The Background of God's Children Who Are Saved (Isaiah 52:1-10)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“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. 2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! 3 For thus says the Lord: 'You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money.' 4 For thus says the Lord God: 'My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 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. 6 Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day That I am He who speaks: 'Behold, it is I.' ' 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!' 8 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. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 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.”
Introduction
I read a news article and it was about an incident in England. In an auction house, an old violin was part of the auction. This old violin looked very old and frail, and when many people looked at it, they looked unimpressed. But one person looked at the old violin and bid it 1 shilling. 1 shilling is worth in American dollars as 1 nickel. This was the value that many people saw with the old violin and many people were laughing with this bid. Many people were thinking that this old violin was junk and were trying to quickly move on with another item. The people wanted to move along quickly so the person who was preceding the auction asked if someone could play this violin. There was an elder who agreed to play the violin and started playing. As he was playing the violin, the people who heard the violin, they all started getting moved. After they finished hearing the violin, they started crying. After the piece was finished, many people stood up and applauded the violinist. The person who was head of the auction proceeded to finish the bidding for the violin but one person stood up and wanted to pay 5 pounds, which is equal to 50 times higher than the previous bid. Eventually this violin got sold for 100 pounds. This violin was the same violin from the beginning and the end of the bidding. But what made the difference was the violinist who played this violin and made this violin appear very valuable. When I read this, many thoughts came to my head. Many of you guys may seem worthless and incompetent but when we are within God’s hands, we who are weak and unpowerful, we have become a precious and valuable jewel. We are worth great in front of God’s eyes. We are incomparable to anything before God’s eyes. You must hold onto this. In front of God’s eyes, we are considered very precious and valuable. Today’s main Biblical scripture speaks about this.
1. Awake, Awake!
1) The background for us to enjoy
Verses 1-2 - It says, “Awake, awake” and in the last sermon it also said the same words. Last week, it talked about how Israelites had no choice but to fail but through God’s grace, they received tremendous blessings. We must hold onto the message of blessing that is given to children of God. “Awake, awake” means that God was telling His people to wake up since they have been freed from Babylon. This means that they have been freed from God’s wrath. God said that He will give them hope, new strength. This means that God freed them from Babylon to gain hope and wear the beautiful clothes from the previous prisoner clothes. This is not only the message for the Israelites but God is also speaking to us. We have been saved by God by Jesus Christ dying on the cross. Gain hope and strength from the salvation of Jesus on the cross. We need to change our clothes, this means that we need to change our status and identity from a child of a sinner to a child of God. God is really speaking a message of His grace. This is not only a message for the Israelites because later on, the Romans ended up capturing Israel. This is a message for all of God’s people and children. The fact that we will never be defiled means that our salvation is eternal.
Verse 2 - The covenant that children of God who have received salvation, this is the covenant that we must hold onto. God is telling us to shake off the dust. What is the dust referring to? It is talking about the old state of a prisoner, beggars, and inferiors by Babylon. God is telling them to discard this old identity. Then, God tells them to free themselves from the bonds of their necks. This means to free themselves from the pain of unbelief, pain, and sin. They need to enjoy their identity and status as a child of God. This was what God was telling them.
2) The Ransom-to-Satan Theory
Then, God says something astounding in verses 3-6.
This means as it is written in verse 5 - God was telling them their old nature of slavery and as prisoners of Assyria and Babylon. This happened not because God sold them into slavery but they were placed in slavery due to their sins of idolatry and disobedience towards God. God was punishing them for their sins and disobedience. He was teaching them a lesson but not disowning and destroying them. God still loved the Israelites as His children. Even though God was chastising the Israelites while they were in slavery, God still loved them as His children.
This is also seen when mankind disobeyed against God and got exiled from the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:24 “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” - Mankind got exiled from the Garden of Eden and had no choice but to live as slaves of Satan. God did not sell mankind to become slaves to Satan but mankind got exiled from the Garden of Eden, and they got deceived from Satan and Satan enslaved them. We became kidnapped by Satan and became deceived by Satan. This means that God did not have any reason to correct His wrongs because He did not do anything against us.
Leviticus 16:10 “But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.” - From here, we can see that the Azazel goat refers to Satan. The scapegoat refers to Jesus. The New Age interprets this as Jesus repaying Satan for His wrongdoings and pays the wrongdoings of mankind. Satan got repaid for the wrongdoings of mankind by having Jesus dying on the cross. Many people are incorrectly interpreting this. The Azazel goat took all of the sins, curses, and disasters of mankind onto this goat. The Azazel goat received all of the sins and curses of mankind, and whatever beast that consumed this Azazel goat took all of the sins and curses of mankind. This beast that consumed this Azazel goat was Satan. This means that Satan took in all of the sins and curses of mankind. This means that when Jesus comes again for the second coming, Satan will absolutely be destroyed and receive the condemnation and damnation that he deserves. All Israelites will know what God said.
