For seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!” Isaiah 4:1. Initially, this prophecy was fulfilled in the days of the exile in Babylon, after many men had been killed in battle. It was true also in Germany after World War II, when women far outnumbered the men because a great number of men in the German army had been killed. There have been other times when there were more women than available husbands. We can understand such a situation occurring also in the days of tribulation and judgment. When we spiritualize this, however, we see something quite different.
Isaiah was speaking about a remnant. The word “women” is used prophetically to represent God’s people in their spiritual state. Revelation 17 and 18 speak about Babylon, the great harlot who rides upon the beast. The beast represents the demonic government and civil authority. Babylon has committed fornication with the kings of the earth. A woman and her relationship to a man is used to illustrate the spiritual state of the apostate people, the anti-Christ people. We cannot call them the “Church” because they comprise a false church, an anti-Church.
Revelation 19:7–8 presents a picture of another woman. This is the Bride, the virgin who is adorned with fine linen, clean and white, representing her righteousness. She is to meet her Bridegroom, and then the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place. The two women are representative figures of the spiritual conditions at their extremes in the end time.
The picture of seven women taking hold of one man deals with the broad scope of Christianity. In this day, denominationalism is without the Lordship and the Headship of Christ over it. It has gone its own way. To a great extent the churches are a law unto themselves. They have their own governments; they have legislated their own decrees and their own principles. They have prostituted their purity in order to receive advantages, such as tax exemptions. They have committed fornication with the kings of the earth. In the days of judgment, they will realize that they are without headship and will come back toward it.
Notice what Isaiah says concerning the remnant, the survivors of Israel. In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. And it will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. (It is his destiny to live in the spiritual Jerusalem.) When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion… Isaiah 4:2–4. This can well apply to the seven women wanting their reproach taken away. The filth of the daughters of Zion must be taken care of; God has to purge it. But the fire that begins with them does not end there. Lukewarm denominational Christians will be refined also. Do not get the idea that everyone who is in Babylon is doomed to hell. The cry of the Word is, “Come out of her, My people” (Revelation 18:4).
God is concerned about salvaging everyone He can out of the corrupt systems of the world, and He does not start bringing out one great tide and then stop. The end-time move of God’s Spirit is like travail that brings forth multiple births. Travail will be upon Christianity. Some will find themselves thrown into atheism because they have no faith, but those who have real faith will be dealt with by God. God will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion.
The dealing of the Lord will bring people to the place where they are no longer lukewarm. “…I would that you were cold or hot,” He says in Revelation 3:15. He will deal with you, and He will deal with the Christian churches everywhere. It has already started. He is going to deal with them until they go one way or the other. The same dealings of God that bring you to deep repentance and purity can cause another person to curse God and turn away from Him. God gives a Word, and the same Word that opens one man’s heart can harden another man’s heart. It is your attitude and your response to the Word that determines which way you will go. The Word that God is speaking in this hour will be an occasion for people to blaspheme God, if their hearts are set against the Word. Other people, whose hearts are open, will embrace it.
The Lord will deal with His people, and this is good; their self-righteousness must be dealt with. God is pulling the rug of self-righteousness out from under them. I used to think that God intended only good for everyone, that He would not allow anything to happen that would make people fail miserably; but I have found out differently. When some people backslide, it is because of the dealings of the Lord. He deals with them to show them that they are living their lives on a false foundation of self-righteousness, and this foundation must collapse so that they can see they were not trusting in the Lord at all. Then they have an opportunity to get on the foundation of salvation by faith through Jesus Christ.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning (this is what God is doing today), then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. Isaiah 4:4–5. The spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning purges us.
In the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, the Lord says to the goats, just because of their relationship to the Body, “You are to enter into the fire prepared for Satan and his angels.” The coming judgments of God will not be merely a slap on the wrist for people who have failed God, yet an awful fire for Satan and his angels. All judgments are a part of the same dealing, the same fire. When God deals with you now—as the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion—He puts you through the same kind of fire that is reserved for Satan. That is the reason it is so grievous.
The Lord said, “Agree with your adversary quickly while you are in the way with him, lest you be brought before the magistrate and be put into prison until you have paid the uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:25–26). You will not come out until you have paid the entire fine.
You either will come before the Lord and let Him deal with what is wrong in your life, or you will be thrown into a situation from which you cannot escape while God deals with you with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. He must wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion. Once you are under the dealings of the Lord, you cannot get away with anything; you stay there until they are accomplished. God is not fooling with you. He is serious about bringing forth a Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). When your obedience is complete, then He will stand in readiness to avenge all other disobedience (II Corinthians 10:6). It will be done swiftly in the earth.
It is most important that God now complete the purging of your life, because this is what is holding up the judgment of the whole world. If you are not purged by the Holy Spirit now, you will be included in the judgments that come on the whole earth; but if you allow God’s dealings to run their full course, you will be a sanctified vessel who can be used of God in the coming days of judgment.
