Isaiah No.9 Your God Reigns

This morning, if you have your Bibles with you, this morning's reading is from the book of Isaiah, that major prophecy in the Old Testament, and chapter 52. Isaiah 52, starting at the first verse. Awake! Awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength.

Put on your garments of splendor. O Jerusalem, the holy city, the uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust, rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.

Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive daughter of Zion, for this is what the Lord says. You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed. For this is what the sovereign Lord says.

At first my people went down to Egypt to live. Lately Assyria has oppressed them. And now what do I have here, declares the Lord, for my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, declares the Lord, and all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.

Therefore my people will know my name. Therefore in the day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, your God reigns.

Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices. Together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion they will see it with their own eyes.

Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, come out from it, and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight, for the Lord will go before you. The God of Israel will be your rear guard.

See, my servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exhorted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and his form marred beyond human likeness.

So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told they will see, and what they have not heard they will understand. And let's have our Bibles open at that very wonderful passage of Scripture, Isaiah chapter 52.

I remember one occasion Martin Lloyd-Jones saying of a particular verse of Scripture, this is a very difficult verse with which to live over a week. Doubtless he had been cogitating on how to open that verse up and expound it to the congregation. And I want to say exactly the same in regard to Isaiah 52.

This is a very difficult chapter not to live with in the sense that it fills you with foreboding. Actually it does completely the reverse. It causes your pessimism to fly and for optimism to take its place.

But it's a difficult passage for the preacher to handle because it is so fathomless in its depth, in its meaning. It's hard for us really, even with the enabling of the Holy Spirit to fully comprehend what it must have been like for such men as Isaiah to have written these great books in the Old Testament. You see, you have the distinctive advantage.

You've read the last chapter of the book. You've read the whole of the New Testament. You're aware of what happened historically.

They didn't know that. To understand something of the amazement of Isaiah and the very atmosphere in which he wrote, you have to think away 2,000 years. And then on top of that to think away another two or three centuries.

And here is a man and he sets his mind, so to speak, as though they were sails to the wind of the Spirit. And he is so obedient that he writes down the revelation even when he doesn't fully comprehend. Of course, as you've learned from Brother Tim, as well as on the occasions I've been privileged to try to expound part of this book, that the immediate relevance for the people was the political situation in their day.

But you see, such is the wonder of inspiration as I was illustrating it a little while ago. You have to think in terms of the telescope. There is the immediate fulfillment and then there is the long-term fulfillment.

Very often the long-term fulfillment staggers your imagination. It is way beyond your dreams. And here is Isaiah and he's carrying lofty concepts and it must have been very difficult for him to have contained himself.

As with excitement, he realized that he was onto something that will not only affect the Jews in Babylon in their captivity in his day, but it would affect the whole world. As not only through the Jews, but all the sons of Adam, God would work out his purposes. Isaiah comes to a realization that that little tract of land that we call, and rightly so, the Holy Land, is by no means the whole territory that God legitimately owns.

The earth belongs to the Lord. And in all the glory of its pristine days, when it fell fresh from his hands on the tremendous moment of creation, it will be returned to that. It has to be.

You see, for the purposes of God to be fully realized, for the effects of sin and the fall to be completely dealt with, the world has to be returned to what it originally was. The planets that sometimes seem to be so meaningless and have no purpose whatsoever, the universes, the galaxies, all that God intended originally shall be brought out in the future, and his purposes shall be underlined. That's the reason why we sing so often that great hymn, Jesus shall reign, where'er the sun.

God has not abandoned this world. The apostle John, when he's writing in his book, The Revelation, speaks about heaven coming down on earth. Behold, I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God as a bride adorned for the groom.

And the concept is that in the eternity that is yet to be, that which distinguishes heaven and earth, which makes them sort of separate categories, will be no more. Heaven will kiss earth. Earth will be subsumed into heaven, and the eternal age will be brought in when God in all his splendor shall visibly reign, not throughout the earth, but throughout the universe.

This is the mind-blowing concept of the gospel of God, contained, I argue, in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Now, I tell you, here is Isaiah, and he sees something of this, and it's very difficult for him to set it down in words, as it's equally, if not more difficult for someone with such low inspiration as I have, to come this morning and try to explain it to you. But here we'll find Isaiah declaring something of God's sovereign purpose in history, and under the heading, Our God Reigns, we look at these verses.

And what you will discover in the first two verses is a description of the not yet, if you like, a description of the ultimate. Now, you'll find Isaiah doing this quite frequently. He will take you to the end of time, and then he will bring you back.

