sat at the right hand of the majesty, on high ruling and reigning.

And as the gospel proclaimers in the book of Acts, in chapter two, said, this is the very message of the king from the throne Repent and believe on Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.

And the beauty of the gospel has traversed its path from that point to ours, across all nations, until the effect of that little, little, little growing thing out of the field of devastation has turned into a beauty, a beauty to behold of redeemed people from every kindred, tribe and tongue.

This is the hope.

When is this hope going to happen On that day?

Where is that hope to be found In the branch?

Who receives that hope?

That's the next question we want to ask in Isaiah, chapter 4.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

When is this hope later?

Where the branch who receives it?

Verse 2 on that day, the branch of the lord will be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of israel's survivors.

Whoever remains in zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy.

What is this idea?

Well, it's when we introduced the book of Isaiah, we said that there were three horizons that look out onto the future the horizon that looks into the immediate time and the extended history of the Old Testament people of Israel.

Another horizon that looks out on the messianic age as the Messiah comes.

And then another horizon that we can see as we go higher up yet and we can see to the reaches of the new heavens and the new earth in that eternal day.

We can see to the reaches of the new heavens and the new earth in that eternal day.

And so he's moving us in this sort of smashed figure that brings some of these horizons into one expression that there'll be people left after the devastation of Babylon, but there's a hope of fulfillment yet beyond that.

Those who are left, as the NIV puts it, or he who is left, as our translation puts.

It is used 27 times in the book of Isaiah and all of those times it talks about despair or hope.

And here's one of the hope passages that there's going to be a remnant.

There are going to be a few people left.

Paul took up this idea when he quotes Isaiah in Romans, chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

In fact, he quotes two passages in Isaiah.

He said Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the Israelites be like the sand of the sea.

Only a remnant will be saved, since the Lord will execute his sentence completely and decisively on the earth, just as Isaiah predicted.

If the Lord of hosts had not left us an offspring, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 1, we've already looked at that.

The picture looks bleak, the devastation is pervasive, but there's a people.

There's a people and they'll survive and there'll be a growth and there'll be a harvest and there'll be abundance.

And so, as Paul continues his thought in the book of Romans, starting in chapter 9, he moves into chapter 11, and he asks this question has God rejected his people?

I thought there were Old Testament promises that there would be a people.

Has God rejected them?

Absolutely not.

He says how does he know?

He says for I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew.

Paul says the fact that I've come to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I am one of the remnant that are promised in the Old Testament.

Don't you know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel?

Lord, they've killed your prophets.

They've torn down your altars.

I'm the only one left.

They're trying to take my life too.

What's God's answer to him?

I have left 7,000 for myself who have not bowed down to Baal.

And so Paul says in the same way, there's also, at the present time, a remnant chosen by grace.

Here we find the branch has a people who come from the nation of Israel, and the branches people are the remnant people.

But it gets better.

In Romans 9, paul continues his argument and he says God is making known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy rather than wrath.

There's going to be a people that he's going to show mercy to, that he's prepared beforehand to glory on us, the ones that he has called.

Paul says I'm one of those few.

And then he says, but not only to the Jews, but also from the Gentiles.

There's going to be a remnant people, and he quotes the book of Hosea I will call not my people, people, my people, people, people, people, my people, people.

And she who's unloved, I'm going to call her beloved and there will be a place where they're told you're not my people.

They will be called the children of the living God.

These survivors of Israel that Isaiah 4, 2 talks about are the ones who have reservations in their name.

They're the called ones to receive mercy.

It says here in verse 3, all in Jerusalem, written in the book of life.

There's this idea, running through the scriptures, of some record, a registry, a life record of names that are written there, that God has put down that they'll be recipients of his mercies.

Jesus told his disciples don't rejoice that.

The spirits are in subjection.

Do you rejoice at your names written in heaven and in the book of Revelation?

There is a book of life and it says that those who have their names written in that book have a right to enter through the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Through the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, who are these people?

The ones God has chosen to show mercy, surprising mercy, because what they deserved was judgment.

Now, what brings this hope into reality?

Is the next question.

When will this happen In that day?

Where is that hope found In the branch?

Who received that hope?

The remnant?

Who are called?

What will bring this hope into reality?

Take a look at verse four.

When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood guilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit and judgment and a spirit of burning, then the Lord will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night.

The Lord's going to do it.

How is this going to happen?

Is it going to happen because the people that are left just happen to be the righteous ones and by their own righteousness they've survived?

No, no, not at all.

