CHAPTER 52

(712 B.C.)

THE LORD WILL DELIVER ZION FROM CAPTIVITY

¹Awake; awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the Holy City: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. (This Chapter speaks of Israels Restoration, as well as the First and Second Advents of the Messiah. The admonition to Zion is to awake. This concerns the coming in of the Messiah, and of her preparation for Him.

When Christ comes back, Jerusalem will no more be a contested city, even as it has been for so many centuries, but will be then what its name means, peace.)

²Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. (The essence of this Verse concerns itself with the long history of Israels rebellion against God, and their resultant captivities.

The phrase, Shake yourself from the dust, refers to Israel wandering among the nations for so long, even as an outcast. Now, at the Second Coming, she will arise from her position of debasement, and will sit down in a seat of authority, but all under Christ.)

³For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for nought; and you shall be redeemed without money. (The essence of this Scripture is: God received nothing when He allowed His People to become slaves of the Babylonians and others. He took no price for them and, therefore, is free to claim them back without payment. He has but to say the Word, and He is about to say it!)

⁴For thus says the Lord GOD, My People went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. (For many years, the title Assyrian was generally assumed to be an error in the Hebrew Text, but excavations about the turn of the Twentieth Century proved that the Pharaoh of the oppression was, by race, Assyrian. He was a type of Israels last great oppressor, who will also be an Assyrian [a Jewish Assyrian].)

⁵Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that My People is taken away for nought? they who rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and My Name continually every day is blasphemed. (Cruel taskmasters vexed the captive Israelites by insulting their God. When Gods People are brutally treated and insulted, in effect, God is brutally treated and insulted!)

⁶Therefore My People shall know My Name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am He Who does speak: behold, it is I. (This speaks of the Deliverance of the Children of Israel from Egypt, with a Strong and Mighty Hand, as well as their Deliverance from Babylon, by the overthrow of Belshazzar by Cyrus the Mede, whom God had raised up. As well, it refers to the coming day, when the Antichrist will seek to once and for all destroy Israel, but will instead be destroyed himself by Christ. It will be the day that the Lord speaks, and He says, Behold, it is I. The I is emphatic, proclaiming enough Power to destroy the future Assyrian many times over!)

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good tidings, Who publishes peace; Who brings good tidings of good, Who publishes Salvation; Who says unto Zion, Your God reigns! (The beautiful feet are those of the Messiah. This Verse is often misapplied to the proclamation of the Gospel by Preachers. As a secondary meaning, it certainly could refer to such; however, the overflowing application concerns itself only with the Messiah. Only His feet are beautiful. Only He brings good tidings. Only He publishes peace. Only He publishes Salvation.

When He comes, the entirety of the world will say, Your God reigns! [Ps. 97:1].)

⁸Your 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. (The evidence is: during the Battle of Armageddon, watchmen will be stationed at particular points in Jerusalem, looking up to the heavens in anticipation of His Coming. He will not disappoint them!

As they see Him coming, these watchmen will proclaim His Coming with gladness of heart and a cry of triumph.

It will not be an apparition, but rather a Coming visible to all, and even eye to eye with the watchmen.)

⁹Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted His People, He has redeemed Jerusalem. (The struggle has always been between Satans city, Babylon, and Gods city, Jerusalem. However, Babylon is now destroyed, and Jerusalem is redeemed from the hands of the enemy, never again to fall into such a state. It will take place at the Second Coming.)

¹⁰The LORD has 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. (This speaks of the Coming of the Lord, with the Antichrist being defeated, and defeated before the entirety of the world.)

¹¹Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, who bear the vessels of the LORD. (While the Bible does not teach isolation for the Believer, it definitely does teach separation, and we speak of separation from the world, symbolized by Babylon.)

¹²For you 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 rereward. (When Israel forsook Babylon at the end of their 70 years of captivity, they did not need to flee, go out with haste, for the way was prepared for them. Not only was the way prepared, but the Lord also was their rereward, referring to their rear guard. Obedience, either for Israel or the modern Believer, guarantees Gods total protection.)

THE SUFFERING OF THE LORDS SERVANT, THE MESSIAH

¹³Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. (My Servant is the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase, Shall deal prudently, means to be circumspect and intelligent. Extolled means to be lifted up, honored, magnified, and respected, with the words, very high, referring to Christ being exalted higher than any and all else [Eph. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 1:3; I Pet. 3:22].)

¹⁴As many were astonied at You; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men (this Prophecy predicts the sufferings of Christ in His First Advent, and the glories that shall follow in His Second [I Pet. 1:11].

In these Passages, Isaiah seems to sit at the foot of the Cross of Calvary; he views the Redeemer as He hung upon the accursed tree, after He had been buffeted, crowned with thorns, smitten, scourged, and crucified, when His Face was covered with bruises and gore, His Frame and Features distorted with agony):

¹⁵So shall He sprinkle 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. (The as of Verse 14 corresponds with the so of Verse 15. The statement is: That just as the Messiah astonished men by the humiliation of His First Advent, so will He astonish them by the Glory of His Second. For as in His First Coming, the basest of men mocked Him, so in His Second, the chiefest of men will stand in silent awe before Him.

And that which they had not heard shall they consider, refers to the facts of Christs Humiliation, Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension to Heaven events that had never entered into the hearts of men to conceive, and of which, therefore, no tongue had ever spoken.)