ISAIAH 4

1 And in that day 7 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.

Isaiah 4:1 is an intimation that the day of judgment by war threatened in chap. 3. on Israel for their sins, would be so severe that the male element of the population would be seriously reduced throughout all the land. Verse 2 refers to the end of that day, viz., the end of the time of down treading.

TC 02/1887

2 In that day shall the branch of Yahweh be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

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:

4 When Yahweh shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion [Banot Tziyon], and shall have purged the blood [dahm] of Jerusalem [Yerushalayim] from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment [Ruach Mishpat], and by the spirit of burning [Ruach Ba'er].

The day of the second and third angels is "a time of trouble" to all nations - to Israel as well as the rest; but there is this difference with respect to them, expressed in the declaration to Daniel that "at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book".

Daniel was an Israelite and a saint. Hence his people are Israelites and saints, both of which classes are delivered in "the time of the end;" "when Yahweh shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning" .

It is the day in which the captivity of Israel and Judah is to be brought against their own land, consequent upon the breaking of the yoke of the House of Esau from off their neck, that foreigners may no more serve themselves of them; but that they may serve Yahweh their Elohim, and David their king, whom the Eternal Power hath already raised up for them in raising up the crucified "King of the Jews" from the dead.

But this great national redemption is only arrived at through a terribly severe refining process. It is styled in Joel, "the day of Yahweh, great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" (ch. 2:11).

The Goat-nations will be unable to abide it; and all the dross of Jacob will be consumed. All the rebels will be purged out of the great army of resurrected dry bones, now scattered and "very dry" in all the countries of their dispersion where they are politically entombed; but in the time of the second and third angels, passing under the rod of discipline in the Wilderness of the people (Ezek. 20:33-38; 37:1-14).

The prophet Malachi asks the same question as Joel. "Who may abide," saith he, "the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he (the Messenger of the Covenant) appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in former years" (ch. 3:1-4).

Eureka 14.7

5 And Yahweh will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion [the whole place of Mt Tziyon], and upon her assemblies, a cloud [anan] and smoke by day [yom], and the shining of a flaming fire by night [eish by lailah]: for upon all the glory [kavod] shall be a defence [Chuppah].

The Temple of Ezekiel's Prophecy

... a fairly large audience assembled at the Temperance Hall, ... to hear a second lecture by Mr. H. Sully, architect, of Nottingham, on "The Temple of Ezekiel's Prophecy." Mr. Bruce, who presided, first read the 14th chapter of Zechariah as an introduction to the lecture.

...After describing the building he said the altar was 144 feet square, and the offerings of fat and blood having been deposited thereon by the ministers (chaps. 44.; 46:15, 16, and 17), the assembled worshippers would wait, as of old, to see if the Diety would accept or reject them (Joshua 7:19). Acceptance he said, would be announced by fire (I Kings 18:24 and 38).

Attention was then called to a cloud with a pillar-like centre, rising up from the altar and extending over the sanctuary or inner temple, the lecturer quoting Isaiah 4.,

"For the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a covering."

If Ezekiel were felled to the earth upon beholding it (chap. 1:28; 43:3), if Paul were blinded by an immortal one (Acts 9:3–9), and if Moses required to wear a veil before his face after an interview with one of the Elohim (Exodus 34:33), it seemed inevitable, he said, that means should be provided for circumscribing the brilliancy of that coming manifestation of Divine glory to which Ezekiel's prophecy testified (chap. 43:2).

In conclusion, the lecturer said some might think it strange that animal sacrifices should be re-instituted; if so, let such read Jeremiah 33:17–21. If the sacrifices under the law of Moses pointed forward to Christ, why should not the sacrifices re-introduced point back to Him as a memorial.—Weekly Standard.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1888

A Big Temple!

—At the Temperance Hall on Sunday evening, Mr. Sulley, architect, of Nottingham delivered a second lecture on "The Temple of Ezekiel's Prophecy." The lecturer called attention to the 40th and subsequent chapters of Ezekiel, wherein was the account of the Temple

"To be erected in the land of Israel at the return of Christ,"

and showed from his readings as an architect, that the Temple would be a mile square, comprising two portions, an outer court and an inner circle, the latter being the Temple proper, the space within which, nearly a mile in diameter, becoming a tent, in consequence of a cloud covering it (Isaiah 4: 5, 6), thus concealing the glory (unbearable by mortal beings) of Christ and His immortal associates in the services of the Temple (Rev. v; 9:10; 20:6).

