Isaiah 52
McGeeCHAPTER 52THEME: Invitation to the redeemed remnant of Israel; institution of the Kingdom to Israel; introduction of the suffering ServantAs we have been moving through Isaiah, we have seen in the shadows or in the background the Servant of Jehovah. Now as we approach chapter 53 we will see very clearly that the Servant of Jehovah is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. In the preceding chapter, the “alarm clock” chapter, the alarm was going off"Awake, awake!" Now again in the chapter before us we have the alarm sounding.
Isaiah 52:1
INVITATION TO THE REDEEMED REMNANT OF ISRAELWhen God says, “O Zion,” He doesn’t mean Los Angeles, or Pocatello, Idaho, or Muleshoe, Texas. He means Zion, which is a geographical place in the land of Israel. It is actually the hight point in the city of Jerusalem. It was David’s favorite spot. Blessing is going to come upon Jerusalem, and it will no longer be an unattractive place. I was not impressed when I saw Jerusalem for the first time.
I came up from Jericho and made that turn around the Mount of Olives by Bethany; then I was within sight of the temple area, the wall, and the east gatethat was a thrill. It was late in the afternoon and a shadow was over the city. I could hardly wait until the next morning to enter the city and visit around. Well, the next day was a great disappointment to me. That city is not beautiful in my opinion. Yet the Word of God says it is beautiful for situation; so that’s God’s viewpoint.
I will agree with Him that the situation of it is beautiful, but not the city. However, He makes it clear here that it will be beautiful some daybecause of our Lord’s work of redemption. You see, Christ will redeem this physical universe, which now is groaning and travailing together in pain. All the world will become a beautiful spot because of redemption in Christ. He will redeem our bodies; we will get new bodies, and when this takes place, all creation will be redeemed. Redemption is not only of the person but of the property.
This is the type of redemption that God permitted in the Mosaic Law, which serves as an illustration of it.
Isaiah 52:2
Today the Arab is there. All the sacred spots are covered with churchesRussian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and the Church of All Nationsthey are all over the place! Jerusalem needs to be released from religion. It needs to be turned loose from the sin and the low degree of civilization that is there right now. Release is coming some day, and it will come during the Millennium. For twenty-five hundred years that city has been captive and trodden down of the Gentiles, but the day is coming when the shackles of slavery will be removed.
Isaiah 52:3
Since God received nothing from those who took His holy city captive, He will give nothing in return. He will take it from them and restore it again.
Isaiah 52:4
Jacob went down to Egypt by invitation, but his children were made slaves. The Assyrians, and others likewise, have oppressed them. That will end when the Millennium begins.
Isaiah 52:5
God received no gain from the years of His people’s rejection. Therefore He says:
Isaiah 52:6
This is a lovely thought! When the Lord was here over nineteen hundred years ago, they did not know Him. If they had only known the day of His visitation! Well, they will know Him when He comes again, and He will say, “Behold, it is I.” This expression is rendered freely by Lowth: “Here I am.” The world has rejected Christ; it doesn’t know Him. One day He will say to the Christ-rejecting world, “Here I am,” and it will be too late then for the multitudes who have rejected Him to turn to Him.
Isaiah 52:9
INSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM TO ISRAELOne of the things you will note about the present-day Jerusalem is the lack of a joyful song. It is even true of the churches there. I listened for it but never heard a joyful song. Around the Mosque of Omar (which stands on the temple site) everything is in a minor key. If you go to the wailing wall, wailing is what you will hear, and the Jews are knocking their heads against it. But in the Millennium everybody is going to have funthey will “Break forth into joy” and they will “sing together.” It will be a joyous time! Even today I don’t think God likes to see us saints walking around with long faces, complaining and criticizing. He wants us to have joy. The apostle John wrote, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1Jn_1:4, italics mine)not just a little fun, but fun all the time! The Millennium is the time when God answers the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples: “Thy kingdom come …” (Mat_6:10). The tears and the sorrow will be gone; no longer will there be weeping on the earth. Instead there will be joy, and they will know that the millennial Kingdom has come.
Isaiah 52:13
INTRODUCTION OF THE SUFFERING SERVANTMy friend, somebody will have to travail if you are going to rejoice at a birth, a new birth and a new world. Therefore we have here the suffering of the Servant. Several of the administrations in Washington over the past few years have used the word prudent to excess. They speak of being prudent in their conduct. There is some question about whether they were prudent or not. If you think the Democrats have been prudent, ask the Republicans. If you think the Republicans have been prudent, ask the Democrats. You will find out that nobody has been prudent. Man today has not dealt prudently; but, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, He will deal prudently. That is the picture we have here. “He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” Paul writing to the Philippian believers says, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php_2:9-11). Now we see the suffering Servant
Isaiah 52:14
This is a picture of the crucifixion of Christ, and this statement prepares the way for chapter 53. I want to be careful, because it is not always a sign of orthodoxy to dwell upon the sufferings of Christ upon the Cross; sometimes it is only being crude. During that time of darkness when men could no longer do anything, the Son of God was working on the Cross. It was during those three hours in blackness that the Cross became an altar and the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, paid for the sins of the world. After the three hours of darkness, the crowd must have been startled when the light broke upon the Cross. He did not even look humanjust a bloody piece of quivering human flesh. It was unspeakable. We will see in the next chapter that there was “no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa_53:2). That is the reason God put the mantle of darkness down on the Cross. There was nothing there to satisfy the morbid curiosity of man. “His visage was so marred more than any man.” When I was a pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, there was a wonderful elder on the church board who was a captain in the fire department. He always talked about the importance of having a first aid kit, and he taught classes in first aid. He asked me a dozen times if I had a first aid kit in my car, and because of his urging I finally got one. Early one morning there was a fire alarm and the firemen responded to the call. On the way to the fire, the hook and ladder truck on which he was riding was hit by a milk truck and flipped over. The men riding on it were dragged along the asphalt.
I received a call about five o’clock in the morning and was told that he was in the hospital. He was still alive when I arrived, and his father was sitting beside his bed. When I looked at him I saw that his face was so marred that I didn’t even recognize him. All I could see was a mouth and I could tell that he was breathingthat was all. He didn’t last very long. In an hour’s time he was gone. Many times since then I have thought of the fact that the Lord Jesus was marred more than any man, which means He had to be marred more than the captain of the fire company. He was just a piece of quivering human flesh. That is what my Lord went through on the Cross! I don’t feel that we should move into the realm of being crude in describing Him, because the next verse says:
Isaiah 52:15
“So shall he sprinkle many nations” could be translated, “So shall He make with astonishment many nations.” This carries the thought that His death will startle people when they properly understand it. The death of Christ should never become commonplace to anyone. His death was different. We have not explained it properly unless it startles people. This prepares us for the profound mystery of the next marvelous chapter.