Isaiah 52

Isaiah 52

“1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”

Vs.1 – Isaiah is telling us to wake up and realize that we are sinners and that Jesus is coming to save us from our sins.

·        The physical Jerusalem had everyone coming into it, into the temple, to offer sacrifices for atonement of their sins.

v  Numbers 28:16-25

                      “16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the Lord.

17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.

18 In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:

19 But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish:

20 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenth deals shall ye offer for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram;

21 A several tenth deal shalt thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs:

22 And one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you.

23 Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering.

24 After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.

25 And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.”

 

·        They were “asleep”, blind to the fact that it is Jesus Who is our Sacrifice and Atonement of our sins. Isaiah is telling them to wake up and realize that our True Salvation is coming soon.

v  Romans 5:12-15 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

v  Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

·        The spiritual Jerusalem is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God does not have anyone who isn’t saved (the uncircumcised) and it does not have sinners (the unclean) “coming into” there.

v  We cannot be part of Zion (Jerusalem, the holy city) without putting on our Beautiful Garments. Jesus is our Beautiful Garments. He is our Strength.

v  Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

·        Once we are saved we are part of Zion (we are part of Jerusalem, of the holy city) we are part of the Kingdom of God, clothed by Jesus.

v  Romans 5:16-17 “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)”

 

Vs.2 – Isaiah is telling us to shake the dust of this dying, sinful world off of us.

 

·        When we realize we are sinners, we realize we are dying in this world of sin and death.
·        When we physically die, our bodies become dust (our physical death).

v  When we realize we are sinners (captive to sin), we realize that we are dying a spiritual death.

The choice we have to make is:

1.      Do we die a spiritual death with our True Sacrifice (saved by grace through faith in Jesus)?

2.      Or, do we die a spiritual death without our True Sacrifice (captive with the bands of sin around our neck and condemned to hell for eternity)?

v  When we choose to spiritually die with our True Sacrifice (and “loose” ourselves from the sinful “bands” around our neck), we desire to be forgiven and saved. We need to repent of our sins and ask Jesus, our True Sacrifice, for forgiveness and salvation. Only He can truly remove those bands of sin we are held captive to.

v  Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

v  When we spiritually die to this sinful world with our True Sacrifice, we die with Jesus who died a physical death for our sins (our spiritual death).

v  When we spiritually die saved, we put on Jesus (our Beautiful Garments, our Savior) and we arise from the spiritual dust of our spiritual death to sin. We spiritually arise with Jesus as He physically arose from His physical death on the third day.

v  Romans 5:10-11 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

v  When we are saved we sit down with Jesus in the Kingdom of God (both here on earth, and in Heaven when Jesus comes back for us).

v  Romans 5:1-2, 5 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God… And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

 

Vs. 3 - The Lord tells us “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”

v  Isaiah 52:4-5 “For thus saith 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, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.”

v  Genesis 46:6-7 “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.”

v  We are born into this world sinners.

v  Romans 5:20 “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. …”

v  Because of Jesus we are born into God’s Kingdom saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

v  Romans 5:20-21 “… But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

v  In the physical city of Jerusalem, the Jewish people brought sacrifices to atone for their sins. This cost them part of their flock. They paid a physical price for their sacrifice. But in the spiritual city of Jerusalem, Jesus pays that price for us. Jesus obeyed God when He told Jesus He would have to physically sacrifice Himself on the cross for our sins. It is a free gift for all who will receive it.

v  Romans 5:18-19 “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”