Isaiah 52

Isaiah 52:13-15 (ESV)

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.

This servant that Isaiah speaks of is none other than Jesus. The Jewish people were facing deportation and exile in Babylon because of their failure to obey God’s Law. They started in slavery in Egypt. They were facing slavery in Babylon. But there is hope. Beyond Babylon, beyond the shame of deportation, is the hope of redemption.

Isaiah 52:1 (ESV)

Awake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

This verse is referenced in Revelation 21 where John describes the New Jerusalem. He writes, “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (“Rev 21:27). John and Isaiah have an eye on the future. They are looking to that time when all things will be made new. Isaiah is writing to a people facing judgment and deportation. John is writing to a young church facing growing persecution. They both point to the hope of eternity.

When our hope is in this life and in this world, we have reason to fear. We live in a world wracked by anger, despair, injustice, violence, and all things unclean. But, there will be a day Jeremy Camp writes,

There will be a day with no more tears,

No more pain, and no more fears

There will be a day when the burdens of this place

Will be no more.

That is the day we look to with hope and expectation. That is the day when, as Isaiah writes, God’s people will not only hear the name of YHWH (the LORD), but experience the truth of God as the God who keeps his word. That is the day when, “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” (Is 52:10).

This world holds grief, pain, disappointment, and opposition. But there will be a day… It is time we set our eyes on something higher than personal peace and prosperity in the here and now. It is time we look beyond the pleasures of this world and set our hopes on eternity. It is time that we lift our eyes above the flood waters of evil, pain, rejection, sorrow, and grief in this world and see the hope of our Savior.

“His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Is 52:14) so that he might wash us clean and make us acceptable in his sight. It is time that the world sees the hope of Christ in us. Too often the world sees the fear of the church rather than our hope. It is time to life our eyes above this world and set them on the world that is to come. Therein lies our hope. The present is just the present. Our hope lies in eternity.