Well, you're right there at Isaiah
chapter 52, and that's where we're going to be looking at
today. We're going to study tonight
Isaiah 52. And as you can well anticipate,
we're coming up to Isaiah chapter 53, which is probably, if not
the most read and quoted, preached on chapter in this prophecy of
Isaiah. It certainly would rank up there
with the top. I had Brother Aaron read the
first 12 verses of Isaiah 52 and leave off the last three
of that chapter because, as you know, the chapter divisions and
verse divisions were not in the original manuscripts. They were added by the King James
translators, and thankfully so. But the last three verses of
this chapter actually goes more with Isaiah 53, which is the
prophecy of the suffering servant. the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're
going to look at tonight is good news of peace and salvation. This is the proclamation of salvation
that God gives, provides by His grace to His people. It's a proclamation,
the good news, the publishing of the news of peace between
God and sinners. Now, how is that salvation? How is that peace between God
and sinners brought about and in such a way that honors God
and meets the need of a sinner? You see, both have to be done.
God must be honored. He must be just. He must be holy
and righteous as well as merciful and gracious and loving. And
whatever He provides, if it's going to be good news to me and
to you, it has to provide fully and completely the need of a
sinner. How is that going to happen?
Well, the answer to that is in detail in Isaiah chapter 52 verses
13 all the way through chapter 53. God is going to send one
who is willing and who is able to save to the uttermost them
that come unto God by Him. And He is none other than the
prophesied Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is known as
the Suffering Servant, who is successful in Isaiah 53. But let's look at, this is sort
of a preparation for Isaiah 53, so let's get into it. The first
thing that we see in the first three verses of Isaiah 52 is
the mention of Zion. He says, Awake, awake, wake up,
wake up. This is another wake-up call.
He says, Put on thy strength, O Zion, Now, we know what Zion
is. We've seen that word used throughout
the book of Isaiah. It's in other passages of Scripture.
It's in the Psalms. It's quoted in the New Testament.
We think about Zion, Mount Zion, the physical mount that was in
Jerusalem. But this is not referring to
that physical mount. This is referring to the people
of God, the nation Israel. But prophetically and spiritually,
it's referring to the church. Now, what is the church? The
church is God's people, chosen of God before the foundation
of the world, redeemed at Calvary by the blood of Christ. And those
who will, each individual who makes up that collective body
called the church, will be called into the kingdom. They will be
born again. As Christ told Nicodemus, you
must be born again. In other words, you'll be given
spiritual life. That's called regeneration. And
you'll be converted, you'll be brought to see the glory of Christ
in light of the blackness of your own sin. You'll see how
wretched you are, and I am, in the sight of God's law to the
point that even our best efforts to be good will not make us good. You see that? Even our best efforts
to keep the law of God or the law of man will not make us righteous
before God. That even the best efforts that
we put forth to make an atonement, to make things right for our
sins, will not even contribute one iota to doing that. We can
cry, we can repent, we can promise to do better. We can resolve
to do better. But that is not going to put
away sin, and that's not going to make us righteous. And so
God is going to call each individual person into the kingdom by showing
them just that. But He's going to show them the
good news. Now, this is what this is about, good news of peace
and salvation. If I cannot be saved based on
my works, then where's the good news? Well, the good news is
grace. salvation conditioned on, fulfilled
by, and placed upon the shoulders of one who is able to put away
my sins, who is able to bring in righteousness for me. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So when He says, wake up, wake
up, put on thy strength, O Zion. Who is Zion's strength? What
is Zion's strength? Zion's strength is not in herself. Now, literal Zion, literal Israel,
the nation at this time who would be reading this prophecy of who
it was meant for, they were in exile, a conquered people in
Babylon. So where is their strength? They
couldn't get themselves out of that. They were there because
of their own sin and idolatry. They couldn't rise up in rebellion
and conquer the Babylonian empire, the Babylonian armies. Where
is Zion's strength? Well, Zion's strength is upward.
