Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 121st episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapter 52. If you’re watching this on Facebook or YouTube you’ll notice immediately that I’m using HD video as a background wallpaper to this podcast. This is experimental, I’m interested to see if it comes out as good as recording myself on video. I like the idea of using HD video wallpapers because it gives you something to watch if you consume the podcast on YouTube – but it doesn’t add anything to the content which cannot be found on audio.
One thing you’ll notice about Isaiah chapter 52 is that the final three verses seem to belong with chapter 53. As you might know, the original copies of the inspired Scriptures were not broken into chapter and verse. Chapters and verses were added by man. Consequently we sometimes encounter passages that read better when studied without regard to chapter. So if you want you can read chapter 52’s last three verses with chapter 53 – but for simplicity sake I’m going to work through chapter-by-chapter. I considered combining chapters 52 and 53 but I decided to keep them separate because of the significance of chapter 53. I think I should make chapter 53 the focus of an entire episode. Chapter 52 continues our focus on God’s deliverance of Israel out of the Babylonian exile. This salvation was the foreshadowing of an even greater salvation at the hands of Christ. The last three verses of this chapter speak of the person of Jesus. They tell of His humiliation and His exaltation.
This chapter was an attempt to encourage Israel that God would deliver them according to the timing of His own plan. We see both the clergy and the people respond to this deliverance with great joy and praise. Also there was instruction given to Israel that once their freedom was secured, they should snap out of survival mode and focus on flourishing under God. So maybe you’re in a situation where you are waiting for God to rescue you or maybe He already has rescued you. The message here is clear: use it. If you have established your salvation through your faith in Jesus Christ – then allow the Spirit to transform you into a new creation that honors God. Take advantage of the fact that He has given you new life and a fresh start. Go forward into the world as a living testament to God’s grace and the power of His forgiveness. Don’t waste such a precious opportunity to be the light you once needed and shine into the lives of others who currently need it. Let’s open with verses 1-6:
Isa 52:1 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.
Isa 52:2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Isa 52:3 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”
Isa 52:4 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.
Isa 52:5 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.
Isa 52:6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
This passage opens with a call on God’s people to wake up. The Israelites were concerned that God was asleep or ignorant to their plight. Here He turned the challenge back onto them by calling them to rouse themselves and put on their strength. The fundamental issue was a loss of faith which led to a loss of hope. Many of the Israelites simply felt crushed under their burden of exile. God wanted them to lift up their spirits and once again speak to each other of a hopeful outcome. He wanted them to rebuild their trust in each other and in Himself. They had to look above their fog of doubtful fear if they hoped to catch a glimpse of the Almighty. If they would simply look into the promises of God and then look at His actual providence for them then maybe they could snap out of it.
This sort of thing happens when a society becomes deeply cynical. The best example we see today regards politicians. Almost everyone in the West has been trained to believe that politicians are untrustworthy. There are good reasons to believe this, but if you allow this cynicism to infect every part of you then pretty soon you’ll no longer expect integrity for your leaders. It won’t bother you anymore when a politician becomes corrupt because corrupt politicians are to be expected. If everyone expects corrupt politicians then corrupt politicians is what everyone will get. Imagine this cynicism working its way all the way down to the level of the neighborhood. Neighbors stop trusting neighbors because it’s just assumed that you can’t trust anyone. You might think this radical individualism is a safer way to live because it protects you from being betrayed. The problem is it also prevents you from loving or allowing yourself to be loved. You cannot love without allowing yourself to be vulnerable to betrayal. Our entire economy fails to function properly if we lose trust in each other. The financial system is predicated on credit which is essentially trustworthiness. Cold-hearted cynicism is not the answer to a fallen world – it only makes everything worse. The real answer to a fallen world is you being willing to pick up your cross for the sake of love.
God wants us to be aware of our fallen nature but not subservient to it. It’s something like understanding the depths of human depravity while maintaining the faith that our power to do good exceeds our power to do evil. If we lose this faith we end up becoming complacent. We get stuck with the sense that we shouldn’t even try because we can’t do anything about it anyway. This is the attitude God was trying to knock out of the Israelites. He wanted them to know that they had been reshaped by their captivity. Idolatry had a tendency to creep into Jerusalem by way of marriage. The sons and daughters of Israel would give themselves to pagan people who worshiped idols. Their captivity had purified them of this idolatry and they would be vigilant against this type of thing during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. By the grace of God we, too, are cleansed by the blood of Christ and if we remain vigilant we can prevent ideology from creeping in.
