God's holy word. My sermon text this morning as we continue our consideration of the book of the prophet Isaiah is a short passage found in Isaiah chapter 4 verses 2 through 6. Now I'm going to begin reading back in chapter 3 verse 16 and read to the end of chapter three and into chapter four. So let us hear God's holy word. You'll find this, our passage for today, in Isaiah four verses, I'm sorry, on page 676 in your Pew Bibles. But again, beginning at chapter three, verse 16. Let us hear, dear friends, the word of our God. The Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. In that day, the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves, the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets, the signet rings and nose rings, the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags, the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils. Instead of perfume, there will be rottenness. And instead of a belt, a rope. And instead of well-set hair, baldness. And instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle. and her gates shall lament and mourn. Empty, she shall sit on the ground. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes. Only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory, there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain." Dear friends, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Shall we pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word? Lord Jesus Christ, be present in the preaching of your word this day. Attend with us by your spirit, we beseech you, and open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. We thank you, Lord God, for your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. It is indeed a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a guide to our way. We pray, Heavenly Father, that the Word would be implanted in our souls this day and that by your Spirit you would cause that Word to bear much spiritual fruit in our lives, fruit that brings praise and glory and honor to your holy name. Be with us now and bless us, challenge us, encourage us through the Word. We pray, Lord, once again, that you would set a guard over my lips, that I, your unworthy servant, may only speak forth that which is clearly in line with your word and faithful to that word. We pray these things in Jesus' name and all of God's people said. Amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is The Beautiful and Glorious Branch of the Lord. And the key words that the young people can be listening for in my sermon today, there's five of them. The words branch, fruit, remnant, Messiah, and re-creation, not recreation, but re-creation. Well, dear ones, the Word of God teaches us that God is sovereign over human history. Not only is God sovereign over human history, the scriptures teach us that He is working out His redemptive plan within human history. As I'm fond of saying, and you're probably getting tired of hearing me say this, but remember, friends, history is what? His story. Scripture teaches us, beloved, that this amazing divine plan of redemption culminates and finds its fulfillment in the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God, namely Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of the living God, our Lord and Savior. Now friends, the phenomenon of Bible prophecy powerfully underscores the truth of God's sovereignty over human history, especially when it comes to predictive prophecy. In other words, biblical prophecies which predict future events. Predictive prophecy is proof that God is in sovereign control over history and even over the future, for He has planned out the future by His sovereign decree. And He is moving history onwards towards its predetermined end goal. We are told in Ephesians, for example, that that end goal is the summing up, the uniting of all things in heaven and on earth in Christ, and the ultimate goal of God in all of His works is the glorification of His own glorious triune being. Friends, Messianic prophecies in particular, in other words, Old Testament prophecies which predict the coming Messiah, serve to powerfully underscore this truth that God has been sovereignly working out his plan of redemption within history. That plan which he carries out through the person and saving work of Jesus the Messiah, our wonderful Lord and gracious Savior. As I hope to demonstrate today, dear friends, our passage for this Lord's Day morning is a spiritually rich and powerful messianic prophecy, as it uses Old Covenant language and imagery and concepts to describe the promised Messiah and to describe the blessings of the messianic New Covenant age that would be ushered in with the coming of the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only does this passage have great redemptive historical significance, it also has great doctrinal significance. This passage, as we will see, touches upon and alludes to many important Bible doctrines. For example, as we will see, this brief passage of God's Word touches upon doctrines related to Christology, Christology being the doctrine of the person of Christ. that branch of theology that studies what the scriptures teach about who Jesus is as the God-man, the Word made flesh. Our passage also touches upon matters having to do with soteriology, in other words, the doctrine of salvation. And some of the important doctrines related to salvation that are described in this brief passage have to do with divine election, the remnant theology, redemption from sin, renewal, a new life, and so forth. And this passage also touches upon matters having to do with ecclesiology, in other words, the doctrine of the church. It's important for us to understand this passage within its broader context. One of the challenges in reading books of the Bible like Isaiah is it's, Isaiah is not the kind of portion of scripture, it's not the kind of book of scripture