Isaiah 52
Notes
Transcript
God’s Coming Salvation
God’s Coming Salvation
Good evening.
Good to see you all joining us today. It’s Wednesday night of course, and time for us to come back to the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
Remember, Isaiah is the great prophet, God used him greatly as He ministered to the Kingdoms, Judah and Benjamin primarily but at times you see him speaking of the northern 10 tribes
Now as of late he has foretold the coming captivity of the Southern Kingdom, but as he foretold what God was doing, God also used the prophet to leave them with hope.
They (the nation) was going into captivity, punishment for sin was happening, no doubt about it. But it wasn’t the end, God would not forget his people,
And this is were we are today. The hope of coming Salvation. The Lord would save them physically and Spiritually...
So lets begin Isa 52:1-2
1 Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
be seated, O Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
The word begins with the call for the people to awaken, the people of Zion need to stir themselves, they need to get up, stand up and awaken from their slumber.
God has taken his cup of wrath from her, so she can arise and clothe or put on wonderful garments
To put on new garments, well that is a special time.. like the coronation of a king, or to be presented before a king to receive a gift..
For Jerusalem, they will once again be God’s city, a holy city for God himself is holy and look at the end of verse 1, no longer will the unclean or uncircumcised defile her..No one else will invade and take its people.
Truly a new day is upon the scene for those who have been in captivity.
And so in verse 2 the call is to shake off the dust, arise, sit up and loosen or open the chains around their neck. The people of Jerusalem once endured much, plundered by their enemies, imprisoned and no one to rescue them, until now.
Now there is hope.
3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
They went into capacity, but no one bought them, their was no change of ownership, no money changed hands. God is still over His people. As such there was no need to redeem them by silver, they were still God’s people and thus He will bring them back
The resided in Egypt in days past (famine in the land in the days of Joseph) and they returned to their own land. They were slaves there but that was not a permanent station. And even the Assyrians oppressed them, but God knew them and sent His angel to wipe out the Assyrians as they tried to harm God’s people.
All of these foreign powers wasted their time, they could not efeat God nor bride him to do apart from His own will.
Now verses 5-6 Isa 52:5-6
5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
God has power over every and all nations, no foreign king can stand in His way. Therefore, in the future when God acts, he will fully reveal who he is and his people will acknowledge Him, they will know his name and shall hear His voice and they will know who it iis He that speaks.
His plans will be revealed and his directions will be know again as God and his people dwell in harmony.
It is really wonderful here, this new generation will know who God is, remember they are there 70 years in captivity and so there will be some no may not or have experienced God’s hands like Daniel or the 3 Hebrew children.
But they will soon learn the hand of God.
Now verses 7-8 Isa 52:7-8
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
After calling Zion to action, after assuring his people that their oppression is coming to an end, and while Proclaiming I, Your God is here. He is redeeming them.
God now explains his plans to reign as King, among his redeemed people in this new day or joy and peace.
The messenger of Good News arrives on the scene and his welcomed, In surprise and beauty, it is a great time for the people are ready and waiting for the news he will bring.
But instead of a militarily victory, The message proclaims a new era is at hand, God will establish his era upon the world, a new kingdom is coming.
And look at this era… look at what God says here “...who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation.”
His messenger will inaugurate a time of peace, goodness and salvation during a period of His divine rule.
Peace is the absence of hostility and conflict, a period of unity and cooperation will take place
Goodness negative experiences of evil and hatred, sickenss and death will not e present any longer. Instead life and joy will exist.
And finally Salvation indicates that God will deliver his people from anything that might harm or oppress them and he will overpower it. This is possible before God himself will reign as King over his kingdom.
And listen, God’s reign as king is a fundamental part of the teachings of the Old and New Testaments.
And hear this, the voice of good news is joined in and proclaimed by others, and the people are to recognize the voices of the watchmen.
The watchmen are those who sat upon the walls and were the first to see those who approached the city. The scene here is not to warm of Danger but to call for the city to rejoice for Their king is returning.
Think of it from our perspective, we wait for the coming of the Lord. When th eastern sky breaks open, will not the trumplets blow, it says so in 1 Thess 4, with the voice of the trumpet the cry of the archangel…He will return.
Verses 9-10 Isa 52:9-10
9 Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
The call is for the people to break out and rejoice. they are to sing joyfully for God is about to act, he is about to comfort and redeem them.
The ruins of Jerusalem will shout, for they will be broken no more. So the scene has shifted from babylon to the holy City, they have those who might have been left their, they have cried and really complained for the state they are in…But here is a message of joy from God.
Physical and Spiritual comfort will come from the Lord. He will redeem them. His redemption will bring forgiveness from sin, a restoration of their relationship with God. God will be in their midst. They will be a holy redeemed people.
How will this transformation take place? Look at verse 10..
The same arm of God that is strong and holy, who accomplished judgments and victories will also accomplish these victories.
The best truth is that salvation will be made know, why God desires that all would be saved.
Verses 11-12 Isa 52:11-12
11 Depart, depart, go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
you who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
With the people of Zion, with their time of bondage coming to an end, she will no longer wear the prison garments but will put on strength and splendor.
They are to do out and purify themselves, they are to have no contact with anything defiled or dead, which would make them unclean.
If God is going to reside in her midst, they must walk and live in a holy manner.
The priests must separate themselves and also purify themselves in order to minister before the Lord in his Temple.
This future date will be different than the past, God will be reigning in their presence, there will be no sinful foreigners in their presence, and certainly non to defile God house, people or the things of God
They were to not go in haste, but to stay with the Lord, wait on Him. He would go before them and fight for them. God would guard them from the evil ones aroeund them and take care of them. They didnt have to worry, they could focus on living for the Lord.
Now lets look at verses 13 Isa 52:13
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
God’s servant is being spoke of here, He will act wisely. In doing so the servant will have success in His endeavor. And in success he shall be exalted, lifted up .
The servant will do what, he will redeem God’s people.
Jesus is exalted as he completes the work of God. His death, burial and resurrection is the means by which God is gloried and mankind is saved.
But not only will he save those who call upon the name of the Lord. But He will restore justice and much , righteousness and hope for the future days as the Davidic kingdom is established on this earth.
Verse 14 Isa 52:14
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
The Servant’s sufferings brought such a disfigurement that those who saw said not only, ‘Is this he?’ but ‘Is this human?
I would say Jesus was so beaten and abused, they hardly could recognize him...
But this is not how he looked at the resurrection.. He had been glorified, perfect he only bore the marks of his nails and spear in his side.
Verse 15 Isa 52:15
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Sprinkle is an interesting choice of words, it deals with cleansing and atonement.
When the children of Israel were at the Muntain of God after coming out of Egypt, they met God there and ratified the covenant,a nd they were sprinkled with blood.
Jesus came to redeem man, and so the nations will be saved, people out of every nation but just a kingdom and those who were once kings on that day, they are silent before the true King
And in that moment, His people will know and be understand it all...
The man of God, the God man has redeemed them and now they stand in His kingdom truly knowing and understanding
So will we on that day...