The lecturer referred to the purpose for which the Temple will be required in the millennium, when all nations will have to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts.

Animal sacrifices would be re-instituted, for which an altar would be provided in the centre of the Temple, sufficiently elevated to be seen by the assembled multitudes who go up to worship. These sacrifices pointing backward to Christ's suffering and death, as the Jewish sacrifices pointed forward to that event.

The lecture was illustrated by some excellent diagrams, enabling those present to much better understand the subject.—Weekly Advertiser.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1888

The Spirit's cubical wife of 144 cubits is the Imperial Governess of the nations for a thousand years. She descends from heaven in the manner explained; and every one of her heavenly constituents is a king and a priest of the Deity - "they shall be priests of the Deity and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (ch. 20:6); "and they shall see his face; and his Name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle nor light of the sun; for YAHWEH ELOHIM giveth them light; and they shall reign for the Aions of the Aions," or the thousand years (ch. 22:5).

The darkness and the light are the same to them (Psa. 139:12); for they are no longer flesh and blood, or earthy bodies, but Spirit, because "born from above". Hence, there can be no night to them; for they will be the cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, created by the Spirit upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies (Isa. 4:5).
They are a new race of kings of the earth. Before their manifestation as the Sons of the Deity, the nations never beheld such kings. They will be "kings by the grace of God," and ruling "by Divine right," and asking no favours of mankind. They are "the kings from the risings" of the Sun of Righteousness, to prepare whose way the great Euphratean Power, once the terror of Babylon's kings and nations, has been drying up (ch. 16:12).

When they shall appear upon the theatre of humanity, the reigning kings of Europe will make war upon them; because they proclaim themselves to be the sole and rightful sovereigns of the earth saying to their Great Captain, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us for the Deity by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us for our Deity kings and priests; and we shall reign upon the earth" (ch. 5:9,10).

Such a song as this sung in the ears of the reigning monarchs of the world will madden them to fury; and they will lead out all their hosts to battle against them in the vain hope of their destruction. But the kings by Divine right will prevail over, and exterminate them (ch. 17:14; 19:19-21); for "all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him" (Psa. 72:11).

Having then, destroyed the old race of kings, "them who destroy the earth" (ch. 11:18), the kingdoms of the world are transferred to the New and Holy Jerusalem. Her royal constituents become "the kings of the earth", according to the promise of the Spirit, saying, "he that overcometh, and keepeth my works to the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with an iron rod; even as I received of my Father" (ch. 2:26). Their glory and honour, and the glory and honor of the nations they have acquired by conquest, become tributary to the New Jerusalem; for these new kings, and the Great and Holy City, are the same.

They are Zion's kings, and their throne of empire is the architectural Jerusalem on Mount Zion, where David reigned. For this now desolate, captive, widowed, and barren city, they have a special and unfailing affection. Even now their words are, "If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psa. 137:5).

But, when the day of their glory, honour, and power, is revealed, they show their affection in their policy towards her. They deliver her from her captivity under Gog; and, as the kings her nursing fathers, and their queens her nursing mothers, compel the Gentiles to bow down to her with face toward the earth, and to lick up the dust of her feet (Isa. 49:23).

With Jerusalem redeemed, and the glorified saints enthroned within her walls as the Kings of the Earth, "the abundance of the sea shall be turned to her, and the wealth of the nations shall come unto her. Her gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that they may bring into her the wealth of the nations, and that their kings may be brought: for the nation and kingdom that will not serve her shall perish. Her officers shall be peace, and her exactors righteousness; her walls Salvation, and her gates Praise. Her sun shall no more go down; neither shall her moon withdraw herself; for YAHWEH shall be her everlasting light and the days of her mourning shall be ended" (Isa. 60).

Eureka 21.10.

6 And there shall be a tabernacle [Sukkah] for a shadow [shade] in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.