"Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for thenceforth shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord, You have sold yourselves for nought; and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore what have I here, says the Lord, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that speaks: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns! Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together you waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Zion. 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. Depart, depart, go out from thence, touch no unclean thing; goout from the midst of her; be clean, you that bear the vessels of the Lord. 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 rereward {Rereward: the rear guard of an army (Webster); same as "rearward" (Chambers)}." (Isaiah 52:1-21)
Called Out of Babylon
The last paragraph [verses 11-12] gives us the key to the whole chapter. It is the call to go out of Babylon, the same call that we found in: "Go forth of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say, The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob." (Isaiah 48:20)
God's people are called forth from Babylon, "that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4)
And so here the call is to come out, and be clean. It is the last call, before the final Judgment at the coming of the Lord. The chapter before us presents the closing of the work: "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17)
It presents the people prepared, and waiting for His coming. This is seen from the first verse: "Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for thenceforth shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean." (Isaiah 52:1)
It takes people to make a city. So all that is said of Zion applies to those who are prepared to dwell in her. The holy city means a holy people. The preceding chapter presents the people in captivity, longing for freedom, and here we have the deliverance complete.
Beautiful Garments
Zion is called upon to put on her beautiful garments. The city itself, the new Jerusalem, is "the bride, the Lamb's wife." (Revelation 21:9) "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7) "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God," (Revelation 21:9-10) "Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all." (Galatians 4:26)
But as a mother lives only for her children, so the new Jerusalem exists only for her inhabitants--her children. They are her ornament. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Revelation 21:2) "Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you. Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the Lord, you shall surely clothe yourself with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does." (Isaiah 49:17-18)
Therefore the beautiful garments of Zion are the beautiful garments of the inhabitants of Zion. What are they? "To her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." (Revelation 19:8)
The call, "put on your beautiful garments," (Isaiah 52:1) indicate that they are all prepared. We have not to manufacture them; they have been woven in the loom of heaven, by the Master workman; and they are laid up waiting for "whosoever will" (Revelation 22:17) take them. "Oh how great is your goodness, which You have laid up for them that fear You; which You have wrought for them that trust in You before the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19)
In this connection read Zechariah 3:1-5. Joshua the priest stood before the angel of the Lord, clothed in filthy garments, and Satan stood at his right hand to resist him [verse 1]. The Lord rebuked Satan, and the words are very striking when compared with these in Isaiah. "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan; even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you." (Zechariah 3:2)
Then the Lord said, "Take away the filthy garments from him;" (Zechariah 3:4) and to Joshua, He said: "Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment." (Zechariah 3:4)
So there is no possible doubt as to what these beautiful garments are. They are God's salvation, to which the corruption and filth of this present evil world will not stick. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." (Isaiah 61:10) "For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalm 149:4)
Clothed with this salvation, we are preserved from "the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)
Liberty for the Captive
Christ has become partaker of flesh and blood, in order that "through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:14-15) "He has visited and redeemed His people." (Luke 1:68)
Freedom from all bondage is already theirs. It will be remembered that when Jesus saw the woman in the synagogue, who had been bound by Satan with a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and who could in nowise lift herself upright, He said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." (Luke 13:12)
She was loosed, even while she was bowed over; Jesus simply proclaimed to her that she was free to rise if she chose; and she did so. Even so Jesus has come to proclaim liberty to the captives. There is not a bond upon a single person on earth, that might not at once be shaken off, if the individual only knew and believed that God had given him his freedom. "Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." (Isaiah 52:2)
The captive daughter of Zion is told to loose herself from the bands of her neck. The bands are broken; she has only to throw them off. This is the message that every minister of the Gospel, and every person who has been made one with Christ, is commissioned to proclaim to a world of sinners,--that they have only to assert their liberty in the name of Jesus, and they have it. Christ has broken the bands; it remains only for them to show their desire for freedom, by casting them off.
Surely everything has been done that could be done. Let it be proclaimed with a loud voice to the ends of the earth, that there is no soul bound by any sin whatever, except by his own will. He is at liberty, if he wishes to exercise his freedom. Whoever is in bondage to any evil habit, is in bondage because he loves to be, or else he has not yet learned the proclamation of freedom. Then let the sound ring out everywhere, that all who love liberty may have it.
