Isaiah chapter 52
The LORD will free Jerusalem. The Servant of the LORD will be exalted and glorified.
THE LORD WILL FREE JERUSALEM
VERSE 1. Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
Awake, awake! This is the constant call of the prophets: wake up!
People need to awaken. Theyʼve been sleepwalking for ages.
Now is the time to awaken, like it was for the people in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Mark 1:15. The time has come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe! (NIV 1984)
Ephesians 6:10. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (NIV 1984)
Put on your strength. We are to clothe ourselves with strength. God wishes for us to be strong. We believers need to become strong.
The LORD God created them with great strength. They’re the strongest and most greatly blessed of all people.
But they were tricked into living as if they were weak.
Now is the time for them to re-cover the strength the LORD God has already given them. They are to re-actualize their strength.
It is like discovering that you have a billion dollars in an account you forgot about. Now is the time to do things with it!
Put on your beautiful garments. Many Christians wear dingy clothes. They seem to think that a haggard look brings glory to the LORD God.
However, the LORD God tells them to wear beautiful clothes.
The LORD God’s people need to clothe themselves in the armor of God.
The LORD God has placed a treasury of armor and strength at their feet. All they need to do it put it on.
The primary treasure of armor is the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ. But there is also armor for spiritual combat that one must put on, as St. Paul describes.
the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you. Jerusalem will now maintain healthy boundaries.
VERSE 2. Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
NIV translation. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.
Release yourself from the bonds of your neck. In this verse, WHO will free them from their abusers?
- Is it God who does it? No.
- Does an angel shows up? No.
- Is it some brave human rescuer? No.
- Is it themselves? Yes.
They are to free ourselves from their chains.
They free themselves from the chains around their necks. They escape their own captivity.
When Peter was locked in the jail, an angel arrived in the night, made his chains go away and opened all the doors.
Yet it was Peter who had to walk out. He had to walk out past all the guards. Peter had to walk through the doors that should have been locked. Peter had to face his own doubts about what he was doing.
Even though Godʼs grace was at work, and even though an angel did miraculous things, at some level, Peter had to rescue himself.
VERSE 3. For the LORD says, “You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money.”
VERSE 4. For the Lord GOD says: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
VERSE 5. “Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD, “and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.
VERSE 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.”
NLT translation. But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.
I will reveal my name to my people. The LORD God will reveal his name to his people. His people will know it.
The question is this: which name? What name did the LORD God reveal to his people while they were in captivity?
they will come to know its power. There is power in the name of the LORD God.
VERSE 7. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Book of Isaiah and from the entire Bible.
VERSE 8. Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD returns to Zion.
VERSE 9. Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Break out into joy. They are to break into joyful song.
Joy is a choice. It is something we do.
VERSE 10. The LORD has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
VERSE 11. Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from among her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry the LORD’s vessels.
NLT translation. Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord.
Get out! Get out and leave. We are to separate ourselves from evil. We still love people in society. We just don’t take part in evil. However, Christians often get completely backwards. Read more »
Revelation 18:4. I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues,
VERSE 12. For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD WILL BE EXALTED AND GLORIFIED
VERSE 13. Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high.
He will be exalted. The suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ was how he is exalted.
and lifted up. The Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross.
VERSE 14. Just as many were astonished at you—his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—
NLT translation. But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
his appearance was marred more than any man. This tells us the extent to which Jesus Christ was tortured.
It was so severe that he hardly seemed human any more. He was scarcely recognizable as a man.
VERSE 15. so he will cleanse many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for they will see that which had not been told them, and they will understand that which they had not heard.
NLT translation. And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.
ISAIAH
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66
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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.