It's in God and God alone. The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, the God of the covenant, the God of promise. Now, where
is the church's strength? Spiritual Zion, spiritual Israel. We can't save ourselves. By nature,
we're in bondage to sin, to Satan, under the curse of the law. We're
born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins with no spiritual life
at all. We can't raise ourselves from
the dead. We cannot give ourselves spiritual
life. Somebody said, well, what's the
difference between being spiritually dead and spiritually alive? Well,
there's a lot of ways you can describe that. But I think one
of the most simple ways is to just say it this way, it has
to do with want to. What do you want to do? Do you
want to serve God? I know you can't serve God perfectly,
neither can I, but do you want to serve God? Do you love His
Word? Do you want to hear His Word
and read His Word? Do you want to feed upon His
Word or do you not? Spiritual death says no. A physically
dead person won't eat food, won't eat good food, no matter how
much you prepare it and put it in front of them. They don't
have the want to, they don't have any need for it. And that's the
way it is with a spiritually dead person. They have no concern
for it, no need for it. They might think about heaven
and hell. They might say, well, I want to go to heaven, I don't
want to go to hell. But when the Bible, the Word of God, which
is the food by the Spirit to the spiritually alive, is preached
and discussed and read and dealt with, they have no interest there.
Oh, I'll get there somehow. Maybe I'll think about it later.
A lot of different reasons. A lot of different excuses. But
you see, where is the power of the church? Well, the power of
the church is not in ourselves. It's not in our numbers. It's
not in our location. It's not in our efforts. The
power of the church is Christ and Him crucified, buried, and
risen. That's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. The Jews, they seek after a sign. That's what they're looking for.
They're looking for signs. Signs in the weather, signs in
the heavens, signs in the stars, signs in miracles. The Greeks,
they're seeking after wisdom. That is, earthly wisdom, human
wisdom, philosophies. To the ones who are called, be
called, what is it to be called? By the Spirit through the preaching
of the Word. Christ is both the power of God
and the wisdom of God. Christ is our power unto salvation. He's our Savior. Christ is our
power unto preservation. He's our Keeper. Christ is our
power unto glory. He'll bring us to glory unto
the end. Paul the Apostle wrote to the
church at Ephesus. He said, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of His mind. Don't
be strong in yourself because you have no strength. You have
no strength to save yourself. You have no strength to keep
yourself. You have no strength to bring yourself unto glory.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His mind. This is
speaking of the tidings of the Gospel, good tidings. That's
the Gospel. The Bible says the gospel, in
Romans 1-16, is the power of God unto salvation. That is, those who hear the gospel
in the power of the Holy Spirit and are brought to faith in Christ
and through repentance, which this scripture talks about here,
they are the ones that the gospel, the Word of God, has been sort
of like a dynamite within their souls. That's what that word
power in Romans 116, it's the Greek word denimos, which we
get dynamite from. And that's what it is. It's like
everything's blown up in our minds and in our hearts. What
we used to think, we don't think anymore. We know now the truth.
We know how God saves sinners. But look here at verse 1. He
says, wake up, wake up, put on thy strength, O Zion. What that
means is look to Christ and rest in Him. He says, put on thy beautiful
garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. This is the reference to
the righteousness of God in Christ which God imputes to His people.
His church is the holy garment. It's the garment of salvation.
Look over Isaiah 61. Turn over just a few pages to
Isaiah 61 and look at verse 10. This is what this is speaking
of. This is the wedding garment of the Bride of Christ. What
is the Bride of Christ? It's the church collectively,
made up of individuals, sinners saved by the grace of God. Well,
this is the wedding garment they put on. This is the wedding garment
she puts on. This is the garment of salvation.
Look at verse 10. He says, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. That
means I'm washed in His blood, His blood put away all my sins,
and I'm clothed in His righteousness. I have His righteousness charged,
credited to my account. He's the one who worked it out.