The people that were talked about in chapter three, the people that were talked about in chapter 3, the ladies who were filling their wardrobes and emptying the pockets of the poor as their husbands sweeped across society and raked all in all of the benefits and bounty of the people for their own personal use and gave it to their wives to flaunt in the streets, these daughters of Zion, these are the ones.

They're going to be some of those guilty ones who are surviving and the Lord is going to cleanse them and wash them and make them holy.

He's going to bring about a work that will be a judgment, but that judgment will mean their cleansing.

That judgment will mean their washing.

That judgment will mean their state of holiness.

He's going to do it by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.

It comes when the Lord does it.

Jeremiah, chapter 5, talking about the same people.

Jeremiah 5 · chapter mention

A little bit later than Isaiah's day, god told Jeremiah to go walking around the streets of Jerusalem, to walk up and down the areas around.

He said roam through the streets of Jerusalem, to walk up and down the areas around.

He said roam through the streets of Jerusalem, investigate, search in her squares.

If you find one person, one person who acts justly, who pursues faithfulness, then I will forgive the whole city.

Find me one, Jeremiah, then I will forgive the whole city.

Find me one, jeremiah.

And in Jeremiah 5, you can read what Jeremiah does.

That's exactly what he does.

He goes walking around the streets.

He goes knocking on every door.

He's looking for one righteous person.

And at the end of his search he comes back and he says God, I couldn't find anybody.

There's no one, no one, not one man, not one woman, not one person who is righteous to save the people.

Until you get to Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 33, the days are coming this is the Lord's declaration when I, the Lord, says when I will fulfill the good promise that I've spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah, in those days and at that time I will cause the righteous branch to sprout up for David and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

And in those days, his days, israel shall be saved.

The one man comes, but only by God's doing.

He will bring that servant, that righteous servant who will rule with righteousness, who will rule with justice.

This is the branch, the good shepherd, the son of David, the wise king who will be the righteousness of his people.

Beyond Isaiah's understanding, beyond Jeremiah's comprehension, there was going to be one who is coming, whose goodness and integrity and moral perfection would belong to the people and his righteousness would be credited to their account.

They will say of this one, the Lord, our righteousness.

All of these things have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The gospel talks about him, who is our righteousness.

And when we hear this melodious song of the righteous branch that Jeremiah and Isaiah speak about.

We know that that song is Christ's song, that it is his righteousness, because the scriptures tell us that all of his righteousness belongs to us.

All of his righteousness fulfilled the law that we could not fulfill, that all his suffering satisfied the judgment that we could not fulfill, that all his suffering satisfied the judgment that we could not endure.

And that God will deliver his people through a spirit of judgment, but not on us, on him, on him.

And so, if you trust in Jesus Christ, hear what the words of the New Testament say you are washed, you are cleansed, you are sanctified, using the very words of Isaiah.

Paul the apostle looked around like Jeremiah did.

He knocked on every door, he walked down every street, he gazed at every person and he came to the same conclusion that Jeremiah did there's none righteous.

No, not one.

There's no one who understands.

There's no one who seeks God.

They're all turned away.

They've together become worthless.

There's no one who does good not one.

Paul cried like Jeremiah cried.

Is there not one?

Nobody.

Is there any hope for humanity?

Sure, doesn't seem like it.

Then he writes but now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, of which the law and the prophets testify.

What is that?

Jesus Christ?

A righteousness from God that's been made known, the exact kind of righteousness that Jeremiah talked about.

The exact kind of holiness and washing and cleansing that Isaiah is talking about.

The righteousness of God himself, given to his people so that when we look at Jesus Christ, we would cry out and say to him the Lord, our righteousness, I stand before God as holy, I stand before God cleansed.

I stand before God washed of any blood guilt, because the spirit of judgment has landed on my Savior and not myself, and his obedience has come to me and everyone else who believes.

When is this hope going to happen?

In the day of where that hope is found, in the branch of where that hope is found in the branch, who are going to receive it?

The few who are called?

What brings it to happen?

Only the Lord's activity, and what will that hope look like?

Our last question Take a look at verses five and six.

Then the Lord will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night, over the entire side of Mount Zion and over its assemblies, for there will be a canopy over all the glory and there will be a shelter for shade from the heat by day and a refuge and a shelter from storm and rain.

God promises that that day of hope will be a day of his presence, and he uses the imagery out of the book of Exodus of a cloud by day and a fire by night to talk about the presence of God that will be among his people, despite their sin, despite the judgment.

