Isaiah 52

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Isaiah 51:1-23 (KJV) 

1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock [whence] ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye are digged. 

God is speaking to the people who wanted to do what was right.  Study the past and remember what God did long ago.   To help us remember to trust God in difficult situations reflect on what God did for the children of Israel and He wants us to hold Him accountable to do for us what He did for them.  If Israel was obedient they received the blessings of God and if they did not obey after being told many times to stop, they received the wrath of God.

2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah [that] bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 

Reflect on the lives of Abraham and Sarah.  God used this couple; although the events happened long ago, God does the same for us today the same way. This shows the integrity of God's nature.  Time does not dilute God's loyaty.

3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 

God will make things good for Israel.  Israel fell into the wrath of God because of her constant disobedience.  God eventually sent Israel into exil and the lesson of being out of God's presence brought Israel's attention to how important it is to follow God's directions.  When the heart of a person wants to do right, punishment is God's way of correcting a good man.  If God removes a man or woman from a position, it is  because He knows they will never change after being corrected many times.  Saul in 1Samuel 11-15 tells the events of God removing a obstinate king from being over His people.

4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 

God is speaking of the near future.  Approximately 700 years later, God will send Jesus who will settle the score of how things must be done.  No longer will you ponder what God demands; He is sending Jesus to show us exactly what He will take or not take from those who follow His lead.

5 My righteousness [is] near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 

God is sending us His constitution on how we must be governed.  Those who never met God along with those who did meet Him will have a clear precise description of how we should live in His domain.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 

Look at what has been consistent from the day God said let there be...  The heavens declare that no man has touched His design.  But the heavens He made and never been touched by man will disappear like a vapor and the earth will disolve like a rag eaten by moth: everybody who thought the way they lived on earth was all it was to life and did not change, will die.  But the Word of God will always be and all He said will stand.

7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart [is] my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

Listen to me, those who love My Word, do not be afraid of men and do not be afraid when they speak evil against you.

 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. 

I promise you life will be as I said it will be.  Hold on to what you know is right.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. [Art] thou not it that hath cut Rahab, [and] wounded the dragon? 

Get up! People of God!  Return to God's Word!  Look  at what I did to those who tried to stop Israel in Egypt.

10 [Art] thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 

God reminds us, that it only took a one time job to get the world's attetion when He brought His children from the hand of Pharoah.  He ordered the waters to let the people cross and all who thought that could stop them drowned.

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy [shall be] upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; [and] sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 

All of this was done so those who want Me can get to Me.  My people will sing and they will never see death.

12 I, [even] I, [am] he that comforteth you: who [art] thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man [that] shall die, and of the son of man [which] shall be made [as] grass; 

Fear God. Never fear man.

13 And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where [is] the fury of the oppressor? 

Don't let anyone make you forget God.  The best way to remember God is to remember His Word everyday.  I cannot tell you the value of life and what it brings to me  by reading one chapter everyday.  All my needs are met. Every last need for the day;  God supports me mentally, financially and many of my desires; all needs met because I seek to know what He really said in this book.

14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 

Get in a hurry and prepare to leave what has held you in bondage.  Your needs already put in place.

15 But I [am] the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts [is] his name. 

I am the same God I was, I am.

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou [art] my people.

If God told us we are covered, we are.   

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, [and] wrung [them] out. 

I had to put you in time out, said the Lord.  You learned your lesson and it is now time to return back home.  I removed myself from you and you were as drunk as a drunk man could be without Me.  That lesson has been and now, it is over; you are coming home.

18 [There is] none to guide her among all the sons [whom] she hath brought forth; neither [is there any] that taketh her by the hand of all the sons [that] she hath brought up. 

 All of us are on the same level.  Nobody knows what to do.  Your sons who at one time, was your guide, but they now need guidance themselves.

19 These two [things] are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? 

Everybody is searching.  The young and old now know, I have the last Word says the Lord.

20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. 

Family, police, friend and all else, nobody can help you when My anger is in rebuke mode.

21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: 

22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God [that] pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, [even] the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: 

Pay back time for all who went against my people.  You will shake like you never shook before.  Your good times are over.  Let us take the Word of God to examine ourselves to see if we attending to the Word of God daily.

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

Those who used you for their gain will be dealt with.  They used you to get them where they wanted to be, not knowing that it was I who had your back when they were stepping on you.