iv. 2-6. _In that day shall the Branch of the Lord, &c._
"That day" is the glorious period described in ch. ii. 1-4, and those
verses and our text should be read together, as the beginning and
conclusion of one prophecy. At the beginning, the prophet fixes his
gaze upon the sun-illumined peaks of holiness and blessing in the far
future, and his spirit rises within him in exultant gladness (ii. 5);
and then he begins to survey the spaces of time that lie between.
Immediately at his feet he sees almost the whole nation given over to
utter ungodliness, the men and the women vying with each other in
their pride and luxuriousness, and in their contempt and oppression
of the poor; and then he beholds the clouds of Divine vengeance
gathering and bursting over the stout-hearted sinners; he sees the
nation spoiled of the men who had constituted its strength, and the
enfeebled people utterly desolated by war. All is blackness and
darkness. But he lifts his eyes again, and there still shines before
him the true Zion, dwelling in inviolable peace beneath the
manifestations of the presence of her God. This was the vision which
was granted him, and which he recorded for the instruction of men in
all aftertime.
Confining our attention to the closing section of it, we are
instructed--+I. That underneath all God's purposes of judgment He has
designs of mercy.+ In certain portions of this great prophecy God
comes forth in terrible majesty, and were we to have regard to them
only we should be moved to pray that He would not speak to us any
more (Exod. xx. 19). But these judgments that cause us to
tremble--what is their purpose? Not merely the infliction of
righteous vengeance, but also and more that a way may be opened for
manifestations of the Divine goodness. If into Zion He sends "the
spirit of judgment and burning," it is that by the purging away of
her filth and blood-guiltiness she may be made meet to be the
dwelling-place of God. +II. That God resolved to carry out His
purposes of mercy by a suitable agent.+ He is here designated by a
twofold description, the parts of which appear to be contradictory.
He is at once "the Branch of the Lord" and "the Fruit of the earth."
The significance of the first of these titles becomes more plain as
we trace it in prophecy (Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8,
vi. 12). So that "the Branch of the Lord" is a man, the son of David,
that son concerning whom he sang in the seventy-second Psalm, the
Messiah--our Lord Jesus Christ! As soon as we arrive at this great
truth, we perceive what is the explanation of the mysterious
contradiction in the two parts of the title of the great Deliverer
whom God was about to raise up for Zion (1 Tim. iii. 16; Rom. i. 3,
4). +III. That in the day when God's designs of mercy are fulfilled,
the suitability and glory of the Agent whom God resolved to employ
will be universally recognised.+ We know how He was treated when He
came forth on His great mission: He was despised and rejected of men.
Yet not long after He had been put to the most ignominious of deaths,
an apostle could write, "Unto you that believe He is precious." So
even on earth there was a commencement of the fulfilment of the
prediction that He should be "beautiful and glorious . . . excellent
and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." We have been
permitted also to see how He is regarded by the ransomed ones who
have entered into the rest in which they await the manifestation of
the sons of God (Rev. v. 6-14). By this disclosure we are enabled to
form some conception of the manner in which this portion of the
prophecy will be fulfilled "in that day" which upon the new earth
"the holy city, New Jerusalem," has come down from God out of heaven.
+IV. That God's great design both in the infliction of His judgments
and the operation of His mercy is the creation of universal
holiness.+ The work entrusted to the Messiah was to "wash away the
filth of the daughters of Zion, and to purge the blood-guiltiness of
Jerusalem from the midst thereof." There were some "written down for
life in Jerusalem" (Acts xiii. 48),--doubtless those who God foresaw
would tremble at His threatenings and accept His gracious offers of
mercy; and these the Messiah was so to purify that they should be
worthy to "be called holy." Thus one part of GOD'S IDEAL CONCERNING
ISRAEL (Exod. xix. 6) was to be realised. It was for the
accomplishment of this great purpose that Christ died (Eph.
v. 25-27). It was for this end that He was exalted to God's right
hand (Acts v. 31). It is for the accomplishment of this great purpose
that He now sometimes subjects His people to painful discipline (Heb.
xii. 10).[1] +V. That the day of universal holiness will be a day of
universal blessing.+ This great truth is set forth by symbols which
would appeal most powerfully to the imagination and the hopes of the
godly among Isaiah's contemporaries (ver. 5, 6). That which had been
the distinguishing glory of the Tabernacle was to become the common
glory of every dwelling in the New Jerusalem. Moreover, the whole
city was to be a covering--a canopy such as in a Jewish wedding was
held over the bride and bridegroom; the symbol of God's protecting
love. Beneath it, as in a tabernacle, they should dwell securely.
Thus the second portion of God's ideal concerning Israel was to be
realised (Deut. xxviii. 9, 10; xxxiii. 28). First purity, then peace;
perfect purity, perfect peace. A little later Isaiah had another
vision concerning this tabernacle (xxxii. 2). God's protecting love
for His people is embodied in our Lord Jesus Christ; "in _Him_ all
the promises of God are Yea and Amen" (2 Cor. i. 20).