The issue of all the troubles of this present dispensation is to be in happy days for the righteous,
when Christ’s kingdom will be set up universally,
and He will be exalted as its beauty,
glory and joy in the esteem of all the living.
Isaiah 1
1 And 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.
2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Isaiah 4:1-6 – Vanity and Selfish Luxury Condemned
The manhood of a land is lost, morally and spiritually when woman falls from her high estate; and there could be no hope for Jerusalem until the divine fire had consumed the filth of her daughters, and the oppressive selfishness of her sons. Then once more each home in Jerusalem would have the same blessed signs of the divine presence as had once been granted to the Tabernacle—the shadowing cloud by day and the gleam of the Shekinah-fire by night. Let us claim these for our homes also!
Isaiah 4:5—Upon all the glory shall be a defence.
These twain, the pillar of cloud by day, and the flaming fire by night, were reserved in the wanderings for the tabernacle only; but this promise predicts that they shall be the heritage of each individual home. “The LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion… a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.” Each family may have its own cloudy pillar to guide, its own illumination through the dark hours, its own canopy from storm and rain and heat. Let this be your comfort: though your family is scattered afar, all the members may dwell in the same pavilion, be directed by the movements of the same pillar-cloud, and enlightened by the glow of the same fire. In God there is no distance; and they who abide in Him live in a dwelling-place which is wide enough to include the world, but narrow enough to draw our hearts into so small a circle that God and we and our loved ones may touch.
There is even more than this suggested in these words. Each holy soul may have all the gracious contents of this promise, because it has become the temple of the indwelling Lord, through the Holy Spirit. For thee there may be the pillar-cloud, arising to guide thy steps through the wilderness world, or settling down with its fleecy folds to rest. For thee, through long dark nights, the pillar of fire—and, indeed, only the darkness can reveal the bright light in the cloud. For thee also the canopy—for it is written, “the tabernacle of God is with men” (Revelation 21:3). How God suits Himself to our varying need—now a cloud, again as fire; in the storm a covert, from the heat a shadow. He is always adapting his help to our need.