Satan makes great promises, but he never fulfills them. He has nothing to give. His promises are empty. Whoever yields to him, sells himself to be a slave, for nothing. He made Eve believe that by disobeying God she would be like God, but instead she became like him. Instead of life, she found death. "For thus says the Lord, You have sold yourselves for nought; and you shall be redeemed without money." (Isaiah 52:3) "You were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." (1 Peter 1:18-19,RV
Money is not the most necessary thing in this world. Common things can be bought with it; with money we can buy things that are of no value, and which perish with the using; but the most valuable things cannot be bought with money; there are things so valuable that nothing can buy them, and they must be received as a gift. These are the things that are lasting, things that become more enduring with the using.
Egypt and Babylon
"For thus says the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause." (Isaiah 52:4)
Recall the circumstances under which Israel went into Egypt. It was at the invitation of the king, because he and his whole land and people were under the greatest obligation to the son of Israel. They owed their lives to Joseph. Joseph died, and the people of Israel multiplied exceedingly, and "There arose a new king, which knew not Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)
There arose another dynasty, a line of kings of Assyrian origin, and they of course had no regard for the sacred traditions of the country, and what Joseph had done for the land was nothing to them. So it was that, going into Egypt, God's people were oppressed by the Assyrian.
Babylon was the continuation of Assyria, and Egypt and Babylon are both the personification of pride, and of haughty insolence against God. By both nations have the people of God suffered special hardships, having been in captivity in both countries. The deliverance, therefore, of the people of God is from Egypt and Babylon. Out of both Egypt and Babylon are God's children called. "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." (Hosea 11:1)
The Model Preachers
We have already noted the good tidings of peace and freedom that all who know the Lord are to announce to the world. Those who bring these glad tidings are beautiful even to their feet. How beautiful they are, and how they are to give their message, may be learned by comparing a few texts of Scripture. We have to start with this one in Isaiah: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7)
Here are the others: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4) "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." (Romans 10:13-18)
Notice that in this last portion we have quotations from the first two. The argument is that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved; but some might object that many have not had an opportunity to call upon His name, and so the apostle meets this objection, by showing:
1. That provision has been made for belief, in that preachers have been sent, and he quotes from Isaiah to prove it; and
2. He shows that everybody has heard the message of peace, and good news of salvation, which these preachers publish, because "their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
But it is the firmament and the host of heaven, whose words have gone unto the ends of the earth, reaching "every creature which is under heaven." (Colossians 1:23)
Therefore it is the sun, moon, and stars, whose beautiful feet are seen upon the mountains, proclaiming glad tidings of good. They are our models in preaching.
How the Heavens Preach
How do the heavens preach? Simply by giving out the light that God has given them. That is all, and it is all that He expects of any person on earth. Light is life, and we can give out the light that God has given us, only by allowing the life of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal flesh. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)
Nobody can make known a thing that he himself does not know; and nobody can know the Gospel unless Christ lives in him. "To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen." (Galatians 1:16) "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27)
He who talks that which is not his own life, is giving only empty sound; it is like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Christ is the Word, and the Word is life: so that every word that He uttered was simply the giving out of the fullness of His life. When the Gospel is presented in that way, it beautifies the preacher. So, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:3)
The Lord at Work
"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." (Isaiah 52:10)
What an expressive figure is presented in verse 10! We have all seen the farmer or the blacksmith at work. When we see him take off his coat and roll up his sleeves, we know that he intends to work in earnest. He does not wish to be hindered by anything in his way. To "strip for the fight" or for the race, is a well-known term. So the scripture tells us that: "The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations," (Isaiah 52:10) and as the result, "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10)
Who need fear, with God at work in that manner for his salvation?
The preceding chapter presented to us the view of God's people under ban, captive exiles waiting the coming of Him who is to set them free: here we have it stated that they shall not run from their prisons like jail-breakers: "You shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight." (Isaiah 52:12)
Why not? Because the Lord is before and behind them. Very forcibly is it translated by Lowth: "For Jehovah shall march in your front; And the God of Israel shall bring up your rear." (Isaiah 52:12)
Therefore "the arrow that flies by day" will cause no fear. No weapon ever forged or cast in any arsenal of earth can possibly pierce the rampart that the presence of God makes for His people. "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I see after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." (Psalm 27:1-6)--Present Truth, March 15, 1900--Isaiah 52:1-12.