Scripture Reading: Isa. 4:1-6
Ⅰ
Isaiah's central point is to show us how God made Christ the centrality and universality of His great move for the accomplishment of His economy—cf. Ezek. 1:15-21:
A
The all-inclusive Christ is the center and the circumference, the centrality and the universality, of God's eternal economy—Col. 1:15-18:
１
As the embodiment of the Triune God, Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe—2:16-17.
２
God's intention in His economy is that Christ be everything; therefore, it is crucial for us to see that God wants nothing but Christ and that in the eyes of God nothing counts except Christ—3:10-11.
B
God's economy is to have Christ processed for the divine purposes to be the centrality and universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing of Himself into His elect; the divine dispensing is implied throughout the book of Isaiah— 9:6; 12:3; 25:4; 4:5-6.
C
Because Christ is the centrality and universality of God's move, the book of Isaiah reveals many aspects of Christ—6:1-8; 22:22; 53:5, 10b-12; 54:4-5; 55:5:
１
The book of Isaiah unveils Christ to us in a very particular way; Isaiah is rich in unveiling Christ to us—7:14; 9:6.
２
Every aspect of what Christ is and of what He has done, is doing, and will do involves a secret.
３
Christ has to be all-inclusive in order to fulfill God's economy.
Ⅱ
"In that day the Shoot of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the Fruit of the earth, excellence and splendor, to those of Israel who have escaped" —Isa. 4:2:
A
Christ in His divinity is the Shoot of Jehovah:
１
The Shoot of Jehovah refers to Christ's deity, showing His divine nature.
２
The Shoot of Jehovah denotes that Christ is a new development of Jehovah God for the Triune God to branch out Himself in His divinity into humanity through His incarnation; this is for Jehovah God's increase and spread in the universe—7:14; John 1:14; Matt. 1:22-23.
３
The term the Shoot of Jehovah indicates the riches and the refreshing of life; as such a Shoot, Christ embodies the riches, the refreshing, the vigor, the growth, and the productive power of the divine life—John 1:4.
B
Christ in His humanity is the Fruit of the earth:
１
The Fruit of the earth refers to Christ's humanity with His human nature—Luke 1:42.
２
The Fruit of the earth denotes that Christ, as the divine Shoot of Jehovah, became a man of flesh from the earth; this is for the Triune God to be multiplied and reproduced in humanity—Gen. 2:7; Heb. 2:14.
３
As a man with the divine life, Christ was a seed, a grain of wheat, to produce many grains through His death and resurrection—John 12:24.
４
The term the Fruit of the earth indicates the produce brought forth, carried out, and expressed in Christ's humanity:
ａ
All of Christ's different kinds of fruits come out of the divine life signified by the Shoot of Jehovah.
ｂ
Without Christ's humanity, it would have been impossible for the divine life to be productive in bringing forth fruit.
ｃ
The fruit born by Christ came out of the divine life, but it was produced in His humanity.
C
For Christ to be both the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth means that He is the God-man; in Him God and man live together as one, with God as the life inwardly and man as the fruit outwardly—John 5:17, 19; 14:10.
D
In the day of restoration, to Israel Christ in His deity will be beauty and glory, and in His humanity, He will be excellence and splendor; as God-men, we should live a life which expresses Christ's beauty and glory in a divine way and expresses Christ's excellence and splendor in a human way—1 Cor. 10:31.
Ⅲ
"Jehovah will create over the entire region of Mount Zion and over all her convocations a cloud of smoke by day, and the brightness of a fiery flame by night; for the glory will be a canopy over all. And there will be a tabernacle as a daytime shade from the heat and as a refuge and a cover from storm and rain"—Isa. 4:5-6:
A
Christ is the canopy to cover us and to cover God's move and everything related to it—v. 5:
１
The Christ who is the centrality and universality of God's move is also the canopy to cover the totality of this move.
２
God Himself as the glory expressed in Christ will be a canopy over Mount Zion to cover His interests, which include the holy temple, His holy people, and all His holy convocations.
B
The God-man, Christ, is also a tabernacle as a shade in the day to keep us from the heat and a refuge and cover to keep us from any kind of storm or rain—v. 6:
１
Christ will be an overshadowing tabernacle of grace in His humanity—John 1:14.
２
Second Corinthians 12:9 describes Christ overshadowing His believers in His grace as their strength.