ISAIAH 51-52 51:1-52:122008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 51-52 51:1-52:12

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. As we're looking at Isaiah 51, Lord willing we'll go through Isaiah 51 and part of 52 this evening. And we're looking at a portion where Isaiah is speaking about something that is yet future for the nation of Israel.

And that is, as we've been sharing about for many weeks now, Isaiah was warning about the captivity that was going to take place, about the nation of Babylon that was coming to conquer the nation of Judah, where God's people were.

And that having conquered the nation of Judah, the people were then going to be carried into Babylon for a period of 70 years to be held in captivity for the judgment of God, for the discipline of God, because his people had been exceedingly rebellious against him. And so Isaiah, here in chapters 51 and the section of 52 that we'll be looking at, he's looking...

to that Babylonian captivity, but he's also looking to when God will bring them out of that captivity and bring them back into the land and bless them. Now, as we often see throughout the scriptures, through the prophetic scriptures like Isaiah, we have a dual fulfillment that is spoken of here. And that there is going to be an immediate release

Judah from Babylon. They're going to be set free and allowed to go back and return to the land. And that was going to take place under the commander Cyrus of the Medo-Persian army. As he conquers Babylon, he's going to set God's people free. But ultimately, the final fulfillment of these things we'll be reading about today will be taking place during the millennial kingdom when Jesus Christ comes back and establishes his kingdom on the earth for a thousand years. And so we'll be looking at that

As we go through our study this evening. But let's start out in Isaiah chapter 51, verse 1. It says, Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.

For the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. The words here by Isaiah the prophet, God speaking through him, are intended for Israel,

At the end of their captivity, at the end of those 70 years when God has been dealing with them, when God has been judging them as a result of their rebellion, and this time is just about finished, it's just about time for them to be released, that's the time that these words were intended for.

And so there you can imagine the people of Judah. They've been in captivity for 70 years. They've been subjected to all kinds of, well, things that you are subjected to when you're in captivity. They've been subjected to not being free. They've not been able to do whatever they want. They can't go wherever they please. They have to pay heavy taxes and so on and so forth. They've been

in captivity for many years, many of them for their whole lives. And so now God is saying, it's time to come back. I'm going to comfort you. And by comforting, God is saying, look, I'm going to bless you abundantly. I'm going to pour out my spirit upon you and I'm going to bless you and bring you back into your land. But he starts out in verse 1 of chapter 51 saying, listen to me.

And three times here, we'll see this in the next few verses. Listen to me, God says. Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness. God is calling to attention. He's calling His people to listen up. As we go on in chapter 51 and 52, we'll see another phrase that's repeated. It's awake, awake. God is calling His people to wake up, to listen up, to snap out of it.

Because they, well, being in captivity, there's a spirit of discouragement upon them. They're bummed out. They're thinking, that's it, God's done with us. We're finished. What can God do with us now? We've been taken into captivity. And God is calling His people to snap out of it, to wake up. They're in a place of great discouragement.

And God is trying to call them out of that discouragement to be people of faith, to be people who believe in Him and are obedient to Him that they might experience the fullness of His blessings. Alan Redpath says this about discouragement. He says, Once a Christian gets eaten up with discouragement and unbelief, it takes a great deal to shake him out of it.

So long as the child of God maintains an attitude of praise and trust in the Lord, then he is invincible. Once the devil gets him discouraged, that poor man is really going to take a knocking. Alan Redpath says it, as long as we praise the Lord and trust Him, as long as we're walking in faith, a child of God is invincible. As Paul said in Romans 8.31, if God is for us, who can be against us? As we walk with Him in praise and in faith, invincible.

Who can fight against God. But when the devil can get us discouraged, when he can get us not believing in God, when he can get us not trusting in our Heavenly Father, discouraged and defeated, a place that I think many of us know and understand as Christians, well, that's the place where we get beat up. And that's the state of the people here as Isaiah is writing to them.

These words were intended for them as they're at the end of that captivity, feeling beat up and discouraged, distraught, overwhelmed.

