Isaiah 52:10
The Bible says in Isaiah 52:10-12, 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. 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. 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. In these Bible verses the Lord is emphasizing the fact
that He is going to do something special for His people, and not for His people
only, but also for the whole world. What the Lord is going to do will be for the eyes of all the nations. It says in Isaiah 52:10, all the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Of course, the
salvation of our God is the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ. In todays world only believers honor the name of Jesus, and
only believers appreciate who He is. We know that He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. But the day will come when the whole world will know about the
salvation of God. It will be just as it says in Isaiah 52:10, all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God. Concerning the Second Coming of Christ,
the Bible says in Revelation 1:7, Behold,
he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
An interesting truth is presented when
Isaiah 52:12 tells us that God is our rereward. The word
that is translated rereward in the King James version of the Bible comes from a word that
means to gather together. God will gather us to Himself. It
paints the picture of those who are on a journey, a journey that can be
dangerous. But there is nothing to fear because God will go first and make sure
the coast is clear and safe. And then He will gather us to Himself. It is
always best to go Gods way for your life. That is the safest way to go. He
will protect you. If you go your own way into a relationship or some other
venture, you will go without this special promise of protection.
It is important to notice that in
Isaiah 52:10-12, that even when telling us everything He is going to do for us,
the Lord also still expresses His will that His believers live holy lives. The
Lord said in Isaiah 52:11, touch no unclean thing. And He said, be ye clean,
that bear the vessels of the LORD. Gods grace through Christ is never
a license to sin. Gods message to His people is always this, Be ye holy,
for I am holy, saith the Lord.
Isaiah 52:13-15 are actually verses
that present an introduction to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53 is the
great chapter of Isaiah that tells us about the immense sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ for the sins of the world. This tremendous description of the sufferings
of the Messiah was written over 500 years before Jesus was born. The Bible says
in Isaiah 52:13, Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and
extolled, and be very high. Gods servant is the
Messiah. The first thing said about the Messiah refers to His wisdom. It says,
my
servant shall deal prudently. One of the notable attributes of
the Messiah is that He is very, very wise. Jesus was the wisest person who ever
walked this earth. Every word that He said, every deed that He did, and every
choice that He made was based upon having the wisest of wisdom. We were told
about Jesus in Isaiah 11:2, And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Remember also that it said
about the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a child is born, unto us
a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace. The Messiah is celebrated for His wisdom as
much as for anything else, including being The Mighty God. It is no
wonder that the book of Proverbs makes such a heavy emphasis on the importance
of gaining wisdom. By the way, the word that is translated wisdom in Hebrew
means wisdom, shrewdness, experience. There is a heavy emphasis on knowing
how to take care of practical matters, when you have this wisdom. It refers to
knowing the right way of doing things. This kind of wisdom comes from experience, and comes from understanding
how life really works from a practical standpoint. It says in Proverbs 2:1-6, My son, if
thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou
incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if
thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If
thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then
shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For
the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
It says in Proverbs 3:13, Happy is the man
that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. It says in Proverbs 4:7, Wisdom
is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get
understanding. It says in Proverbs 5:1, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my
understanding. It also says in Proverbs
16:16, How much better is it to get wisdom
than gold? And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! And it says in Proverbs 24:3, Through wisdom is an house builded, and by understanding
it is established.
Isaiah 52:13 says that the Messiah shall be
exalted and extolled, and be very high. He is after all The Mighty
God,
the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. But before Jesus regained His exalted
throne in heaven, He suffered terrible and cruel torments at the end of His
life when He endured the agony of the suffering for sin. He wears a crown now,
but He wore a crown of thorns then. He is glorified now, but He was humble
then. He is admired and honored now by many, but He was rejected by all then.
We are given a short but vivid description of His sufferings in Isaiah 52:14,
and we will be given a further description of His sufferings in Isaiah chapter
53. The Bible says in 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. It may very
well be true that no accurate description has yet been given of how much the
body of Jesus had been ripped and beaten by His tormentors. The Romans had
perfected the art of violent torture, and the full force of Roman corporal
punishment fell upon the back and the head and the face of Jesus Christ. Evidently,
Jesus was beaten and punched and whipped to the point of being unrecognizable.
The bruises, and the tears, and the cuts, and the rips of His skin on Jesus
face and on Jesus back must have been unimaginably disfiguring for Isaiah to
have written by the Spirit, As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so
marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.
Of course, the sufferings of Jesus
were even more than the physical sufferings that He endured. Jesus also
suffered the greatest of all spiritual sufferings. Somehow Jesus suffered the
pains of hell while He hung upon the cross separated from the Father. The Bible
says in Second Corinthians 5:21, For he hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus
suffered greatly, but in so doing, He also accomplished greatly. He suffered
more than any other, but He also accomplished more than any other. Jesus showed
us that there is a relationship between suffering and doing the will of God.
Eventually as faithful servants you will be rewarded by God because you were
willing to suffer for Him; and you were willing to keep trusting in Him even
though you were called to suffer. The Bible says in Second Timothy 3:12, Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Concerning what Jesus accomplished
because He was willing to suffer, it says in 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. The word that is translated sprinkle is used in the
Old Testament to refer to what the high priest would do when animal sacrifices
were performed, and the blood of the innocent animal was sprinkled on the alter
or other things to symbolize cleansing from sin. For example, it says in
Leviticus 5:9, And he shall sprinkle of the
blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood
shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering. Isaiah 52:15 tells us that Jesus will shed His blood for
the sins of the world. It tells us that He will be the King of kings by saying
that all the other kings shall shut their
mouth at him. It also tells us that Jesus
will be the greatest of all teachers because it says that when the Messiah
comes, that which had not been told them
shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. When Jesus reveals Himself to a lost soul, the greatest
truths of life and life after death are learned, and the opportunity to be
enlightened from His Word is opened up.
The Bible says in Isaiah 53:1, Who hath believed our report? and to
whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? These two questions are asked because of
the fact that many people do not receive the gospel of Christ. Many people do
not repent of their sins. Many people do not believe Jesus, nor call upon His
name. Why does it happen this way when there is so much to gain from turning to
Christ: the most important of which is eternal life. One reason for this is the
fact that there is a stigma in this world to the name of Christ, to the person
of Christ, and to believing on Christ. That is partly the meaning of the next
couple of verses in Isaiah. It says in Isaiah 53:2-3, For he shall grow up before him as a
tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. In a certain sense these verses are
talking about what Jesus suffered when He was crucified on the cross of
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Copyright; 2009 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved