CHRIST AS THE CANOPY AND THE TABERNACLE
In chapter four, after speaking of Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth, Isaiah goes on to refer to this One as a canopy and a tabernacle. "Jehovah will create over the entire region of Mount Zion and over all her convocations a cloud of smoke by day, and the brightness of a fiery flame by night; for over all, the glory will be a canopy. And there will be a tabernacle as a daytime shade from the heat and as a refuge and a cover from storm and rain" (vv. 5-6). Christ is not only the Shoot and the Fruit—He is also the canopy to cover us and to cover God’s move and everything related to it.
God has a great move on earth, and this move involves many things. As we have pointed out, Christ is the centrality and the universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity. The Christ who is the centrality and universality of God’s move is also the canopy to cover the totality of this move. The crucial point is that in addition to being the reality of the great move of God on earth, Christ is also the canopy to cover God’s move and all that is involved with it.
In verse 5 Isaiah speaks of the canopy, and in verse 6 he speaks of a tabernacle. Christ is not only the canopy to cover all the things in God’s move but also a tabernacle to overshadow God’s chosen people. The God-man, Christ, who is our canopy, is also a tabernacle as a shade in the day to keep us from the heat and a refuge and a cover to keep us from any kind of storm and rain.
I can testify in the two months prior to the time I began to give these messages on the life-study of Isaiah, I experienced Christ as my canopy. These two months were months of fighting—fighting to be able to carry out this life-study. I realized that the enemy, Satan, was not happy to see that, at the end of this age, the Christ revealed in Isaiah would be unveiled to God’s children. Therefore, I began to fight concerning this. During this time of fighting, I took the Lord Jesus as my covering. I prayed, saying, "Lord, hide me under Your precious blood. I hide myself in You. I ask You, Lord, to cover me and everything related to me." Today we all need Christ as such a canopy, and we need Christ also as the overshadowing tabernacle to shade us from the heat and as a refuge and cover to protect us from any storm and rain.
SEEING THE RICH CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The Christ revealed in the book of Isaiah is exceedingly rich. We need to see this rich Christ and know Him as the Shoot of Jehovah, the Fruit of the earth, the canopy, and the tabernacle. Perhaps you have been a Christian for many years, but before now you had not seen Christ in these items of what He is to us. Had you ever seen that Christ, the God-man, is the Shoot of Jehovah in His divinity and the Fruit of the earth in His humanity? Had you ever heard that Christ is the canopy that covers all God’s interests on the earth and a tabernacle that overshadows God’s people from everything that could bother them? Christians know that because God loved the world He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16), but few, if any, see Christ and know Christ as He is revealed in Isaiah. Therefore, I urge you to spend your time, ability, and energy to study this book in order to see and know the wonderful Christ revealed in it.
(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