And so what does God do? Well, He says, listen to me. You follow after righteousness. You want to walk with God, but you feel defeated. You feel discouraged. Listen to me and look back, He calls him. In verse 2, look back to Abraham your father and Sarah who bore you. Why? Because God says, for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. Here's what God's saying. Listen up. You want to follow righteousness. You're defeated. You're discouraged. Listen.

You don't know how God could do a work, but think back to Abraham and Sarah. God had promised to Abraham that he would make him into a great nation, that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky or the sand in the sea. He was just one man. And through Sarah and their son Isaac, God brought forth the nation of Israel. God calls those leftovers, those who were left behind,

Through the captivity, those who survived the attack on Jerusalem, the 70 years of captivity, the remnant that was left, the few that were left of the nation of Israel, that were probably thinking, look, there's just a few of us, there's not many of us, what can we do? We cannot ever hope to be established again. We can't ever hope to accomplish God's will or what God desires, the fullness of what God has for us.

But God says, look back. I called Abraham and he was alone. He was all by himself. I called him to leave his family. And from that one man, I brought forth the whole nation of Israel. God says, I blessed him and increased him. I turned one man into a great nation. He's calling them to listen up, to look back.

And he says, verse 3, For the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in it. Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Just as He took one man and made it a great nation, He says, I'm going to comfort everyone.

Zion the land of Israel will be blessed again and all the wilderness all the barren places all the places that are beaten down and have nothing left they will be lush gardens like the garden of Eden God is going to re-bless his land and he's going to be pouring out his spirit upon the people of Israel and regathering back to Israel the people of Israel his own people the Jewish people

He says, look, I can do it because I did it with one man. I can do it with the few of you that are left. He's exhorting and encouraging those who are left, those who are discouraged and defeated and thinking God cannot complete his plans. Again, he says, listen to me in verse 4.

Verse 6, Verse 7,

The earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. He calls them to listen up again. Listen to me, he says, my people. He reminds them, you are my people. He reminds us this evening as well, you're his people. You belong to God.

He says, listen to me, my people. Give ear to what I'm saying, my nation. Because I'm going to bring forth my word. My law is going to be brought forth. My righteousness is going to be brought to the nations. And even the distant lands, the coastlands, they're going to trust in me. He calls them to look up into the heavens.

I thought about, I didn't think about it for very long, but I thought about having us go on a field trip. Just kind of go out the back door, walk to the front, and as we did, to be able to look up and see the heavens. But we're not going to do that. So just on your way to your car, just promise me, you'll look up as you walk out to your car this evening and consider the heavens. The heavens will vanish. They're not going to last. We look at the immense amount of space that is in space.

The innumerable amount of stars and galaxies that we'll probably never be able to explore or see. They're beyond what we're capable of even considering or analyzing. And yet, the vast universe is not going to last. It's temporary.

It's going to fade away. It's going to vanish away like smoke. The earth is going to grow old like a garment. This earth, this life that we have here in this planet, it's not going to last. He says those who dwell in it will die in like manner. Every person, every human being will die. This last Saturday, we had an opportunity here at the church. There was a family who needed memorial service.

And so they asked us to do it for them. And it's always a sobering reminder. Death happens to every person. It's a reality we all must face. The heavens will vanish. The earth will grow old like a garment. And everyone who lives on it will die. We are going to face eternity one day. And God says there at the end of verse 6, But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.

This life, this planet, as Paul said it, everything that we can see is temporary. But the things that are unseen, those are eternal. And God says, my salvation is forever. Those who receive God's salvation, they live forever. As we were sharing on Sunday morning, Jesus said, he who believes in me, though he may die, yet he shall live. We are going to face eternity. Those who receive the gift of God enter into eternity with him.

Those who do not receive His gift enter into eternity apart from Him. But God is reminding His people. He says, listen to me, my people. You may be discouraged. You may be defeated. You may feel like there's just a little bit of you left and you can never accomplish and receive the fullness of what I have for you. But my salvation is right here.

This world, this life, you're judging your, well, you're determining your attitude, you're determining your demeanor, you're determining your outlook, and you're making decisions based upon the things that you can see, the things that are temporary. And so you look around and say, yeah, I'm not very successful. I'm pretty pathetic. But God says, look, this stuff is temporary. It's not going to last. My salvation is forever. Forever.

