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.
Isaiah 4:1
Of all the signs that God has given us concerning the End Times approaching this sign will be considered the most controversial. There are scholars who try and place this verse with the previous chapter due to the mass death of men dying in warfare. The problem I see with that assessment is that there is no record in the archaeological record to confirm this interpretation. Another reason that this interpretation is not valid is that in Isaiah 1 the term “in that day” is said to refer to the second advent of our Lord, you will notice that the term is used repeatedly in Chapter 4 with all times referring to Christ’s Millennial Reign.
When I first read this verse I believed God was talking about polygamy. If that was the case then the verse would have read “seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will be your wife and ye shall be our husband…” The way the verse is written it describes a time where men are in scarce supply and several women would perform a marriage of convenience with the man. One can see this by the statement “only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. This is not for love, commitment, romance but to take away their public shame by not being married.
Another thing this verse points to is there is coming a time where women will be liberated from financial ties to the man when it says “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel.” This again shows independence of the women from the men instead of the interdependence between a married couple. At the time this was written until about the 1960s most households were single income with the men working outside the home and the women being homemakers. After that time there has been a gradual increase of the number of women in the workforce.
The lack of eligible spouses can be seen in Revelation between the Second and Fourth Seal. The Second Seal says
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Revelation 6:3, 4
This is saying there will be a war that will encompass the earth drawing all nations into the conflict. As most of the world’s militaries are comprised of young men, their deaths on the battlefield would decrease the number of bachelors available to be married.
The Fourth Seal gives us the dire consequences of the first Three Seals when it says
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Revelation 6:7, 8
Here we see that the global population is decreased by a quarter of the earth dead. We’re talking about 1,875,000,000 people dying during this period. Using the current ratio of 2 women for every man on the earth we see that approximately 625,000,000 men being killed between the war and famine including men dying from beasts attacks in the wilderness as they search for food to feed their families.
This verse is not a condemnation of the Women’s Liberation movement, but is a statement of fact of the state of society at the time of Christ’s return. If you currently hold a job and have income coming in, I would use this verse as measuring tape to reflect on my reason(s) for holding the job. Is it to gain independence from our husband? Help the family financially? A means to escape our duties to our children and spouse? Find meaning for our lives exterior to our family? If our motives are pure and Christlike then by all means continue in your position. If not it may be time to do some soul searching asking God where you can best honor Him with your life.
This week each of us should take time and look at our occupations and it’s relationship to our Heavenly Father and families. If our job is bringing honor to all we stay where we are, if not we need to begin searching for another occupation.
Father,
I have taken many jobs in my career based only on the amount of money I would receive. At no time did I consider how these jobs affected those around me. Your Son told us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God first and all these things would be added unto me”. Lord, I rededicate my whole life to You, guide me in Your ways so that I may live a life well pleasing to You.
Amen
Teaching the End of Wickedness 