The key event that formed and shaped the identity of Israel as a people was God’s deliverance of them from Egyptian slavery in the great Exodus (Ex. 1-15). They commemorated this founding act in the annual celebration of the Passover Festival.

Another key event in the formation of Israel as a nation was the giving of the Ten Commandments and other stipulations regulating their worship and social life at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-40). In today’s blog, I want to bring focus on the connection of Isaiah 4 to Exodus 19.

God Becomes A Husband

Just weeks after God saved the Israelites from bondage to the Egyptian Pharaoh by a supernatural deliverance through the Red Sea, God enters into a marriage/covenant ceremony with the Israelites (Exodus 19). In Exodus 19:4-6, we read these words that Yahweh God speaks to Israel through Moses on Mt. Sinai:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

At this key moment in their history, the Israelites agree to the covenantal vows and stipulations that the LORD sets out in His “marital” agreement with Israel. They become His people. This wedding ceremony at Mt. Sinai even comes with a marriage canopy when God’s presence is manifested over the mountain in the form of a cloud and smoke (Ex.19:16-20). This canopy ensures privacy as Yahweh God gives Moses the commands which will serve as the basis of a personal relationship and union with His people.

Let us fast forward to Isaiah’s time and see what is transpiring in the early chapters of Isaiah’s Book. Isaiah files an egregious charge of marital unfaithfulness against the LORD’s people. They have forsaken, spurned and turned their backs on their covenant God (Is. 1:4). They do not really know and understand their God, even though they are in a covenant relationship with Him (Is. 1:3).

Their hearts have been drawn to other lovers and this idolatry has been manifested in social injustice in their dealings with one another (Is. 1:15-17; 5:8,9). The Lord is beginning to take His protection and blessing away from His people. The arrogant and haughty women of Israel (3:16-26) will end up being satisfied with a sham of the marriage relationship. We read these words in Isaiah 4:1:

In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, ‘We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace’.

This is what inevitably happens when the Lord’s people start despising their covenant relationship with Yahweh God.

God’s Marriage Becomes “Stinky”

The Lord has done everything He possibly could for Israel, in order for them to bear good spiritual fruit on earth. God likens His people to a vineyard in Is. 5:1-7. Instead of good grapes, the Lord only finds bad grapes (literally ‘stink fruit‘) among His people (Is. 5:2). They are exhausting God’s grace. As we read Is. 5:8-30, we understand why the Lord is exasperated with His people, and why He feels like a husband who has been deserted. His people are misrepresenting Him. They have no room in their hearts for His word (Is. 5:24).

The Lord will take His protection from His people. They have been unfaithful to Him and so He will bring other nations against His people (Is.5:24-30). Nations like Assyria and Babylon will take the Lord’s people away into exile. Only a remnant will be left after the tree of Israel is cut down. A stump will be left after the invasion of first Assyria and then Babylon (Is. 6:13). This remnant will be a purified remnant, a “holy seed” left in the land (Is. 6:13b).

In Isaiah 4, we are introduced to a messianic figure who is described as a Branch of the Lord (Is.4:2). He is seen as descending from David’s line (Is. 11:1, Jer. 23:5-6) and as Someone who will atone for the sins and wickedness of the Lord’s people (see Is. 53:2 and the rest of Isaiah 53). He will cleanse the haughtiness and sin of the Lord’s people (Is. 4:3-4). He will enter into a “new covenant” relationship with those who repent and turn to the Lord. A new marriage canopy will be over Mt. Zion into which all of God’s people will enter, not just Moses (Is. 4:5-6). The Christian Church believes the Branch of the Lord is a reference to Messiah/Christ Jesus, the Anointed One (Is. 11:1-9).

After the introduction to Isaiah’s Book (Isaiah 1-5), we are given an account of Isaiah’s call to be God’s prophetic messenger to His people in Isaiah 6:1-13. Despite the crisis of the long-time Jewish King Uzziah’s death, and the crisis of the terrifying army of Assyria being on Judah’s doorstep, the LORD assures Isaiah that He is the One in ultimate charge. It is Israel’s covenant God who sits as the Sovereign Lord over the earth (Is.6:1-4), and not the King of Assyria.

The LORD prepared Isaiah for the difficult ministry of calling a people back to God who have learned to tune out God. It seems some people will respond positively to the message, but most will reject Isaiah’s words and  become even more spiritually deaf and blind (Is. 6:8-13). No wonder Isaiah needed a supernatural vision of the Lord, high and lifted up, to prepare Him for the difficult task of preaching to a people that had no intention of turning from their obstinate ways.

We should be encouraged that when the world seems to be hurtling toward spiritual destruction that God is still in charge. And as we live out faithfully our relationship with our covenant LORD, the Lord will bless our efforts to serve Him. Some people will respond to the Gospel (Is. 6:13) and through this remnant, the Lord Jesus will usher in the new heavens and the new earth, where justice reigns and where there will be no more death or tears (Is. 65:17-19, 66:22).

QOTD: Are you praying for those who don’t know God and actively sharing the Good News that King Jesus has conquered death and sin?