that you can read in isolated proof text form. Isaiah is meant to be read in broader blocks It is an ongoing, unfolding revelation of God in and through the prophet Isaiah. Our passage for today is a prophecy of messianic hope and expectation, but it's a prophecy of hope and expectation that serves to bookend a larger section of Isaiah that is primarily a judgment section. Remember I've said in the past that you read through Isaiah and it kind of goes back and forth between passages, prophecies of judgment and gloom and doom on the one hand, and then prophecies of messianic hope and joy and expectation on the other hand. This larger section that our passage for today represents the final bookend to began back in chapter 2, verse 1, and it goes all the way through verse 6 of our passage for today. Remember, friends, that back in chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, that passage is the opening bookend, which is a prophecy of hope, predicting the spiritual glories of the Messianic latter days. But then, immediately after that passage, follows a lengthy section of doom and judgment, which predicts the final judgment day at the end, and then kind of telescopes in more narrowly to focus on near-term historical judgments that Yahweh would bring against Judah and Jerusalem, as we saw in our consideration of chapter 3. But now, friends, now after gloomy predictions of judgment against the godless and unbelieving, now the Spirit leads Isaiah to end this larger section on a note of joyful messianic hope and expectation What do we learn from this larger context and setting? That's important to ask ourselves because we're meant to read this passage in light of what has preceded it. What do we learn then from this larger passage? What is its overarching theme? Dear ones, I would suggest to you that the overarching theme of this section of Isaiah is that the righteous and holy and infinitely just God, the God who manifests himself as the just judge of the unrepentant and godless, this very same God is also a God who manifests himself as the savior, protector, and preserver of his redeemed people. Another way to put it is to say that in this section of God's Word that we're considering here from the book of the prophet Isaiah, in this section we see that in wrath God remembers mercy. So let us turn our attention to the details of our passage for today. And the first thing I want to point out to you, beloved, in verse 2 is the promise of the Messianic branch. If you're following along in your sermon outline, this is the first point. We note here the promise of the Messianic branch. it says in verse 2, in that day the branch of Yahweh, the term Lord there in all capital letters, L-O-R-D, that indicates that the English translator is translating the Hebrew name Yahweh, which is the covenant name for God. It's the name for the Lord that has in view the Lord's special relationship with his people Israel. In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. So we have the promise of the Messianic branch. When will this promise take place? Well, how does Isaiah begin this verse? He says, in that day. In what day? this same kind of in-that-day language is used in the immediately preceding verse, in verse 1, to refer to a time of God's judgment against the daughters of Zion, a time when the male population of the land will have been decimated by war because of the judgments of God and therefore the daughters of Zion will will compete, have to compete for husbands, as verse one says, and seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. That's what the in that day is referring to in verse one, but obviously in verse two, this in that day language is referring not to a time of judgment, but a time of restoration. Here in verse two, it refers to a hopeful time, a time of reformation that would arrive with the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom. The spiritual blessings of the messianic age in which we now live in this new covenant era were typified and anticipated, of course, by Old Testament historical events such as the reforms that were carried out under the good King Hezekiah and also the rebuilding of the temple and the renewal of God's covenant people in the days of the post-exilic community when God brought his exiled people back from their Babylonian exile. But all of those things that took place in Old Testament times are not the ultimate fulfillment of this passage. The ultimate fulfillment of this passage, beloved, is found in the coming of the Messiah, who again is here described in this interesting botanical and agricultural imagery as the beautiful and glorious branch of the Lord. Now, the first thing I want to do, beloved, is to establish the messianic identity of the branch, because there are some Bible scholars and commentators out there who would say that, well, this is not technically a direct messianic prophecy, and they would interpret the branch of the Lord not as a prediction of the coming Messiah, but as something else. But again, I agree with Dr. E.J. Young who translates this as sprout instead of branch. And Dr. Young writes, in the present passage, the sprout is that shoot which comes from the tree of David which has been cut down. and which springs to life from its fallen trunk and brings the tree to more glorious and wondrous heights than before." Remember, friends, that the Old Testament predicts that the coming Messiah, the promised Messiah, would be David's greater son. He would be a descendant of King David. And indeed, the Lord Jesus was a descendant of King David, the royal line of David. But again, not all commentators believe this branch refers to the promised Messiah. For example, some argue that the branch is a collective term for God's people as a whole. However, friends, I think that when we compare Scripture with Scripture, that it is clearly established that this