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Isaiah 52 Commentary

Your God Reigns

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KEY THOUGHT: Go out from the midst of her, be clean [Isaiah 52:11b NKJV]

Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!

Isaiah 52 NKJV
God Redeems Jerusalem

52 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!

3 For thus says the Lord:

“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed without money.”

4 For thus says the Lord God:

“My people went down at first
Into Egypt to [a]dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
[b]Make them wail,” says the Lord,
“And My name is blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”

7 How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord brings back Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has [c]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.

11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For 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 rear guard.

The Sin-Bearing Servant

13 Behold, My Servant shall [d]deal prudently;
He shall be exalted and [e]extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage[f] was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15 So shall He [g]sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.

Footnotes

a. Isaiah 52:4 As resident aliens
b. Isaiah 52:5 DSS Mock; LXX Marvel and wail; Tg. Boast themselves; Vg. Treat them unjustly
c. Isaiah 52:10 Revealed His power
d. Isaiah 52:13 prosper
e. Isaiah 52:13 Lit. be lifted up
f. Isaiah 52:14 appearance
g. Isaiah 52:15 Or startle

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Isaiah 52 Commentary

“For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you.” Revelation 21:27 repeats the same statement. It was never an event for Isaiah’s immediate future.

Shake yourself free, Jerusalem! Sit on your throne! Undo the chains that bind you. We know these poetic statements refer to some profound truths lying deep in the history of the nation – the history of mankind back in the Book of Genesis.

Adam (humanity) decided to believe a lie and dethroned himself. We lost dominion. We enslaved ourselves.

Then we have references to enslavement in Egypt. Assyria came second, and Babylon followed. Enslavement is a history-long problem!

It’s little wonder that the terms “comfort” and “redemption” appear repeatedly in this volume.

Look at it again. You will see that Jerusalem, or Zion, is a code name for an entity whose identity is only properly defined by the context.

It could be a redeemed, and consequently, a holy nation (group of cleansed individuals) under God’s rule and will. Or, it could refer to an entity (group of individuals) yet to be cleansed. The call to this group is, “Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean”

The call remains timeless. Therefore, each generation has its own Jerusalem, a group of individuals under the leadership and lordship of the Holy Spirit. So the text toggles between the past, the present, and the future.

But there is good news. The good news is not about political freedom. It is not even that Israel is finally leaving Babylon. The good news is that “Your God reigns”. Verse 7. It has everything to do with the announcement of the kingdom of God.

“My kingdom is not of this world,” said the LORD Jesus Christ when pressed by Pirate.

The last section deals with the nature of the Servant who brings about this kingdom. It is the story of the Servant-cum-King whose Kingdom is good news to the slaves.

First things first: the Servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. This is a future event for Isaiah’s time.

The tone changes from future to past, probably now written for the New Testament world that must look at both the manger-born Messiah and Calvary. They are all past events for us.

But we want to remind ourselves of God’s immortality. There are no urgent or emergency Board meetings. Everything is done at once!

Of the Servant, Isaiah says, “He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.” Concerning the same Servant, Paul says, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” By Paul’s time, the Servant was truly top!

But it is all in the past! “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” 1 Peter 1:20.

Of course, when He manifested, He didn’t look the type. His speeches were totally strange – new things the world heard.

The story of the Servant-cum-King has made interesting news everywhere. To those who know they are slaves, it is good news. They know salvation has come. They can be free to enjoy a restored relationship with the Creator God.

There is more about the Servant-cum-King but that is for tomorrow.

Loving Scripture….

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25 thoughts on “Home”

  1. It has been exciting learning how God can make things happen to his choosen one, God workout something wonderful and fulfils the promises he made to the father of Joseph.

    God’s words remains true so are his promises and indeed it has been God working out the salvation of man Kind by Grace through Faith alone.

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  11. Profound. My life needs a new introduction to God. Not that I have been right, but because God desires to help me… I see an amazing Grace here. Having broken the first commandment, still God looks for me and helps me to build up with him… And live for him. A littles knowledge of the Lord will ignite my passion and desire to serve him. This morning I pledge to seek, live and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His purposes everyday of my life.
    Beautiful lesson

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  12. The Lord reintroduces himself and shows Israel, He is all they need. Some boast in horses and others in chariots but we’ll boast in the Lord. He is able and the only one worthy of our trust. Lord teach me how to always look up to you at all times and not focus on my strength or capabilities. This is my prayer

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  14. This far too common today. Just do something that seems like true worship yet it’s intent and actual practice is not even close to the set standard by the Lord. I personally feel challenged of some things we do in our personal lives, the focus of many churches and ministries today. We’ll need to realize the Lord must be worship as he has personally guided. Provides a good start of my reflection today

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  15. In those days when there was no King everyone did as they pleased. This is a good reminder to us that we are on own when the King of Kings isn’t leading our lives we’ll be doing what is not right and the results will show clearly how life without Christ looks like. We thank God that even when it looks like he’s not there, he’s behind the scenes working. I have learnt to trust in the Lord always.

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  16. Iam seeing this being stressed… There was no King in Israel… So lawlessness is the order of the day. This shows how heartless and wicked man can be with out the right King in his life. He can do anything. May the Lord help us to allow Christ in our lives that every aspect of our lives is changed and we yield ourselves to him alone.

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  17. I’m sure as the two daughters in-law stayed in Naomi’s home they learned about the God of Israel and appreciated His works among his people. Ruth’s determination and what she says moves my heart. She’s convinced she must go with Naomi and wants to spend her life with her, this relationship was strong especially between a mother inlaw and a daughter in-law. Yet Ruth stays and how she puts it shows the depth of her heart, I’ll go with with you, your people will be my people, your God will be my God…

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