Awake, Zion, and Celebrate: Your God Reigns

Isaiah 52:1-12

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isa 52:7)

Main Idea: Zion is commanded to awake, throw off defiled garments, and celebrate the glory of God’s sovereign reign.

1. God Exalts Zion from the Dust of Exile (52:1-6).
   1. Zion is awakened and clothed with holy garments (52:1).
   2. Zion arises from bondage and sits enthroned (52:2).
   3. Zion is redeemed to know the Lord (52:3-6).
2. Beautiful Feet Bring Joyful News: “Your God Reigns!” (52:7-12).
   1. The feet of messengers are beautiful (52:7).
   2. The good news is peace, goodness, and salvation because God reigns (52:7).
   3. The news produces shouts of joy (52:8-9).
   4. The salvation displays God’s power (52:10).
   5. Therefore, depart in holiness and journey safely to Zion (52:11-12).

God Exalts Zion from the Dust of Exile

Isaiah 52:1-6

In Isaiah 52 we see the amazing grace of God toward Zion, the Holy City where God puts his name and in which God dwells in active fellowship with his people. Jerusalem was that city, but it had become polluted by sin such that it had become like a prostitute (1:21) and was trampled by the feet of defiled invaders (52:1). Isaiah 52 calls on this defiled harlot to rise up out of the filth and become radiantly glorious.

Once again, the context is the end of the exile to Babylon, for in verse 2 God addresses “captive Daughter Zion.” Now the filth of shame brought on by idolatry is finally to be washed away. The spiritual sloth of Zion is over, and she is commanded twice, “Wake up!” (v. 1). God is promising to work in the heart of his remnant and transform them from the inside out. They will awaken from their sinful sleep and find power in the Lord. They are to rise up from the filth and put on radiant garments of holiness. Jerusalem is to be the holy city, set apart unto the Lord, a place into which the unclean will never again enter. Formerly sitting in squalor, Zion will now sit on a throne of glory.

The price of Zion’s redemption is the topic of verses 3-6. Zion was sold for nothing, so her captors have no lasting claim on her. God is thus able to redeem her out of slavery without the payment of gold or silver. The degradation of the chosen people of God has brought his name blasphemy all day long (v. 5), and so out of zeal for his own holy name God will redeem them from exile. And when he does redeem them, his people will know his name and give him praise (v. 6).

We should read these verses in light of the redeeming work of Christ. First Peter 1:18-19 says powerfully,

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

No silver or gold could ever have ransomed us from slavery to sin but only the blood of Christ. And like Assyria and Babylon, Satan’s kingdom had no lasting claim on the children of God, so the ransom was not paid to him but to the righteous claims of God’s law.

Beautiful Feet Bring Joyful News: “Your God Reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7-12

Next we see a herald running to Zion to proclaim the joyful news: “Peace! Salvation! Your God reigns!” The image of watchmen on the walls of Zion waiting for this news is powerful, for the literal walls of Jerusalem would be piles of rubble at that point. But the hearts of all exiled Jews were longing for the day when the Lord would return to Zion and rebuild Jerusalem. In this chapter that day has come at last! The news is carried by a herald, and it is so welcome even his feet would be seen to be beautiful by those eager to hear his news. The message is a triple one: (1) “Peace!” God is at peace with his people; the time of Jerusalem’s warfare has ended (see Isa 40:2 KJV)! (2) “Salvation!” Zion’s sins have been paid for and she will not be condemned! (3) “Your God reigns!” The glory for all this goes to God alone! The message results in overwhelming joy on the part of the “watchmen” who were waiting for this very day, whether literally in the ruins of Jerusalem or living in exile with hearts longing for Jerusalem to be restored. Every eye will see the Lord’s return to Jerusalem, and all nations will hear of the greatness of Zion’s God. Before all nations, he has bared his holy arm; Babylon is crushed by the power of God.