My salvation is eternal. Verse 7, again, Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is my law. Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. Again, he says, listen to me, you who know righteousness. God is calling out, and the amazing thing is, he's not calling out to those who don't believe in God.

He's not calling out to those who have never known God. He's not calling out to those who He has never called or are not His people. He's calling to His people, saying, listen to me. You wouldn't think that God would have to say, listen to me, to His people. And yet, very often, we have to be woken up. And it's a time where God says, listen up, listen to me, pay attention.

When we are feeling defeated, when we're discouraged, when we're looking around and feeling like we can never accomplish what God has for us, when we start feeling like God doesn't have purposes and plans for us, it's time for us to listen to Him. Because He is near. His salvation is near. He will comfort. He will pour out His Spirit and bless abundantly. And the waste places will bring forth much fruit.

The things of our life that we think are worthless, God is able to use them for His glory. There's much more to this life than what we can see with our eyes. And God has to call us and remind us to listen up, to pay attention. And now in this last one, when He says, listen to me, He says, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. This third reminder is to not fear man. To not be afraid of what

People will say or a person will think to not fear their reproach or their insults. The things that they would say in response to your commitment to God, your obedience to what he has said. He says, do not fear the reproach of men. Jesus said this as well in Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. You can look it up later.

He says, don't fear, man, who can only kill the body. All man can do, the worst thing that they could do is kill the body. Now, if you think, well, that's really bad, then you need to listen up. You need to pay attention. Look around. This earth, the heavens, it's going to diminish. But God's salvation is forever and ever. See, we need to have our focus on eternity, not on this life.

We need to have an eternal focus. Hey, the worst they can do is send me into eternity in the presence of God. That's not bad. The worst thing that they could do is the best thing that's for me to send me into the presence of God. Do not fear the reproach of men. If you fear the reproach of men, you're not looking towards eternity, but you're focused on this life. You're grounded too much in this world. Charles Spurgeon said,

says of those Christians that fear the reproach of men, he says, you are a coward. Yes, put it down in English. He says, you are a coward. If anybody called you so, you would turn red in the face. And perhaps you're not a coward in reference to any other subject, he says. But what a shameful thing

What a shameful thing it is that while you are bold about everything else, you are cowardly about Jesus Christ. You're brave for the world and cowardly towards Christ. Bold words there from Charles Spurgeon, but accurate according to the Word of God. Listen to me, God says. Don't fear what men will say. He'll go on to remind them about this in a few more verses as well. It's a great danger to fear men.

You cannot fear men and fear God at the same time. We'll pick that up again in a few minutes. Verse 9. Verse 10.

So the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. In verses 1 through 8, as we were reading together, these are God's words to His people. Here in 9, 10, and 11, this is His people, the nation of Israel, responding to God.

So he says, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. And his people say, awake, awake. Put on strength, O arm of the Lord. His people call him to wake up. The people of Israel calling God to wake up, awake as in the ancient days. And they remind him of what he did in Egypt when he cut Rahab apart.

Rahab is a poetic name for the nation of Egypt. Remember when he cut Egypt apart? They go on to remind him, are you not the one who dried up the sea? And make reference then to the Red Sea as the Lord parted it and the people were able to march across on dry ground. And then the Egyptian army came in after them and the waters returned to their place and drowned the whole army.

Remember that, God? Wake up. Let's see those works again, they're saying. Let's see that strength again. Let's see that manifestation of power again. And then, verse 11, they say, then they will return to the land of Zion, to Jerusalem, to the land that God has given to us with everlasting joy. And they'll obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

They say, wake up, Lord. We'll see in a few verses. In verse 17, God will say, awake, awake. He'll tell them again in chapter 52, verse 1, awake, awake. These people, the people of Israel, they have it backwards. They're saying, God, you need to wake up. You remember those miracles you did in bringing your people out of Egypt? That's why we're in this place, because you've fallen asleep, Lord, and you're not doing those miracles anymore.

we fall into the same trap. We become discouraged and defeated as believers in God when we think that God is sleeping. But the reality is, God has just been saying, listen up. Listen to me. The problem is not that God is sleeping. The problem is that His people are not listening. He has great things in store for them. He's going to comfort them. And as I'll share in a few more minutes, it's His people that need to awake.

