52:1.
“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful
garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more
come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”
This continues the
account of Israel’s supremacy and honor in the Millennium, her power
being declared in the words “put on thy strength,” and her honor and
glory being portrayed in “thy beautiful garments.” The absence of “the
uncircumcised and the unclean” point to her coming moral purity as a
converted nation.
This is also an
oblique reminder to believers that we too are beautifully attired as
declared in Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness ....” for
that same description fits also every believer; and 2 Corinthians
6:17-18 warns of the need to preserve that purity by keeping ourselves
separate from the things of this evil world, “Wherefore come out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
The “uncircumcised and
the unclean” represent the unconverted.
52:2.
“Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose
thyself from thy bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”
The command to
Jerusalem to shake off the dust is related to the custom of putting dust
on one’s head as a sign of mourning.
“... arise, and sit
down” is also translated “arise, sit on thy throne,” assuring us again
that Israel’s destiny is to rule the Millennial nations; and reminding
believers of this present dispensation that we are destined to reign
eternally with Christ, as it is written, “If we suffer, we shall also
reign with him ...” 2 Timothy 2:12.
52:3.
“For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye
shall be redeemed without money.”
The NT counterpart of
this is Romans 7:14, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am
carnal, sold under sin,” Conybeare’s translation of this verse being,
“But for me, I am carnal, a slave sold into the captivity of sin,” and
relative to our being “redeemed without money,” we are assured that we
have “not been redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ...
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot ....” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
52:4.
“For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt
to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.”
Taylor’s
translation of this verse reads, “My people were tyrannized without
cause by Egypt and Assyria, and I delivered them ....”
God’s deliverance of
His people from Egypt on the night of the Passover needs no comment, nor
does His further deliverance of them out of the hand of the Assyrians as
recorded in 2 Kings 19:35, “And it came to pass that night, that the
angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an
hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” See 2 Peter 2:9, “The
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations (adversity)
....”
52:5.
“Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is
taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to howl, saith
the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.”
The KJ version “make
them to howl” is ambiguous, other translations making it clear that it
is Israel’s captors who howl with laughter.
“... blasphemed” in
the present context means despised, reviled.
52:6.
“Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.”
The fulfillment of the
events foretold here will be the incontrovertible proof that it is God
Who speaks. Only He can foretell the future, the exact fulfillment of
the larger part of Biblical prophecy leaving no doubt as to the
realization of the small part yet remaining. As has been noted already,
the handbook of no other religion has dared to prophecy.
52:7.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that
publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”
This verse needs no
comment, except perhaps to note what is written in Romans 10:15, “How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and
bring glad tidings of good things!”
52:8.
“Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall
they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring
again Zion.”
This anticipates the
long expected return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish the
Millennial kingdom, but the expectation of believers of this present age
of grace is more immediate: we look for His coming to rapture us to
heaven as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a
moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed,” and 1 Cor 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as
also I am known,” and again,“ Hebrews 9:27-28, “And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.”
52:9.
“Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for
the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem has been
laid waste in the past, but the fulfillment of this particular prophecy
is now near. The imminent rapture of the Church will be followed by the
seven-year Tribulation era, during the latter half of which Jerusalem
and much of the world will be devastated by war, famine, disease, and
death; but the Lord’s return will end that terrible time, and bring the
inauguration of His long-awaited Millennial kingdom.
52:10.
“The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
Fulfillment of this
will follow the Great Tribulation when Christ will cast the Beast and
the false prophet into the lake of fire, see Revelation 19:20, “And the
beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that had wrought
miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the
mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were
cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” At that same
time Satan will be imprisoned for a thousand years in the bottomless
pit, see Revelation 20:1-3, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And
he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive
the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and
after that he must be loosed a little season. Following that “little
season” Satan will be cast into the lake of fire for ever, see
Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are,
and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
52:11.
“Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go
ye out of the mist of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the
Lord.”
This Divine injunction
is age-abiding, applying to us as much as to those addressed by the
prophet, see 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what
concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God; as God had said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my
people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and
will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.”
This prohibition
embraces every area of life: marital, social, and business. The
believer is not to link himself in any way with an unbeliever.
Those who bore the
vessels of the Lord were the priests, and we should remember that faith
in Christ has made us a “a royal priesthood,” as it is written, “But ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light,” 1 Peter 2:9.
52:12.
“For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will
go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.”
The NEB translates
this, “But you shall not come out in urgent haste / nor leave like
fugitives.” This describes not just the passage of redeemed Israel from
the Tribulation into the Millennium, but the transition of all
believers. It will be a joyous occasion for all of them.
52:13.
“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and
extolled, and be very high.”
The description is of
Christ ruling in glory, as King of kings and Lord of Lords over the
millennial earth, 1 Timothy 6:15-16, “... who is the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen,
nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”
Having plumbed the depths
of ignominy at Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to the acme of
glory at His Father’s right hand in heaven, Acts 5:31, “Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to
Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
52:14. “As
many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and
his form more than the sons of men:”
The Jerusalem Bible
renders this, “As the crowds were appalled on seeing him - so disfigured did
he look - that he seemed no longer human.” The brutality which the Lord
suffered on that awful night preceding His crucifixion is an appalling
demonstration of the animosity of the natural heart against God, an enmity
which man seeks to cloak under the guise of a Christless religion. Consider
for example what Christians suffered at the hand of religious Rome during
the years of the iniquitous Inquisition.
52:15. “So
shall he sprinkle [purify] many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths
at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which
they had not heard shall they consider.”
“... kings shall shut
their mouths at Him” is also rendered “stand speechless before Him ... in
silent awe,” a variant translation of the latter part of the verse being,
“... having never been told what they now see and never understood what they
now hear,” The New Berkley Version in Modern English