And if you're thinking with Isaiah that you're going to get a regular unfolding of a plan, you're wrong. That's British preaching. That's Western preaching.

It's not rabbinical teaching. Very often, they will put a subject on, and then they will go behind the subject, and then they will come back to the subject, and then they'll go back again behind it. Unless you have some understanding of Jewish thinking or Semitic thinking, it's sometimes difficult for Westerns to grasp the way that they taught in Bible days.

It's more easy for Asians and for Africans. Well, here we are in these first two verses. Isaiah is lifted up, and he sees what is yet to be, and he calls out, awake, awake, citizens of Zion.

And he has in mind by Zion, not only Jerusalem and its citizens, he has the concept of Zion as being the city of God that circumnavigates the world. He's back with a concept that you get earlier in this prophecy of the mountain of God and all the great roads and highways crisscrossing the world with many a pilgrim on, bringing praise to God at the various centers. He's got this idea of this redeemed earth, awake, awake, oh Zion.

Here is this group of people, this elect company. They've been sleeping. They really never had before any right to be in the presence of God.

Why not? Well, they didn't have the right clothing. You see, when our Lord Jesus came on earth, He came to deal with men and women in their sin, in their tatters. And when He died on the cross of Calvary, He released His righteousness, His clothing of righteousness, so that you and I who were naked before God might be able to put on suitable attire for us to stand in the presence of the Lord.

Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, oh Jerusalem, the holy city. Here is a description, I say, of those who are included in Zion.

Who can be a member of Zion? Well, those whose clothes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, those who have been made to experience the blessings of salvation. And contrary-wise, look at the latter part of verse 1. The included are followed with a description of the excluded. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.

You remember in Old Testament terminology, circumcision was the word that was used to describe that surgical act on the male sexual organ, which delineated, which separated the Jews from the rest of society. Now, that act in itself was not important. The symbolism was no man could be part of the Jewish community unless he'd been saved.

Now, no man can be, no woman can be a member of Zion unless they have gone through the spiritual equivalent of circumcision, which is what? Well, to put on your new clothing, to have confessed your sins, to have adorned yourself in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Why? Because this new heaven and this new earth is designated for people who have been made holy as our God is holy.

For then the invisible nature of God will no longer be something with which we have to battle. God visible, God manifest, God available. That will be your experience and mine.

And to be in the presence of God, unclosed, to be in the presence of God as a sinner will bring for you the same reaction as Peter on the seashore of Galilee when he moves again towards Jesus and he cries, depart from me, I'm a sinful man, O Lord. Well, you see here in the second verse is the thought of what these people included in Zion have done. They have shaken off the dust of their old way of life.

They have had the chains of sin broken from off their necks and so they can rise up and sit in Zion itself. Those who were captive to sin are now freed. It's magnificent.

You see, here is a gospel. It's good gospel stuff in these verses. And those who deal carelessly in a cavalier fashion with the Old Testament, they do despite to the word of God because all New Testament truths are locked up here and will be released as a result of prayerful study and meditation on the word.

So here is a description of what is yet to be. But we ask ourselves the question, how does this come about? And the answer, well, we get just a tantalizing hint of it, but not the whole in the third verse. Three times we will find in those subsequent verses three, four, and five reference to what God says.

This is what the Lord says, verse three. This is what the sovereign Lord says, verse four. This is what the Lord declares, verse five.

Well, what does God declare to his elect people? Look at verse three. You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed. That is one of the most majestic verses in the whole of this chapter.

It's pivotal, so much so I want you to repeat it. All of you will not understand it, but in God's grace, within the compass of another 20 minutes or so, you will. Let's read it out.

You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed. Here is the problem, you see. Here is this ideal situation of citizens of the new Jerusalem.

They have been reconciled to God. They have been freed, but how have they been freed? How have they entered into this ultimate state? Now you know the answer, but Isaiah didn't. Not in the way that you knew it.

This is why we marvel at the courage of the man as he continues at the impulse of the spirit to unfurl the argument that God reveals. So verse four, what happens here? Well, very often when God wants to nail a spiritual truth, he will do so by reviewing the history of Israel. Now the history of Israel is very much like the history of moderns, and that is one mess after another.

Thus the French philosopher who said with a degree of cynicism but also accuracy, history teaches us that history teaches us nothing. In other words, we're in the same mess today as we were 30 odd years ago. I mean, I can remember, I'm long enough in the tooth to recall how after the Second World War, with all the optimism that we had, the idea was that we would never have any further skirmishes, any further battles between nations.