It's His people that need to wake up because the time is now for them to depart. Very often, we just sit there and we're waiting for God to part the heavens and tell us, go that way. This is what I want you to do. We're waiting for Him to do something that, well, like crossing the Red Sea. It's just that miraculous event that cannot be mistaken.

And very often, we don't do anything because we think, well, God's sleeping. He doesn't want me to do anything. He's not fighting for me. And so we make our own way and we do our own thing. And we, well, we're these defeated Christians, discouraged. God's not working. He's sleeping. We think He doesn't work like He did for Elijah there on Mount Carmel when He called down fire and fire answered from heaven and consumed the whole altar.

He doesn't work like that for me. He doesn't speak to me like that. He doesn't do those kinds of things in my life. God must be sleeping. While the whole time God is saying, listen to me. Would you listen to me? Would you pay attention? Would you listen to what I have to say? God wants to speak to us. But when He asks us to listen to Him, it's not just to hear His voice. It's listen and respond. Listen and put it into practice. Listen and do what He says.

Listen and receive His righteousness. Listen and receive His salvation. Listen and obey His voice and do not fear what man will say, but be obedient to what God has said. His people say, awake, awake, and God says, listen to me. Well, now in verse 12, God responds to the people. He says, I, even I, am He who comforts you.

Verse 14,

The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail. But I am the Lord your God who divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is his name, and I have put my words in your mouth. I have covered you with the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are my people. Here God responds to his people.

And he says, look, I am the one who comforts you. I am the one who has plans for you for peace and not of evil. I am the one who has plans for you for an abundant life, a joy-filled life. I am the one who has plans for you for an eternal life. Who are you? Who do you think that you are that you should be afraid of men who will die? Who are you that you should be afraid of men who will die?

Again, going back to do not fear the reproach of men. Listen to me. Pay attention to me. Follow me. Walk with me. Why are you so consumed with and concerned about those things that people will say? Who do you think you are that you would put men over me, God says? Who do you think you are? How dare you pay more attention to what men have to say than

What this world has to say, what society has to say, and you put more attention, pay more attention to what they say than to what I say God says. Who do you think you are that you would be afraid of man? Who will die? They're going to die. Those who would make fun of you are going to die. Those who would insult you are going to die. Those who would persecute you are going to die. Why are you so concerned with what they think when they will not last but God who will endure for all eternity?

Your Creator has spoken to you. Why are you not concerned with what He has said? Why are you not obedient to what He has spoken? Who do you think you are that you would obey man over God? In verse 13, He says, And you forget the Lord your Maker. And see, here's the problem. If you fear man, you will forget God. You can't fear man and serve God. You can't do both. You can't please man and please God.

If you fear men, you will forget God. If you fear men, you will not trust God. Proverbs 29 verse 25 says, The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. These are opposites. Fearing man means that you do not trust the Lord. Fearing man means that you have forgotten the Lord. And that's why God says, how dare you?

Who do you think you are? That you can disregard what I say and who I am and my word. He says, you have feared continually every day. Not the Lord, but you feared the oppressor. You feared the nation that would come against you. You feared the one who would attack you. You feared the ones who would take you into captivity. In verse 14, he says, the captive exile hastens that he may be loosed.

The person who's taken captive hastens. He tries really hard. He does whatever he can to be set free, to be loosed. Making sure, he says, that he should not die in the pit and that his bread should not fail. Trying really hard to set himself free, to make sure that he takes care of himself. And this is what Israel is like there in Babylon, in captivity. The captive hastens, tries really hard to be set free.

But look at verse 15. But I am the Lord your God who divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts in his name is his name. And I've put my words in your mouth. See, God is saying, look, you're trying really hard to be set free. You're trying really hard to provide for yourself and meet your own needs and satisfy yourself. But you're missing the point. I've put my words in your mouth. I've given you my word. And you're not listening to me. You have feared man. You've paid more attention to

to what the people around you have said. You've paid more attention to what this world says than to what I have said. But I've put My Word into you and I've covered you with the shadow of My hand. I am preparing you. I am planning. I have great things in store for you that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, you are My people.

