The Gospel for Zion (Isa 52:1-15)

He, who is mighty, has done a great thing
Taken on flesh, conquered death’s sting
Shattered the darkness and lifted our shame
Holy is His name, holy is His name

This Christmas season, have you had time to reflect on what we’re really celebrating? In this passage, we will how Isaiah also foretells and speaks of the message of Christmas — what the gospel is, who it is about and who it is for.

(A) A beautiful Gospel: God’s defiled people will be made pure and beautiful (Isa 52:1-2)

In Isaiah 521. we read of God’s desire for Zion or Jerusalem to act. God wants Zion to (i) awake, (ii) put on strength and (iii) put on beautiful garments. This is a call to rise up, take heart and beautify herself for freedom and glory. 

The first “Awake, awake!” asked the LORD to put on strength (Isa 51:9). The second “Awake, awake!” (Isa 51:17) asked Jerusalem to remember the LORD’s judgments and promises. Now, the third “Awake, awake!” tells Zion to put on strength in light of the first two awakenings.

The background and context is that Jerusalem, the holy city has previously been defiled by “the uncircumcised and unclean” and thus laid in the dust as a defeated, “captive daughter” with “bonds” around her neck. This slavery like language refers to the Babylonian captivity where Judah was literally enslaved by uncircumcised, godless foreigners. Thus, the call to put on strength and beautiful garments is given in this context. 

Three points of application here. Much the same way, we look around us and it is not difficult at all to see that the world is broken, and things are not as they should be. God’s good creation has been defiled by sin and destruction, and therein lies the problem of the world. This is the message of the Bible, this is why the Gospel is necessary, and this is what makes Christmas Christmas. We celebrate Christ’s birth because Christians believe that Jesus is the Saviour and the solution to sin. Strip away the literal bells and whistles and lights and decorations and we’re left simply to ponder — Christmas is holly and jolly because truly, joy to the world, the Lord has come. If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you know the bonds of sin that we struggle with. You know what it feels like to be unclean, what it feels like to be like a captive daughter to sin. Friends, awake and put on your strength and your beautiful garments, for Christ the Saviour is born. 

But what does it mean to do so? What does it mean to put on your strength and your beautiful garments? What does it mean for a Christian to be awake, to be ready, to loose the bonds from your neck? God’s word is instructive for us, especially Psalm 19:7-10. It reads: “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. “

God’s word is precious and sweet, His law is perfect and wise and sure. Cling to God’s word, run to it, drink from it, read it, study it, memorise it, cherish it. Read it so that you are reminded of your sin. Read it so that you are reminded that Jesus has come. Read it so that you know that God loves you and does not change. Read it so that you know that your identity as a sinner saved by grace is established fully and wholly in Christ alone. Don’t wait for a new year to start a new reading plan. Read it now. Read it everyday. 

Philippians 4:8–9 also tells us, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Being awake and ready means not only do you read and study God’s word and know Him through it, but that it fills your mind and informs your every thought and deed. Look at the verbs — think about these things, and practise these things. This isn’t a “good vibes only” exercise - it is the Christian life. Friends, what would change in your life if you did just this?

When you are tempted to anger — think about God’s rightful anger towards us for our sin, and the grace he has extended us — how do we let the sun set on our anger with that in mind?

When you are tempted to self-righteousness — think about our own sin, and the brokenness in our own lives. Think about how God sent his son for even a sinner like you and I — how can we judge a brother for the speck in his eye?

When you are tempted to despair — from your own sin, from your own emotions, from an insecurity that we are not good enough — think about how God sent his own son to die on the cross for you and I, that every sin, past present and future, would be nailed on the cross with Jesus. Think about God’s promises and his character — that He is good, that He does not change, that He loves His people — how can we wallow in our despair when our good God has come?

Galatians 5:1 reminds us, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Friends we have a beautiful gospel — God’s defiled people will be made pure and beautiful.