It was a huge relief for Israel to be rescued from captivity. Here it’s described as the bonds being loosened from their necks. Their oppression was lifted and they were promised protection from future invasion so long as they remained loyal to God. Of course, they would not maintain this fidelity and the temple would be destroyed again by the Romans in 70 A.D. But that was still far into the future – for now they would have peace. Coming out of 70 years of exile into peace time was cause for celebration. The Israelites had gotten so used to mourning and being bedraggled that God had to spur them on to get their act together and start hoping again. Really this was a call for Israel to return to holiness. And that’s the thrust of this chapter. There’s a lot of potential to unlock inside yourself. When you come to Christ and God forgives you for your sins, it is obtuse for you to fail in forgiving yourself. If you’re stuck with all the guilt of yesterday then how do you expect to get your act together for today? It’s possible that you have traumatic memories you need to work through with a therapist – and that’s business you need to consider with deadly seriousness. If you have memories that you have not mastered, the pain associated with those memories will stay with you for the rest of your life until you sort out the memory. So don’t be afraid to get help and take that help as serious as if your life depends on it.
But if it’s not a traumatic memory and you’re just insisting on holding a grudge against yourself then you need to ask whether or not you truly love God. If you love and trust God and He’s forgiven you your sins, you must know that it’s okay to let go. He doesn’t want you to wallow in your troubles of the past. He wants you to get your act together and put on your strength. The Israelites, once driven into the dirt by their captors, were brought out of captivity and called to be holy and beautiful once more. The gospel liberates you from the doubts, fears, and burdens of a sinful life. But it’s your job to seize that liberty for all it’s worth. When you are born again in Christ Jesus it is your job to stand up and dust yourself off. It’s your job to resist the faithless life of cynicism and return to principles of generosity and an open heart. Whoever the Son sets free is free indeed.
Next we get some insight into God’s mindset about rescuing the Israelites from Babylon. God’s reasons for being merciful toward His people are found in reference to Himself. For instance, Babylon refused to acknowledge God when He gave them power over His people. Assyria had the same problem when God empowered Sennacherib to be His instrument of judgment against Israel. When God gave His people over to their enemies He gained nothing by it. It’s not as if the Israelites were handed over in some kind of deal with Babylon or Assyria. Israel sold themselves out for no price at all. Not only did Babylon fail to thank God for granting them this power, but they actually blasphemed God and were unnecessarily cruel to His people. Since God had given Israel to Babylon without price, He would now take them back away from Babylon without price. The Babylonians were cruel pagans so they were always unlikely to thank God anyway – but the same is not true for you. If God has granted you a new beginning or some new strength, be sure to honor Him in how you use it and to thank Him for His providence. It’s always important to remember that God owes nothing to any of us. What He gives to us He gives out of His unending love and His infinite grace.
God’s compassion really shone through when He expressed pity for His people and their history of being oppressed by their enemies. Israel first went to Egypt with peaceful purposes but Egypt enslaved them. Despite the power of Pharaoh, God delivered His people from Egyptian bondage during the Exodus. Later the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and besieged the southern kingdom of Judah. The Angel of the Lord turned away the Assyrian army and their king Sennacherib with a devastating defeat outside the walls of Jerusalem. Now it was Babylon who enslaved Israel under the burden of their exile. God was always righteous to deliver His defiant people into the hands of their enemies. But their enemies committed grievous sins against God by going way too far in their abuse of Israel. Even if Israel was temporarily handed over to their enemies, God still laid claim to them as His own people. So for Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon to treat Israel as their own possession was to stand in direct challenge of God Himself. This is something to keep in mind if you are at the mercy of unrighteous people. You still belong to God. In life there are human beings who can take almost everything away from you. But they can never take away your spirit and they can never take away your relationship with God.
The nations God empowered to judge Israel were ungrateful for it. They blasphemed God and claimed exclusive ownership over Israel to abuse them in any way they saw fit. In addition to these problems was the fact that God was no longer being worshiped while Israel wallowed in captivity. His altar was gone and His temple lay in ruins. It brought God no honor for His people to suffer in exile. They were so beaten down and immiserated that instead of praising God they cried out in despair. These wails of agony grieved God and stirred His compassion for them. And it wasn’t even as if they were crying out in repentance. They weren’t thinking rationally and they focused more on their own pain than they did on God. But God listened to them anyway and delivered them just as He did the times before.