is a reference to the Messiah. And we see, and let me just take you to a few passages to support this. One of these passages is found here in Isaiah itself. If you skip ahead to Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1, Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 also refers to this branch. And this is clearly, Isaiah 11 is clearly a messianic prophecy. And it says in Isaiah 11 verse one, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and so forth. This indeed shows that the branch referred to by Isaiah in chapter four is the same branch that is being referred to here in chapter 11, namely the shoot from the stump of Jesse and the branch from the roots that shall bear fruit. In other words, the promised Messiah. But the prophet Jeremiah also uses this same kind of branch language. If you turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 and look at verse five, Jeremiah chapter 23, verse five, we read these words. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous, what? A righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. This is clearly referring to a king that comes from the line of David. And this king, this messianic king, is described here by Jeremiah as a righteous branch. And keep your finger in Jeremiah and turn to chapter 33, verse 15. Jeremiah 33, verse 15. We see similar language being used there where Jeremiah prophesies. He says, in those days and at that time, I will cause a what? A righteous branch to spring up for David and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. And one more passage from the Old Testament prophets that I want us to look at is Zechariah 3, verse eight. Zechariah 3, verse eight. in that passage we read these words. Here now, O Joshua the High Priest, Joshua or Yeshua, Jesus being a type of Christ, our great High Priest. Here now, O Joshua the High Priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are assigned. Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. Notice the branch is called my servant, and our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the suffering servant of the Lord. And other considerations could be mentioned, but I hope that by showing you these other passages in Scripture that I have established for you, beloved, the messianic identity of the branch that we read of in our passage for today. And one of the other things that's very interesting to note about verse 2 is the parallelism between the branch and the fruit of the land. What we have here is very typical in Hebrew prophecy and its parallelism where you say one thing and then you say the same thing in a slightly different way. And so it says, in that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious And then to recap and reaffirm what he's just said, he uses different language. He says, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. See, I tend to agree again with Dr. Young that the Hebrew parallelism here shows that the branch and the fruit of the land are both references to the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to make the case, and I agree with him, that the branch of the Lord points to our Lord's divine origin and Godhood. After all, He is the branch of Yahweh. He is from the Lord. This underscores his divine nature. But he is also the fruit of the land. And in that imagery of the fruit of the land, this points to our Lord's human nature as being of the earth. This is what I meant, by the way, when I said earlier that this passage touches upon matters of Christology, the doctrine of the person of Christ. And so we learn that this promised Messiah is going to be a branch of the Lord, and he is going to be both God and man. But he is described as the fruit of the land because, among other things, he will bear much gospel fruit. The Bible makes it clear that much gospel fruit will be born in the Messianic New Covenant age, this age in which we are privileged to live. And we are told here that in that day the branch of the Lord shall be what? Beautiful and glorious. Think about that language, beloved. This is saying that Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, our glorious Lord and Savior, He is beautiful and glorious. Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed, objectively speaking, as the Word made flesh, as Emmanuel, God with us, He is beautiful and He is glorious. Of course, the unbelieving world does not see the beauty of our Savior. They don't recognize His beauty, nor His glory, nor do they care, unless and until the Spirit does a work of grace in their hearts. But again, while the unbelieving and the impenitent may not perceive the beauty of our Lord Jesus, for those of us who know ourselves to be hell-deserving sinners, sinners in desperate need of a merciful and all-powerful and pure and all-sufficient Savior, for those of us who know our need, Jesus Christ our Lord and his gospel are indeed beautiful and glorious to us. And he goes on to say that the fruit of the land shall be what? The pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. The survivors of Israel, what we have there, as I'll point out in a few minutes, we have the remnant theme, we have a focus on divine election in that passage. But what does it say about the fruit of the land? Again, Jesus, with respect to his humanity, he shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. Now, pride is not a good thing. Sinful pride is not a good thing. Boasting in ourselves is not a good thing. But there is a legitimate pride that we can take, a legitimate boasting that we can have. For our boasting is not in ourselves, our boasting is in the Lord. As God's redeemed people, we boast not in ourselves, not in our works, not in our merits or worthiness, for we have none apart from grace. No, friends, our boast is in the Lord. And I'm reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, which he writes in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 to 31. Let me just read that passage. And he's speaking to the Corinthian believers, reminding them that when they were called, when they were savingly called into the kingdom, it's not because they were of great position or power or wisdom. He says, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God shows what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God shows what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God shows what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus." Not because of you, by the way. Because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in whom? Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Well, dear listener, is Jesus the Messiah beautiful and glorious to you? Do you trust Him as your Savior? Do you boast in yourself, in your own worthiness or religiosity, your own worth, your own merit, or do you boast in the Lord? But, pastor, I need to have self-esteem. That's what the world tells you. You've got to have self-esteem. We are all created in the image of God, and so we should have a proper view of ourselves. You have dignity and worth because of you were created in the image of God. But the Bible never tells us to have self-esteem. Our culture constantly bombards us with this message that, hey, you've got it made. You're a good person. Esteem yourself. View yourself. View yourself. with heightened affirmation. Seek self-esteem, the world says, but the Bible says the opposite. Jesus says, if any man would come after me, what should he do? Seek self-esteem? No. He should take up his cross and deny himself. Stop boasting in yourself. Stop seeking self-esteem. Have Christ esteem. And by the way, the ironic thing is that as you are focused on Christ, on the glory of His person and saving work, as you are living your life in union with Christ, you will have a proper sense of yourself, a proper esteem for who you are as a child of God in Christ. It is as you seek, but if you follow the ways of the world and seek your own happiness and your own worth in yourself, you will be miserable, because we are to boast not in ourselves, but in the Lord, the Lord who is the beautiful and glorious branch, the promised Messiah. We see next in our passage the messianic cleansing and purification of the chosen remnant. This is the second point in your sermon outline as we move on to verses 3 and 4. Consider next the messianic cleansing and purification of the chosen remnant. It says this, in verse 3 and 4. And he who is left in Zion, and by the way, he who is left is referring to the same folks that were referred to at the end of verse 2, namely the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem, in other words, those whom God has spared from His judgment against the wicked and the hypocritical amongst His professed covenant people. It says, He who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Now let's consider, first of all, the identity of those whom He, who is left, of He who is left in Zion, as is referred to in verse 3. And He who is left in Zion, who is that referring to? Well again, as I pointed out, it's referring to the survivors of Israel, mentioned in verse 2. It's referring as well to those recorded for life in Jerusalem. And did you notice, what are they recorded for? They are recorded not for death, not for judgment, they are recorded for life. And ultimately, this refers to those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Eternal life is what this is pointing to, what this is referring to. Another way to put it is that these survivors, these who are left in Zion, these who are recorded for life, these are the elect remnant. The judgment which had been predicted in the previous section would remove the fruitless branches from the vine. In other words, the godless and hypocrites would be removed from amongst the visible covenant community through judgments such as the Babylonian exile and so forth. Only the election of grace, only those recorded for life, ultimately eternal life, only those who are predestined by sovereign grace for eternal life and thus recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life will survive. And they will be called holy or set apart. There are many passages of scripture, numerous passages that refer to the people of God being recorded in the book of life and so forth. And so, for example, if you turn to Revelation 20, and let me read verses 12 through 15 of Revelation chapter 20, we read these words. And here, this is speaking of the final judgment, the great white throne judgment. And it says, and I saw the dead, great and small. This is Revelation 20, verse 12 and following. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. If your name, if by sovereign grace, your name has been written in the book of life and the evidence of that will be that you repent of your sin and you trust Christ as your savior from sin, then be assured your salvation is secure. Praise be to God. But if not, then there's only the lake of fire. Oh, be warned and turn from the wrath to come to Jesus Christ. And if you do, you will be saved. And it's interesting too, one more passage to consider in this context, Acts 13, verse 48. If you turn to Acts 13 and look at verse 48, speaking of this matter of God's election unto life, We read this, and here Paul and Barnabas are preaching the gospel at Antioch and Pisidia, and Paul says that God is sending the gospel to the Gentiles, and it says in verse 48 of Acts 13, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Did you catch that? It doesn't say as many as believed were appointed to eternal life. It says, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Because if you're dead in your trespasses and sins, if you're not born again by the Spirit, you have no desire for life. You're responsible for your sin. If you are lost, you have no one to