The Church Of Forgiveness

ALSO READ:  Revelation 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

1.        The Background of Isaiah 4

·        Book divided into two sections; Isaiah experienced chapters 1-39, prophesied chapters 40-66 (Isaiah is a miniature Bible)

·        In first section, Isaiah prophesies that God will judge Judah for her sin, in turning to a heathen nation instead of the Lord

·        Assyria was a menacing world power; Israel (northern kingdom) and other nations wanted to form coalition against her

·        Judah would not join them; instead King Ahaz turns to Assyria for help in fighting against the coalition (Jews also!)

·        Judah pays the price by becoming a vassal state to Assyria, but it is just a matter of time until Assyria turns against her

·        Isaiah warns that the war will completely devastate the nation; Judah will be destroyed because of her spiritual pride

·        BUT GOD ALWAYS RESERVES A HOLY REMNANT FOR RESTORATION!

2.        The Prophecy of Isaiah 4

Isaiah 2:2 uses the phrase “the last days” – this can refer to the future generally, but it usually seems to have in view the Messianic era of Israel.  In a very real prophetic sense, the last days began with the first coming of Christ (Acts 2:17 – the Day of Pentecost, Hebrews 1:2 – Jesus’ first advent) and will be fulfilled at His second coming.

 

Acts 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

 

Hebrews 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

·        Isaiah uses the phrase “in that day” seven times in chapters 2-4 (2:11,17,20; 3:7,18; 4:1,2).  The day of the Lord is a time of judgment and/or blessing as God intervenes decisively in the affairs of the world.  These passages incorporate an immediate and/or a future prophecy for Israel, but also include a future prophetic application for the church!

·        Paul tells those living in the last days to take an example from Israel (1 Corinthians 10:11)

3.        The Church Can Be Seen In Isaiah 4

Scripture always refers to the church in the feminine gender, in many cases as a bride

 

2 Corinthians 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

 

Ephesians 5:25-27, 32  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish … This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

 

Revelation 19:7-8  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The last days church is represented by seven candlesticks in Revelation chapters 1-3

The seven would-be brides of Isaiah 4:1 are a prophetic picture of the church in the last days

All seven women seek to take hold of one man (seven churches seek the Lord Jesus Christ)

Just as the characteristics of all seven churches in Revelation are in evidence today, this type of attitude is also found in every church system

4.        We Will Eat Our Own Bread

Jesus is the Bread of Life and the Word of God

 

John 6:35   And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

 

John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

Therefore, the church speaks of the Word of God as “Bread”

 

1 Corinthians 5:8   Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

Many christians today want to eat their own bread, their own interpretation of God’s Word

 

2 Timothy 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

 

This bread is polluted and unacceptable to God!

 

Malachi 1:7   Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

 

Hosea 9:4   They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

 

The law of God does not save us, but it is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ

 

Romans 3:20   Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

 

Galatians 3:24-25  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.   But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 

The law is like a mirror that holds up before us the commandments of God.  When we see that we can’t fulfill those commands, we are driven to Jesus!

 

The only time we need the law is when our faith is not doing its job!

5.        [We Will] Wear Our Own Apparel

OUR CLOTHING IS VERY SIGNIFICANT IN SCRIPTURE!

a.         Clothing For Modesty’s Sake Was Instituted By God

Genesis 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

b.        Nakedness is a Mark of Shame

Ezekiel 16:39  And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

Luke 8:27  And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in [any] house, but in the tombs.

c.         Jesus Was Concerned About the External as Well as the Internal

Mark 5:15  And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

d.        Clothing Used to Indicate a Negative Spiritual State

II Samuel 14:2  And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

Psalms 35:13  But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

Psalms 109:18  As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

Psalms 109:29  Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

Ezekiel 7:27  The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

e.        The Wearing of Proper Clothing is Commanded by God

I Timothy 2:9  In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

I Peter 3:3  Whose adorning let it not be that outward [adorning] of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

f.         Improper Clothing Displeases the Lord Greatly

Zephaniah 1:8  And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

Deuteronomy 22:5  The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.

g.         Those Improperly Dressed Were Prohibited From the King’s Presence

Esther 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none [might] enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

h.        Change of Clothing Required to be in Royal Presence or in God’s Presence

Esther 5:1  Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on [her] royal [apparel], and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

II Samuel 12:20  Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed [himself], and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

i.          Clothing Used to Indicate the Blessing of a King

Esther 6:9  And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man [withal] whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.

Esther 8:15  And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

j.          A King’s Glory Evidenced by the Clothing of His Servants

II Chronicles 9:4  And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

k.         Clothing Indicative of Personal Purity

II Samuel 13:18 And [she had] a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king’s daughters [that were] virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.

l.          Clothing Indicative of a Repentant Attitude

Joshua 7:6  And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

II Chron. 34:19  And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

II Chron. 34:27  Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard [thee] also, saith the LORD.

m.       Clothing Used as a Type of Spirituality

Psalms 132:16  I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

Psalms 132:18  His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

Zechariah 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

Proverbs 31:25  Strength and honour [are] her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Isaiah 59:17  For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment [was] as a robe and a diadem.

Psalms 132:9  Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.

Isaiah 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.

I Peter 5:5  Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

n.        Clothing Is The Identifiable Mark of the Redeemed in Eternity

Revelation 4:4  And round about the throne [were] four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Revelation 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Revelation 19:14  And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Revelation 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Many christians today want to wear their own apparel, rejecting separation from the world, reproof, holiness preaching, spiritual authority, and anything they think is “negative”

6.        Only Let Us Be Called By Thy Name

The “name” is at issue here; these kind of people are in the “church of the Name”!

7.        [Only] Take Away Our Reproach

These women want to be the Bride of Christ, but only on their own terms!

They want nothing more than forgiveness, to have the reproach of sin removed.

Proverbs 14:34  Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

·        They have no desire to submit to the authority of a husband, they are not interested in his needs or his concerns; they want an arrangement without intimacy, love or devotion.

·        Such Christians always turn to a self-centered gospel and “imported” revivals

·        Only through intimacy with Jesus do we receive discernment and direction.

8.        But There Is Another Kind Of Church In The Last Days!

Isaiah 4:2-6 prophesies of a Messiah who will appear “beautiful and glorious”

God has a “church within a church” that is passionately in love with Him!

This refers to more than ancient Israel!

Galatians 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Hebrews 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

·        When Isaiah writes about a “pillar of cloud and fire” on “her assemblies” it has been years since the wilderness wanderings of Israel – this is a future prophecy!

·        v.5 – “for upon all the glory shall be a defense” – Hebrew: “over all shall be a covering of glory”

·        EVERY TIME THE TABERNACLE WAS IN ORDER, GOD’S GLORY FILLED IT!

Exodus 40:34-35  Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.  And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

2 Chronicles 7:1-2  Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.  And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.