Wake Up and Depart!
Isaiah 52:1-12
The prophet Isaiah’s ministry spanned the reigns of 4 Judean kings. He was called to prophetic ministry in the year that king Uzziah died, approximately 742 BC, and then continued through the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah until 686 BC, approximately 56 years. He was a contemporary of Hosea and Micah, and he wrote more about the promised Messiah than any other single prophet.
Now many so-called “scholars” refuse to believe that Isaiah wrote the whole book of Isaiah because they do not believe that God not only knows the future, but He has revealed certain aspects of it to His servants. So, because chapters 40-66 give us such detailed information about the rise of Babylon, their victory against Judah, the exile, and the return of the Jews to the land to rebuild, they claim that these chapters had to have been written by some other unknown person after all those things happened, and they call Isaiah chapters 40-66, 2nd Isaiah.
Friend, if you ever hear a pastor or read a book by some Christian author and they refer to 2nd Isaiah, run! That one phrase, 2nd Isaiah tells you that they do not believe in a miraculous God who speaks to His people and interjects Himself into their lives. Now, for those of us who do believe that God is, and that He is the Heb 11:6 …rewarder of those who diligently seek Him we have no problem with a supernatural Being who reveals to His servants’ things that are to come to past.
During Isaiah’s ministry Assyrian power was on the rise and would eventually defeat the northern kingdom and deport its citizens. When this happened, it brought Judah into their sight, and under the command of Sennacherib, Assyria began to invade Judah, overrun Judean towns and looting and carrying many people back to Assyria. While they were laying siege to Lachish, Sennacherib sent part of his army to surround Jerusalem, but when that expedition failed, he made a second attempt, sending messengers to Jerusalem, demanding an immediate surrender. But with Isaiah’s encouragement, Hezekiah refused to surrender. Shortly after, Sennacherib's army fell prey to a sudden disaster, and he returned to Nineveh and never threatened Judah again.
Isaiah condemned the empty ritualism of his day, and the idolatry which so many of the people had fallen into. He foresaw the coming Babylonian conquest and captivity, and also their return to rebuild. Long before Cyrus, king of Persia, appeared on the scene, Isaiah prophesied about Babylon’s fall and specifically named the Persian king, Cyrus as Judah's deliverer from the Babylonian captivity. That prophecy about Cyrus is found in chapter 40, which would make it somewhere around 150-175 years before he even came into existence
and did exactly what Isaiah said he would do.
This is about where we are in our text today, Isaiah, speaking to those who were left behind and the people who are in captivity long before they actually became captives. He has spoken to them of life in captivity and why they were sent there. In chapter 51, verse 9, the people called out to God to wake up and bring the promises of freedom into reality. If their sins were really to be defeated and they were to be restored, then bring it on! They said Isa 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old.
But God let them know that it wasn’t for Him to awaken, but for them. Twice, He told them that it is they who need to rise up. He said Isa 51:17 Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out. And in our chapter today,
I. God calls His people to rise up and become holy!
He said Isa 52:1-2 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!
In other words, the people still in Jerusalem, and those who are in captivity, the captive daughter of Zion, are to wake up and get ready to receive by faith what He is about to do. You see, He’s already told them in 51:17-23 that Zion’s punishment is ended, and that the things the nations did to her will be visited on them. So, the Lord calls the broken hearted and the downtrodden who are waiting for the salvation of the Lord to get up, get ready, and put on your Sunday best!
Now, that’s what we might think of it today, but back then, the “beautiful garments” probably referred to the robes of the priests, which were made Exo 28:2 … for glory and for beauty because verse 11 speaks of those Isa 52:11 …who bear the vessels of the LORD (which would be the priests) and they will be carrying those vessels back to Jerusalem. They are to rise up from the filth, shake the dust off, and remove the chains that bind them. Jerusalem, or Zion is finished with being overrun by the uncircumcised and the unclean. Holiness is returning to the land and the people.
And isn’t this exactly what God has told us to do as well? All of us have been held under the chains of bondage in one way or another. Chains of depression. Chains of despair, fear, worry. Chains that bound us to sins that we love. Paul said that we were Gal_4:3 …in bondage under the elements of the world and Rom 6:20 …were slaves of sin. Writing to his young protégé, Timothy, he also said that 2 Tim 2:26 …we have been held captive by the snares of the devil. Yet throughout the Bible, the word of God stresses the importance of turning away from sin and wickedness and surrendering our lives to our Lord. We are to deny Tit 2:12 …ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.
This call to the captives of Zion is a call to repent and to return to the Lord. And for us today, it’s the same thing. For Christ has told us to Mar 1:15 ..Repent, and believe in the gospel, and that we Eph 4:22-24 …put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
We are turn away from sin and turn to God. Our time of bondage is over. So, for those who have trusted in the Lord and been set free, why would we want to enslave ourselves again? And for those who still haven’t trusted in Him, the call to you is direct and specific. Repent of sin, turn to God, and Lev 19:2 …be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
God calls His people to rise up and be holy, and now by bringing deliverance to His people…
II. The Lord vindicates His name
Isa 52:3-6 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 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 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.' "
Israel went into bondage all by themselves. They sold themselves for nothing to the false gods of their neighbors because those gods were not gods at all. They were nothing. Figments of the imagination and so they could get nothing from them in return for worshipping them.
