God’s Word for You
Isaiah 4:1 Free from shame
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, December 22, 2024
In this chapter, the prophet ends his words about judgment (except for the first verse, which goes better with chapter 3) and turns to the coming of Christ, and all of the spiritual blessings that he will bring to mankind.
4:1 On that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and wear our own clothes, but let us be called by your name. Take away our shame!”
What should we make of the number seven here? Usually, seven is the number that describes holiness (Exodus 29:37) or spiritual cleanness (Genesis 7:2), or “universality” (but Abraham once used seven ewe lambs as witnesses for ownership, Genesis 21:28). Later in Isaiah, it will be a number that simply means “quite a but more,” when the sun will shine “seven times brighter” (Isaiah 30:26). This is also the use of “seven” in the question of the Sadducees about the seven brothers who all married the same woman. So there doesn’t seem to be any spiritual significance here; it is anything but a holy incident, nor a universal application. What we have is evidence of the way that society will break down. The usual vow of marriage between a man and a woman means nothing to these destitute women. They have nothing apart from disgrace. But they ask, even beg this one man to let them each be called by his name as his wives. They even bring their own clothing and food. It is only their shame that they want removed.
Shame is an emotional response to sin, but it is not the same as guilt. One simply is guilty, whether one is spiritually aware enough or mature enough to feel the shame of that guilt. The guilt of sin is punishable by death, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23; Genesis 2:17). Death entered into the world because of sin (Romans 5:12), and sin is now in the world, infecting every single one of us. What will the answer be? How is guilt removed?
This is where a terrible error must be pointed out. The two large Lutheran church bodies that merged together in 1988 to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) did so by stating right away that the main reason for the crucifixion and death of Christ was not (to be sure, they said NOT) to atone for sin and rescue mankind from guilt and eternal punishment in hell. They immediately upon their merger made it clear that there must be many ways to heaven, many paths apart from Christ. What they hinted at then was that Christ was simply an example for us to follow.
They have since become dismissive when their own members literally hold up Bibles open to John 14:6 (Jesus saying, “No one comes to the Father except through me”). Some readers or listeners know that I have spoken about this before, but it must be said: The leaders of that church are not doing their flock any good by remaining in that fellowship, even if a particular pastor disagrees with the doctrine of the larger church body. John says in his Second Epistle, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching (that of John and the Apostles of Christ), do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work” (2 John 1:10-11).
The guilt of sin is removed only by the blood of Christ, and not by any other means. When Samaria was still part of Israel, the Lord condemned their sin: “The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God” (Hosea 13:16). The people of Samaria do not have any different penalty from the people of India today, or Venezuela, or the Ivory Coast. Their sins are covered only by the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to atone for all sins of all mankind. The Book of Hebrews proclaims this truth: “Christ sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27). Those who look to anyone but Christ will cry out, “Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty!” (Joel 1:15).
But the gospel is there for all who trust in Christ, for the prophet also says, “The zeal of the Lord will burn over the earth, and he will spare his people” (Joel 2:18). By the grace of God, we who trust in Christ alone are those people, his people, “for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). In the days of the early church, before the New Testament was fully written, the Lord “confirmed the message of his grace by enabling the Apostles to do miraculous signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3). Today the miracle of faith is still given to us through his holy word and through the sacraments. Everyone who puts their trust in Christ alone has their guilt washed away in his blood, and lives free from shame.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.