This takes place even in the Communion. I Corinthians 11:27–32 tells us to judge ourselves when we come to the Communion Table, so that we will not be condemned with the world. In other words, we can obtain an earlier judgment. We are told in verse 28: But let a man examine himself… If you do not want to be condemned with the world, then you must examine yourself now and come into a state of judgment.
Does this mean that the Communion blood is a judgment? Of course it is. Jesus’ death on the cross was a judgment, was it not? When He shed His blood, it was the judgment of God for sin; He stood in your place and suffered for your sin. When you partake of Communion, you are partaking of the vicarious judgment that Jesus experienced on your behalf. If you do that sincerely enough, the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning will come into your life. You will be cleansed and released so that when the world is judged, you will not participate in it, for you will already have been judged. You will have been judged, condemned, and crucified. You will have died and said, “It is finished.” You will have done it all in the person of Jesus Christ.
The judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross was accomplished for you when He died; but every time you take Communion, you bring that judgment in its strength and in its experience right up to the present moment in your life. You should continually give yourself to the breaking of bread and the Communion Table where you are not only saved, but where the things that cling to your life are constantly judged. There you bring them under judgment again, and you embrace the complete, perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want to miss the coming judgment? Then do not withdraw from the judgments of the Lord now. Let Him deal with you now. It is far better to go through the fire and experience the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning now, than to experience it later.
People who draw back from the fire usually are thrown into something more drastic. He that is often reproved and hardens his neck shall suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy (Proverbs 29:1). When a man draws the line on his submission to God and to the dealings of the Lord and rebels against them, from that time on he is thrown into chaos.
Aren’t you glad that the Lord is long-suffering with you and that He keeps bringing you back to His deep dealings? Praise the Lord that He does not let you escape them. Submit yourself to the Lord. When He has accomplished His dealings, then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. Isaiah 4:5. The fire that first occasioned judgment now becomes our immunity and our protection.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and were passing through the Red Sea, the cloud and the pillar of fire moved behind them, separating them from the Egyptians. The Egyptians could not get near the Israelites all night. The cloud and the pillar held the Egyptians back from their deadly destructiveness upon the Israelites, and it literally crowded the children of Israel into the sea and over to the other shore. As soon as that was accomplished, the judgments struck the Egyptians. God is trying now to complete His dealings in your life so that immunities can be given you, and the canopy of protection can be replaced over every habitation in Zion. …for over all the glory will be a canopy.
We know that God wants to give immunity to His people; then why does Satan seem to be allowed to harass and assault you, even when you are walking with the Lord and doing His will as carefully as you know how? Is this your reward for serving the Lord? Satan comes to harass you where something in your spirit must be perfected. The fire of God uses many instruments to accomplish His purpose and many different ways to work His will.
When God tried Job, the fire of God came down and consumed his flocks and servants (Job 1:16). Did Satan have a hand in it? Yes, both the fire of God and Satan were instruments used to take away everything that Job held dear. Satan wanted to get at Job, but God had a hedge of security round about him. So God said, “Satan, I will take the hedge down. Now go ahead.” God’s only restriction was that Satan could not take Job’s life. Do not blame the devil. He was only doing what God allowed him to do. Job’s wife told him to curse God, but he refused. He did say some miserable things about the day he had been born, but he did not curse God. God allowed Job to go through the fire because He wanted him to have a double portion. He worshiped and said, “The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
God intends to build bigger and stronger immunities in your life to provide a hedge around you. In order to accomplish this, the assault must come against you. That is the purpose of spiritual warfare—so that you prevail, so that you exalt the Lord. Satan is to be bruised under your feet (Romans 16:20). Unless you have an encounter with Satan, there can be no victory over him. He is allowed to come against you in order that the victory of Christ may be manifested through you individually and personally against the person of Satan.
This sounds a little complicated. It also sounds dangerous, but it is dangerous only to those who have a wrong spirit. All this battle that we endure is in reality the spirit of burning to purge the filth from the daughters of Zion. God is going to keep working on you until you become an effective instrument of the Lord in the earth today. Through the burning, the purging, and the purifying, the filthiness is being washed away. God is dealing with you in depth.
It is important to win souls, to fast, and to pray; but in order to speed up the work that God is doing, let Him first come and rain righteousness upon you (Hosea 10:12). Be a vessel of honor in the house of the Lord. The brightness of a burning fire will be over His house. When the purging is accomplished, God will place the canopy of His glory over you. Then a flaming fire and the cloud will come once again to lead you and to be your protection. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. Troubles are coming on the earth, but by the time the storm breaks, the true disciple will have the canopy of protection over him. Let God put you through the fire! Go through it so that you will be immune when the world is cast into its caldron of fire.