When Israel turned to Babylon for help against Assyria, the same thing happened. They allowed Babylon to get a foot in the door, and so ultimately, they sold themselves into captivity for nothing. Babylon didn’t free them as they thought, but instead eventually enslaved them, so just like the false gods they followed which gave them nothing, so also, their would be “savior” from Assyria didn’t give them what they wanted either.
This is what happens to anyone who gives themselves over to sin. We sell ourselves for nothing, and that which we sold ourselves to will take over and eventually enslave us. You see, even though Israel was oppressed by Egypt, invaded by Assyria, and even though it isn’t specifically named, verse 5 is actually speaking of Babylon, they were “taken away” by them, in all these cases, God still wasn’t through with them.
In Babylon, their rulers loudly shouted the praises of their gods because they had victory over Israel and Israel’s God. That’s what the phrase “make them wail” most likely means which is why the NAS translates it to “Those who rule over them howl…” They’re shouting the praises of their false gods and blaspheming the name of Yahweh.
But God is not finished with His people. His name will be vindicated when His people are released from captivity and His people will know, the nations will know, that the Lord is God. His character will not be brought into contempt and His works will no longer be credited to someone or something else when His people are set free, and no ransom is required. They sold themselves for nothing, and they will not have to pay anything to be made free.
And we know that our own freedom wasn’t purchased with any of this world’s goods either, was it? We 1Pe 1:18-19 …were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. No silver or gold could ever have ransomed us from slavery to sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ could suffice. He paid our debt not to Egypt. Not to Assyria. Not to Babylon. Not to the devil, but to His righteousness, to His justice. And because of that blood, we know Him and when He speaks to us, we hear Him.
God calls His people to rise-up and be holy. His deliverance vindicates His name, and…
III. The good news brings great joy
Isa 52:7-10 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 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.
The apostle Paul quoted verse 7 in Romans 10:15 where he was talking about the nation of Israel and its ultimate salvation at the end of the age as a fulfillment of the promises of God, and the basis of that restoration in Christ’s death. So, the ultimate meaning of this passage in Isaiah concerns the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even though the immediate context refers to the news of Israel’s deliverance from exile.
To the Israelites, the promise of peace and salvation was coming. The picture is one of a runner carrying a message from the field back to headquarters. This runner is carrying the good news that the battle is won, that the salvation of God is at hand and the Lord God reigns! He is the one who is bringing this all to pass. He has rolled up His sleeves and got down to work! And what’s interesting about this picture is that at the time the Israelites will receive this news, the literal walls of Zion would be in heaps of rubble, but the news would have excited the hearts of all who were longing for the day when they would return to Jerusalem and start rebuilding.
And for us today, the promise of peace with God and salvation by faith in His only begotten Son has come. The feet of the messengers and the news they carry also excites our hearts. Through faith in Christ, we have been set free just as He said, that if Joh 8:36 …the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and Mar 12:11 THIS WAS THE LORD'S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? There was nothing we could do that would extricate us from this mess that we were in. Our greatest efforts to fix things were futile. No matter what we did, nothing could ever be good enough because Isa 64:6 …we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
We were hopeless and helpless. Doomed to failure, but God…oh I love it when I hear or read those words—but God! Those two words bring hope because we have someone on our side who isn’t limited in any way like we are. Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He bared His arms—He rolled up His sleeves and in the sight of all the world, in the sight of Eph 6:12 …principalities, …powers, …the rulers of the darkness of this age, He has made known to all the ends of the earth, the salvation of our God!
He has called us to rise-up and be holy. He has vindicated His name by delivering us. His messengers bring us good news of great joy, and now
IV. God calls His people to a new Exodus
Isa 52:11-12 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.
He began by telling us to Awake! Awake! But now He tells us to Depart! Depart! The command is specifically given to God’s people who were held captive in Babylon. He told them to leave Babylon and return home to Jerusalem. He didn’t want them to touch anything in that place because He was going to cleanse them from the defilement of that city.
He also promised that their leaving Babylon wouldn’t be like when they left Egypt. There they had to pack and leave in a hurry in fear that Pharoah would change his mind, but this time they were leaving with the blessing of Cyrus, the servant of the Lord. But like their exodus from Egypt, God would go before them to clear the way and make their paths straight, and He would bring up the rear to protect them from hidden dangers.
God told His people to Depart! Depart! And today He tells us to 2Co 6:17 "COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU." The Lord was present with His people in their march to the holy land, and so the people had to be pure. They must not be defiled by unclean things because they have been restored by the living God.
The same is true of us today. We are told to come out and be separate. Do not touch what is unclean, because He is present with us in our march to the holy land, to that eternal city we know as the New Jerusalem! He has promised us that 2Co 6:16 …"I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE." And He has also promised that 2Co 6:18 "I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY."
Oh friends, when we live as captives to sin, we make it appear to the watching world that God is unable to deliver us like we say He can. When our lives are not marked by His holiness, we make it appear that He is no different than any of the other gods of this world, that He is not the unique Creator and Redeemer of the world whose moral character is unlike that of any of the other so-called gods.
But if you will wake up and depart, or in other words, come to your senses, repent, and turn away from sin, He has promised to be in you, walk with you, and you will be His sons and daughters.
Invitation
