Introduction
It seems a rarity to hear “good news” these days. In fact, the prevalence of “bad news” or at least the fixation upon it as a society, almost makes us anticipate there is no other news. It seems to influence us far greater than we really see. I must admit the infiltration of this way of viewing things in my own life. It wasn’t long ago, I was having some health struggles that didn’t seem to go away. And the longer they continued, the more concerned I grew. I felt so helpless and just kept trying to throw myself at the Lord’s mercy. I finally had a medical procedure to see what might be going on. I remember having mixed feelings of anxiety and worry about the unknown but yet somewhere an underlying calmness. I remember waking up after the procedure to the doctors saying everything looks good. I felt such relief and joy at the good news, I simply responded with praise God. Good news can be like medicine for the soul and breathes life into our bones. In the book of Isaiah, we find God declaring good news to his weary and exiled people.
“Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Our text begins with the call for God’s people to snap out of their doldrums and put on their strength. This spiritual slumber has lasted long enough. Their apathy and lethargy have lulled them to sleep but now they are being called to awaken and to put on their strength. And just what is this strength they are told to put on? Well, I think we can safely deduce that it is not any strength of their own, for they are weak, without strength. And we know from scripture that their “strength” only led to ruin and their captivity. The strength that they are instructed to “put on” is from a different source. It is outside of themselves and it is something they must receive and then put on. If you look to the Psalms you will find the Psalmists speak of this source of strength. David wrote in Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts and I am helped:” It is the Lord that is their strength! And it is He who is waiting for them to call upon Him in faith.
They are also instructed to put on their beautiful garments. In scripture when we read of the putting on of new, clean or beautiful garments, it seems to represent God’s willingness and readiness to forgive and make them clean again. In the book of Zechariah chapter 3 we see very clearly the heart of the Lord towards his people in this regard. Joshua the high priest, it says was clothed with filthy garments. Meaning he was guilty but the Lord cleared his guilt and replaced the filthy garments with those that were clean and pure. This is the Lord’s heart towards his people. His desire for His people is to embrace their identity as the “holy city”, cleansed and renewed. God wants his people to understand, as Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9, that they “…are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” A people set apart by God and for Him.
He continues with His urging in verse 2, “Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” It’s not that their suffering wasn’t real. They were exiles, suffering under Babylonian captivity. Probably feeling as though God was absent or unconcerned. And so, it seems true as Raymond Ortlund put it, “…When they lost their sense of God, they could only feel victimhood.” But now God is calling them to shake themselves from this and arise, no more wallowing in self-pity and despair. It’s time the be seated in their right identity as His people, free of the bonds that held them captive. I bet it was hard to believe all of this to be true, while in the midst of their sufferings in exile. I’m sure it was difficult to see their rightful identity as His people while enslaved to another. And I’m certain it was quite challenging to feel free while still in captivity. But this is where God was calling them to act in faith. To grab ahold of what he says is true and live as though it is. Because He says it is!
In verse 3 God states his authority and sovereignty over their circumstances. It reads, “For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” It wasn’t as though God had been forced to hand over his people in order to pay off a debt of some sort. No, it was of his own will he freely did this, and so now too by his own will he could freely redeem them. It was purely a matter between him and his people. It needed no other involvement in their redemption, but for his people to rise from the dust and freely receive what he has given to them. Verses 4&5 continue an extended reflection of this.
4 For thus says the Lord GOD: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the LORD, “and continually all the day my name is despised.
First off, God reminds them of how his people willingly went to Egypt. It was their choice to sojourn there. And as we know, while in Egypt they became enslaved and under bondage to Pharaoh. What did God do in response? He heard their cry, answered them and delivered them out of it. So now, the text almost begs the question, if he did so then for his people who chose to go to Egypt, will he not also now do so for His people who were forcibly taken? Again, he repeats from verse 3, that these people are taken away for nothing. He did not owe them as a debt to be repaid but it was by his own volition. We read as a result of their situation that his name is being despised or held in contempt. As though maybe to the outside world and even his own people, that He has somehow failed or is unable to deliver his people. But the Lord puts an end to that in verse 6, it says,
Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
If the question to everyone was, “what will the Lord do?” Then this is the emphatic answer. How will they know His name, and that it is He who speaks? Simply, because he will do what he has said he will do! If he has spoken it, it is as good as done, even if it has yet to come to pass. This experiential knowledge, gives proof to the great I am. Though, as God, he has no need to prove himself, yet because he is personal, merciful and gracious, he inclines himself to show his people proof that he is the I am. And he is here!
This is Good News. That God did not leave His people alone in their hopelessness, under oppression and captive but instead God comes to them and says, here I am. I am in your midst! I have come to give you strength! I have come to redeem you! I have come to clothe you with new garments! It’s yours for the taking… you only have to receive it. And we see the emphatic fixation on that good news in verse 7.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
We see the ancient imagery come to bare. A messenger or runner was often sent to declare the news of the outcome of battle. But what would the news be, would it be of victory and they are delivered or will it be of defeat and all is lost? What news would this messenger deliver to a people breathlessly awaiting? The news is good news! The news brings peace and happiness! It grants them salvation and declares “Your God reigns!” Wow! How beautiful indeed! I don’t know if it is intended irony, but I at least find it interesting to consider, how the feet, which have been widely considered the most detestable, ugly body part is called beautiful. And when you consider in ancient days traveling on dung filled roads in sandals, it kind of highlights it a bit. But how beautiful, again I must say that I don’t know if its intended in that way or not but I think it highlights what God does. He takes what is unclean and makes it clean, as Peter was reminded of in Acts. He takes what is ashes and replaces it with beauty! Who can do that but God. And it is he, as it states that reigns! What a cause for rejoicing! This is Good News for God’s people!
Even better is that this message isn’t a message just for them. This Good News embodies the gospel message of Good news for us today. As Ortlund also says,
“The message is not that God loves us, but that he loves us with a love that cannot be defeated, even by our own stupidity. This is the gospel—the finished work of Christ on the cross, his resurrection and ascension and royal authority over everything…There is no end to the impact of the gospel. It’s the only cause that will finally succeed.”
The message of good news is something we as the people of God need to be constantly reminded of. We need its nutrients to saturate our being. We need to hear it again and again as Martin Luther states,
“It cannot be beaten into our ears enough or too much. Yes, though we learn it and understand it well, yet there is none that takes hold of it perfectly or believes it with all his heart. So frail a thing our flesh, and disobedient to the Spirit.”
A few things to consider for yourself. Are you in need of being awakened from apathy and lethargy? Do you believe in the power of Jesus to make you clean, to set you free, to give you strength? Do you believe in the identity you’ve been given in Christ? And are you living seated in that identity?