Isaiah 52:7-12

b.

REVELATION

TEXT: Isaiah 52:7-12

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!

8

The voice of thy watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah returneth to Zion.

9

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

10

Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

11

Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of Jehovah.

12

For ye shall not go out in haste, neither shall ye go by flight: for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the messenger bringing good tidings?

b.

What is meant by seeing eye to eye?

c.

Why emphasize that the people would not go out in haste?

PARAPHRASE

How lovely will be the Messenger coming across the mountains of this land bringing good news, the good news of peace, goodness and salvation, announcing to faithful Zion, Jehovah has established His sovereign rule among men; the kingdom of God has come! Listen to the voices of your prophets who have been watching and announcing its coming! They are shouting and singing for joy! They see the eventual rule of Jehovah over Zion as surely as if it were right before their eyes! Babylon may ruin you, O Jerusalem, but Jehovah is going to restore you and make you strong, so burst forth into joyous singing. Jehovah is going to unleash His holy power so that the whole world will witness it; His salvation will be revealed to the whole world. So, Zion, when you are delivered from Babylonian captivity in anticipation of the coming kingdom of God, separate yourself completely from all the unholy paganism which has surrounded you there. Do not let your heart be defiled by desiring to cling to the worldliness of Babylon. You are a kingdom of priests to Jehovah and you must be holy unto Him. You will have plenty of time to arrive at the right attitude toward separating yourself from the ungodliness around you. Your exodus this time will not be in haste or in fear, as it was in the days of your forefathers and the Egyptian captivity. The Lord, Your God, will surround you, guiding you and protecting you on every side.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 52:7-10 PEACE: Apparently we have in this prediction of Isaiah an instance of shortened perspective. That is, the prophet is predicting the deliverance of Judah from Babylonian captivity and the deliverance of all mankind from sin through the Messiah without mentioning all the history of the scheme of redemption that transpires between the two historical events (cf. our comments on Joel 2:27-28). There is no doubt that the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prediction was to find itself in the Messiah and His gospel (cf. Romans 10:15). Isaiah's context indicates he is predicting what is going to eventuate with the coming of The Servant. Of course, messengers of the good news that Judah is to be released from her captivity and restored her physical commonwealth in Palestine by the decree of Cyrus will be lovely to behold. The lesson from this miraculous deliverance will be that God rules in the affairs of all men to fulfill His sovereign will. There will be peace for a while for Judah. But surely there is more good news involved in this prophecy than a physical deliverance and a physical peace.

The physical deliverance of Judah was the first step in a long series of historical events which were to lead to the coming of the Messiah and the true deliverance, the spiritual salvation, and peace between God and man, (cf. comments on Daniel 9:24-27 for the time-table of historical events between). Ultimately then, him that bringeth good tidings is the Messiah. Christ, The Servant, is also The Messenger (cf. Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:16-30; Malachi 3:1-4). The messenger who prepares the way before in Malachi 3:1 is unquestionably, John the Baptist. But the Lord whom you seek. the messenger of the covenant. of Malachi 3:1 is the Messiah. Notice what the messenger of Isaiah's prophecy announces: peacegoodsalvationthe rule of Godcomfort for His peopleredemption of Jerusalem. Furthermore, this is to be seen by all the ends of the earth. Surely there is more to God's salvation and comfort (see Isaiah 40:1 ff) than a mere temporary deliverance of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. Surely there is more to God's reign than a Jewish nation only superficially submitted to Him in the restored commonwealth under Ezra and Zerubbabel. The post-exilic prophets make it very plain (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) that the returned exiles soon fell back into their old rebellions against the law of Moses and the rule of God. The salvation, peace and rule of God announced by Isaiah's beautiful bearer of good tidings is made accessible to all men through Him who came and preached peace to those far off and those near (cf. Ephesians 2:11-22). Notice in Romans 10:14-21 how Paul emphasizes the prophecies of Isaiah about the Lord's salvation were not fulfilled in a rebellious, physical Israel!

