A STANDARD RAISED.
Isaiah 62:10-12.
This prophecy is fulfilled at more than one level.
There is a level of fulfilment for those Jews who lived in the days of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1-4). At the raising of God’s standard (ISAIAH 62:10), they were able to leave behind the gates of Babylon (cf. Isaiah 52:11), cross the desert as if on a highway, and return to rebuild Jerusalem.
Yet this is not all: the proclamation which follows announces, in words not dissimilar to Isaiah 40:10, the coming of salvation - in the Person of our Saviour, no less (ISAIAH 62:11).
In the gospel, a standard has been raised to the nations (Isaiah 49:22-23). This was doubtless anticipated in the return from exile, but reaches its fullest fulfilment as the nations look to the LORD (Isaiah 60:6; Isaiah 60:9-10; Psalm 68:31). The ‘wise men from the east’ who came to worship the One ‘born King of the Jews’ (Matthew 2:1-2) were the first fruits of the on-going Gentile mission.
In the end, speech about Jerusalem and its walls gives way to a consideration of ‘Zion’ as consisting in: “The holy people” who are “The redeemed of the LORD” - who are named, “Sought out. A city not forsaken” (ISAIAH 62:12).
