We begin by continuing in Isaiah 52:4 we see Isaiah begin to expand his prophecy under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to focus on the Gospel.
For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here," declares the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail," declares the LORD, "and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I."
Isaiah 52:4-6
Think of how each of us was in captivity prior to salvation and how each of us sold ourselves for nothing and simply complained about spiritual needs. We provided our own dead spiritual leadership before salvation. God now makes Himself known personally. Our rule over our lives is gone. We learn to avoid grumbling and complaining and we know God's name and acknowledge that it is He who is speaking in Scripture and we know the great "I Am" through the Gospel.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.
Isaiah 52:7-8
Think of the angel who had the privilege of telling the shepherds (a picture of a faithful rulers) "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11. Think also of the feet of Christ walking over all the mountains of Israel to proclaim good news, peace, happiness, salvation, and God's sovereignty. By now in our study of Isaiah it should be clear in our minds that God is both holy and just. That means that He hates sin and loves judgment. We find it easy to praise God for mercy but He deserves our praise for His justice too. Even though we don't want to be subject to justice, and it would rightly send us to hell, we still must love that perfect holiness and justice is part of Him. So why are we talking about good news and peace when they are naturally so far from us sinners? The answer is that this happiness is foreshadowing the work that God has promised in redemption.
Listen to this command for the watchmen …
Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Isaiah 52:9-12
When you look for the first watchmen to begin the fulfillment of the preaching of the Gospel then I think you could say Mary the Mother of Jesus was one of the first to watch and to preach the Gospel. She literally sang a prophetic song called the "Magnificat" and glorifies God for His work in someone like her who was not powerful or rich. She uses the phrase "He has shown strength with His arm" and prophecies that the mighty will be brought down and the humble exalted. She then ties the fulfillment of these promises to God's faithfulness in honoring the covenant with Abraham.
Other faithful watchmen were Zechariah, John the Baptist's father (Luke 1:67-79) who also praised God for His faithfulness to the covenant with Abraham in giving us Christ for "light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace". Also remember Simeon (Luke 2:29-32) who proclaimed Christ as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" and Anna who saw Christ as a child and began speaking of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38).
We need to take on this heritage as watchmen. We are the ones who have left Jerusalem and departed and should keep ourselves pure as we bear God's Gospel in the world. We don't hurry and we don't run but we simply let the LORD will go before us and the God of Israel will be our rear guard. How do we get to that point? How do we become fit to share good news?
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Isaiah 52:13-15
The servant is of course Christ who is now at the right hand of the Father and has a name at which all creation must bow. Don't let anyone ever tell you that the atonement and the cross of Christ were ideas developed by Paul or theologians during the reformation. Isaiah knew about the atonement and looked forward as a faithful watchmen for it. "Sprinkle" may also be "startle" in that verse. The revelation of the Cross shuts off argument as you see what you were not told and understand what you've not heard. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows in revival and God's holiness affects us then we change.
And yet, for the early watchmen (Mary, Zachariah, John the Baptizer, Simeon, and Anna) you can hear their voices in the next verse.
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:1-3
So who listened to the watchmen? Pretty much nobody paid attention. But we require the arm of the Lord to be revealed to us because of our sin natures. Even Mary had a hard time with what was happening in her day and doubted for a little while (Mark 3:20-21; 31-35)
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53: 4-6
There is so much in these verses. The Gospel saturates these verses. If you are ever in a place where they stop teaching the atonement on the Cross where the penalty for your sin is paid and your peace and righteousness granted from Christ then leave. If I stop teaching it then you should leave and go somewhere where someone is teaching the Gospel. Your justification by the Cross of Christ is the Gospel. There is no other Gospel than this.
One thing that is sometimes lost on us is that our offenses against God put Christ on the Cross and the punishment was from God. For example, every once in a while someone begins to think and teach that Jesus suffered at the hands of Satan. While Satan was involved in what happened on Golgotha, the picture portrayed in a book like "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" is inaccurate in that the debt is portrayed as being owed to the enemy of our souls. When Aslan lays down his life it is shown as being taken by the enemy as a ransom for the boy. Be sure to point out to your children how that differs from the Gospel. We have sinned against the Most High God. He is perfectly holy, perfectly just, and He will tolerate no sin.
When David says, "Against you and you only have I sinned!" (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:4)after his affair with Bathsheba we might just laugh and say, "Right, well what about Bathsheba, Uriah, Joab, Nathan, and all the people of Israel?" And we would have a point. However, to sin against an unrighteous man or woman who is also a sinner is bad, but to commit treason against a perfectly holy and just God who is without any error or sin is infinitely worse. This was Isaiah's problem in chapter 6 verse 5. Even a slight awareness of God's holiness will make you cry uncontrollably. It just doesn't come across in "Woe is me for I am lost" but Isaiah thought he was a dead man.
In the atonement Christ carried your grief and sorrow. He was stricken by God, wounded for your lawless sinning, so that you can have peace and be whole. I've heard this verse used to claim healing. Well that is fine and yes we can pray and be healed in Jesus name and in fact if any is sick we are commanded to pray but … let us remember the context of this verse. The context here is sin and the destruction it brings. Think of the damage that sin does in our lives. If we could only see with spiritual eyes then we would see the wounds and loss. It is why leprosy in those days was such an effective picture of sin and was treated as such and healed by Christ (Luke 17:12-19). Prior to salvation, if you could only see, you are being eaten alive by sin. Just as ugly and in need of healing. That is the healing you need and by His strips we are healed.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
Isaiah 53:7-8
I'd say that under the Cross that day not one person really understood what was going on. Peter was ashamed and mourning, John and the other disciples were mourning, and Mary was mourning as if a sword had pierced her soul. This was as Simeon said she would when Jesus was only 8 days old. Do you think those who physically put Him on the Cross deserve a special place in hell? Do you remember Jesus' prayer for them in Luke 23:26? Forgive them for they know not what they do. People seem to think it amazing that Jesus would pray for the evil ones that did that to him. However, we believers each did that to Him. Why would those at the foot of the cross deserve greater punishment? But in verse 47 and 48 it seems, as we should expect, that God did hear the prayer. Luke tells us that conviction and repentance fell on the crowd. Luke says, "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts." What will we say in heaven to these who were there at the Cross? He went to the Cross for His sheep and if He asked the Father for those souls at the foot of the Cross then the Father is going to give them to Him just as He has given you to Christ. You don't deserve salvation any more than those who physically put Him on the Cross.
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