Since Babylon was able to impose such difficulty on God’s people, they inferred that God Himself was no match for their power. They stood in defiance of God, blaspheming His name daily and praising their own idols. God’s intention is for His people to be cause for praise to His name. But when His people were in captivity neither they nor their captors praised Him. Is your life a cause for praising God? Do you try to live in such a way that brings honor to God? I understand that we all sin and none of us are accurate representations of the perfection of God. But imagine being one of the Babylonians who crushed the Israelites. You would have made choices that caused the life of someone else to be miserable. Your choices would have been the cause for someone else to lose hope in God. Don’t be that person. My favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote says, To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Your life can be the cause of someone else praising God and that is what it means to be a good and faithful servant of Him.
By His divine deliverance, God would restore His name among His people and inspire fear in their captors. Once again the name of God would bring comfort to Israel and act as their strong fortress. His own people and those around them would know that God governs all things. By the power of His word God spoke creation into existence and by the power of His word He would deliver Israel. In the end all of us will know that God, by the power of His word, accomplished exactly what He set out to do. Undoubtedly many people disregarded Isaiah as a nonsensical person during his lifetime. But in time everyone will see that the prophets didn’t speak their own words. God spoke through them and not one word of what God speaks will pass away or fall to the ground. Let’s read verses 7-12:
Isa 52:7 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.”
Isa 52:8 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.
Isa 52:9 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.
Isa 52:10 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.
Isa 52:11 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.
Isa 52:12 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.
God’s deliverance of Israel from Babylon was an expression of both His mercy and His duty. This is analogous to Christ fulfilling His duty of going to the cross out of God’s mercy for sinners. To bring good news and to publish peace is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Israel’s redemption out of Babylon was foreshadowing the even better news of humanity being redeemed by the blood of Christ. Israel’s deliverance was a great blessing. Our own deliverance is a great blessing as well and should be welcomed with joy and gratitude. It’s hard to say how many times a person will hear the gospel before they really listen to it. If you have yet to know Christ and you hear the gospel, the only sensible reaction is to accept the good news as beautiful and welcoming. Some of the Israelites took early notice of God’s deliverance by the hand of Cyrus. They became messengers to all parts of the diaspora and even to what remained of Jerusalem itself. The message was that their kinsman would be home shortly and that message could only mean the God of Israel reigns supreme. Word began to spread that peace and salvation were on the horizon because Cyrus had given the command to release the Jews.
No matter what your condition it is good news that your God reigns. If things aren’t going well for you it brings you hope that your God reigns. If things are great it brings you gratitude to know that your God reigns. Everything that occurs is bent toward the ultimate advancement of God’s grace and His kingdom. Even when wicked people work to do evil God uses their efforts to bring about good. Bringing light out of the darkness is one of God’s specialties. He did it in me and He did it in you. The preaching of the gospel is the proclamation of peace and salvation. It is the good news that Christ has conquered our spiritual enemies and has released us from spiritual bondage. Christ Himself was the first one who delivered this good news. For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear Christ and His gospel are beautiful to behold. The ministers of God make the same proclamation to this day. The ministers of God make every effort to be set apart for God’s good use and to train others to be set apart for this purpose. If your pastor is faithful to the gospel then don’t take him for granted – appreciate him on behalf of the beauty of the message he brings.
Jerusalem had watchmen stationed on its walls. These watchmen may have represented anyone who earnestly prayed for God to bring Israel home. They were vigilant in their search for an answer to their prayers. So when the good news came to them they were awash in euphoric joy. Together they lifted their voices and invited others to join them in their praise. The best part about it was that they had been immersed in a fog of doubt and fear. It’s likely that their view of God was beginning to slip. But with tidings of deliverance the storm cleared and finally they could see God again as if face-to-face. This prophecy of being able to see Zion’s King eye-to-eye was truly fulfilled when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ. Once the Israelites saw their deliverance they finally understood that the God who predicted it and the God who did it were always one and the same. History was like a steadily increasing revelation of God that culminated in the form of Him walking among us as He once walked with Adam in the Garden. The Spirit of God has been poured out onto all who find relationship with Him in order to lead them into truth. Your view of God will finally be complete when you pass away and see Him face-to-face.
