Isaiah 52
I. (1-39) Condemnation
A. Chapters 1-12—Prophecies against Israel and Judah
B. Chapters 13-23—Prophecies against the Nations
C. Chapters 24-27—Prophecies of the Day of the Lord
D. Chapters 28-35—Prophecies of Judgment and Blessing
E. Chapters 36-39—Historical accounts
II. (40-66) Consolation
A. Chapters 40-48—Israel’s God
B. Chapters 49-54— Israel’s Messiah
1. \\#Is 49:1-26\\ Messiah’s Mission
2. \\#Is 50:1-11\\ Messiah’s Obedience
3. \\#Is 51:1-52:12\\ Messiah’s Message
a. \\#51:1-8\\ Listen to God
b. \\#51:9-16\\ Awake, O Lord, Deliver Israel
c. \\#51:17-23\\ Awake, O Jerusalem, A Change Is Coming
d. \\#52:1-12\\ Awake, O Zion, Accept Your Freedom - This
section continues with the last chapter. All of it is
endtime.
4. \\#52:13-53:12\\ Messiah’s Life - Because so much of this section
goes over into the next chapter, we will put all of the material
in chapter 53.
I. \\#52:1-12\\ Awake, O Zion, Accept Your Freedom
A. \\#1-3\\ Get Up and Get Busy
1. \\#1\\ "henceforth there shall no more come into thee the
uncircumcised" The uncircumcised are the Gentiles. This promise to
keep them out of Jerusalem and Zion makes this a millennial
prophecy. For until then, Gentiles shall either reign over or
greatly influence what happens in Israel.
Luke 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
2. \\#1\\ "Awake… Zion" - Zion is a section of the holy city
Jerusalem. It represents the political powers of Israel. Especially
with the removal of the Gentiles, this is a call for the leadership
in Israel to wake up and start doing what God has called them to do.
a. \\#1\\ "put on thy strength" - Israel’s strength has always been
God.
b. "put on thy beautiful garments" - These would be the garments of
holiness and purity.
c. \\#2\\ "Shake thyself from the dust, arise" - God commands
Israel’s leadership to get up out of the dust. The dust is the
place of defeat.
d. "and sit down" - Yet, they are not to fight or flee but to sit.
Sitting is the position of rest. Israel will not be defeated
any longer and need not care for her state of being. The Lord
will now do that for her.
e. "loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter" -
Israel is being told to take the freedom which God has always
offered to her.
(1) \\#3\\ "Ye have sold yourself for nought" - Israel has
enslaved her own self—and for nothing.
(2) "ye shall be redeemed without money" - A slave could set
himself free by raising the money needed to purchase
himself. That is not how Israel will be freed. God will
win that freedom for her by defeating her enemies.
B. \\#4-6\\ God’s Reasoning
1. \\#4\\ "My people went down… Egypt" - A reference to Jacob and his
family moving to Egypt.
2. "the Assyrian oppressed them without cause" - The meaning of this
phrase is unclear.
a. Some want to make the case that the phrase "the Assyrian" refers
to the anti-Christ. It is used seven times by Isaiah and five
other times by others. While some of the references could be
a cloaked reference to the anti-Christ, some can not
(i.e. \\#Is 23:13\\). This would mean to accept the phrase as
the anti-Christ in a verse, we would need additional evidence.
b. It is difficult to tie the Assyrians in any way to Israel’s
sojourning in Egypt. Although Pharaoh became a cruel ruler over
the Jews, he was not Assyrian.
c. Perhaps the easiest understanding is that from Egypt to Assyria,
the present threat to Israel’s freedom, His people have been
oppressed "without cause."
3. \\#5\\ So God asks the question…
a. "what have I here" - What did I get out of it? Israel sold
itself for nothing so God, their Owner, certainly has not
profited.
b. "and my name continually every day is blasphemed" - And to top
it off, God’s name is not held in regard. This is true
regardless of whether the passage speaks of the oppressive
rulers or the "howling" Jews.
4. \\#6\\ So God has made a decision.
a. "Therefore my people shall know my name" - The idea of know is
that Israel will be familiar with the name and the power it holds.
b. "in that day," they will know that God is the God that has
spoken these things.
c. The very phrase, "in that day," is an indication that the
fulfillment is an endtime prophecy.
C. \\#7-9\\ The People’s Rejoicing - A short song of praise
1. \\#7\\ God declares the feet of those who will proclaim the gospel
to Jerusalem and Zion as beautiful. Paul quotes this passage
in \\#Rom 10:15\\ and applies it to anyone going anywhere at any-
time with the gospel.
2. \\#8\\ "Thy watchman… together shall they sing" - The watchman
will no longer need to watch the wall. He will join the gospel
proclaimer in singing songs of praise to God.
3. \\#9\\ All the inhabitants of Jerusalem (if not all Israel) will
"Break forth into joy." The Lord will have both "comforted his
people" and "redeemed" them.
D. \\#10-11\\ The Lord’s Deliverance
1. \\#10\\ "The Lord hath bare his holy arm" - This is a phrase to
describe God "rolling up His sleeves and going to work." Israel
will be delivered because God delivered them.
2. "all the ends of the earth shall see" - This will not be something
done secretly or on a small scale. All the world will know when
this prophecy is fulfilled.
3. \\#11\\ "ye… that bear the vessels of the Lord" - This verse is
to the priests. God will reinstitute the priesthood during the
millennium.
4. "Depart ye… touch no unclean thing" - Israel’s priests have been
condemned by Isaiah for the filthy lives. Here God commands them
as they are re-commissioned to depart from sinful and unclean
ways. It is my belief that the priesthood will be required to
abide by many of the Old Testament laws.
5. This command to the priests is not just for the sake doing it. It
is because "the Lord will go before you and… be your rereward,"
that is, come behind them.
(The remainder of this chapter’s notes are in chapter 53.)
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