We had the United Nations that was guaranteeing that from then on all would be fine. And I've got nothing against the optimism that there was at the end of the Second World War, the even greater optimism at the end of the First World War, but the fact of the matter is that during the whole of my lifetime there has been wars, more wars than there have ever been fought in the whole of history. History teaches us that history teaches us nothing.

Well, here is God, if you like, giving a review from A to Z of the history of his people, and he does so in the fourth verse. At first my people went down to Egypt. Lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

You see, encapsulated in that verse is, if you like, the whole history of Israel. At first my people had difficulty in Egypt. Now they've got difficulty in Assyria.

And look at verse five. And now what do I have here? Some of you will be old enough to remember Dixon and Doc Green. A time when the British Broadcasting Corporation could put on a decent series on the typical sort of British copper that most of us used to admire, or some of us who are older did in our younger years.

And sometimes Dixon would come along and there'd be a skirmish and he'd say, hello, hello. And if a kid had been out of line he'd give him a clip and that was allowed in those days. And here is God saying, hello, hello.

Egypt, Assyria, what do I have here? Look at the mess you're in. First you were down there in Egypt. Then this strange-named guy Tiglath-Pileser was paralyzing you in fear.

I sorted that out. Now what do we have here? You're in Babylon. For my people have been taken away, verse five, for nothing.

And those who rule them mock, declares the Lord. And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. You were sold for nothing, verse three.

The repetition, verse five. My people have been taken away for nothing. You see, no price has been paid on the part of those who were responsible for the enslavement of the Hebrews yesteryear.

I'm speaking literally. I mean, he was Pharaoh. He actually invited, didn't he? Let's think this back historically.

He invited the Hebrews down to Goshen. And they went and they lived there. And then give and take a few generations.

And a new Pharaoh came. He changed his heart. And as a net result, with no payment at all, the Hebrews are enslaved.

And there's a policy of genocide. But they are my people. And so their divine next of kin comes along.

And he sends them a Moses. Now here, as far as the Assyrians were concerned, there was no payment. There was no transaction.

There was no passing of any money. Any penetration of the Assyrians into the land of Israel was not because they had any rights. The devil does not have rights over you and me.

The one who has sovereign rights is the sovereign Lord. Don't misunderstand me. There are times when that great God and Father says, aloh, aloh, look at the mess.

And so he takes action. He did it in history yesteryear. And he will do it today.

You see, some of you perhaps balk at the thought of the picture that I inadequately tried to convey of what ultimately will happen in this world. But you see, I do have biblical history on my son. I can give you a heaped up illustration of the way that God has manipulated affairs to bring about his will.

I can show you that the predictive element within the Old Testament is perhaps one of the greatest evidences as to its inspiration. You see, you'll find me another book which in one section, written over a period of hundreds of years, makes a prediction and historically that prediction becomes true. And then you see an even greater fulfillment in the coming of Christ.

Find me a book that has this sort of telescopic character to it. You can't do it because, well, this book is utterly unique. And I say because it's got it right time and time and time again in the Old Testament prophecies.

It is right to assume that it is correct in its depiction of the end time situation. And now what do I have here? My people have been taken away for nothing. And not just are my people in bondage, but my name is Blaspheme.

Oh, of course, we don't care a fig about blasphemy, do we? I mean, we're moderns. Program on the BBC this evening, I understand the whole concept of blasphemy. Christ, Christ, Christ.

How often it hurts when you hear that word used in such, with such an intonation by the media. They don't do it to Muslim, to the Muslims. Not that I'm suggesting they should.

They'd be on the streets in Birmingham, in Wolverhampton, in Bradford, if they took the name of the Prophet Muhammad in vain. So they don't do it. Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never harm me.

You know that that is the logic of a child. Words do harm. And to take the holy name of God in vain is expressly against one of those Ten Commandments, which never were the Ten Suggestions.

You go back to basics, you have to go back to what this great God says. And you blaspheme His name as an individual or as a community, and you are in trouble. You see, this project we have of placarding the Ten Commandments in our newspaper here in Worthing, it's not an advertising stunt.

The great problem in our nation today is they know nothing of the law of God and only a minuscule amount of the gospel. But you can never fully appreciate the and the breach of the law and the problems that you're in because of this breach of the law. Well, here are these people, and they have blasphemed the name of God.

And those that are called by His name have been maltreated, and He has not given permission so to do. Therefore, and here you can feel the quickening of the argument of Isaiah, the adrenaline in his bloodstream, the double repetition of the repetition of therefore. Therefore, my people will know my name.

Therefore, in that day, they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I. Go back to the exodus, the deliverance from Egypt. What happened then? Well, you see, God had this remarkable man, Moses, who'd been preserved in a fashion that is comparable with, though not exactly, the preservation of our beloved Lord in the early years of his life.

