Isaiah 52:1-12 Our God Reigns
God is promising that there is a time coming where Israel will be safe. Safe from fear. Safe from doubt. Safe from sin. It is a time when our God reigns.
Judah still hasn’t had the captivity that is coming. I wonder if the people ever prayed that God would skip that portion of His plan. Jesus prayed that God could skip the cross portion of His plan. But He couldn’t if He was to accomplish all He had for us. Just as God couldn’t skip the bondage/lesson portion of Judah’s future. He could have if THEY would have given themselves completely to Him. He KNEW they wouldn’t learn any other way though. So, He focused on what would happen AFTER the learning was done. The restoration and salvation.
Israel, Judah and the rest of the world are “sold for nothing” (verse 3a). From the time of Eve, we exchanged relationship with God for nothing! Satan offered Eve and us EMPTY promises. There is NOTHING gained by following him. Judah is going into bondage because they exchanged their relationship with God for idols, who provided them with NOTHING.
God is ready to pay the price to redeem Israel and the rest of the world. But Satan doesn’t want money. God can’t buy us back with dollars and cents. No ruble, no yen, no Euro, no peso, no dram, no franc, no pound, no shilling, not even a shekel will do to buy us back from Satan.
The ONLY ‘currency’ acceptable for this debt is blood. The life is in the blood and that is what Eve sold to Satan that day; our spiritual life. The problem was, man’s blood was tainted with sin. Animals blood was used in place for they knew no sin. But that blood only bought man a little more time. We needed spiritually living innocent blood to make that payment.
The ONLY One who met those qualifications was God’s own Son. Satan didn’t recognize the price being paid. God set the standard and didn’t bother to fill him in on the fine print. At the time of Isaiah’s writing, Jesus had not yet paid that price. God was alluding to the price being paid without spelling it out so Satan could figure it out.
When we his verse seven, I hear John the Baptist calling from the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord. But we don’t stop at John. We skip ahead to Jesus’ return. When He stands before ALL nations as King. EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue confess Jesus as Lord.
To be ready for that day, “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourself” (verse 11a). Leave sin behind. Don’t fear falling down on the journey. Go out steady and with confidence. Let God lead the way AND pick up the rear. This is the ONLY way to make that journey. A new step closer to who He created you to be each day. And a day closer to the day He steps back down on earth to put an end to sin.
Father God, THANK YOU for sending Jesus to pay the price for my sin. THANK YOU Holy Spirit for leading me every day just a little bit closer to the woman I was created to be. THANK YOU Jesus for ALL You have done for me and continue to do each day. I look forward to the day You step down earth as King. I hope You will find some time to still sit with me and answer all my questions. You are God, so I know You can do whatever You want with time and space.
