2. Overshadowing His Believers
in His Grace as a Daytime Shade
from the Heat and as a Refuge
and a Cover from Storm and Rain

He is presently overshadowing His believers in His grace as a daytime shade from the heat and as a refuge and a cover from storm and rain (2 Cor. 12:9). Christ is the canopy to cover God's interests, and He is also a tabernacle to be our shade and our refuge. The tabernacle is a shade, a refuge, and a cover. Our experience of this is fully explained in 2 Corinthians 12:9, which describes Christ overshadowing His believers in His grace as their strength. The Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth are one pair of items of Christ in Isaiah 4. This pair produces another pair—Christ as a covering canopy of glory and an overshadowing tabernacle of grace in humanity.

According to Isaiah 4, our Christ is the new development of God. He is the branching out of God in His divinity into humanity. As such a One, He will be the beauty and glory of God's chosen people in the day of restoration. This glory will be a great canopy to cover all of God's interests on earth. Christ is also the Fruit of the earth for the multiplication and reproduction of the divine life in humanity. This reproducing Fruit of the earth will be the excellence and splendor of God's chosen people. Christ is also a shade to us from the heat and a refuge and a cover to protect us from the storm and rain. Have we ever considered that Christ is so many items in Isaiah 4? Christ is God's development, God's branching out, and the Fruit for God's reproduction; He has the divine beauty and glory with the human excellence and splendor. Therefore, He can cover us as a canopy and overshadow us as a tabernacle to be our shade and refuge. Isaiah 4 shows that Christ is everything to us.

IV. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTAKING OF CHRIST

Isaiah 4:2-4 reveal the requirements for partaking of Christ.

A. The Requirements Being the Conditions
for God's Chosen People to Partake of Christ
in the Age of Restoration

The following four requirements are the conditions for God's chosen people to partake of Christ in the age of restoration.

1. Having Escaped, Having Been Released,
from Captivity

The first requirement is that they have escaped, having been released, from captivity (Isa. 4:2b). We should be people who have escaped any kind of bondage or slavery. We should have an absolute release from captivity.