Which Side Do You Represent?
By Mrs. S. N. Haskell
THE fourth chapter of Isaiah, although the shortest in the book, is a remarkable one. The first verse is introduced by a conjunction, showing that it is closely connected with the closing part of the preceding chapter. The last eleven verses of the third chapter speak of the departure of the daughters of Zion from the simplicity which God designs should characterize his people. All the fashions mentioned in these verses are prevailing fashions in some portions of the earth to-day. The nose jewels are regarded as highly by the Eastern beauty as the ear jewels by her Western sisters. After speaking of the departure of the daughters of Zion from the simplicity that God designs should characterize them, the prophet states that the gates of Zion “lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. 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.” A woman in the Bible is taken as a symbol of the church. Jer. 6:2; 2 Cor. 11:2. The number “seven” denotes completeness, therefore seven women would denote a complete church. We must judge of the character of the church by the character of the women, as a corrupt woman is taken to represent an apostate church, and a chaste woman to represent the true church. These women say, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” No true, loyal wife will look to any one besides her husband for her support; therefore, these women, while they take the name of the husband, look to others for their bread and raiment, and cannot represent the true, loyal bride of Christ. All apostate churches of Christendom claim to be married to the one man, Christ Jesus, and are called by his name—“Christians;” but to be called by his name does not make them true and loyal. On the other hand, from the reading of the verse we would understand that the loyal bride of Christ, the true representatives of his church in the earth, would not eat their own bread nor wear their own apparel; or, in other words, when they take the name of Christ, their diet and manner of living would change, also their outward adornment and apparel would change. There would be a marked difference in their diet and apparel after they had taken the name of Christ. The question might arise, How do we know the will of Christ in these matters? We have the plain statement in his Word; the subject of diet is taught from Genesis to Revelation. One of the first instructions which the Lord gave man was in regard to his diet. Gen. 1:29. In the last chapters of the Bible we find a record that the saints should partake of the tree of life. From beginning to end, the Bible is full of instruction in regard to diet. On the other hand, we have plain instruction in regard to the apparel which the Lord would have his people wear. The Lord, in speaking of women, says: “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, or of putting on apparel: but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” Here we have the secret revealed. We are told that “after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves;” or in other words, they wore the apparel of their true husband, Christ Jesus. Only those who trust in God are able to do that. Without a firm trust in God, we cannot wear the apparel the Lord would have us wear. The fashions in the world are constantly changing, but God would have his people ever dress in a plain and becoming manner. Their outward apparel as they go to and fro in the world, should be just as marked as their conversation and course of life. When one who is named a Christian is attired like the world around her, so that as she goes to and fro in the streets, no one would distinguish her from the worldly women with whom she comes in contact, there is something wrong. Such are wearing their own apparel, and not the apparel of the One whose name they have taken. The apparel of Christ will mark a Christian woman from the women of the world just as distinctly as the character of Christ will mark a true Christian from a worldly person. When we take the name of Christ and wear the uniform of the world, we place ourselves at a disadvantage; in other words, we are clothed in the uniform of the enemy. In every war the engaging armies have a distinctive uniform. The uniform means a great deal. In our late war one who attempted to serve in the American army with the Spanish uniform would have been banished immediately; so in the great warfare between truth and error. We cannot afford to weaken the side of our great Master by being clad in the uniform of the world, dressing like the world, eating and living like the world. The Lord would have us come up to the standard of his Word, and represent him in every place and at every time. In this fourth chapter of Isaiah the Lord beautifully describes the covering that he will draw over those that will come out from the world entirely. “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. 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 above all the glory shall be a covering.” Isa. 4:4, 5, margin. We cannot afford to be left out when that covering is spread over the people of God. Let us therefore look well to ourselves, and be sure that while we are called by the name of Christ, we do not “eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel.”