The watchmen are probably the prophets and those faithful believers down through the centuries who kept on believing in the coming of the Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12; Hebrews 11:13-16; Hebrews 11:32-40, etc.). These watchers put their predictions and hopes into poetic form, song, symbol and type. They did it with great style and emotional expressiveness. For they saw the eventual rule of Jehovah as surely as if it were right before their eyes (cf. John 8:56-58; John 12:41), which is what they shall see eye to eye means. Even the return of Jehovah to Zion is messianic. The crowning glory of Ezekiel's new temple and new city (Ezekiel 40-48) is ... the name of the city henceforth shall be. The Lord is there. The church is the temple of God's habitation (Ephesians 2:21-22).

On account of the absolute certainty that Jehovah is going to eventually send His Messenger with the good tidings of salvation, and on account of the certainty that Jehovah is going to take the first step toward that end delivering the Jews from captivity, the Jerusalem (or Zion) that in Isaiah's day is being wasted and ruined by pagan oppressors should lift up its spirit and sing of its salvation. This would, of course, take faith because it was not as yet seen. But that is man's whole relationship to Godfaith! That was the problem when the Messiah came to comfort His people and redeem Jerusalem. Most of the people could not believe it because they could not see, touch, taste His deliverance. It is still a problem with so many millions today who want only to be saved physically from trouble and depravation, but not from their sinful rebellion against the revealed will of God!

The salvation of God was proven! God's ability to save man and His faithfulness to keep His word was demonstrated visibly, historically and supernaturally. God bared His holy arm of supernatural power time and again in saving the Jewish people from their enemies. He showed in no uncertain terms to believer and unbeliever alike (read the book of Daniel) that He would deliver those who trusted and obeyed Him. The arm of the Lord will consummately be bared in the Messiah's death and resurrection (cf. Isaiah 53:1 ff). God's greatest power is the gospel which is, fundamentally, the atoning death and justifying resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jehovah showed His power in many and various ways in former ages, but the greatest demonstration of it was in the resurrection of Christ. It was here that God bared His holy arm to all the ends of the earth so that all men might see His salvation. God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world, by an appointed man, and He has given assurance to all men by raising this man from the dead, and so His message to all men everywhere is, repent (cf. Acts 17:30-31). But, you see, the problem is that the arm or power of the Lord was revealed in a Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:1) and this, so unacceptable to Jewish presuppositions about the power of Jehovah, is still unacceptable to human presuppositions (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

Isaiah 52:11-12 PURIFICATION: Now we come to the practical application of the prophecy of the coming Messenger and His message. How are these people of Isaiah's day or the people of the Babylonian captivity to relate to a prophecy of something that is so far off in the future? They are to keep themselves from the ungodliness that surrounds them. The temptations to become Babylonianized, to devote their energies to pagan pursuits, will be strong. The temptation to stay in the relative security of the land to which they were exiled and forget they have a messianic destiny to serve will not be easily overcome. Thousands of Jews did stay in Babylon! The task of returning to a ravaged land, occupied by hostile people, to struggle through long hard years of rebuilding, was almost overwhelming! Even the temptation to take with them back to Palestine some of the heathen customs and practices that seemed so security-enforcing would seem innocent enough. Yet the command of the Lord is, depart. touch no unclean thing. cleanse yourselves. The rule of God cannot be established if the people are unwilling to depart from ungodliness. Those that bear the vessels of Jehovah is probably a figurative way of indicating the uniqueness of the Jewish people as a messianic people.

They will have ample opportunity to consider and apply the command of the Lord for separating themselves from their heathen environment. They will not have to make a hasty exodus as their ancestors did in Egypt and so they will not have to take any of the Babylonian baubbles to support them as those under Moses did. These Babylonian exiles will have plenty of time and they will know, by prophecy, exactly how many years they will be spending there. Cyrus will supply them with money to rebuild their commonwealth. And finally, they will not have to tramp the wilderness, constantly fleeing from one enemy after another as their ancestors did. Jehovah promises to surround them with guidance and protectionboth front and rear. And so they were protected from those who wanted to thwart their rebuilding (cf. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther), as they prepared to be the people through whom the great Messenger would come with a revelation of salvation to all the ends of the earth.

QUIZ

1.

Why do we call this prophecy of the messenger one of shortened perspective?

2.

Where is the N.T. quotation of this passage and what is the connection?

3.

Who are the watchmen and why do they sing?

4.

When did Jehovah bare his holy arm?

5.

Why the command to depart?

6.

Who are those who bear the vessels of Jehovah?