(B) Gospel about God: God is the hero, working salvation for His people (Isa 51:3-12)

Isaiah 52:3-5 tells us what had happened to Zion’s “captive daughter” before. Zion had been sold into slavery and thus needed to be redeemed. This likely refers to the subjugation and oppression of foreign powers like Babylon, and before that, the northern tribes (Israel) in Assyria. In Isaiah 52:4, God refers to the different ways that Israel has been under foreign oppression — first Egypt in slavery in the days after Joseph, and then the Assyrians when the Northern Kingdom goes into exile. The people have been taken away and God’s name is despised because it appears that He is too weak to defend His covenant people (Isa 52:5). 

Isaiah 52:3 is particularly curious — what does it mean that Zion had been sold into slavery for nothing? Remember that They were the ones who turned away from God. Isaiah 50:1 reads, “Thus says the LORD: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.” God is telling His people that not only were they sold for nothing, they were also experiencing the result of their iniquity, their turning away from Him! 

As God’s people, we may wonder why God puts us through such suffering. The ESV Study Bible is helpful in pointing out that their hardship was not due to the failure of God. They sinned their way into exile. God’s people were paying the price for their idolatry, their disobedience of God’s law. Yet even in a verse like this we see a glimpse of gospel hope, the promise that they shall be redeemed without money.  This may come at a surprise to them, but we know that indeed the redemption of God’s people came not through gold or silver, but through Jesus Christ, the priceless sacrifice of eternal worth and value.

How do we approach our suffering and hardship on this side of heaven? Are we quick to blame God for our circumstances? Be mindful of the way we think — our exasperation of “why God” reveals how we somehow think our circumstances are a result of God’s failure. Our God does not fail — our pain and suffering are a result of the sin and brokenness of the world — and all too often our hardship is the result of our own sin. Think about the relational conflict that arises because of our egos, or the stress that comes about because of the lies we spin. 

cNow let’s be clear — we are not saying like Job’s friends that you are suffering because of what you have done, as if this were karma or good and bad juju. Rather we understand pain and suffering in light of the sin and brokenness in our world — the world is what it is not because God has not failed, but because we have sinned. And even in and through all this, God chooses to redeem the world — not by money, but by his Son.

What will God do about it? God will vindicate Himself in His people’s redemption (Isa 52:6). They will also know that all His promises, like that of the book of comfort (Isaiah 40-55) are entirely true and faithful. Isaiah 47 tells us what God would humiliate their oppressors, and it is both awesome and frightening at the same time. But here we see not just a concern for His people, but also a concern for His name and glory. 

Ezekiel 36:16-32 makes it very clear for us that God cares that the nations know He is mighty, righteous and holy. The nuance here in this verse, however, is that God cares that His own people know His name. In Isaiah’s day, they didn’t know that the LORD had spoken through His Word.

God’s people are a people who know Him and His voice. May we not take this for granted, and may that give us even more clarity on how we should approach His holy Word. Remember that in Isaiah’s day. they did not know His voice and did not acknowledge His name! How do you approach His word? 

In Isaiah 52:7-10, we see that the subject of praise is the one who brings good news, publishes peace and salvation and announces the reign of God to His people. In other words, the prophets of God who declare His gospel. They are like “watchmen'' who watch the towers and rejoice in aid and salvation. These are the ones who are waiting for God’s return, when He will come back to His city in redemption and salvation.

A parallel can be found in 2 Samuel 18:24-27 when the runners who bring good news are celebrated and received for bringing back reason for rejoicing. Their feet are beautiful, because they bring forth beautiful news. Notice how the prophet speaks of this good news in Isaiah 52:9 — singing in the waste places because of God’s comfort, echoing the language of the book of comfort. God’s redemption will bring forth fruit to the barren, singing to the sorrowing. 

