2nd December, 2007¡¡ [ The Promise is fulfilled ] Isaiah 52:1-10

1. Return from Babylon

From today we are in the period of Advent, in other words, the time of waiting for the commemoration day of Jesus’ arrival on earth as our Saviour. That event was like a beam of light which pierced the darkness where humans lived. Throughout the history of Israel, Jewish people had similar enlightening experiences. Twice - the first being the Exodus from Egypt, the second being a return from Babylon.
So, we shall read from Isaiah, chapter 52 which describes the liberation from Babylon. But, we will also observe this reading as a means to contemplate the significance of Christmas.
The book of Isaiah consists of 66 chapters of which the second part begins from the 40th. This part shows us how the liberation was carried out. After the first exile, 50 years has past, so the Jews in Babylon had secured their living foundations there, despite the hard and difficult conditions. During that period of time the Jewish community grew large, including children, and grandchildren.
Then an unexpected happening took place. The suzerain of Babylon was defeated and destroyed by Persia. The new Persian ruler permitted those who were held in captivity to go back to their home-land. However the majority of them preferred to stay in Babylon.
The prophet Isaiah came on the scene, and he tried to persuade his compatriots to go back to their own country in order to rebuild Jerusalem, which was ruined by the Babylonian invasion.
Isaiah appealed them in this way: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn” (Isaiah 51:1). Babylon was not their original deep-rooted place, said Isaiah, and he tried to assure them of their future: “The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing” (Isaiah 51:3).
He encourages them by recalling what God has done in the past by rescuing their ancestors: “Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over? The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 51:9-11).
But the people didn’t understand, remaining stubborn by sticking fast to their present conditions of living. Isaiah reproached their cowardice by insisting on the nature of the people as chosen by God.

2 The promise is fulfilled

The prophet’s oration continues: “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” (Isaiah 52:1-2).
We would like to think that the captivated people were very happy to be freed, and went back to their home-land with joy. But, the fact is, they did not. On the contrary, they refused to leave their present stable life, and go back to a destroyed Israel.
We who live in the modern world should do the same. The majority of people are content with their daily life, and they have no intention of coming to church, even if they heard about the good news.
They won’t recognize how fragile their living conditions are. Any number of tragic incidents could overturn their life style immediately. Illness, traffic accidents, death of loved ones, bankruptcy of the working society, etc, etc.
Nevertheless, the human being has a tendency to think that such misery will never happen to them.
These are everyday occurrences, which happens to others, not them! And so they live life to the fullest without concerning themselves with such matters.
But, the prophet compels them to face reality, which helps us understand too, that the secular world is a temporary place for us to live, it is not our home-land, thus we must trust only in God, never in earthly matters: For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed” (Isaiah 52:3).
And Isaiah exalts the messengers who spread the good news so that the captivated people would come back to Jerusalem. 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!” (Isaiah 52:7).
Naturally the feet were the most ugly part of the human body in that era. Walking was the most common form of transport. After long walking expeditions, feet became soiled with dirt and blood. But, Isaiah says they are beautiful ! It is because the messengers carried the good news, to which listeners should give thanks and raise their voices joyfully: “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” (Isaiah 52:8).
So now he encourages and stimulates His people to return to their homeland: ” Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem” (Isaiah 52:9).

3. The feet of those who bring good news are beautiful

Now let us read together some words from Paul, Romans 10:13-15, as today’s invocation:¡¡for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Paul’s sadness came from the attitude of Jewish people who refused Jesus’ good news. Furthermore they killed Him, by putting him on the Cross, a child of God, who came to earth to save them from their sin.
Very similar to the captivated Jews in Babylon, who refused to believe in God’s promise by preferring their present life under slavery. Nevertheless, some followed Isaiah, and came back to the ruins of Jerusalem. They helped to reconstruct the foundations of the new Israel. Paul always hoped that the Jewish people who rejected Jesus, would come back to the Lord someday, and, in identifying himself with Isaiah, he calls other believers to continue to spread the Gospel.
Jesus read Isaiah 61:1 in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”.
After reading from the old testament book of Isaiah, Jesus said: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Now we too have heard the Good news. Our actual life is similar to that of the captivated Jewish people in Babylon. Everyone is more or less satisfied with their stabilized material conditions, and they reject the good news, just like the Jewish people who preferred to stay in that exiled situation.
Though they seemed to be fully assimilated into that sovereign country, they were yet foreigners in a strange land, and their living conditions were always volatile. They would not recognize that fact, just as we too don’t see how our life can be so easily broken by unhappy incidents or accidents.
So shall we get ourselves out of that dark and fragile life and set-out for our home-land with Jesus? There, we will find real peace, and the new life which God has promised, as Revelation 21:3-4 reveals: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
This month we will try going from door to door, in this district, in order to invite neighbors to the Christmas celebration. Our invitations might be refused and the conversation with our neighbors might finish in vain. But we will continue, with tired feet! For we know God will reward us with these words: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” And that, for us, will be a very special Chrismas gift.

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