The Prophecy of Isaiah – Isaiah 4:1-3 “We Will Eat Our Own Bread”
Description
Isa 4:1-3 In That Day Seven Women Shall Say We Will Eat Our Own Bread and Wear Our Own Apparel
Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
Isa 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
Isa 4:3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
"In that day" seven women will take hold of one man wanting to provide their own bread and clothe themselves in their own apparel, but they want to claim Christ's name to take away their reproach. But these "seven women" are immediately contrasted "in that day" with "the branch of the Lord", which is called "the fruit of the earth... excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel."
As we have learned earlier in these studies here in the book of Isaiah, the phrase "that day", unless otherwise qualified, refers to "the day of the Lord". We are told "the day of the Lord" is the day of His judgment upon the kingdom of our old man in its inward application, and it is God's judgment upon the nations of this world in its outward dispensational application. The number of times "the day of the Lord" is mentioned in the scriptures indicates just how central to scriptures this "day of the Lord" is. It also tells us just how expedient to the understanding of God's elect is "the day of the Lord".
But the words "And in that day" here in Isaiah 4:1 also serve to connect what is being said here to what was being said in the previous chapter. Chapter three, as we saw, tells us of all the things that must be taken away from us before we can enter into the temple and into the presence of the Lord.
Here is what chapter three told us had to be taken away and burned up before we can enter into the Lord's presence:
Isa 3:18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
Isa 3:19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
Isa 3:20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
Isa 3:21 The rings, and nose jewels,
Isa 3:22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
Isa 3:23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
Isa 3:24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
"The day of the Lord" is that part of our lives when the Lord begins to show us that there are many things in our lives which we must relinquish and eliminate from within our hearts and minds. Our old man has a godless, hate-filled carnal mind, and that mind must be burned out of us on a daily basis from the time of the commencement of that work until the day we die. The judgment which is now upon the house of God does not stop judging any sins within our lives until we draw our last physical breath:
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
If we do not consider ourselves to be "the house of God", if we deny that we are the house of God, then none of this has any personal application. On the other hand, if we know that we are "the house of God" then we know that it is we who must be the first to be judged and to "live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4), including all the words concerning "that day... the day of the Lord".
I remember about 20 years ago when I read those verses of 1 Peter and for the first time in my life having the eyes of my understanding enlightened (Eph 1:18 ) to understand what I was reading. I had been taught that sometime in the future there was coming a day of judgment and that we would all have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and that very few people would avoid being cast into the lake of fire. Now my eyes were opened to see those words "the time is come that [the fiery trials of] judgment must begin at the house of God". I was finally given to know that for those who are Christ, who are 'the Lord's Christ', we are being judged at this very moment, and it is we who are having His wrath poured out upon the kingdom of our old man now, in this age. The day of judgment is called "the day of wrath" many times in scripture:
Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Pro 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Eze 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Zep 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
Zep 2:2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you.
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
There it is in Romans 2:5, "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God", which makes it clear that the day of wrath and the day of judgment are one and the same, and that it is we who must first endure the wrath of God upon the kingdom of our old man, just as God's judgment and His wrath against Job's self-righteous, God-condemning spirit preceded the judgment of Job's "miserable comforters" (Job 40:1-8). That is why we are called "the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb":
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Rev 14:4 These [144,000] are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being
United States