He's the one who did the work. He's the one who paid the debt.
But it's all put to my credit by a sovereign God to whom it
seemed good in His sight. And it says, He hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."
And look at verse 11, "...for as the earth bringeth forth her
bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it
to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all nations." Now go back to
Isaiah 52. That's what he's saying here.
When he says, "...put on thy beautiful garments," here's what
he means. Realize what you are in Christ. You know, that's our
strength and our power. Somebody says, well, I'm just
so sinful. I'm too rotten to be saved. Your
focus is on the wrong thing. You see, if you believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, focus on Him. Look to Him and rest in Him.
Realize what you are in. In yourself, you're nothing.
In myself, I'm nothing. But in Him, what am I? I'm righteous. I'm forgiven. I'm not guilty. I have a right standing before
God. In Him, I'm certain for heaven
as if I were already there, because as He is, so am I in this world. He's seated at the right hand
of the heavenlies, ever living to make intercession for me.
And that's our strength, he says. Look at verse 1 again. He says,
and this is the holy city, now notice here, Christ is the power
of God unto salvation because He is our righteousness. He is
our beauty. He is our glory because the judgment
is passed. He took our judgment on the cross.
That's what He did. That's why we won't stand before
God at judgment to be judged. We'll stand at judgment and it
will be declared that we are in Him before the whole universe
and God will be vindicated, His church will be vindicated. But
we've already been judged in Christ at Calvary. He bore our
sins and gave us His righteousness. And the gospel is the power of
God and the salvation because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. What is the righteousness of
God? Well, it's not the righteousness of man. I can tell you that.
It's the entire worth and value and merit of the obedience and
death of Christ. It's what he did. And he says,
holy city here. What is that holiness? He's not
talking about any inherent moral purity within Jerusalem. What's he talking about? He's
talking about that which sets Jerusalem apart from other cities. Now, you know, back in the Old
Testament, Jerusalem was known as the city of God. It was the
place where the temple was. It was the capital of the country,
of the people of God. It was known as the City of David.
I know Bethlehem was where David was born, and it's called the
City of David, but also Jerusalem was, because he was king. He
reigned from the throne of Judah in Jerusalem. And it was called
the Holy City. It's a type and picture of the
heavenly city, the eternal bliss and glory of heaven. Hebrews
12 says that. See, we're not members, we're
not citizens of an earthly Jerusalem, but we who know Christ, who is
our King, who sits on the throne of Judah spiritually, and will
ever do so, we're citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Well,
what set earthly Jerusalem apart from other cities? The Temple. It was the dwelling place of
God. It was the center of worship, you see. It was God. It wasn't
because the citizens of Jerusalem were just holier than thous.
You walked in Jerusalem, you see just all kinds of people
just like you'd see in Ashland, Kentucky. And they're all sinners. But what set them apart? The
presence of God set Jerusalem apart. Well, what sets spiritual
Jerusalem apart? The presence of God in Christ.
That's what separates us. You see, our separation is not
what we wear, or what we don't wear, or what we eat, and what
we don't eat, and things like that, what we watch and what
we don't watch. That's not what separates God's
people from the world. What separates us from the world
is just what He said. Our strength is Christ. Our righteousness is Christ. Our holiness is Christ and Him
crucified. That's what sets God's church
apart from false churches. That's what separates wheat from
tares, actually. Now look, he says here in verse
1, he says, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee
the uncircumcised and the unclean. In other words, there's not going
to be any more uncircumcised or unclean come into this city
of Jerusalem. Even though he's speaking to
national Israel in exile in Babylon, he's clearly not referring to
the earthly city of Jerusalem here. What does he say here? Now look at it again. For henceforth,
or from this time forward, there shall no more come in unto thee
the uncircumcised and the unclaimed. Now, that was not true of the
earthly Jerusalem. That was not true of them. There
were all kinds of Gentiles, uncircumcised people in earthly Jerusalem.