blame but yourself. But if you're saved, you have no one to credit but the Lord, who in sovereign mercy awakened you, renewed you, raised you from spiritual death to newness of life in Christ, and brought you to faith in Christ. Yes, you must believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ if you would be saved. But who are the ones who believe? those who have been appointed for life eternal. And getting back to our passage, that would include those whose names That would include everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem. And notice how these are described here in verse three. It says, they will be called holy. My friends, the elect, the chosen remnant are chosen, not because they are worthy or holy or because God foresees that they will be worthy of his salvation or that they will be holy, but rather they are chosen unto holiness. by the sovereign grace of God. As the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1, in that wonderful opening doxology in verses three and four, Paul writes, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be what? That we should be holy and blameless. before him, not because he foresaw that we would be holy and blameless, but in order that we might be holy and blameless before him. But all of this is only possible because of the redemption and cleansing of the remnants that is spoken of in verse four of our passage, where it says, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. this reference to bloodstains. The language here seems to indicate bloodstains as a result of violent death. And there was violence that came upon the unfaithful among the people of God, the professed people of God in the Old Covenant era, such as the violence that was visited in judgment upon them with the Babylonian conquest and the exile of the people into Babylon. But Even then, God would cleanse even the filthy daughters of Zion as an act of sovereign grace. The daughters of Zion against whom judgments had been pronounced in the previous section, even their filth would be cleansed. Jesus died for sinners, not for people who are worthy or righteous in themselves, but for sinners like me and like you. The cleansing and purification is only made possible by the messianic atonement that Jesus our Lord offered on the cross of Calvary. Again, to quote from Dr. Young, he says, this wondrous act of God was accomplished when His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, shed His precious blood upon the cross of Calvary, then was washed away all the guilt and power of sin of those for whom he died. You know what this reminds me of? Reminds me of that wonderful hymn of the church. What can wash away my sin? You know the answer, right? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Think about it, dear brother, sister in Christ. Jesus poured out his lifeblood on the cross to save you and save me. The blood represents the life. Jesus poured out his life that your life and my life might be spared, for he atoned for our sins. Have you been cleansed, dear listener, by the blood of Christ the Lamb? Have you given all diligence to make your calling and election sure? You say, well, how do I know? Again, you know by trusting Christ. It is by looking to Christ that you see your election in Him. And by the way, as an aside, this is not a sermon on the doctrine of election, but many Christians are intimidated by that doctrine. It's not a doctrine that is revealed to cause us despair or to make us feel threatened. It's actually presented in Scripture as a comforting doctrine, because what it means, brothers and sisters in Christ, is that even before He created the universe, God set His saving love upon you, even though He knew you would be a fallen sinner. He chose you from before the foundation of the world. He's loved you with an everlasting love, and that should be a great comfort to you. Are you resting in His love for you in Christ? But finally, beloved, as we wrap up our time in the Word today, I would have us turn to verses 4 and 5 as we consider, and this is the final point in your outline, the re-creation of the Messianic people as Yahweh's dwelling place. The re-creation of the Messianic people as Yahweh's dwelling place. One of the things that you may have noticed if you've tried to read through the Bible in its entirety. You ever tried to read through Exodus, the book of Exodus? A wonderful portion of Scripture. It recounts God's rescue, His redemption of His people from their slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. It recounts the supernatural plagues that God had poured out upon the Egyptians. It recounts how God rescued His people, brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, and how He gave them His holy law on Mount Sinai. But then a large section at the end of Exodus contains some rather detailed instructions about the construction of the tabernacle. Now why does God do that? Why does God, the Holy Spirit, inspire Moses to record so many details about and to take up so much space in the book of Exodus recording the details of how to construct the ark, or rather the tabernacle, including the Ark of the Covenant? Well, because God redeems and rescues his chosen people that he might dwell among his people. And this concept is, if you don't understand this, that this is a central theme of Scripture that God comes to dwell in the midst of sinful man. He does so ultimately and supremely in the person of Christ who is the Word made flesh who came to tabernacle, to pitch his tent, make his dwelling amongst us. This is a central theme of Holy Scripture And it's a theme that comes out in verses five and six where it says, then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night for over all the glory there will be a canopy and so forth. The word that is here translated as create, the word that Isaiah uses here is the same word that is