CHAPTER 4
God pushes the judgment and the ruin to the uttermost but Christ the Branch of beauty and glory shall appear at that time for the remnant. All the wicked shall have been cut off (verse 2-4). The Branch of Jehovah shall be beauty and glory. The glory will be displayed over all the extent of the holy city (verse 5). Verse 6 describes an active protection on God’s part. Those who remain after the purifying are saints, and the glory of God shall be manifested over the city that He has chosen to place His name there.
One can see in these four chapters the importance God attaches to the land. He takes cognisance of the iniquity of His earthly people, cleansing them by His judgment. He washes away the filth of the nations also.
[p. 173] This does not concern the church which will come again with Jesus in glory. Such is the position in which Christendom is found. Meanwhile, since the rejection of Jesus until He come again, God has visited the world by His Spirit to gather God’s joint-heirs with Christ for heaven.
The nature of prophecy, which enters into the mind of God on the ruin and rejection of His people, is of all importance. It is what distinguishes the faithful who have the intelligence of Christ — faithful in the fallen state of things. Their conduct at the same time is directed and governed by the revelation they possess of another order of things to come.