All kinds of unclean people. So what's he speaking of? Well,
clearly he's referring to a heavenly city here. An eternal spiritual
city here into which no uncircumcised or unclean person will enter
at all. Again, that's not true of earthly
Jerusalem, but I'll tell you something, it's true of heavenly
Jerusalem. It's true of that spiritual heavenly
city. He's speaking of a future spiritual
Jerusalem. Brother Aaron, you read it in
the study a while ago, Hebrews 12 and 22. When he's talking
about the people who have come to Christ, who rest in Him, who
believe in Him, he says, you're not come to Mount Zion and unto
the city of the living God. You're not come to Mount Sinai,
that earthly mountain where the law was given, but you are come
unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels or ministers.
So we've come to a heavenly city. And when he speaks of those who
are clean, who's he talking about? He's not talking about how we
are in ourselves. He's talking about those who
have been washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
our cleansing. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now, if you believe your tears can wash away your sins, or your
efforts, or your works, or the baptismal waters can wash away
your sins, the next time we sing that hymn, don't you sing it
with us, because you don't believe it. You see what I'm saying? The only thing that will make
a sinner clean, only one thing, and that's the blood of the crucified
Savior. Nothing else is going to make
you clean. Now the Bible speaks of the clean heart and the purified
heart. What is that? That's not the sinlessly perfect
mind, affections and wills. That's the heart that rests in
Christ for all cleanness. That's what he's talking about.
So only the clean shall enter this city. That's our sinlessness
in Christ. Not in ourselves, but in Christ. You see that? We're righteous
in Him. We're holy in Him. In Him we're
as clean as we'll ever be. Now one day we'll be clean within
ourselves, perfectly, because we'll have a new body. We'll
be changed, and we'll be sinlessly perfect in ourselves, but not
now. And so he says that the uncircumcised won't come in.
Well, what is an uncircumcised person when we speak of spiritual
matters? We're talking about an unbeliever,
one who has not been born again by the Spirit of God. Look over
Romans 2. We've read this several times, but it fits right here
with what we're talking about. Romans 2 and verse 28. What he's
talking about is spiritual circumcision of the heart. Isn't that right?
Here's what he's saying. Who's going to come in and inhabit
this heavenly Jerusalem? Those who have been washed in
the blood of Christ and those who have been born again by the
Spirit. The washing of the blood of Christ, that's the ground
of our salvation, that's our righteousness before God, that's
our right standing. The washing of regeneration,
the new birth, is the fruit and the result of what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. And here's what Paul says in
verse 28 of Romans 2, for he's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew spiritually which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, not
according to the law, but by the Holy Spirit, whose praise
is not of men, but of God." Have you been spiritually circumcised? Do you hear the gospel of Christ? Do you hear these good tidings?
Are they good tidings to you? I'll tell you what, when he says,
how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet that bringeth the
good tidings, that's the person you like to see coming. You know,
sometimes I'll hear that doorbell ring and I'll be sitting there
and I'll say, shoot. You ever done that? Sitting at your home
and the doorbell rings and you say, shoot. I just sat down.
Sometimes you want to go to the window where you can peek out
and you want to see who's there so you can act like you're not
home. But what if you got out there
and you peeked out that window and you looked out there and
you saw a little van and it said prize patrol? Ed McMahon finally didn't lie
to you. There's 10 million bucks out there waiting for me. Now
would you be glad to see that fella coming? You bet you would. Man, he's got beautiful feet
that bring him to your door. to give you the good times. Well,
that's the way it is if you've been spiritually circumcised
in heart and ears. Because you know what you need.
You know you're a sinner and you deserve nothing but condemnation
and hell. And that's based on your best
efforts. And here comes that fellow with the prize betrothed. And the prize is a heavenly prize.
He's got the news. And he says, your sins have been
put away. You're not guilty, and in return
you have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
justice. You like to hear that? Your ears
have been spiritually circumcised. That's what you like to hear.
