Isaiah 50-52:12

What’s Happening? 

Israel is struggling to trust that God still loves them enough to save them. After all, he sent them into exile. But God tells them to look at their certificate of divorce—the reason why they went into exile (Isaiah 50:1). They were unfaithful in their marriage covenant with God, so they were handed over to the nations they loved more. But since God sent them away God can bring them home (Isaiah 50:2). Their present suffering in exile doesn’t mean God has abandoned them. To prove this, we are introduced to the voice of God’s Servant (Isaiah 50:4). He has not sinned like Israel, yet henstill suffered greatly (Isaiah 50:5-6). Nevertheless, he still trusts that his present suffering doesn’t mean God has abandoned him. Israel sees her suffering as proof that God has abandoned her, but the Servant suffers even more unfairly and refuses to believe God has left him. His trust in God’s love is Israel’s lesson to learn (Isaiah 50:7-11).  

But Israel wonders how such a rescue will be possible (Isaiah 51:1). Israel in exile is like a barren, infertile couple. But Isaiah points out that’s exactly how the nation of Israel started. Israel’s ancestors Abraham and Sara were barren, yet God multiplied them into a great nation (Isaiah 51:2). So they call out to God from exile, asking him to wake up from his supposed slumber and perform this mighty work (Isaiah 51:9). But God tells them that he is surpassingly willing and more than able to save them (Isaiah 51:11-16). Instead, God tells them to wake up (Isaiah 51:17). Their despair in exile has made them all like sleepy drunks, unaware that God is standing over them ready to bring them home (Isaiah 51:18-20). God will sober them up, dress them in the finest clothes, and bring them like a queen back to their kingdom (Isaiah 51:22; 52:1-2). 

Isaiah reminds Israel that God can save them from exile because he is the one who sent them into exile. Babylon did not buy them like slaves. Their enemies do not own them, even as prisoners of war. They were exiled by God, so they can be brought back by God (Isaiah 52:3-6). God doesn’t have to pay anyone, settle any debts, or close any accounts to rescue his people. He can rescue them just because he loves them, wants to comfort them, and wants to restore their purpose in the world. 

God’s self-determined rescue is the best news imaginable for those in exile. It’s such good news that even the grimy feet of those who crossed miles to proclaim it would be seen as beautiful (Isaiah 52:7). Appropriately, Isaiah gives these exilic people a song to sing in expectation of this news (Isaiah 52:8-10). Their worship is amplified by the fact that they are told to touch nothing unclean on their way out of exile (Isaiah 52:11). That is because the pure God who rescues them is preparing his people to encounter him (Isaiah 52:12). 

Where is the Gospel? 

Like Israel in exile, all of humanity has fallen asleep to who God is because of the wine of God’s judgment (Romans 1:18-20). This drunken stupor is called being in sin. We are incapable of helping ourselves, waking up from our wine, and following God out of our darkness. But it was God’s choice to hand us over to the sin we chose, so it is only by God’s choice that we can be saved from it. That is why Jesus could go up to helpless sinners and proclaim that they were forgiven (Matthew 9:1-8). It’s why Jesus can take a tattered, broken person and say they are a beautiful spotless bride (Ephesians 5:26). The self-determined love of Jesus calls us out of darkness and into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). 

You might be wondering if God is willing and able to rescue you or this broken world from all the indescribable pain and seemingly inescapable suffering we all face. But in Jesus, God has rescued us from barrenness and pain caused by sin. He proved this when Jesus was born from a virgin womb as Israel was born from a barren couple (Matthew 1:23). If Jesus’ life can come from an empty womb, and then out of an empty tomb in his resurrection surely he can bring life out of our emptiness and death too (Romans 8:11).

We often see our suffering and sin as evidence that God has left us. But Jesus, though perfect, suffered and never doubted God’s love for him. His confidence can be ours. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who cannot be stopped from saving his people. And may you see Jesus as the servant of God who stopped at nothing to bring us back to himself.