In that day there shall be a sprout of Jehovah for beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth for excellency and for ornament for those that are escaped of Israel.
The phrase that opens this verse is not vague. It reaches past Isaiah's own century to the moment when Christ returns.
The words "in that day" open verse 2 as well as verse 1. The "day" in question is plainly the period that introduces the age to come, the time of Christ's second coming. The Old Testament uses the word translated "Branch" of our Lord five times, and it means a sprout — "a Sprout of Jehovah for glory and beauty" (New Trans). Here, though it is veiled, we see a hint of the Deity of the promised Messiah. The picture is of a living tree putting out a sprout that shows the tree's own nature and character. And the living tree here is Jehovah Himself.
Four other passages give Christ the same name, and each stresses something different.
Jeremiah speaks of the Lord Jesus twice as the Branch, or Sprout (Jer. 23:5; Jer. 33:15). There the stress falls on righteousness. It is the character He displays, not the Source He springs from. Zechariah uses the word twice as well (Zech. 3:8; Zech. 6:12). There the stress is different: though He springs from Jehovah, He takes the place of the Servant and enters Manhood to serve. Read the five occurrences in the fuller light of the New Testament, and you see how full these early predictions were about our blessed Lord. The one in our chapter is the first and deepest of them all.
Taken together, these passages describe a reign still ahead — the millennium, when Christ rules on earth.
A title of the Lord Jesus, which He will bear in connection with Israel in the future… He will be a "righteous Branch and a King." He will "build [or advance in honour] the temple of Jehovah; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; and He shall be a priest on His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." It is a description of the Lord Jesus in the millennium.
The same prophet also said Israel would see nothing in Him to desire.
When the Lord came the first time, the nation rejected Him. The prophet foresaw this in Isaiah 53. God's tender plant, the root out of dry ground, held no attraction for the people He came to. As Isaiah wrote, He had "no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa. 53:2). It will be completely different when the Lord returns in His glory to save the godly remnant from the dreadful conflicts of the last days. They will truly see the excellence and beauty of the One whom the leaders and nation of Israel once rejected and crucified.
The glory of verse 2 follows a period of slaughter, and the survivors are what is left of a nation under judgment.
Scripture everywhere ties this time of tribulation to the Jews in the last days, before God delivers them. After it comes an outshining of beauty and glory, and abundant mercy for the saved and holy remnant… The Branch is a familiar picture of the Messiah. He will be there in His beauty and glory, and everything will be in harmony for the escaped of Israel. However many are slain, this one Man will repair every breach. Holiness in Jerusalem will be a reality, not a mere name. Yet this does not come by the gospel of grace as now. It comes, in the prophet's own words, "by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning."
Kelly rules out two popular explanations of how this blessing comes.
It is to be a real work of God. No Christian should entertain the idea of a merely worldly restoration, or of anything that political upheaval could achieve. Nor, on the other hand, is it the effect of preaching the gospel as now. "That nation" will once more come into prominence, and in their own land — at least the escaped of Israel. These will be souls blessed by God, but blessed at the same time as the seed of Jacob on the earth.
The second half of the verse describes what the Branch yields, and for whom.
The Lord Jesus as the BRANCH will give infinite delight to God, just as He brought unbroken pleasure to His Father when He was here as the TRUE VINE. For men there will be peace and joy — the fruit of His work on the cross, flowing from His good and generous reign.
- Day. "In that day" is not Isaiah's day or ours. It is the period that opens the age to come, when Christ returns.
- Sprout. "Branch" means a sprout, and the tree it grows from is Jehovah Himself. That is a veiled hint of Messiah's Deity, and the first and deepest of the five Branch passages.
- Beauty. At His first coming Israel saw no beauty in Him to desire. At His return the rescued remnant will see the excellence of the One they crucified.
- Escaped. The blessing reaches only those left after judgment. It comes by a spirit of judgment and burning — a real work of God, not political change and not gospel preaching as now.
- Fruit. The Branch delights God as the true Vine once did. For men He yields peace and joy, flowing from His work on the cross and His reign.