And that's who's going to enter and inhabit this city. Look at
verse 2 now. He says, He says, shake thyself
from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem.
Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter
of Zion. Now, the picture here is one
who is cast down in sorrow. Here's these people, Jerusalem.
They're in exile in Babylon. They want to go home. You ever
been in a place you just want to go home so bad? You can't
go because you're trapped or you're caught or you're unable
to do it. You just want to go home. And
that's what he's saying here. They're cast down in sorrow.
Their home here is in the dust. And he says, shake thyself from
the dust. And then they're captive. He said, loose from thy bands
of the neck. And what the picture is here
is people who are cast down because of sin. And they're in bondage
to the law and to Satan who accuses them. And here's what he's saying. Get up! Rise up! And loose those bands, O daughter
of Zion." And look at verse 3, "'For thus saith the Lord, you
sold yourselves for naught or for nothing, and you shall be
redeemed without money.'" You know Jerusalem, the earthly Jerusalem,
they went after other gods for this reason. They thought it
would help them. They went after idols because
they thought they gained something from that. They went after unholy
alliances with idolatrous nations because they thought that would
do them some good. This is going to help us. You can just hear
people come along and say, now look. Later on, he says here,
look at verse 4. He says, For thus saith the Lord
God, my people went down before time into Egypt, and then he
mentions Assyria. Here's these Assyrians out here,
and they're getting ready to come over into the city. Let's
go over here and make an alliance. Instead of depending on God who
made us a promise, And instead of relying on His power and His
goodness and His provision, let's go over here and make an alliance
with Ethiopia or Egypt. That will help us. And you can
just see the sense in that, can't you? Well, what's happened there,
see, they went after other gods, other nations. What's happened
is they really, in doing that, they sold themselves out for
nothing. Because you know what? They didn't
gain anything. from their alliances with these
other nations, they didn't gain anything from their idolatry
because a false god cannot help you, cannot save you. Whatever
it is you're going after to get fulfillment, let me tell you
something, if it's anything, I'm talking about salvation now,
if it's anything but the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,
and His glory, and His life and resurrection. I'm going to tell
you what you're doing. You're selling yourself out into
bondage for nothing. That's what he means there. Sold
yourself. Here you are now. He says, listen,
nothing can be gained by idolatry. Nothing can be gained by the
service of sin. It may feel good for a moment,
but the day is coming. Am I right? Nothing can be gained
by the works of men aimed towards salvation. Paul saw that in Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 7. He said, that which I thought
recommended me unto God I found to be nothing. He saw, Paul,
Saul of Tarsus showed himself out to religion, to dedication. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
And he said, I counted all but nothing. He sold himself out
for nothing. That's what a sinner does when they seek salvation
from God based on their works. And they might be really dedicated
to it now. Some are more dedicated than
others. Some are working hard, as that old country song says,
to get to heaven. Working hard! Well, let me tell
you what you're doing. You're selling yourself out for
nothing. Because you can't get there by
your works. That's what he's saying. Vanity of vanities. Ecclesiastes
says that's what it is. Everything. Everything. But salvation by God's grace
in Christ is vanity of vanities in this matter of eternity. It's
fruit unto death. Paul called it in Romans 7. Fruit
unto death. It's fruitful, but it's unto
death. It's the fruit of death. And it leads to death. But here
he says, for you shall be redeemed without money. Now, you're going
to be redeemed without money. Who is? The daughters of Zion.
The people of God. God's chosen people. But it's
not that it costs nothing. The fact that you're going to
be redeemed without money doesn't mean it doesn't cost anything.
