The Seven to One Prophecy

The Bible is perfect

The Words in the Bible give us foresight, insight and hindsight so that we have a complete understanding of reality at every point in time.

Even though the words of the Bible were written clearly and boldly, many of us subject the words to our personal interpretation, or sometimes we act in total disregard to the word and begin an effortless swim against the tide.

It reminds me of Jeremiah's days. He was sent ahead of the exile period with only one mission.

The mission was to preserve the legacy of Israel and prepare the Jews for the coming war and their defeat so that they would suffer minimal loss in terms of people and property.

He told them not to resist the Babylonians; he told them resisting the Babylonians would only result in pain and catastrophe.

He told them to pack their bags and surrender because God had already decreed that for seventy years, they would be in exile.

He wrote letters to the King through Baruch, his servant,

The letter was torn to pieces.

When he was told, he wrote another one.

He went to the King with a yoke around his neck and told the King he would be carried away to exile with a yoke on his neck just as he demonstrated, but a false prophet named Hananiah broke the yoke and prophesied the opposite of Jeremiah's words.

Jeremiah said the false prophet would die, and the false prophet did.

Eventually, Jeremiah was severely punished for telling the truth, which came to him through the Word of God.

He was labelled a traitor, accused of demoralising the troops by telling them the truth, accused of trying to cross over to the Babylonian side when war eventually arrived, and he was thrown into the well and left to die there just because he was the voice of God in his generation.

It is one thing to know prophecy; it is another to recognise the time of its fulfilment and to work with it instead of resisting it.

The same applies to John the Baptist

His sole mission was to unveil Christ to the world

It was written and prophesied long before he came that he would be the forerunner of the Messiah.

Everybody in Israel knew this.

When John arrived, the same people began to doubt if he was the one.

They came to him for the drama of his mode of dressing, the boom of his voice and the sharpness of his message.

They were willing to be dipped into the water by him so that they could claim holiness among themselves because he offered a form of purification that was done publicly and could be used as a bragging tool among religious people.

When the main purpose of His coming was unveiled, many refused to believe him.

They refused to embrace the messiah even though they believed in John for the public appearance; they didn't accept the one he endorsed, baptised and upon whom the Holy Spirit came

They heard the voice from heaven saying This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased," but they turned a deaf ear to its significance.

Isaiah mentioned a period that would come in which female believers in Zion would face a particular dilemma.

He didn't say this would happen to unbelievers or Jews.

He knew unbelievers did not need his prophecy; they would find a way to manage the situation according to their senses, even though the season would affect them, too.

He knew the Jews would find a way to manage that season, too.

However, the female citizens of Zion will find that time confusing because of their doctrines and practices.

For this reason, he offered divine guidance ahead of that season

This prophecy was directed at WOMEN, from the first verse to the last, offering them guidance and assurance that as they deal with this season to the best of their ability and understanding, they would be called Holy, and their filth will be washed away by a spirit of judgment and fire,

They would be covered by a divine canopy made by the Spirit of God made of a cloud of smoke and a flame of fire. 

Isaiah 4

In that day seven women

will take hold of one man

and say, “We will eat our own food

and provide our own clothes;

only let us be called by your name.

Take away our disgrace!”

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.  Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit[a] of judgment and a spirit[b] of fire.  Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory[c] will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

This scripture has been quoted and preached by rabbis, pastors, prophets, ministers of the gospel and several Bible commentators.

Many called it a proverb, some said it was allegorical, some said it was satirical, others said it was a figure of speech

It is the typical way we all interpret prophecy because of its divine ability, but it is also the way in which we miss out on taking the prophetic literally as it is written.

When the prophecy was given about the coming of Jesus, many believed it to be a parable because it is impossible for a virgin to be pregnant and give birth to a baby

Most scholars didn't take it seriously or believe it would happen exactly as written

It did, and many of them who were regarded as scholars refuted the claim and fought tooth and nail against the fulfilment of that prophecy.

Today, another season of prophecy fulfilment is upon us.

We are all staring at it in the face and trying our best to wish it away, but it is not going anywhere.

It is a natural consequence of population growth worldwide, the changing dynamics of economic empowerment, people living longer while sharing scarce resources, and the consequences of religious dogma and tradition.

If we look at it on paper, the population of men is more than that of women globally, according to the United Nations.

This has been so since the 1960s

There are estimated to be 44 million more men than women in the world today, and it is expected that by 2050, there will be parity in the figures.

The dynamics of marriage among men and women, however, tell a different story.

The fact that the average age at marriage (in heterosexual couples) has never been later –According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2022, the median age for marriage was approximately 30.5 years old for men and 28.6 years old for women, 31.5 for women in the UK, 33.4 for men – the singles market is at its most crowded between the ages of 35 and 47, and in that market women outnumber men.

