Wake Up Series

Isaiah 52: 1 – 15

Wake up!

1 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! 3 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.’ ” 7 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. 11 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. 13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider.

The rebellious adulteress woman is no more. She has been taken back by her husband even though she does not deserve. This woman is the Israelites and is represented by the city of Jerusalem. Now the new Zion, rising out of the old, is to put on her beautiful garments. She must clothe herself with the righteousness and salvation which has been provided by God. For it is He Who will provide her with the garments of salvation and cover her with the robe of righteousness as He welcomes her as the equivalent of His Bride. What she must do is put them on by responding to Him.

‘Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For henceforth there will no more come to you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem, Loose yourself from your neck bands, O captive daughter of Zion.’

Note the double intensities. ‘Awake, awake, -- put on, -- put on.’ There is a sense of urgency here. You have to stop and reflect upon this verbiage. You have to see how Great our God Is here. Have you ever took the time to think about what God may be thinking relative to the discipline He has issued. If you are a parent, have you ever had to discipline your child? If so, did you just bring forth the correction and then forget about everything. I doubt it. You probably have taken some time in reviewing the whole situation. You didn’t want to dish out the punishment but you knew it was the only thing to do. You look with eager anticipation of reestablishing closeness again with your child. Now take some time to consider how our Holy Loving Father God views the discipline He has brought forth against His child[ren]. He has done what was proper and now He anxiously looks forward to a close relationship. Can you now feel His loving desire to enjoy a good time with His kids. Look again at His words, ‘Awake, awake, -- put on, -- put on.’

In the ‘garments of beauty’ we see the high priestly garments of Exodus 28.2, ‘garments made for glory and for beauty’. She is probably here to be seen as not only reinstated but as becoming the holy nation, the kingdom of priests of Exodus 19.5-6, “‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”