And Moses goes through the tuition of Egypt and benefits by its educational procedure. And then the day comes when Moses, in the backwoods of Midian, is arrested by the Spirit of God. And he is given the task of proclaiming the Word of God, albeit with the help of his brother to the Hebrews in slavery.

And you go to the 19th chapter of the book of Exodus, and in the seventh verse, we are told, or in the ninth verse, we're told, the Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud so that people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you. People will hear me speaking with you. Ah, but the day is coming when God will not speak through another.

He will speak for himself. It's exciting. It's mind-blowing.

Here in the sixth verse of Isaiah 52 is locked up the doctrine of the incarnation. Therefore, in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I. Sure as the Father Christ.

And Christ Jesus says, have I been so long with you and you have never known me? Moses, take off your shoes from your feet. You're on holy ground. But who are you, Lord? I am.

And Jesus on one day dismissed his detractors as he releases that divine name and claims before Abraham was. I am. There will be a release that will be even greater than that of the Hebrews coming out of Egypt, of the Hebrews being delivered from the Assyrians.

Now, when the Hebrews were delivered from the Assyrians, what perhaps happened? Well, do you remember the story of, was it Pheidippides, the guy who ran between Athens and Sparta the other way around? Anyway, something like that. And he brought news of the political situation in Greece. And often the only means of communication in the old world was by the runner.

And the runner would come and tell you how the battle had gone. Well, you see how neatly Isaiah, and rather uncommonly as far as his style is concerned, goes into this, what we call the seventh verse, and he projects the idea of a runner. And you know, those of you who've read the New Testament, that the Apostle Paul in the ninth chapter to the Romans and the following chapters has very much Isaiah 52 in mind.

When he talks about the ambassador, the messenger of the gospel, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. Cyrus allows the Jews out of Babylon. It's good news.

But there's better news coming. There's a lone runner. He doesn't drag his feet.

There's not lead in his sandal soles. He sprints and he shouts. The message is obvious.

It's a message of peace. The cessation of conflict. It's a message of good tidings.

The elimination of sorrow. It's a message of salvation. No more bondage.

And this messenger cries out to those who are in Zion, your God reigns. Now Isaiah still hasn't let us in on the secret. He's working out the benefits of what happens in the sixth verse when God incarnate comes on earth.

Now you know what happens. Isaiah didn't. You see, frustratingly, he's gone on and he's now proclaiming the triumph of the gospel and the benefits that this gospel message has.

And of course, he has to charge it in the language that's familiar to him and to the people in his day. Listen, you watchmen, lift up your voices. And together he anticipates those who responding to this message, who are beneficiaries of what God has done on earth.

He sees them taking up the cry of the runner and their shouts and praises mingle until you've got a melody of sound, an anthem of praise. Together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they see it with their own eyes.

They burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Jewish nation was in a state of ruin when our Lord came.

The world was in a state of ruin. It needed redemption. It needed consolation.

And both these blessed gifts our Lord bestows. How well, look at verse 10, he lays bare his only his holy arm in the sight of all the nations. Time and time again in Isaiah, references made to the arm of God.

But here, for the first time, he lays bare his arm. I don't know about Birmingham, but Sheffield, I've got a thing or two about that city. Sometimes my wife Rowena will tell me not to, when I'm wearing a jersey, when I'm wearing a pullover, not to push it up and bare my arms.

Now the problem is that I was sort of born with that habit. It's a native custom in Sheffield. It gives the impression that you're working, you may not be, but it gives you the impression.

And you housewives, when you're working and when your husbands are helping you with the domestic affairs, doing the washing, as they often do, I'm sure here in good old Worthing. What do they do? They roll up their sleeves. Well, here is God saying the Lord will lay bare his only arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Was it for crimes that he had done he hung upon the tree? Nay, it was his own undying love and grace beyond degree. There is a green hill far away outside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified. He died to save us all.

There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. God rolled up his arms, rolled up his sleeves, laid bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Therefore, what? A second exodus. Depart, depart, go out from there. Touch no unclean thing.

Come out from it and be pure. You see, in this 11th and 12th verse, you've got the exodus concept, haven't you? Have you ever noticed that the 10th plague that came on Egypt and the Passover are actually intertwined? What I mean by that is the blood was spilt and daubed on the doorpost of the Hebrew house in order that the Hebrews might avert the wrath of God. The wrath of God fell upon the Egyptians, and the Passover was the means whereby the Hebrews were allowed out of Egypt after the bondage, the pilgrimage.