It costs nothing, but there's a price for us, but there's a
price to be paid for another. You see, our spiritual and eternal
redemption from sin, from Satan, from the law, from the world,
from death, and from hell is obtained not with the price of
silver and gold, not with the price of our works and our dedication,
but with the price of the precious blood of the Lamb of God. That's
what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, wasn't it? You're not redeemed
with corruptible things. but with the precious blood of
Christ. And it's without our work, it's redemption without
the law. The scripture says in Romans
3.21, what do you mean without the law? That means without my
works under the law. It's redemption that's bought
with His work under the law. That's why He was made under
the law, God and man in one person, to redeem them that were under
the law, Galatians 4 and verse 4. Who is He? Well, He's described in great
detail over here in Isaiah 53. This is the price. Isaiah 53
shows you what it costs. Huh? You're going to be redeemed
without money. It's not going to cost you a thing or me a thing.
It's going to cost God something. You want to see what it cost
Him? Read Isaiah 53. And that's what we'll be getting
to later on. But you see, without any price paid to those by whom
we're held captive, We don't have to pay Satan. You know,
a lot of people think that Christ offered himself to Satan on the
cross. He didn't offer himself to Satan. He offered himself
unto God. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Now, we don't
have to pay a price to Satan, but it's against God against
whom we sin. It's to God against whom we sin,
whose law we've broken. whose justice must be satisfied.
And let me tell you something, the blood of Christ is a sufficient
price to answer all that is required, every cost. Redemption costs
us nothing, but it costs God His only begotten Son. Look at
verse 4 again. Now, here the Lord vindicates
His name before those who blaspheme His name. He says, for thus saith
the Lord God, my people went down a forth time into Egypt
to sojourn there. That's back at the end of Genesis
and then through Exodus. And the Assyrian oppressed them
without cause. That's during the reign of Ahaz
and King Hezekiah. The Assyrian Empire, remember
the Assyrian Empire was the one who destroyed the Northern Kingdom.
And they oppressed the Southern Kingdom in Judah and Jerusalem.
Verse 5, Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord,
that my people is taken away for nothing? They that rule over
them make them to howl, saith the Lord, and my name continually
every day is blasphemed." What he's saying here is this. There's
two things that God has against the enemies of God and the enemies
of His people. Number one, they oppress His
people for nothing. It's for their own selfish desires. They're not doing anything noble,
anything holy. It's not for the cause of God
in truth. It's just their own selfish desires, and they oppress
God's people. Secondly, they blaspheme the
name of God continually. Blaspheme the name of God. That
means that they count God to be nothing. They don't even think
about it. Just go through their life. You know what? You might
think in your mind, you might say, well, now I haven't blasphemed
God because I haven't said GD, or I haven't done this, or I
haven't said that. Let me tell you something. You go on through
your life not even thinking about God, not seeking the Lord, not
giving Him the glory due unto His name, do you know that's
what you're doing? You're blaspheming God. In fact, every day you're
alive is a blaspheming day. That's right. I mean, I know
that's harsh, but that's the truth. You see, God made you.
God made me. He put us where we are. He gave
us our mind and our heart and everything we have by way of
goodness and blessing. Well, what are we to do? We're
to seek the Lord. We're to follow after Him in His Word. Well,
look here in verse 6. He says, "...therefore my people
shall know my name. Therefore they shall know, in
that day that I am he that doth speak, behold, it is I." God's
people are going to know Him. They're going to know Him intimately.
They're going to know Him graciously. They're going to know Him by
revelation. They're going to know Him in Christ. God's going to
be glorified in His people. In Isaiah's day, they didn't
know the Lord. In Jeremiah's day, they didn't know the Lord.
Look at Jeremiah 31. Look over here. Verse 31. He's speaking here
of a future day, the day of the new covenant. And he says in verse 31 of Jeremiah,
he says, verse 31 of chapter 31, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
with the house of Judah, that's spiritual Israel, the church,
Zion. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." This is not
like the covenant at Sinai. He said, which my covenant they
break, although I wasn't husband unto them, saith the Lord. They
broke the covenant even though I was joined to them. But he
says in verse 33, but this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my law in their inward parts. write it in their hearts,
and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord." Now, why do you have to teach
somebody to know the Lord? Because they don't know the Lord.