Times have changed

The patriarchal society that programmed men to be the earners and providers for women is long gone.

The modern society has been engineered to balance the scale economically so that both women and men have the economic power to determine their lot in life without being dependent on each other in that regard.

While it is true that about 50 years ago, most women primarily woke up with the desire to marry the right man or Mr Right, as they called it then, so as to live a fulfilled life, this is no longer the case today.

Both sexes have been proven capable of living and existing romantically and independently of each other.

Marriage has now become a desire and not a necessity. Men do not have to provide for women; women don't have to submit to their providers.

It is the reality of the world we live in today

Men chase fulfilment in other ways other than settling down into a marriage, and so do women.

The term "what do you bring to the table", which was started by men of African origin to assess if the woman they want to get married to is worth their time economically, proves that men now expect the woman to have some economic contribution to the home other than sex and homemaking.

This then means the woman can use the same economic means to fend for herself and remain single if she chooses to or if she gets married, she knows she does not have to be submissive to the man because he is not the one providing for her or solely meeting her needs.

It is easier to be submissive to a sole provider whom you depend on for everything than to a man you earn more than or even contribute more than in terms of keeping a home.

Biologically, men can choose from women from younger age brackets when they believe they have what it takes to give her a good life (this often takes a bit of time in Africa and among Africans), while most women of the same age bracket as these same men cannot dip into the pool of significantly younger men to pick a husband.

The Biological clock ticks for the woman who desires to have children; the same clock does not tick for men.

Women know they can have children while doing away with all the drama of marriage.

Men know they can do the same

These options were not available 50 years ago

Surrogacy

Artificial insemination

Donor sperm and donor eggs

Fertility clinics and wonders of the modern world

The rate of divorce and the staggering amount paid to lawyers and psychiatrists for therapy before, during and after marriage are not encouraging economically.

The toll marriage takes on people, especially terrible marriages, and the damage it does to their health physically, financially and psychologically is not negligible.

If marriage is for procreation, it has been scientifically proven that children do not need marriage to be born.

If marriage is for companionship, people are finding other ways of meeting this need outside of being tied down to a partner who may not even meet this need at the end of the day.

Marriage, which was once the main menu in living a fulfilled life, has now become one of the several side dishes a man or woman can do without in the course of living a fulfilled life.

This is the fact of today's world and reality.

Isaiah saw this, and he gave express instructions to the women of Zion for this season.

He told them they could ask a man for the use of his name if they desired to experience what it means to have a change of name and claim the status "married" in their documents for any reason.

This means this woman is economically empowered to have a good life and provide for her children.

For reasons best known to her, she didn't want her child or society to label her or her children, so she asked a man to provide the protection of only his name.

Isaiah said then that the season is coming, and I say that the season is already upon us.

PS: A young woman once told me she went for an interview for a management role in a company, and she knew she performed excellently well. After weeks of not getting feedback, she reached out to her contact within the organisation.

She said the contact told her that the board liked her, but they are weary of giving the position to an unmarried woman with no roots who is a potential flight risk to the company.

She said she decided she would get married for that reason, not for love or any other consideration but for the sake of her career.

After a year of making no headway, she reached out to a gay friend, and they had an arrangement.

They got married in a civil court but were living apart.

He did whatever he wanted, and she did whatever she wanted

An opportunity then came for her to apply for the management role again with another company

She took it, and the job was given to her

Another woman said that as she approached the age of forty, she wanted to get her eggs stored for the future.

Then she approached a friend and explained her situation to him

I want my child to grow up knowing he has a father

I don't want to tell my child he or she is a "test tube" baby

So, will you allow me to give this child your name? I will pay you for the use of your name, and we will sign a legal contract for the use of your name

All you have to do is pop in once a year during his or her birthday and spend some time with the child

These are the emerging trends we are seeing on the landscape of life at the moment

The words of Isaiah are coming to pass

It is best we open our eyes and expand our hearts to embrace the word of God and the reality of our times by adjusting our hearts to embrace all the inhabitants of Zion and protect them with all our love.

The church will be making a mistake if we begin to judge, cast aspersions, segregate, label or treat some of our people dealing with these issues as pariahs or as unaccepted.

Ignorance is not an excuse.

It is plainly written in the Bible

Isaiah prophesied that the Branch of the Lord (the church) would be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land (The children) would be pride and glory.

There are no second-class citizens in Christ.

Peter was told three times not to call unclean what God has called clean.

Salvation has nothing to do with the flesh or morality or laws, mores, traditions, customs or any societal expectation or standard.

If we will not end up on the side of the Pharisees and start hurling stones or crying "Crucify Him", we must embrace the times and bring all who are fit and willing into Christ as equals.

 

 

-GSW-