Not so. After the bondage, after knowing sin is forgiven, you start your uncertain earthly life and pilgrimage and move towards Zion. And during that journey, you're to touch no unclean thing.

You're to be different from the people from where you have emerged. Come out from it and be pure. You who carry the vessels of the Lord, the ancient Israelites, they stopped at Sinai.

There the law of God is given. There the vessels for the temple are made and fashioned. But the old Israelites are left in haste and in panic from Egypt.

Not so. But those for whom the gospel is provided, they leave with thought, with a realization that the Lord is going before them. The Lord is after them.

They are boxed in as there was the pillar of fire, as there was the cloud in the Old Testament exodus. So there will be that of which the cloud and the pillar were sacramental. This is the people of God described moving through this world today.

The people who are marching to Zion, these who have been redeemed as God has laid bare His holy arm. Here is a description, don't you see, of you and me. Time also almost fails me to tell how it will all be brought about.

But it's there in the most majestic verses you've got almost in the whole of Holy Writ. How? How so blessed? How so redeemed? How does this second mighty exodus come about? See, verse 13, see my servant. The introduction is to the servant of God, the Ebed-Yahweh, the one to whom reference is made almost in a shorthand form in the sixth verse.

I who foretold it, yet it is I. Here camouflaged in language is the anticipation now made much more clear in the 13th verse. My servant will act wisely. How is it that we will be redeemed without money? Verse three, here is the end, if you like, of the solution of the tantalizing puzzle.

My servant will act wisely. Typically, Isaiah takes us to the exaltation and then back to the humiliation. He shows us the crown and then he takes us back to the cross.

Our Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary, there He died. Three days later He's in a tomb, but then He's raised, raised in the power of an endless life. Give it 40 days, He's raised back to heaven itself.

And when He's received into heaven, the highest place that heaven affords is His by sovereign right. See, my servant, who acts so discriminately when He's on earth. He's raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

He's given a name which is above every name. That's the glorification. That's the crown.

But here is the humiliation. If in the 13th verse is the glory, here is the gore. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him.

When I survey the wondrous cross, do you do it? Do you do what Isaac Watts invites you to do? His appearance was so disfigured that they even questioned the humanness of Jesus. That's what it means. It means that He is so revolting in the way that He looks, having been dealt with so callously by the Romans, by the soldiers.

His appearance almost denies His humanity. His form marred beyond human likeness. You see, it's not how awful the bloodstained, bedraggled figure.

That would be bad enough. The question is, was that ever human? That crumpled piece of bloody body, was it ever human? None of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, how dark was the night the Lord went through to find the sheep that was lost. So He will sprinkle many nations.

Experts divide as to whether it should really be sprinkle or startle. It's the same Hebrew verb, and it's difficult really to argue in the favor of one or in the favor of the other. Sprinkle, it's got the idea of the priestly sacramental activity, the oil, the blood, the water, sometimes sprinkled by the Old Testament priests.

Here is our high priest sprinkling His blood on many nations. How do I know I am a Christian? I'm saved by the blood of Jesus. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood.

But startled, kings will shut their mouths because of Him. What they were told, they will see. What they have not heard, they will understand.

You see, the gospel that we proclaim, it is so astonishing that sensitive people are dumbfounded that this bedraggled figure, the humanity of which you question, is actually God's own Son. Behold, it is I that causes you with humility and an abandonment of words to be so absolutely astonished that you can do nothing but stand solemnly and gratefully before a holy God who went to such ends in order for you to achieve or to have salvation bestowed. What they were not told, they will see.

What they have not heard, they will understand. And without money, without price, then how is my redemption wrought? And He points you to the cross and He shows you the butchery that preceded the beauty, the humiliation before the exaltation. And what can you do as a result of such a sight? You cry, my Lord and my God.

Father, we too are amazed. All that is before us, we strain to catch a glimpse of the glory. And when we realize the enormous cost paid for our redemption, for the security of your ancient people, for the security of the elect of all ages, our hearts go out to you in gratitude, great God and Father of our Lord Jesus.

Accept our thanks and bring into the citizenship the role of the citizens of heaven, those here who perhaps this morning have begun to see a little of all their indebtedness to the Lord Jesus, and have confessed their sins, and have known that that bedraggled figure was not just human, he was more than human. He was a God-man, doing for them what they could never have done for themselves. Humanity perfected, offering his life as an atonement for the sins of people like ourselves.

Great God, we have no words, read our hearts, accept our thanks. And the people of God said. Well, let's think of the glory of our beloved Saviour.

As we conclude, 109, crown him with many crowns.