But he says here in this new covenant, "...for they shall
all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more." What's He talking about? He's talking about
salvation by His grace in Christ. And He says, My people are going
to know about it. He's going to teach us. That's what the
Holy Spirit does in the new birth. He teaches us of Christ. Look
back at Isaiah 52. Look at verse 7 now. Now here's
the whole earth sees that the Lord redeems Zion. Listen to
this. He says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth. This is gospel. He's talking
about gospel preachers here. They've got good news. They've
got better news than even old Ed McMahon could have for you.
I know we don't see that sometimes. If I came to you saying you've
won $10 million, you'd say that's good news. But this is better
news. Because that $10 million, either you're going to go through
it like Grant took Richmond, Or you're going to die before
it's gone. And somebody else is going to go through it. But
it's gone, it's fleeting. But now here's good news of a
wealth that'll never, never, never go dry. Never be used up. That's what it is. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How are
they going to call upon Him of whom they've not believed? How
are they going to believe in Him of whom they've not heard? How are they
going to hear without a preacher? How beautiful are the feet! The
feet speak of activity, motion, progress, and those who are active
and moving in the work of preaching the gospel have these beautiful
feet. And you know why their feet are
beautiful? Not because they've had a manicure. It's because they bring the preacher
with a beautiful message of a beautiful Savior for the needy, helpless
sinner. That's why. They proclaim peace
between God and sinners. God reconciled the sinners. Sinners
reconciled to God. How? For God made Christ to be
sin. Christ who knew no sin. For us
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Good tidings of
good, He says. That's the goodness of God in
Christ. And they proclaim salvation from
a sovereign God by a sovereign grace in Christ. Look at verse
8. He says, Thy watchman shall lift
up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring
again Zion." These watchmen are those, I believe it's referring
specifically to those who were there at the time of the Lord's
coming, when He actually came into the world. Think about the
shepherds to whom the angel appeared. Glory to God in the highest and
peace on earth. Goodwill towards men. Think about
Simeon in the temple when he lifted up the Christ child and
said, Now I'm ready to die, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
He was a watchman. He was watching. Think about
the wise men from the east who came bearing gifts for the Christ
child. Think about John the Baptist
who was the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way,
behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
Think about Andrew, Peter's brother, who ran to Peter and he cried,
we found the Messiah. which is being interpreted, the
Christ. We found Him. He was a watchman. Think about
Philip who found Nathanael and cried, We found Him of whom Moses
in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph. He is the Messiah. The apostles
and the evangelists who saw with their own eyes the coming of
the Lord to do His great work on earth and establish His church.
They said, We are eyewitnesses of these things. We watched.
They were watchmen. Verse 9, here's the message of
the watchman. Break forth into joy, sing together,
you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his
people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. There's their message. He's comforted
his people how? By a finished work. By a price
that's been paid in full. The Lord hath redeemed Jerusalem. He didn't come with a message
saying, now, he's done his part, now if you'll just do yours.
That's not the watchman's message. The watchman's message is the
Lord hath paid the price in full. He has redeemed Jerusalem. Christ
has finished the work. Now believe in Him. Rest in Him.
Trust in Him. Follow Him. He's your only hope. He says in verse 10, "...the
Lord hath 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." What does it mean, the Lord hath made bare His arm?
If you're going to go to work, what do you do? Roll up the sleeves
and you get busy. And that's what that's talking
about. The Lord hath made bare his holy honor. He's done a work. He's shown it forth. Not just
to one nation of people, such as the Jews, but he's made that
work that he has accomplished through his son at Calvary. In
putting away sin and working out righteousness, He's made
that all the earth shall see the salvation of our God. God
has a people out of every tribe, gender, tongue and nation. It's
not limited to any nation, not limited to any race. God's people,
all who come unin, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. And that's a reference to Christ
and Him crucified. He says in Isaiah 53, to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed. To whom is Christ revealed in
His finished work. Christ the power and wisdom of
God. And then lastly, look at the
last two verses here. Verse 11 and 12. Here's a call
to faith and repentance. Now I want you to see this. This
is important. In verse 11, what we have here
is a picture of a call to repentance. He says, Depart ye. Depart ye. Go ye out from thence. Get out
of there. Now, here's Jerusalem in Exom,
Babylon. That's a picture of a sinner
in bondage. And he's saying, get out of there.