All this work is not accidental in history, it is the holy arm of the Lord (Isa 52:10). It is God at work, establishing His salvation before all the nations. The call at the beginning of Isaiah 51:9 (Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD!) is completed. In the most immediate context, one would have thought this speaks to the return from Babylon. But beyond that, this passage points to  a greater glory of good news to come.

Notice here how God turns the wailing of his people and the despising of his name into rejoicing. All of this as a response to God establishing His reign, and the good news of God’s salvation spreading to the ends of the earth. Friends, this is the wonderful message of Christmas — that God has come, and that He reigns over all. As our Christmas spirit tamps down and the new year approaches, is this Christian joy that is ours also merely seasonal? May it not be so — friends, the good news of God’s salvation is for us in every season, and we can be a people of great rejoicing at all times precisely because of that. As Romans 10:14 -17 remind us, we have a wonderful gospel that we cannot help but share. May we be like the watchmen who wait for God’s return in great joy and anticipation.

In Isaiah 52:11-12, we turn back to God’s people and read of how they are to go out from the city of the world (Babylon) and keep themselves clean and pure as they exit. As before, the Lord will be their rear guard, with His presence. These instructions echo the words of the Exodus as God’s people left Egypt, but with a twist. This time they won’t plunder the Babylonians (then Egyptians), and they won’t go in haste or flight (as they did by night at the Passover). Why? They won’t need to take the riches of the world with them as they leave. These unclean things are to be left behind. 

Prophetically, this has both a near and a distant application. It was intended for the Babylonian captives Isaiah has prophesied to; but also, for those gathered to the LORD in the very end times. The call to separate from Babylon – both literal and spiritual – is a call to purity, for those who bear the vessels of the LORD.

What will it mean for us tonight? What will it mean for us to leave the things of this world and keep ourselves pure? We see ever so clearly from this section that the actor in all of this is not God’s people. It is God Himself putting into action His salvation plan for His people. Our God who speaks, cares for His name. He cares that His people know Him and His voice. He hears His people in suffering and exile - because of their own sin — and He sends His own Son to redeem them — to redeem us. How precious is this truth — that the Gospel about God: God is the hero, working salvation for His people. It is not us, nor is it our doing. The gospel is about God and what He has done. 

How will you respond to this gospel?

(C) Gospel for the upside-down world: the Servant laid low will be exalted, and wash the sins of the nations away (Isa 52:13-15)

Who will be at the centre of God’s plans for the future, what and how will He achieve this? It is the Servant of the Lord who leads His people — and we know this Servant as Jesus Christ (Isa 52:13-15). He will act wisely. Notice the reversal language of His work. From being marred beyond human semblance or disfigured physically to the point of humiliation, He will be glorified. And thus He will be high and lifted up, exalted as on high. 

The servant, laid low, will now be lifted up. And what will be the result of His work? The kings will be silenced, and they will not understand this amazing work, but ultimately, this will achieve His “sprinkling” or washing of the nations. This language of washing the nations, no doubt means that He will wash them clean — not just Israel — and He will deal with all their sins. 

We see God’s salvation that extends to the ends of the earth. John the Baptist later speaks of the baptism of the Spirit that Jesus brings (Matt 3:11-12), and 1 Peter 3:21 talks of how baptism is the sign of this cleansing work, where all our sins are washed away. This is not a point on baptism vs sprinkling. Rather, it is a point that the result of the Gospel is the cleansing of the nations. It is the reversal of the curse of sin, it is God making all things right and new.

Friends, this beautiful upside-down Gospel that is about God and His working for our salvation is for this upside-down world. This upside-down gospel is for upside-down people like you and I. Repent and believe in Christ, and rejoice and sing of this wonderful news, because God has promised in His Word to right all the wrongs through His Servant Jesus Christ. This is why we sing of His wonderful name every Christmas, and indeed every time we open His word. We are a people who know Him by His word, and praise God for Christ has come.

This is the message of Christmas. His salvation plan has come for the world, the nations. How will you respond to this God? How will you respond to the God who has called us so?