“Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:9-10 ESV
Reflection: looking at the focus verses, how has the Lord redeemed Jerusalem?
Reading biblical prophecy, such as Isaiah, is very interesting, from a theoretical perspective. But it can also become very misleading, and therefore dangerous, in a way. Because, how should we interpret it? How do you interpret it? What if we have it wrong? You might say that you listen to a number of great pastors, authors, perhaps even some religious scholars, who have really studied the Bible. You trust them. But, do you realize that there are still many different interpretations of biblical prophecies, even by very smart scholars? That many Christian authors, pastors, and so on, differing vastly on major themes of the Bible? The challenge is that it is possible to build multiple spiritual belief systems, or spiritual structures, if you will, all grounded in scriptural arguments, supporting the position. That is one key reason why we have so many denominations today. And, obviously, they cannot all be right.
Take for instance the focus verses today. If we look at these verses in isolation, how should we interpret what it says? On the one hand, we see the Lord talking about the “waste places of Jerusalem”, which might lead us to thinking about the physical Jerusalem, and how the city was conquered and destroyed multiple times. Was the Lord talking about the restoration of Jerusalem that happened after the Babylonian exile? Or from other wars, perhaps? Or even after the destruction in 70 AD? But then when we read the following verse, we see a conflict with that interpretation as we see a much larger reference, that “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10b ESV This is more reminiscent of the coming of the Messiah, as the Lord invokes “salvation” and “to the ends of the earth”. Or, is it even referring to the end of time?
The following verse 11, builds on that end-time idea, as we read “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.” Isaiah 52:11 ESV. This might seem familiar, as we read all the way to the end of the Bible, in context “And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:2-5 ESV. Here we see again the use of “Babylon”; obviously not referring to the ancient city of Babylon, but some structure (city, country, region, religion, …) that we can associate with in our age. And, as in the days of Isaiah, to the end, the Lord is calling His people to “come out of her”.
So now, let’s look at the beginning of Isaiah chapter 52, to try to make more sense of it. “Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Isaiah 52:1 ESV. As we now see here, this cannot be a reference to the current, physical city of Jerusalem, but the future promise of a heavenly Jerusalem, as no one unclean can enter. It is referred to as a “holy city”.
We read on, “Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”” Isaiah 52:1-6 ESV.
There is so much here, but want to point out that interestingly, the Lord also invokes the time of slavery in Egypt, which happened long before this was written. Now, if we connect that thought, of the situation and conditions of the Israelites in Egypt, with the Babylonian exile, and with “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10b ESV, we might get a better glimpse, an outline of the big picture, of what the Lord is really talking about here. What He is trying to show us through Isaiah. We have to be very cautious of those who want to use the Bible for political gains, power and control. There are many of those these days.
We need “spiritual eyes” to see. Jesus said to Paul, “And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” Acts 26:15-18 ESV. Let’s pray for “eyes to see”, so that we are not misled. Let’s end with a very telling verse in this powerful chapter of Isaiah, that is so relevant to what is going on in the world today. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”” Isaiah 52:7 ESV. There are many who want war and destruction, but instead let us be those who bring the good news of Jesus Christ, a message of peace and salvation, to a world in desperate need.