found in Genesis 1, verse 1, where it says, in the beginning God, Barach, he created the heavens and the earth. The language that Isaiah uses here makes it absolutely clear that this amazing work of renewing his people, of recreating his people, would be a gracious work of God and God alone. Did anyone help God in the beginning to create the universe? No. He did it all by himself, by his sovereign word of creative power. He spoke the word and all things came into being. And so the point here is that in recreation as well, when God recreates us, makes us new in Christ, it's God's work. and God's work alone. It's not that God does his part, you do your part. No, it's all of God. Sola gratia, grace alone. And therefore, soli deo gloria, to God alone be the glory. And it says here, the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion. Mount Zion was the temple mount where the Lord's special presence dwelt. But it also mentions her assemblies in the plural. I read a passage for you earlier in the service where it talks about how God led the children of Israel in the wilderness through a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. This was not a natural phenomenon. This was a supernatural, this is what the theologians call a theophany, a supernatural visible manifestation or symbol of the presence of God, the saving, protective presence of God. as he leads and guides and protects his people. And that's the symbolism that is being used here. Mount Zion and her assemblies, which are referred to in verse 5, ultimately point to the Church as it exists in this messianic New Covenant age. In other words, this is speaking to matters of ecclesiology, the doctrine of the Church, and this is speaking to spiritual realities that we experience today, brothers and sisters, as those who live in this New Covenant age. In Old Testament times, the theophanic Shekinah glory of God had been limited. At first it was limited to the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that accompanied Israel on their wilderness journeys. And then it was confined to the sanctuary. Remember when Solomon dedicated the temple? The glory of God was so heavy in the temple that the priests could not stand up. The Shekinah glory of God That same glory that abode in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire was now abiding in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, dwelling above. the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. And so the presence of God was there, but it was limited and confined, his special saving presence, his covenantal presence. But in the Messianic Age, Isaiah depicts this supernatural manifestation of God's presence dwelling among his people as being over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies. Do you see what is being depicted here, friends? In Old Testament times, this supernatural manifestation of the pillar of cloud and fire signified to God's people that he dwelt among them as their divine protector and guide. But now that Christ has come and finished the work of redemption by his death and resurrection, we now have access into the heavenly holy of holies by faith in Christ. What happened when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary? What happened in the temple? Do you remember what the scriptures say? The temple, the curtain that separated the holy place from the most holy place in the Jerusalem temple, what happened to that curtain? It was torn in two from top to bottom, from God to us. God opened up the curtain so that now we who are redeemed by Christ and come to Him by faith in Christ, we come directly and without fear. without a craven unbelieving fear, we come directly into the presence, the holy presence of God. And though we do not see the Shekinah glory with the eyes of flesh, that glory is among us. The glory of God is here in the new covenant messianic assemblies of the people of God. That's the significance of church. That's why you should want to be in church, because God is here. God's everywhere, of course, by virtue of His omnipresence, but He is with His people in covenant blessing and grace in protection. He is here. in a special way by His Spirit. Sometimes you hear people say, well, what would your church do if Jesus showed up? Well, Jesus shows up to Grace Church every Sunday, friends. He is here by the Spirit, and His glory is over all of Mount Zion. And then it goes on to use this wonderful imagery. It says, the glory there will be a canopy. This term canopy was used to describe the protective canopy that was used for wedding ceremonies. God's protective covering will rest over all of his people and his people, we are the bride of Christ. And so it sums up in verse six, there will be a booth for shade by day and from heat and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. Dr. Young writes, over all the glory of the new Zion, there will be a covering. And if you are in Christ, you are covered in his righteousness, you are clothed in his gracious glory. The imagery, of course, this is figurative imagery, but it points to the truth that the Lord is our refuge, the Lord is our protector. Again, to quote from one of our hymns, the Lord is a shelter in the time of storm. God dwells among his people, especially when they gather in covenant assembly. God is our refuge. He is our protector. He is our guide. May we rest in him. May we look to him and his word to guide us. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. for Jesus, the glorious and beautiful branch of the Lord. We pray that we might see in Christ his wonderful beauty and glory, and we pray that we might live for your glory. Take your word now that we've heard, apply it to our hearts, and be with us now as we continue our worship of you and our fellowship with one another in the fellowship meal today. In Jesus' name we pray, and all of God's people said, amen.