2. Good News of Christ
1) Five ministries of Christ
Verse 7 - We are looking at Jesus Christ’s ministries on the cross. This is talking about what Jesus Christ will complete when He comes to Earth. The first ministry that Jesus will complete is to relay good news. The best good news is that the Son of God, Jesus Christ will come down to Earth in human flesh. Secondly, He will proclaim peace. He will proclaim peace through His angels. Third, The good news that will be proclaimed is the message of the gospel of life. Fourth, he will proclaim His victory on the cross. Satan will be destroyed. Fifth, God will reign. He will reign as the True King of all kings. This is the good news, this is the beautiful news. These are the five ministries that Jesus completed when He was on the Earth. The Biblical scriptures in the rest of Isaiah, it speaks about what Jesus will do when He comes to Earth.
2) The presence of Christ
Verses 8-10 - From here, we see the word, “watchman” and watchman were people who would stand on tall bartizans and be a watchman. They will shout when they see any evidence of threat or danger. They will also shout out joy as well. They will see in the far distance, not their enemies but Jesus, their savior coming forth, returning to Zion. They will see the returning Christ to Zion. They will be overjoyed. They will be shouting out with great joy and will be rejoicing.
Verse 9 - They will be proclaiming to everyone with great joy. They will shout that the Son of God has come! All people will be shouting with joy and will be singing praises to God. The reason why Jesus was coming was to save and restore us. This is the reason for the great joy.
We can see angels rejoicing in Luke 2:13-14 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 'Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' ” - All angels will be rejoicing and give praise to God. Mankind who were bound by sin and their fate and destiny of hell, they have been freed. This is the reason for their rejoice and praise. This is the moment that mankind has been freed from Satan. Mankind has been freed from darkness and this is the reason why the angels are rejoicing.
Verse 10 - This work of salvation was not done in hiding but all people will know. This event of the cross will be an event for all people to see. All people will see and know that the Son of God has come down to Earth and has died on the cross for the sins of mankind. This is what God wants to show this world. We were bound by sin and hell but God wants to show the world that we have been freed. If we just believe, then we will become children of God and liberated. This is what God wants to show this world. This is a bold gospel. There is no reason for this to be hidden. This needs to absolutely be shown and proclaimed. What sin have we committed that we need to hide this truth? Then, we need to enjoy our identity and authority as children of God. We need to enjoy our background as a child of God who possesses God’s covenant. As we talked about previously, we need to shake off the dust from our old bodies.
3. The Background of the Saved
1) Shake yourself from the dust
Philippians 3:8-9 “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” - “Count them as rubbish” also means that we need to shake off our old dust. We need to discard the things of the world, they mean nothing and are worthless before God. Our scars and fears, we need to discard all of them. They are considered rubbish. What is more of a gain is knowing Christ and gaining knowledge of Christ. What does not take place for us is experiencing Christ. We need to experience Christ not just know of Him. If we can’t experience Christ, then we will return back to our old nature and state. We need to raise up the bartizan with the five ministries of Christ. We need to enjoy the power of the heavenly throne.
2) Press toward the goal
Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” - We need to hold onto this as our covenant. We may feel ashamed before God and we may feel proud before God but none of them matters. What matters most is to stand before God and go towards God’s goal. Our past doesn’t matter anymore. Our past doesn’t bind us anymore. This is what God wants. We need to go forth with the bartizan of God’s covenant and the kingdom of God.
3) We are citizens of heaven
Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” - We need to hold onto that we are citizens of heaven. While on this Earth, the Triune God continues to guide and indwell with us. Those who are citizens of America, if there is a problem with you, the American army will be involved to help you. The same thing if you are a Korean citizen, the Korean army will help you when you are in trouble. We are citizens of heaven. If we are in trouble and have a problem, God will move the heavenly army to help you. We are children of God. All heavenly forces and armies of angels will be moved to help you. In God’s eyes, we are considered precious jewels. Enjoy this.
Conclusion
Philippians 3:21 “Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” - Whenever I read this scripture, I feel so sorry towards God. I am so undeserving before God but how was I saved and was able to meet God? How did I deserve a holy body like God? Just like Jesus Christ, we have a glorious body. I am so undeserving and feel so ashamed. So that is why I pray to God that I don’t live an unashamed life before God. May we enjoy these blessings.
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