This section ends with a breathless and tripled command: “Leave, leave, go out from there!” The command refers to God’s chosen people leaving Babylon and returning home to Jerusalem. As you leave Babylon, touch nothing filthy, for God yearns to cleanse you from the defilement of that city. The text mentions the carrying of the Lord’s vessels, a clear reference to the sacred articles that would have been taken from the temple to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 1:2) and later defiled by Belshazzar’s idolatrous feast the night Babylon fell (Dan 5). Cyrus the Great would specifically bring them out and entrust them to Ezra and the Jews for the return trip to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7). But the people would not have to leave Babylon in haste as if they were running for their lives, for the new emperor would freely and officially release them, and God himself would be their rear guard (Ezra 8:21-23).

The final verses in Isaiah 52, 13-15, so clearly belong with Isaiah 53 that I will deal with them in the next chapter. But suffice it to say at this point that the work of the Suffering Servant described in Isaiah 52:13-15 is the very payment that procures the redemption of Zion spoken of in verse 2.

Applications

The immediate application of this chapter is not as significant as its timeless application. Yes, this chapter speaks eloquently about the redemption of Zion (Jerusalem) and the restoration of a remnant of Jews under Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem after the fall of Babylon. But the ideas of Isaiah 52 soar vastly above that significant detail of redemptive history. “Zion” is an idea too big for the history of the literal city of Jerusalem to capture entirely. Paul spoke of a “Jerusalem above” (Gal 4:26) that is the spiritual mother of all the elect, both Jews and Gentiles. So the call for “Zion” to wake up and put off her slumber, to rouse up and sit in glorious clothing on a holy throne, must ultimately be seen in the redemption of all God’s chosen people, Jew and Gentile, from their sin and worldliness in this earthly “Babylon” in which we all live. It is a call upward to the true and final “new Jerusalem” that is the consummation of all redemptive history, in which God will openly live with his holy people. The new Jerusalem will be a place where the spiritually uncircumcised and unclean (v. 1) will never enter (Rev 21:27) and where we will celebrate eternally the peace and salvation of our sovereign God.

So the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ among all the nations of the earth by evangelists and missionaries is seen by the apostle Paul in Romans 10:15 as a direct fulfillment of verse 7. It is not spiritualizing Isaiah 52 to speak primarily of the work of missions in calling elect people from every tribe, language, and nation to faith in Christ. This is precisely how the eternal Zion will be populated. And Paul also quotes Isaiah 52 in 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.” There he is commanding Gentile converts to Christ living in Corinth to come out from virtual Babylon spiritually by living pure and holy lives, free from the defilements of the non-Christians we live with every day. Ultimately, then, Isaiah 52 is a timeless call to all of God’s people (1) to be powerfully active in missions (Rom 10:13-15) and (2) to be free from defilements of lust and worldliness (2 Cor 6:17).

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does this chapter predict the joy of the restoration of the Jews from exile in Babylon?
2. How does this chapter also predict the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth (Rom 10:13-15 compared with Isa 52:7)? And how does it address the need for Christians to be holy as we live our earthly lives (2 Cor 6:17 compared with Isa 52:11)?
3. What does “Zion” mean? Is it the same as Jerusalem? How does Hebrews 12:22 point us to a “heavenly Zion”?
4. What is the significance of the call “Wake up, wake up!” in verse 1? How does Zion need to wake up? How do we?
5. What is the significance of the fact that Zion was redeemed without silver or gold? How does 1 Peter 1:18-19 fulfill that image by pointing to the blood of Christ?
6. What is the threefold good news the herald brings (vv. 7-10)? How are these verses also fulfilled in evangelism and missions?
7. How does Isaiah 52:10 point to the spread of the gospel to all nations?
8. How is both the restoration of the remnant of Jews to the promised land and the spread of the gospel to unreached people groups a display of the sovereign power of God—“Your God reigns!”?
9. How does Ezra 1:7 fulfill Isaiah 52:11, and Ezra 8:21-23 fulfill Isaiah 52:12?
10. How would you connect the clear prophecy of Jesus Christ in verses 13-15 with the message of Isaiah 52:1-12?