Isaiah Fifty Two
by Dr. Henry M. Morris
(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)
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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.
beautiful garments. See note on Isaiah 61:10.
no more come into thee. In the ultimate holy city, nothing unclean will ever be allowed to enter (Revelation 21:27).
Isaiah 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 52:3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Isaiah 52:4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Isaiah 52:5 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.
Isaiah 52:6 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.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
good tidings. See Romans 10:15, where this wonderful promise is quoted as fulfilled in the saving gospel of Christ. In the New Testament, “gospel” and “glad tidings” are the same.
Isaiah 52:8 Thy 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.
Isaiah 52:9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
Isaiah 52:10 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.
Isaiah 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
Isaiah 52:12 For ye 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.
go before you. When we are in His will, God not only goes before us but “will be [our] right hand” (Acts 2:25), and “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). Indeed He “encampeth round about them that fear Him” (Psalm 34:7). In a special sense, we live in Him, just as “Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
Behold, my servant. The last three verses of Isaiah 52 should really be the introduction to Isaiah 53, the whole constituting not only an amazing prophecy but also the fullest and clearest exposition of the substitutionary death of Christ in all the Bible.
be very high. The introduction to Messiah's sufferings first foretells the final triumph. His “prudent” dealings will ultimately result in His being given the name above every name (see Philippians 2:5-9). “Exalted,” then “extolled,” then “be very high” seem to refer, respectively, to Christ's resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father.
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
astonied. “Astonied” means “made like a stone” or “petrified.” As the Old English form of “astonished,” it graphically portrays the “stunned” reaction of those who observe the perfect Son of Man so disfigured that He no longer even looked like a man. He was, literally, corruption itself (the meaning of “marred”), bearing the great curse of the sins of all men.
Isaiah 52:15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
sprinkle. As many were stunned at the sight, so shall His blood “sprinkle” (same word as in Leviticus 16:19; etc.) many nations, as He died for the sin of the world (see Isaiah 49:7; Psalm 72:11).
