Page 108 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Rahab in V. 9 does not refer to the Rahab in Jericho. In this case, Rahab was a mythical sea monster.
Psalm 74: 13 It is possibly a prophetic picture of the destruction of the Dragon, Satan, in Revelation.
The same God who ‘killed’ this sea monster and parted the Red Sea is able to gather the ransomed back
to Jerusalem, and ultimately to heaven.

V. 12-16 Another warning to avoid fearing man more than fearing God. Don’t fear the oppressor, the
persecutor, who can kill the body…fear the one who can kill and cast into hell. Matthew 10: 28

Fear, give respect and awe, to God who sets the prisoner free.

Likewise, don’t fear because He put His words in our mouths, the Holy Spirit speaks for and through us.

V. 17-23 This is a reminder of why they have gone through the exile, the persecution. It was an act of
judgment from a holy God. V. 21 tells that God will take this cup of trembling from out of their hands,
and in V. 23 put it into the hand of those who have afflicted them. In the contemporary sense, this
applied to their Babylonian captors, but in a broader sense, it applies to the devil himself.

In both cases, the oppressor has forced us to lay down in the mud so that they could walk on our backs.

Chapter 52 - Main Idea: Zion is commanded to awake, throw off
defiled garments, and celebrate the glory of God’s sovereign reign.

The Bible is full of examples of God’s ‘Amazing Grace’. The repeated failures
of Israel and the equally repeated forgiveness and welcoming God extended
to them after a period of exile or punishment is a prime example. Each of us likely has our own stories
of failures and forgiveness.

Jerusalem had become so polluted by sin that it was compared to a prostitute in Chapter 1: 21. In
Chapter 52, this defiled harlot of a city is called to arise and awaken after having been trampled by the
feet of ‘the circumcised and unclean’.

All this follows the exile to Babylon.

V. 1-2 Awaken and put on your most beautiful garments. Shake yourself from the dust and loosen the
bonds of captivity.

This is a picture of each of us when we have fallen to the depths of sin and depravity. Repent, seek
forgiveness and arise, get back to where we were before.

V. 3-4 Zion, the city of Jerusalem, was ‘sold’ for nothing, so redemption doesn’t involve gold or silver.
No amount of money could ever redeem us…only the blood of Jesus.

V. 5-6 Here’s something we often forget. When we sin, we don’t just hurt ourselves or our loved ones.
The very name of God is blasphemed in our iniquities.

When He redeems us, He likewise redeems His name. Now we shift to some joyful news.

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