Isaiah 4:3-4

Isaiah 4:3-4

[3] And it shall come to pass, that he that is left  in Zion,  and he that remaineth  in Jerusalem,  shall be called  holy,  even every one that is written  among the living  in Jerusalem:  [4] When the Lord  shall have washed away  the filth  of the daughters  of Zion,  and shall have purged  the blood  of Jerusalem  from the midst  thereof by the spirit  of judgment,  and by the spirit  of burning. 

What does Isaiah 4:3-4 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The divine judgments that God will bring on the Israelites in the future (in the Tribulation) will have a purifying effect on many of them, specifically the elect (cf. Isaiah 1:25; Ezekiel 36:25-26; Ezekiel 39:23-26; Daniel 9:4-19; Malachi 3:2-5; Matthew 3:11; Acts 13:48). Those left alive to the end will be holy in conduct, as well as set apart by God for His purposes. Similarly, God purified the Israelites through their oppression in Egypt and then liberated them so they could be a holy nation ( Exodus 19:6)-in calling and in conduct. In both cases God Himself did it. This purification was only true to a very limited extent of those Israelites who returned from the Exile, as the post-exilic books of the Old Testament reveal.
The "daughters of Zion" throughout this oracle represent all the Israelites, not just the females in the nation (cf. Isaiah 3:16-17). The "spirit" in view ( Isaiah 4:4) is probably the abstract concept of "process" (cf. Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 28:6; Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 37:7). A less probable view is that the spirit is the Holy Spirit.