God is going to be with them and the glory of God will rest upon the assemblies of the gathering of the people.

Wherever they are.

He will be, but not only will his presence be there, but his protection will be there.

They will have protection from the heat of the day and the storm and the rain.

There's going to be a protection on this threatened, barren city.

There's going to be a canopy over Israel that will watch over them and keep them from all the elements of harm.

And all of this imagery comes out of the book of Exodus, where it was God's ultimate goal to be among his people and to dwell with his people and to watch over his people and to protect his people.

He'll live among them, he'll watch over them and in their presence, his presence, they'll know security and they'll know safety and comfort and well-being, all the things that we crave.

And this is why the last words of the book of Exodus don't end with a flourish rush out of Egypt across the Red Sea, but end with these words in Exodus 40.

The cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.

What is it saying?

God will be with his people.

God will be with his people.

He will be with his people.

He will stand with them by his presence.

He will watch over them with his protection, and we'll feel it.

We'll feel it.

We'll feel his sheltering presence, we'll feel his comforting nearness.

This righteous branch will serve his people.

He will rescue his people, deliver his people and liberate his people, and there will be peace.

That hope is the presence of God, that hope is the protection of God and that hope is the peace of God.

This war that's coming is not the end of the story.

God will move in judgment on them, but he will bring about a time of peace.

As they journeyed through the wilderness, he was there, but there came a time when that.

But there came a time when that pillar and that cloud left.

There was a time when war happened.

There was a time when pestilence raged.

But there's coming a day when the presence of God will be forever and the protection of God will be forever and the peace of God will be forever.

And Isaiah looks to that day and he can see it afar and he wonders what it might be.

He gets glimpses of the hope that's there when it happens, and who might bring it and who's going to receive it and what it's going to look like.

But it's still cloudy yet, until we get to the New Testament and we realize that Jesus Christ came and he tabernacled among us John 1, 14.

The presence of God is with people.

And then he says when you leave this body, you will be in the presence of God.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

This is no out-of-date dream that Isaiah is conjuring up to give some glimmer of hope to people that are facing the oppression of nations around them that are far more powerful than they are simply speaking words of judgment to some prophet of doom in the midst of a debauched people.

No, he's casting hope forward.

He's casting it forward into their generation and he's casting us forward into that hope.

To speak of this branch who's going to come, the only means by which we might be righteous, with a cleansing from sin.

But he means to push us even further than looking to the cross, because there's something still ahead of us all the book of Revelation, chapter 21, the very last leaves of scripture itself.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride, adorned for her husband, beautiful, holy, adorned for her husband, beautiful, holy.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne Look, god's dwelling is with humanity and he will live with them and they will be his peoples.

And God himself will be with them and will be their God Presence, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more.

Grief, crying and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away Presence and protection and peace.

Then the one seated on the throne said look, I'm making all things new.

He started making all things new when there was a little cry of a baby in Bethlehem, when there was a little toddler brought to Nazareth, when one solitary voice looked across at another man and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

It was just spoken to a crowd in that area and then there began to be a publishing of the news.

Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?

He can't be surely.

Yes, he is the branch, the branch who would bring life.

This growing thing out of emptiness will bring life and the life will flourish so much that those who are called to believe on him will have the eternal presence of God, the eternal protection of God and the eternal peace of God, this nucleus of a holy people that God is marking out for himself.

And the question we must all ask ourselves is am I one of those people?

Am I one of those people?

Am I one of those ones?

The scriptures say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

The question is are you trusting the righteous branch?

Are you trusting your own righteousness?

The righteous branch, or are you trusting your own righteousness?

Have you gone to him?

Who is the life, the God-brought life.

If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, believe on him.

Turn away from your iniquity and cast yourself on him, because out of the barrenness of judgment, he is the only growing thing and he is the only living thing that stands for people's lives.

Now, nothing else.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the word of God, thank you for these promises in the prophecy of Isaiah that carry us forward into the realization of the fulfillment of these things in the New Testament, in which Paul, looking back at both of them, the prophecies that he's read in the scriptures from his youth and the fulfillment that he's seen in Jesus in the proclamation of the gospel, and exclaims to the Corinthians and to us all the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus, men, in Jesus and Lord.

I pray that we might say yes, and so be it to Jesus to be our Lord, so that we might call him the Lord our righteousness and Father.

We pray that each of us might receive your wondrous work of life and the hope that's found in him and enjoy your presence forever, protected and peaceful as we are, and we ask this in Christ's name, Amen.