Get out of that place. And he says, touch no unclean
thing. Go ye out of the midst of her.
Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Now, you remember,
when Nebuchadnezzar, about 120 years, or no, 70 years actually,
before Israel came out of Babylon. Remember, he destroyed Jerusalem
and destroyed the temple, and he took the vessels of the tabernacle
into Babylon. And remember, they were abused
by Belshazzar, and that's when Osiris and the Persian army came
in and took them one night, destroyed them. Well, those vessels that
had been made were to be taken back to Jerusalem. and placed
in the new temple that Zerubbabel was going to build and Ezra and
Nehemiah. Well, what did those vessels
represent? Every vessel in the tabernacle
represented some aspect of the glorious person and offices and
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? So what he's saying here is when
you come out of Babylon, when you come out of that bondage,
when you come out of that false religion, Don't you take anything
unclean with you. Don't bring your works. Don't
bring your efforts. Don't bring your experiences.
Don't bring your religion. All you need to bring is Christ. That's what repentance is all
about. Paul said, well, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Leave that
behind. That's unclean. If you think that will recommend
you unto God, that's when it becomes unclean. Now listen to
what I'm saying. You see, there's nothing inherently
unclean about being a Hebrew. But if you think that being a
Hebrew will recommend you unto God or contribute in any way
to your salvation or your righteousness before God, then it becomes an
unclean thing. Same thing with being an American.
Nothing wrong with being an American. But let me tell you something,
just because you waved that flag doesn't mean you're a child of
God. I don't care how many times you say, one nation under God,
and if you think it does, leave it out. Leave it behind. It's
an unclean thing. Don't bring it. Repent of dead
works and idolatry. This is a narrow way, he said.
John the Baptist said, bring to the Pharisees, bring forth
fruits, meat for repentance. And don't think to say in your
heart, we're Abraham's children. In other words, if you think
your physical connection with Abraham is your righteousness
before God, or your salvation, or recommends you unto God, then
that's something... God's going to lay the axe to
that root. Matthew chapter 3. The only thing you need for salvation,
for glory, for righteousness, for life, is Christ, the Lord
of glory. And then he says in verse 12,
for you shall not go out with haste, nor by flight, go by flight,
for the Lord will go before you. Christ is the author of our salvation. He'll go before you. You know
how I can enter into the holiest of all? Because I've got a forerunner
who went in for me. He did it on the cross of Calvary.
He shed His blood. He brought forth righteousness.
And when He arose from the dead, He ascended unto the Father.
And it's by His blood that I can enter in. He goes before me.
That's faith. I can enter into the holiest
by the blood of Christ. Believe in Him. So He goes before
us. Just like Moses came out with
the children of Israel. Moses representing Christ. Just
like Joshua took Him over into the Promised Land. Christ goes
before us. He's the author of our salvation.
He's the author of our faith. But look here, he says, and the
God of Israel will be your re-reward. That's a strange word, isn't
it? Re-reward. What it means is literally your
rear guard. He's going to bring up the rear
too. In other words, Christ is also the finisher of our faith. Not only is He the beginner who
goes before us, But He's the one who brings up the rear guard.
He don't even leave us to finish it. He finishes it. He saves me. He keeps me. And He'll bring me to glory.
That's faith in Him. That's repentance. Isn't that
something? Isn't that comforting? Now, how's
all that going to be accomplished? Well, that's what the subject
of Isaiah 52, 13 and all of Isaiah 53 is about.