Wake Up And Depart!

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.