NOTES for Isa 52:1-12
The words addressed to Jerusalem radiate joy even when they are read outside their context. Still greater joy is felt when we see that the Lord addresses a word of encouragement to a city whose inhabitants had many times been denounced by the prophets He sent for their sins and lawlessness, and then endured much as they paid for those sins. But the Lord gives every sinner the possibility of positive change in life. He deprives no one of hope.
When difficulties seem greater than our ability to cope with them, and it becomes unclear how to be and what to do; when day after day we have to endure failures and defeats, and no light is visible behind the darkness of our own sins, the Lord will still remain with us. With faith, we can lean on His support and step by step come out of the darkness.