Isaiah 52:1-6

EVANGELIZE, CHAPTER 52

a.

REDEMPTION

TEXT: Isaiah 52:1-6

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.

2

Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit on thy throne, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

3

For thus saith Jehovah, Ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

4

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without cause.

5

Now therefore, what do I here, saith Jehovah, seeing that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them do howl, saith Jehovah, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.

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.

QUERIES

a.

Who are the uncircumcised and unclean?

b.

Why does Jehovah say, What do I here. ?

c.

Doesn-'t Israel know God's name? (verse six)

PARAPHRASE

Attention! Alert yourself! You will be strong and beautiful, My True Zion! You will be My holy dwelling place and those who have not made covenant with Me will not, from the day of your establishment, be given entrance. But you must do your part, O True Zion, and shake yourself free from the filth and enslavement of Babylonian paganism. When I deliver you from your captivity, you must return to your royal messianic destiny. I am your Sovereign. When I send you into exile it will be because I exercise My absolute sovereignty and not because someone pays Me to do it. When I redeem you from your exile it will be because I exercise My absolute sovereignty and not because I pay someone to release you. When you went down to Egypt, you went of your own choice and Egypt enslaved you without the right to do so; the Assyrians had no right to take some of you into exile. And now, what do I have in the Babylonian exilethe same thing! Babylon's intent is without moral justification and motivated by wicked rebellion against My sovereignty. The rulers of Babylon are already screaming out their hateful threats and blasphemies. But I am going to save you, O Zion, from Babylon. And when I do reveal My sovereignty in this unequivocal manifestation, true Zion will acknowledge Me as her Savior in a way she has never done before; she will recognize that it is I, Jehovah, who is calling her back to her messianic destiny.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 52:1-2 DISSOCIATION FROM PAGANISM: AS before, the prophet is speaking of the future Babylonian exile in the present tense. He is directing the exhortation to his small band of disciples (the remnant which shall form the nucleus of Zion). This remnant must prepare itself for imminent exile into pagan Babylon. It must strengthen itself by believing what Isaiah is predicting about its Messiah and its messianic role. Zion must commit itself to an adornment of holiness so that when it is taken captive it will be able to keep itself separated from the filth and enslavement of heathenism with which it will be so alluringly surrounded. Zion must not allow the fleeting pleasures of Babylonian ungodliness lure her from her throne (her royal messianic queenship).

The aim of this passage is spiritual Jerusalem. That is evident from the prediction that the uncircumcised and the unclean would no more come into her. It cannot be literally or physically intended. Jerusalem has suffered literal invasion and occupation by one uncircumcised culture after another. First the Babylonians, then the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Mohammedans, Crusaders, Arabs, and even today there are Gentile citizens of Jerusalem. What this passage refers to ultimately is the Israel of God over which the Messiah rules, the church of Christ. Those not in covenant relationship to God through obedience to Christ's gospel (the uncircumcised) and those not purified from sin by the atoning blood of the Suffering Servant (the unclean) will not come into the ultimate Zion, no matter what their genetic ancestry may beJew or Gentile. It is interesting to note that Joel predicts, in his messianic conclusion, that strangers shall never again pass through Jerusalem (Joel 3:17); and on the other hand Ezekiel, in his portrayal of the glorious messianic era to come, predicts that aliens will be given an inheritance and be as native born sons (Ezekiel 47:21-23). It is apparent, therefore, that when the messianic kingdom was to come, people were to become citizens of that kingdom, not as a result of being born a Jew and circumcised in the flesh, but by being reconciled to the Messiah of God through faith. All who are not thus reconciled are strangers and uncircumcised and unclean and cannot enter spiritual Jerusalem. That is precisely what the New Testament teaches (cf. Romans 2:28-29; Romans 4:9-25; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 3:1 to Galatians 5:25; Galatians 6:12-16; Ephesians 2:11-22; Philippians 3:2-11; Hebrews 12:18-29).

God promises to physically deliver Zion from her captors. But Zion herself must make the choices and do the deeds of holiness that separates her from Babylonian wickedness. Verses one and two are saturated with imperatives (commands): Awake; put on; Shake; arise; sit; loose are all commands for Zion to act. This is what distinguishes spiritual Zion from genetic Israelholiness by choice.

Isaiah 52:3-6 DELIVERANCE FROM PERSECUTION: Jehovah will act to deliver Zion from captivity in a display of divine sovereignty. He will give her up to captivity according to His sovereign plan and rescue her through the same sovereignty. No one will pay Jehovah to exile herno one will force Him toand no one will pay Him to rescue her. She will remain in captivity for exactly the time Jehovah assigns (70 years) and she will be delivered.

In verses four and five Jehovah pronounces the guilt of Zion's oppressorspast, present and future. God's sovereign decision to chasten Zion does not relieve her oppressors of guilt. The people of God went down to Egypt of their own choice with Jacob during the famine. And the Egyptians, by their own choice, enslaved and persecuted God's people. Israel's persecutors during Isaiah's lifetime, the Assyrians, were acting by free moral choicenot because they were forced to. Now therefore, what do I here. may be paraphrased, Now, what do I have here. in the imminent exile into Babylon? It is the same situation! God will use the exile to chasten the sinful nation of Judah, but at the same time the Babylonians will be held responsible and found guilty. Their captivity of Judah was clearly an unjustified act of aggression. The sovereign God of all mankind declares any nation or people guilty who perpetrate the same acts of unprovoked aggression against other peoples (cf. our comments, Minor Prophets, on Obadiah and Amos ch. 1-3). Babylon, like all the other oppressors of Israel, attacked without due cause. Although the sovereign Jehovah may use the wicked assaults of the heathen empires as tools of chastening (cf. Isaiah 10:5 ff; Jeremiah 27:1-22, etc.), that does not mean the heathen empires are guiltless for making their own moral choices to Touch the apple of His eye (cf, Zechariah 2:8) without justifiable provocation. These Babylonians howl out harsh orders to their captives (cf. Daniel 1-6) and blaspheme the name of Jehovah continually. What they are doing with God's people is certainly not in agreement with the will of God.

When Jehovah decides, in His own sovereign time-schedule, to deliver Zion from Babylonian captivity (cf. Jeremiah 27:22; Jeremiah 25:11), then Zion will know His name. His name is Jehovah (YHWH, He who causes to be.) (cf. Special Study, Vol. II, O.T. Names for God, pg. 126f.). Jehovah is the name for Covenant-God, and here the faithfulness and sovereignty of God to keep His covenant promises is emphasized.

QUIZ

1.

What are the beautiful garments Zion is to put on?

2.

Are we to understand the banishment of the uncircumcised literally?

3.

Why say the daughter of Zion is to be redeemed without money?

4.

Why point out that Assyria oppressed Zion without cause?

5.

What is the name of God that Israel shall know?