Isaiah 52:1-12--The LORD's Coming Salvation

Isaiah 52:1-12
English Standard Version

The LORD's Coming Salvation
52 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.

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. 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.”

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.
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.

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.

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Do you sense the theme of salvation here in this part of the book of Isaiah as we approach the texts about the Suffering Servant?  Israel was ready for a Conquering King and the kind of salvation that they though He would bring from their physical enemies, but they were not ready for the Suffering Servant that saved them from their sins (and not just them, but all the people of the world past, present and future who would put their faith and trust in His substitutionary atonement).  We are talking today though about the return of the people from Exile and how the LORD will once again redeem His people without money.  The first time, He redeemed them from Egypt using the plagues.  Now, He is redeeming them from the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Medo-Persian empires.

Then Isaiah breaks out in song about "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news."  We call such a person an evangelist (on who bring "good news").  Is Isaiah talking about the one who brings the news that the people are returning from Exile?  Possibly.  In the broader context of the portion of Isaiah though and in light of some things said in the New Testament, I think this also points to all those who take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations for they are truly taking "good news" of salvation to the people.  Evangelists proclaim peace with God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  We proclaim the eternal reign of God from the throne room of heaven (one day that throne will be given to Jesus and He will reign not only in heaven but on earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem, also called Zion here--the name of the Jebusite mountain fortress that Jerusalem is built upon--Mount Zion).

We watch for the Lord's return and are ready to sing His praises and want others to become His kingdom citizens to join in His praises both now and forevermore.  We see Him making the "dry" and "dessert" places flowing with streams of Living Water and bringing life where there was no life.  We see Him taking the doubly dead bones of Ezekiel's vision and giving them both flesh and Spirit to make them alive again.  Our God is able to make something out of nothing and able to take that which is dead and make it alive.  No one else is like Him.  No one else is able to redeem such a people unto Himself to the praise of His glory--He alone is mighty to save!

Therefore, we should live pure and holy lives for Him, not because it in some way makes us saved or keeps us saved, but because He is living in and through us, we should desire to be holy because He is holy and to be righteous because He is the Righteous One.  We should tell the good news not only with our words, but with our actions.  We should show the transformation that the gospel has in our lives by living by the power of the Holy Spirit within us so that everyone sees that He is in control of us, and we are not like the unregenerate people of this world.  We do not take any credit for this ourselves, because they also see that we were once lost and unregenerate, but something has changed us from the inside out.  The LORD will be both our vanguard going out in front of us and our rear guard protecting us from the rear.  He will be leading us and walking beside us because He is all around us and even living within us.  He will never leave us for forsake us.  Everywhere He leads, we follow.  It is not a race--He will fulfill His promises to us in His perfect timing and we need to be content with His leading and timing as we wait and rest on the LORD.  That does not mean that we have nothing to do in that time though as we should be obeying the last command we were given until we receive new commands.  We are to be evangelists to take the good news of Jesus Christ to every tribe, tongue and nation starting with the people in our house and our neighborhood and our community and our city and our county and our state and our region and our country and our continent and eventually continuing to look outward.  We will never share the gospel with those unlike us if we won't share the gospel with those most like us.  Start with your family and friends and neighbors--yes, you have the most at risk sharing the gospel with people who you have to see every day who may reject you, but Jesus laid it all on the line for you.  Remember they are not rejecting you but rejecting Him and He told us that many would do so.  Your responsibility is to speak the Word of God to all people in all places so that all men will be "without excuse" on the day of judgment.