Jerusalem was in ruins but this unexpected good news caused them to rejoice anyway. The desolate places sang out in praise for the God who redeemed them. The redemption of Jerusalem brought comfort to God’s people who were in sorrow. This is a picture of you before and after coming to Christ. Before hearing the gospel you were bereft of the divine and ultimately made desolate. After coming to Christ you’ve been comforted and now you look forward to the works of God. You rejoice in thanksgiving for His salvation and it’s all for God’s glory alone. God displayed His power in redeeming Israel from Babylon. His power is a defense of purity, justice, and the advancement of His promise. This same power of God is put on display when a human heart is redeemed. A life well lived brings glory to God. But a life that was redeemed from the path of misery and evil shows God’s glory in stark contrast. The entire world benefits from such a thing. It was a blessing for the surrounding nations to observe God’s deliverance of Israel. Today it’s a blessing for everyone on earth to not only observe the gospel of Jesus Christ – but to be beneficiaries of this great salvation. People all across the world, even in the most remote locations, will partake in the Christ’s redemption of humanity. All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
God’s deliverance of Israel was considered a glorious business that should be presided over with attention and readiness. Once their liberty was proclaimed, God called Israel to depart from Babylon without hesitation. It’s true that they were not to leave with the kind of haste you would have if someone was pursuing you – but still they must not linger. You have to keep in mind that they had been in exile for 70 years. It’s likely that they had taken up residence and settled in at Babylon. But Babylon was no place for Israelites. God’s call was like a spark that stirred up the spirits of those destined to escape the exile. The same holds true for you with your bondage to sin and the liberty Christ proclaims for you. The best time for you to accept the gospel is right now. You should not hesitate to repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ. There is no better time for you to embark on the lifelong journey God has planned for you than this very moment.
When Israel came out of Egypt during the Exodus they brought with them the idolatrous customs of Egypt. This time God commanded them to take nothing out of Babylon. They were called to leave the unclean practices and pollution behind them. When you come to Christ the Bible says you are made into a new creation. It is the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s work of transforming you into the likeness of Jesus. Therefore it is your job to leave behind the wickedness of your past. I’m not going to be naive here. I understand that some sins are harder to let go of than others. But as you progressively grow into the image of Christ you will increasingly hate sin and love God. Christians, as imperfect as we are, are effectively ambassadors for Christ. This is a job we should take with all seriousness in our efforts to maintain character and integrity.
It sounds like a tall order, and it is, but you’re not alone in it. God is with you. It sounded like a difficult task when the Israelites were called to depart from Babylon – but God was with them as well. They were commanded to leave with readiness, but not in a rush as if they were being pursued. Cyrus would dismiss them honorably so that they would not have to steal away in the night. God’s favor encompassed Israel on their journey home from Babylon. He was both their point man and their rear guard. He protected them on all sides from all enemies. The pillar of fire that guided Israel back in the Exodus was a visible symbol of God’s presence among them. Sometimes that pillar would go behind them to secure their rear. The Israelites who walked out of Babylon took up their duty to answer God’s call and therefore were under God’s special protection.
Before you become a Christian you might hesitate to do it because you don’t believe you’re equal to the task. The truth is that you’re not equal to the task. You can’t do it without God’s help. When you become a Christian the Spirit of God indwells you and works to reshape your heart through sanctification. The only thing you have to do is surrender to it. There will be some parts that immediately fall out of your life. Sinful things you never noticed. You’ll probably wonder why you kept hold of them for so long. But then there will be other things that stay with you and are harder to put away. These are the things you will tempted to say were never actually sins at all. We must resist the temptation of assuming God’s role as judge over what is and isn’t sinful. If we lose sight of His judgment than there’s nothing left for us but chaotic moral relativism. So what do you do? You maintain that a sin is a sin. You seek God and pray for His sanctification on your heart. Remember all those little sins that were easy for you to overcome? The truth is you didn’t, nor could you, overcome even those on your own. Without God, the human heart is desperately wicked and capable of unsearchable evil. The good you are capable of and the sin you have put out of your life is evidence of the Spirit working in you. Relax and have faith that God is with you and in His time He will give you what you need to be more like Christ. It is this same relaxed faith that prevented the Israelites from being hasty on their journey home. Let’s read verses 13-15:
Isa 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
Isa 52:14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
Isa 52:15 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.
