#1016 Isaiah 52 No Fig Leaves Allowed

 

Awake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2 Shake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

7 How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion.

9 Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord has bared his holy arm

before 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; purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52 ESV

Isaiah 52: 1-12 The Lord's Coming Salvation

…9Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed. 10I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.11For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.… Isaiah 61: 9-11

…3Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel. 4So the angel said to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”5Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him, as the angel of the LORD stood by.… Zechariah 3: 3-5

1-6. Put on your beautiful garments - Last we left her she was drunk, but not from wine, staggering from the blows of persecution, covered in her own sin and shame, mocked by the world. Now she is being called to be clothed, for these Pagan tyrants will no longer have access to her. What will bring all this about? This points to the last days, that the time of Zions judgment will come to an end. She will no longer wear the clothes of mourning, for it is time to celebrate ultimate deliverance.

…15In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.17For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,… Jeremiah 33: 15-17

…13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates. 15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.… Revelation 22: 13-15

You were sold for nothing and you shall be redeemed without money - They went to Egypt for food during a famine, but then some 400 years later, the new rulers began to worry about the Hebrew's numbers, so they tried to kill the male children. God sent Moses to collect them, but now Pharaoh did not want to lose their slave labor either. Where they had walked in of their own free will, they could no longer leave by the same; it would take an act of God. These were God's people, "let my people go", where is your bill of sale? I received no payment from you. Israel went as Adam and Eve, they sold themselves as bondservants to sin, so what, if not money, will be the exchange?

…19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” 20And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.

21And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them. 22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”23Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.… Genesis 3: 19-23

…17Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.… 1 Peter 1: 17-19

Their rulers wail - "Why do you pray to the Hebrew God still, we have defeated Him?" It was like when the Assyrian war ambassador showed up telling Jerusalem, look, none of the gods of the other nations were able to deliver them from Sennacherib, yours is a false hope as was theirs. Israel was captive in Babylon, and though they had been warned of this by Isaiah, still they were mocked, I mean really who would follow a god that doesn't do what they want, that would punish them for behaving like Babylonians? Then the Babylonian's gods didn't hold up to the Persians, the Persians to Alexander, the Greeks to the Romans. 

…15Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. 16And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.” 2 Kings 1: 15-16

…45But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.47And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”… 1 Samuel 17: 45-47

Assyria

Here I am - Someday they will know this, at the end of their judgment, and the next chapter will be their confession. 

…57Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58“Truly, truly, I tell you, Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am! 59At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.… John 8: 57-59

7-10. The feet of him who brings good news - There is a sense of this both near and far, that He has come, paid the price at Calvary, and the gospel is spread across the world. It will be joyous news to a redeemed Israel at the end of the Tribulation, that He has come and now sits on the throne of David. 

…14How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”… Romans 10: 14-16

Eye to eye they see - Face to face.

13But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. 14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Numbers 14: 13-14

…11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.… 1 Corinthians 13: 11-13

1Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 2Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. 3And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.… 1 John 3: 1-3

…3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him. 4 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.… Revelation 22: 3-5

11-12. Depart, depart - Leave your captivity; there is a spiritual call in this like the one calling from the wilderness, "repent and be saved, the kingdom of God is at hand." There is a near call for those that can leave Babylon when God brings Cyrus to deliver them, and there will be a call in the end to flee final Babylon.

…3All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.” 4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues. 5For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.… Revelation 18: 3-5