- 9. Excellent and Comely Fruit
Isaiah 4:2 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.
“That day” is the Messianic Age and the branch of the Lord is the Messiah. That day began when Jesus was born as a man on the earth and “that day” continues through the Death and Resurrection and on through the present day. The Branch, Jesus Christ, is beautiful and glorious, and no one doubts that this is true. He is the Beautiful Savior.
The promise is that in the Messianic Age of the New Testament Era the fruit of the earth will be excellent and comely for those of the people of God who believe in the Branch. Jesus stood on the earth and proclaimed that that day has come, and it is called the Kingdom of God. This glorious kingdom comes to and even into all those who believe in Christ. The fruit of that kingdom is excellent and pretty. The kingdom in our day is spiritual, and fruit of that kingdom is spiritual. The fruit is all the things described as love, peace, joy, patience, goodness, and such. Although such beautiful fruit is not seen with the eyes we know it is beautiful and glorious.
We know those who are “escaped of Israel” by their fruits. The fruit comes out of a believing heart and Christians beautify the earth. Fruit-bearing is the whole purpose of life and salvation. The flesh does not bear fruit, and it cannot. The renewed spirit of the believer bears fruit in the life. Our focus is on abiding in Christ; we do not focus on the fruit, and we certainly cannot try to produce fruit by our own efforts. But the Jesus who lives inside produces the fruit. So we listen to Him and we hear the Word of the Gospel. We water the vine with the Word. We don’t have to know how it all works; we just need to believe the promise: the fruit will be excellent. We believe Jesus and we trust Him to produce beautiful fruit for those who believe.