Behold Your God: Who Takes Away Your Disgrace

Bible Passage: Isaiah 4:1-6

I. The cry of a city stripped of dependency on every human breath V1

1. Judgment has already been executed, and Jerusalem has completely collapsed.
2. Judah trusted in breath, and God has removed both supply and support (2:22, 3:1–3).
3. The men have fallen, and the city has no one to lead her (3:25).
4. A woman without a husband had no name, no provision, and no protection (Exod. 21:10, Jer. 14:9).
5. The city that once displayed its finery is now stripped (Isa. 3:16–24).

II. God’s answer to Jerusalem’s shame is a Branch, not a man. V2

1. “Branch” is something that grows out of what looks dead (6:13, 11:1).
2. The Branch is named “The LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:5–6, Zech. 6:12, 2 Cor. 5:21).
3. The Branch replaces the stripped finery (Isa. 3:18).
4. The Branch produces “fruit of the land” and there will be glory, not greed (1 Cor. 1:31).

III. God answers the request to be named by calling the remnant holy. V3

1. God saves the remnant by grace, and then He names them holy. (Isa 1:9, Isa 10:20–22, Isa 37:31–32)
2. Holiness is a gift before it is a task.
3. The remnant’s names are recorded by the one who saved them (Exod. 32:32–33, Ps. 69:28, Rev. 21:27).

IV. The Judge who brings the case in chapter 1 is the one who does the washing in chapter 4 V4 (Isa. 1:15–16)

1. The filth is real beneath the finery, and God sees it.
2. The bloodstains are the guilt of the city.
3. The fire that burned the vineyard now refines the city (Mal. 3:2–3, Isa. 6:6–7).
4. Jesus is the answer that washes away the filth and the bloodguilt (1 John 1:7, Rev. 7:14).

V. The God who was distant in the temple now covers the whole city. V5

1. God’s presence returns to His people as it did in the wilderness (Exod. 13:21–22, 14:19–20, 40:34–38, 1 Kings 8:10–11, Ezek. 10, Ezek. 43).
2. The smoke that terrified Isaiah now shelters the people (Isa. 6:4).
3. The assemblies God rejected are now covered by His glory (Isa. 1:13, Ps. 19:5, Joel 2:16).
4. The gospel is not just that God forgives, but that God dwells with us (Rev. 7:15–16, Matt. 23:37).

VI. The shelter that collapsed in chapter 1 is now God’s own shelter. V6

1. The people who fled from God now hide in Him.
2. God does not promise easy circumstances, but He does promise to be our shelter (Isa. 25:4, 32:2).
3. Jesus is the one who bore the storm and is the one who shelters us (Ps. 27:5, 32:7, 91:1).

VII. Observations: Behold Your God

1. Behold your God as the one who answers the cry of the disgraced (v. 1).
2. Behold your God as the one who does what he demands (v. 4).
3. Behold your God as the one who names His people before they earn anything (v. 3).
4. Behold your God as the one who dwells over his people and shelters them (v. 5).

Takeaway:

Bring your disgrace to God and receive the washing, presence, and shelter He provides.