Just as surely as God laid the foundation of the earth, He has called you and appointed you and has a plan and a purpose for you. He's covered you. And just as surely as He holds the foundation of the earth together, He holds your life in His hands. And He's calling us to fear Him, not to fear man. To listen to Him, to be obedient to Him, to respond to what He is saying and

Not to respond or be obedient to what the world around us says. He says again in verse 12, I, even I, am He who comforts you. God is the one who comforts us. He's the one who can satisfy us. He's the one who has what we need.

And so he calls us to look to him. In verse 17 he says, Verse 19, These two things have come to you.

Who will be sorry for you? Desolation and destruction, famine and sword. By whom will I comfort you? Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets like an antelope in a net. They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. Here God goes on to say, Wake up. Wake up. Stand up, O Jerusalem. Again, the time of their captivity is coming to a close.

The time of God's judgment upon them for their disobedience is coming to an end. And so God calls them now to wake up and to stand up. He says, because you've received the fullness of my fury. You've drunk, he says, at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury. And so he gives this picture of a cup.

That he's caused them to drink and they've drank of his fury. They drank of the discipline that they deserved because of the rebellion against him. And he says, you've drank it completely because he says, you've drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling. And the dregs were the things that would kind of be left over. Well, if you ever drink coffee, you know, sometimes when you get to the bottom of a cup of coffee.

And there on the bottom of the cup is some of the coffee grinds and kind of like the leftovers. And you don't typically want to drink those down. But that's like it was with a cup of wine. There would be these dregs on the bottom, these kind of leftovers and gunk on the bottom. And they've drank it all the way completely, God says. Saying to them, look, you've received the fullness of the discipline of the judgment that I have apportioned to you, of the cup that I have given to you. You've received the fullness. And that's why...

These two things have come upon you, desolation and destruction, famine and sword. Your sons have fainted. All of these things are evidence of God's judgment, but he says it's done. Wake up now. Stand up. You've been defeated. You've been judged. You've been disciplined. God has dealt with you for your sin. And he says, now stand up. There comes a time in a Christian's life when they experience discipline of God.

And it's a great temptation for a Christian at that time to not stand up. I don't know if you've ever experienced the discipline of God in that way. I have. More than once. More than twice. I don't want to count how many times. But there comes a time when you feel so defeated. And you feel so discouraged. And you feel like God has just abandoned you. That's how Israel felt right then. But God is saying, listen to me. Listen to me.

It's not me that's sleeping. You need to wake up. Yes, God disciplines and He chastens those that He loves. Yes, He does bring us through judgment because, well, we rebel against Him. And He deals with that. And He loves us too much to let us continue in those things that will destroy our lives. But as He brings us through that judgment, we want to just give up and say, forget it.

Look at how God has judged me. Look at how horrible I've been. And look at how wretched I am. And forget it. I give up. I quit. That's it. I'm done with. And God says, no. Now we've dealt with that. Now wake up and stand up. You've received it. You've gone through the judgment. You've gone through this time of my fury, of my wrath. And now it's time for you to wake up, to stand up.

and to go forward and receive the fullness of what I have for you. God's discipline was for a specific time for His people. And now it is done. You need to know it's not final. For the nation of Israel, God did not cast them off forever. Although we would be able to look and see that, yeah, God could be justified in doing so. In fact, sometimes as we go through the Bible in a year, we wonder, why didn't God just cast them off?

But God did not and He does not. Even for you and I. He's not done with us. Don't give in. Don't give up. Don't give in to that discouragement and that defeat. It's time to wake up. To stand up and do the work of God. Verse 21, Therefore, please hear this, you afflicted.

And drunk, but not with wine. Thus says your Lord, the Lord and your God, who pleads the cause of his people. See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury. You shall no longer drink it, but I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, lie down that we may walk over you. And you have laid your body on the ground as the street for those who walk over. God says, it's over.