This passage marks the beginning of the most famous of the four servant songs in the book of Isaiah. Here Isaiah puts forward encouragement that dwarfs even that which he gave regarding Israel’s deliverance from Babylon. God delivers us in many ways. The Israelites needed deliverance from their oppressors. We often need deliverance from our own earthly troubles. But all of us, ancient Israelites included, need most of all the great transcendent deliverance from sin in the form of Christ’s salvation. The passage which begins here and is finished in chapter 53 is perhaps the plainest Old Testament description of Christ and His gospel – written more than 700 years before Christ walked the earth. The ancient Jews understood the passage to be messianic. Modern Jews, in an effort to deny Christ as God, must learn a mangled interpretation to get away from it. Critics of Christianity, in an effort to avoid accepting Isaiah’s miraculous prediction of the future, must desperately search for a way that this passage was written by a second Isaiah who lived after Christ. It’s amazing what lengths people will go to deny God. But we know as Philip the evangelist preached to the eunuch in the book of Acts, this passage speaks of Jesus Christ and no other.
We see the Father speak of Christ as His own who is commissioned and qualified for the redemptive work. In every movement Christ does His Father’s will, seeks His Father’s honor, and serves the interest of His Father’s Kingdom. Christ is an exact revelation of the Father because the Father and Christ are one with each other and the Spirit. Christ is the embodiment of wisdom itself and so during His time on earth He dealt prudently to the admiration of all. Even when His enemies thought they had Him and His friends abandoned Him, in His infinite wisdom He pressed on to ratify our salvation.
Isaiah goes on to describe the level at which Christ humbled Himself for us. Many were astonished at the baseness of His treatment by humanity. It was a shock to the system to see how irreverent, inhuman, and cruel His torture was. The face of God was marred and smitten by the hands of humanity. His head was crowned with thorns and He didn’t hide His face from spitting. Even though Christ is perfection, on earth He was a man of sorrows looking upon the fallen nature of His children. For God to come to earth as a human being was to humble Himself immeasurably. Then to be treated so barbarously just boggles the mind. When the children of humanity looked upon Christ they scoffed at His misery and considered Him lower than a worm.
But from the depths of this humility the Father lifted Christ and exalted Him. God exalted Him, humanity extolled Him, and together He was once again observed to be the Most High. Christ lowered Himself beneath contempt for our sake and He was lifted up higher than heaven itself. The work and sacrifice of Christ prospered and led to the betterment of the entire world. His blood is sprinkled on the conscience of many and purifies them. In the death of Jesus a fountain was opened to cleanse the sins of all the world. This death and resurrection in Christ is symbolized by water baptism. The spiritual reality is that Christ on the cross and Christ resurrected set off a chain reaction that has shaped the course of history. The entirety of the civilized world rests on the ripple effect of the actions of this one person.
Once mocked as the most contemptible of human beings, Christ by His sacrifice is now worshiped by global leaders. Kings have finally understood and shut their mouths against Him. The confident blaspheming that was once so common has fallen silent in many places throughout the world. To this day there is power in the name of Jesus Christ. To this day there are many who receive the Word of God with reverence and humility. These things are true because He is the living God and He is present among us. The mystery of God and His redemption was made known in the life and person of Jesus. The gospel brought light to things unheard of and awakened the attention of kings and kingdoms.
So here is something to keep in mind as we close this episode. For many generations before Christ the work of God’s redemption was a mystery. The Israelites experienced several forms of deliverance that foreshadowed it – but the reality of the gospel could never be arrived at by simple human speculation. The reality of the gospel can only be observed through the special revelation of God Himself. No amount of philosophy or scientific endeavor can unveil the gospel truth to us. We can only get there by the Word of God and by faith in the Holy One who is Jesus Christ. Often you hear people say that if God is real why won’t He just show Himself to us? If you believe the Scriptures then you know that He already has in the person of Jesus. And what did we do? We abused and spat on Him. I understand that you’re different from the individuals who did this. The part of you that’s different is the part that has been sanctified by God’s Holy Spirit. But part of you is not different. Part of you was born with the aim of rebelling against and crucifying your Lord and Savior. It is this part of you that cannot survive in the presence of God. The gospel truth is that by God’s grace He has sacrificed Himself to forgive you and to cleanse you of your sins. If you establish a relationship with God through the perfect holiness of Christ, then you open your heart for God to work in dispelling that bad part of you. Every ideal is a judge because it exposes the ways in which you fall short of the ideal. Meeting God on our own merit is impossible. Every other religion or worldview mandates that you be good enough to earn the love of God. The gospel of Christ is the only worldview where God Himself transforms you into good enough because He already does and always has loved you. You can rest in peace tonight knowing that your God reigns sovereign and in His omniscience He has done everything necessary to bring you home to Him.
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