The Appearance

Dear Weekly Readers! God’s Peace!

We are quickly moving toward that all important time of year when our Lord Jesus willingly gave up His life and rose again so that we can have life eternal!

May God strengthen each of you through His word and by His Holy Spirit. May He Bless your week.

Please enjoy this week’s article by our guest author.


THE APPEARANCE

This verse from the book of Isaiah is somewhat like our Lord’s parables. It is written: “…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.” (Isaiah 4:1). How are we to understand it?

To understand it correctly, we must see it from the context of chapter three. Judgment had fallen upon Jerusalem because of the total breakdown of social relationships (3:4, 5), a rebellion against the Lord (3:8, 9), a lifestyle of Sodomy (3:9), a departure from the truth of God’s Word (3:12b), the evil treatment of the poor (3:14, 15), and the prideful display of wealth; especially by those who are the believers—“the daughters of Zion” (3:16, 18-23).

The result of all of this evil was famine (3:1), death of leading men at all levels of need and importance (3:2, 3), economic collapse (3:24), and widows mourning the death of their soldiering husbands (3:25, 26). Thus as a consequence of all this deterioration and desolation, a large number of women decide on a plan to take away their reproach. Seven women would enter into a contract with each man in order to be regarded as his wife. They would not expect or desire any support or care by their “so-called” husbands. All they were asking was acceptance by the rest of society to be regarded as legitimate wives. They wanted the appearance of marriage without the commitments of marriage.

How terribly sad! Such an arrangement is hypocritical in the first place. It is not real. It is a “pretend” world. Secondly, it is a denial of the meaning of marriage. There is no commitment by any parties in this pretend relationship to show love, honor, and sacrifice to one another. There is no need to show respect, care, concern, protection, and security. This whole idea is totally devoid of loving intimacy. And, in truth, there is no desire or intention to raise any children to bring forth a future generation. It is the end of a people group!

This is the literal and factual picture that we see in this one verse (4:1). But does it not convey a spiritual picture, also? Place this picture within the framework of Ephesians 5:22-33 that describes the godly standard of the marriage relationship, comparing it to the relationship between Christ and the Church. By joining together Isaiah 4:1 and this passage from Ephesians, we are struck by a horrible contrast. The scenes in these two passages do not fit together. They are as opposite as light is to darkness.

Can you see the twisted wrong if a person were to desire only to be called “a Christ-one”, a “Christian”, but in reality would not be one. Is this not the same as being satisfied only to be saved, to know Christ as our Savior, only, but then living as one pleases? Is it not a picture of hypocrisy to merely “use” Christ as a covering and, at the same time, wear one’s own apparel and eat one’s own bread? Is it so that many who are “members” in a congregation claiming to be “Christ’s own”, but in heart are still conducting their life in the power of their own flesh? Is not this a mockery of Christianity, as much as it was a mockery of marriage for the Israelites of old? By so doing, we make a fool of Christ!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I say as did the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans—“God forbid! Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:15). We cannot claim to have Christ as our Savior, if we do not honor Him, also, as our Lord. Let us heed the counsel given to us in Prov. 23:26—”My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” Lord, forgive us all when we live as one of your own outwardly only, but our heart is far from you.” God grant us grace that we would love him above all things and serve him in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness even as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns in all eternity. This is most certainly true!