And it shall come to pass that he who remaineth in Zion, and he that is left in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, -- every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem;
Isaiah 4 ends a long stretch of warning with a promise. After the fire, the people left in Zion will be called holy, and God will have their names recorded — which raises three questions: who survives, what that record means, and how such holiness is produced.
The verse speaks of those who are left and who remain. That wording assumes many were not. Writers tie those who escape to a coming time of trouble centred on Judah.
In that day Christ will be revealed, and a godly remnant will be there too, spoken of as those of Israel who have escaped. This shows how fierce and destructive of life the great tribulation foretold elsewhere will be. Verse 3 makes the same point. From our Lord's prophetic discourse, recorded in three of the Gospels, we learn that Judah and Jerusalem will be the very centre of that time of trial and persecution. It will only end when the Lord intervenes in power at His second coming. Those who remain will be alive spiritually and holy, and will enjoy the excellent fruits produced by His presence.
The verse ends with names recorded for life. Commentators count more than one such record in Scripture.
A registry of people's names as living. One (also simply called God's book) may be a book of those who only have a name to live, and God may therefore blot out their names: Exodus 32:32-33; Revelation 3:5. Another is a book of the saved, and no one will be erased from it: Philippians 4:3; Revelation 20:12, 15; Revelation 21:27. A third, called simply "the book," contains the names of the remnant of Israel: Daniel 12:1.
Being on that list means more than surviving as a nation. Those who come through are changed people.
Whether they are in the land, or come out of the dust of the earth, or come from among the Gentiles, God will deliver none but those who are the objects of His counsels — those "found written in the book." Some of them may awake, as the figure puts it, to take part in the great struggle at the close. But their names are not registered in God's book, so they will be given up to shame and everlasting contempt. For the rest it is not a mere national deliverance, but much more. Those who are delivered will be truly born of God. A spiritual character will attach to their rise, as well as a national one.
Isaiah promises a Jerusalem where holiness is fact and not just a name. The next verse names the means.
However many the slain, this one Man will be the restorer of all breaches, and holiness will be a reality, and not a mere name, in Jerusalem. Yet it is not by the gospel of grace as now, but "by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning." It is not the church but Israel that is in question here, and her purification by judgment. Then the Lord's open presence will be her security as much as her glory.
Another writer puts the same result in a phrase drawn from Israel's own history: what the nation was always meant to be, it will at last be.
The separation is dwelt on in the next verse, and in plain words, Israel becomes what it never yet has been, an "assembly of the righteous."
The holiness of verse 3 rests on the washing described in verse 4. That washing is not the work of evangelism but of fire.
Before this happy state of things can come, there must be the work of cleansing that verse 4 speaks of. It is "a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning" — that is, fire. We may remember that John the Baptist said of our Lord, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). He also showed that the fire burns the chaff, while the wheat goes into His barn. Burning the chaff will purge and wash away the filth. God will cleanse Jerusalem, indeed the whole earth, by a work of judgment and not by the preaching of grace.
Has any of this happened already? One writer answers from what the chapter says next.
There is no room to say that this was fulfilled at any time in their past history. The prophet goes straight on to what is still future.
Why tell Israel this so long in advance?
We see in Isaiah 4:3 that all who escape in Jerusalem will be written to life... Prophecy always assumes a state of displeasure on God's part, but blessing and glory after judgment. God gave it to be believed and understood before it happened. If someone only understands it once it has happened, the moral effect is lost. When God makes His mind known to us about what does not touch us directly, we have great proof of His love and enjoy communion with Him. That communion always separates us more from a world about to be judged.
- Fire first. Verse 3's blessing rests on verse 4's washing. God cleanses Jerusalem by judgment and burning, not by the preaching of grace.
- A remnant, not a nation. Those left are the ones who escape. The wording shows how destructive that tribulation centred on Judah will be.
- A name on a list. Names recorded for life point to a register God keeps. Commentators link it to "the book" of Daniel 12:1, holding the names of Israel's remnant.
- Born, not just spared. Deliverance for those in the book is more than national rescue. They will be truly born of God, with a spiritual character to match.
- Holy in fact. Holiness in Jerusalem stops being a name and becomes real — and God says so in advance, so faith can hold it before the day comes.