I'm taking that cup out of your hand and I'm giving it to the hand of those who afflicted you, those who oppressed you, those who have dealt harshly with you. I'm placing into their hands the cup of judgment and I'm going to deal with them. But I'm taking it out of your hand and that's the important part of this passage. I'm done disciplining. I'm done with the chasing. It's over. You've gone through it. Notice the emphasis here.

Verse 22, thus says your Lord, the Lord and your God, who pleads the cause of his people. He's reminding them, look, I'm here. I'm right here. I'm your God and you're my people. I finished this time of judgment. You've gone through it. You've drank of the cup. And now I've taken that cup from you. Those who have afflicted you, they're going to be dealt with. It's not your job to repay them. You don't got to get back at them. God says, I'm going to take care of them.

What do you need to do? Chapter 52, verse 1. Awake. Awake. Put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust. Arise.

Sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Here's what God wants you to do as a Christian. No longer under the time of chastening. No longer under the time of judgment for rebellion. He says, now it's time for you to wake up. To put on your strength. To be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. To take off your bonds. To be set free. Get out of those things that once bound you. Sit down.

Set yourself apart from the sin of this life and this world. Set yourself apart from those things that held you captive. God can set you free. He says, look, it's time to wake up and in the strength of God to escape. In the power of God to be set free from those things that bind you. From those things that hold you captive. You're not to just sit there and say to God, wake up, wake up. God says, I am awake. I am awake.

You wake up and set yourself free in my strength, in the strength of the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Verse 3, For thus says the Lord, You have sold yourselves for nothing.

And you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God, My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there. Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, says the Lord, that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them make them wail, says the Lord, and my name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I.

As God goes on, He tells His people, you've sold yourselves for nothing. Because of their lustful cravings, the people of Israel, God's people, chased after idolatry, worshipping all kinds of false gods. They chased after all these things. They pursued rebellion against God and sold themselves for nothing. They didn't get anything out of it. That's how sin is. When we pursue rebellion against God,

It doesn't gain us anything. It just costs us greatly. He says, my people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there. And he remembers, reminds them back into Egypt. They're in captivity for 400 years. They come out of captivity. They get established in the land. He says, then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. The Assyrian Empire came against the nation of Israel, came against God's people.

The Assyrian army was not successful in conquering Jerusalem and finishing off the nation of Judah. But God says, now what have I here that my people are taken away for nothing? Even though the Assyrians weren't successful, God's people continued to rebel against him and sold themselves into this bondage, into this captivity by their continual rebellion against God and worship of other gods. And so he says, those who rule over them, those who make them wail,

He says, my name is blasphemed continually every day because these people, they call themselves by my name and yet they've rebelled greatly against me. He says, therefore, my people shall know my name. They shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I. When they go out, when they wake up, they'll know that I am the Lord. They'll know that it's me who speaks. Behold, it is I.

See, God's not hiding. He's not in a corner somewhere. You got to try to find him. He's right there. And all we have to do is wake up. All we have to do is look to him and look for him. Seek him and you will find him, God says. Jesus said, ask and seek and knock. Wake up and you'll know that he speaks. Well, God just doesn't speak to me like that. You're sleeping. You're a defeated Christian. You're in bondage, whatever.

You need to wake up. Set yourself free in the power of the Lord and the strength of His might. Listen to Him. God desires to speak to you. Verse 7, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns.

Your watchmen shall lift up their voices. With their voices they shall sing together. For they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. Break forth into joy. Sing together. You waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has 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.

Here, Isaiah is looking forward to the completion of God's promise. The completion of God's people being brought into the land and restored. And the fullness of that being taken place later on, still yet future for us, during the millennial kingdom. When God establishes, when Jesus establishes His kingdom upon the earth. But for now...

Even for then, he says, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace. Which peace? The announcement, the good news that God was with them, that God was calling them back to his land, that God was working in their midst again, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.

Even better applied to you and I today under the salvation, the good news of the gospel message that we can be forgiven in Jesus Christ, that we can have relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ did with us or for us. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings the gospel message, the good news.

How beautiful are the feet of those who will go and make disciples of every nation, of those who will go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Glad tidings of good things. Like the angels said to the shepherds, we bring you glad tidings of great joy. A Savior is born this day.

So he says, break forth into joy. Sing together. For the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. God has a message of comfort, of hope, of joy. In verse 10 it says, the Lord has made bare his holy arm. It's the Hebrew way of saying he rolled up his sleeves and he got to work. The Lord rolled up his sleeves. You know God wants to fight on your behalf?

He wants to fight for you, work in your life and accomplish great things. He has great things in store for you. Just as He took the children of Israel out of that bondage, out of that captivity and brought them back into the land with His strong arm, with His mighty strength, for you personally, individually, God wants to roll up His sleeves and get to work both in you and for you. He has great things in store. The barren places are going to sing forth with joy and

There's an abundant life, abundant fruit that God desires and has for your life. There's this great joy that is being proclaimed here when God's people are restored. Verse 11, depart, depart, go out from there.

Touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her. Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you 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 rear guard. He calls them now to depart. And he repeats it. Depart. So listen up, wake up, and depart. Get out of there. Leave.

They're in that place of captivity and God says, get out of there, leave, depart from there. He gave the command to His people to go from the midst of bondage and to return back to the land that He had promised for them. He says, depart.

It's interesting because although God gave this command and although Cyrus, who set God's people free, gave the command for God's people to return, only a small percentage of them did. There was only a few that responded, that actually obeyed and departed. Many of them still slept. They didn't wake up. They didn't obey God. But they stayed in Babylon.

Instead of departing. But God says, depart, depart. Go out from there. Go out from the midst of her. Be clean. You who bear the vessels of the Lord. They took back. As they returned to Jerusalem, they took back the articles of the temple. The articles that were in place there within the temple as part of the worship of God. They took back so that the worship of God could be restored and that God could dwell with His people and that they could come and meet with Him. But He says, you won't go out with haste.

When God set them free from Egypt, they went out with haste. That's why they eat that type of bread, the matzo bread, during Passover to remind them that they didn't have time. They had to go out with haste. But this time God says, you won't go out by haste. You're not going to go out by flight. God's going to go before you and He's also going to go behind you. He's got you covered, surrounded. He's got you taken care of. So go. Depart.

Leave. Don't stay in that state. Don't stay in that bondage. Wake up and set yourself free. Go back to right relationship with God. He says, touch no unclean thing. And this is an important part of the message. God had allowed them to go into captivity because of their idolatry. Because continually they insisted on worshipping other gods.

And as God is calling them out, as he says, depart, he says, do not bring with you those unclean things. Don't drag into your new life those things of the past. You're a new creature if you're created in Christ Jesus. You're born again. Don't drag in those old things, those old idols, those things that consumed your life, that you worship, that took the place of God. Don't drag those things into your life.

Depart from there and touch no unclean thing. It's a call to purity. And the worship team is going to come up now and close this in a couple songs. And during this first song, I want to encourage you to reflect on these things. To listen up. To listen to what God is saying.

He has plans to comfort you. His salvation is near. It's right at hand. You don't have to go far and look to the ends of the earth to find what God has in store for you and His will and His plan and His salvation. His salvation is near. It's right here. You just need to call upon Him. He says, listen to me. Do not fear man. Don't be afraid of what man will do or say if you start walking with God, being obedient to God.

It's not that God needs to wake up. It's that you need to wake up. Don't wallow in misery. Don't wallow in this self-pity or depression that you've put yourself in. Discouragement. God says it's time to stand up. It's time to get up. It's time to strengthen yourself in the Lord. To leave this place and to go forward in your relationship with God. And He says when you do that, when you depart, touch no unclean thing.

Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 6-7 quotes from this portion of Scripture here at the end of Isaiah or these last two verses we just looked at. God says, Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

And so let's use this first song to do that, to cleanse ourselves. How do we do that? We confess our sins to God. To confess it means to agree with God. Let's use this time as they lead us in this worship song to agree with God, those areas in our life that are out of line with what the Word of God says. Let's agree with Him. Let's confess to Him. Let's depart, turn from sin, turn from those things, and walk in the victory of God.

that Jesus accomplished for us at the cross. So let's take this time to purify our hearts, to allow God to work in us as we confess our hearts to Him. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.