NOTES for Isa 52:1-15

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.

Jerusalem, then, will be restored. The Lord Himself will lead the captives to the holy land and will Himself dwell on Zion. Israel, the servant of the Lord, will be exalted and prosper after long suffering and humiliation. In the fate of Jerusalem, stricken for the sins of the people but restored by God's power, Christians saw a prefiguration of Christ, who endured crucifixion and death but was glorified “above the sons of men.” This prophecy, like the following chapter 53, probably speaks most clearly about the Messiah's sufferings. Perhaps this is also the path of every person, for each of us has had—and will have—trials and sorrows. Isaiah's words today are therefore an appeal addressed to us: not to lose heart or despair, but even in the most difficult moments to remember God's mercy, which will not abandon those who serve God and trust in Him.

Isaiah of Babylon was one of the first ones, who spoke about the imminent end of Babylon and about the return of the Jewish people on the land of their fathers. When he began his sermon, it seemed completely improbable: nothing indicated on the fast changes. And all the same they occurred, quickly and for the most people unexpectedly: the Persian army under Cyrus the Great command took with storm Babylon and put an end to the existence of Babylon. For the Jews it meant the possibility of returning on the land of their fathers: shortly after the end of the war with Babylon, in 517 before J.C., Cyrus published a decree about the return of the Jews on the land of their ancestors. So who was Isaiah: a predictor? A visionary seeing all that is going to happen? Probably, all the same no. It is completely possible that the prophet did not even think about the political events, when he predicted the imminent end of the captivity.

Another thing was revealed to him: he understood that the spiritual state of the people had changed, and that the period of confession was finished. Of course to understand that only by the human mind, although and penetrating, is impossible: it is necessary to see here the depths of the human heart, and not only one, but several hearts. Such a thing is possible only for God. But God can reveal His vision, to whom He wants. Well then upon the mountains sound the good news: the time of the expiation of the people had come. And at the same time came the moment of the coming of the Messiah. Actually, the Good news was, first of all, the news about the coming of the Messiah, That they waited just after the end of the captivity and the return of the people on the land of their fathers. Of course, it was still necessary to restore the city and the Temple, of which remained only the foundation, but this task turned out to the future repatriates easily practicable. The main thing was in the fact that came, finally, the time of the Kingdom of God, the time, when God will begin Himself to govern His people.

Actually, the messianic Kingdom was perceived by most of the yahvistes believers as the Kingdom of God: because in the Messiah they saw, first of all, the Ruler sent by God, Who had to restore the independent Jewish State and introduce in it laws, corresponding the Torah. It was important: for nobody of those who waited for the possibility to return on the land of their fathers, did not want to lose it again any more, because of the violation of the commandments given by God. The Kingdom of God should be in particular the Kingdom of God Himself, where He rules according to His laws through the Messiah sent and put at the head of the people by Him. Of course, such picture of the society and ideal State was a little bit schematic, and the hopes of its immediate realization - a little naïve.

And still, before the coming of the Messiah there was again not only one century. And all the same, from the captivity really returned completely already different people. The people, for whom the denial was worst than death, people, for whom the observation of the Torah was something which is obvious, as much as one did not even have to speak about it, people, who did not already want to return any more to the past, but wanted to go forward - to the Kingdom of the Messiah, Who they [ the peoples] imagined themselves in a very earthly way, but which they waited sincerely. Began a new stage of the history of the people of God, which had to end at the threshold of the New Testament.

This prediction about Christ and salvation that He brought into the world does not lose its actuality even today, two thousand years after it was fulfilled. The problem is that man is not capable of imagining what is salvation about and what the Christ fulfills for him exactly. Death on the cross of the Rescuer was inconceivable and impossible for the antique world; the Hellenic and the Jews, the believers and the heathen were seduced and found as madness the assumption that the Son of God can die for us. Today it is as well for us inconceivable that it is exactly in this Christ's death that is concluded His victory on sin and death. People in all time wait for something else. Mostly we wait for a king, who will lead us into eternal life with iron hand, without thinking that such an eternal life would be an eternal concentration camp. Sometimes we wait for a Teacher, who will teach us life, forgetting that eternal life lies in God Himself, and not in the fulfillment of certain norms and rules. But we do not wait for the One, Who will take our humiliation, our suffering and our painful punishment. It is too horrible, that people could invent such thing. And that’s why the prophet speaks of sprinkle, with which people contemplate on the foot of the Cross.

This prediction about Christ and salvation that He brought into the world does not lose its actuality even today, two thousand years after it was fulfilled. The problem is that man is not capable of imagining what is salvation about and what the Christ fulfills for him exactly. Death on the cross of the Rescuer was inconceivable and impossible for the antique world; the Hellenic and the Jews, the believers and the heathen were seduced and found as madness the assumption that the Son of God can die for us. Today it is as well for us inconceivable that it is exactly in this Christ's death that is concluded His victory on sin and death. People in all time wait for something else. Mostly we wait for a king, who will lead us into eternal life with iron hand, without thinking that such an eternal life would be an eternal concentration camp. Sometimes we wait for a Teacher, who will teach us life, forgetting that eternal life lies in God Himself, and not in the fulfillment of certain norms and rules. But we do not wait for the One, Who will take our humiliation, our suffering and our painful punishment. It is too horrible, that people could invent such thing. And that’s why the prophet speaks of sprinkle, with which people contemplate on the foot of the Cross.

Of all the prophets, the image of the suffering Messiah appears only in Babylonian Isaiah. To his contemporaries these words sounded strange: for them the image of the Messiah was least of all associated with any kind of suffering. For them the Messiah was a righteous King, who would live like a king. What suffering could there be?

Meanwhile, in the prophet's words there sounds a revelation concerning the fundamental laws of spiritual life. After all, he does not say by accident that the Messiah suffers not for His own sins, but for the sins of other people, for the sins of the whole people of God. And He suffers voluntarily. This means that the Messiah takes upon Himself responsibility for the people's sins, somewhat as even today one person can repay another person's debts by paying his creditors for him. True, when a crime is involved, the transfer of responsibility to another person is impossible in our day. Today each person answers for himself before the law. But in ancient times it was possible to stand surety even for a criminal, taking upon oneself responsibility for the crime he had committed and bearing the corresponding punishment. In such a case it was presumed that the surety knew well the one for whom he was vouching and was so confident in him that he was ready to free him from the consequences of what had been done. The surety's motives did not matter here. He was required only to take upon himself the consequences of the crime committed by the offender.

This is exactly what the Messiah does before God in Isaiah: He takes upon Himself responsibility for the sins committed by the people and bears all the consequences of those sins. After this, the people are freed from responsibility and receive a chance to begin a new life from a clean slate. This was the only chance, because one cannot enter the Kingdom together with the burden of the consequences produced by sin committed consciously and voluntarily, and there were many such sins in the history of the people. Someone had to take them upon himself, giving the rest the possibility of entering the Kingdom unburdened by a load too heavy for new life. And the Messiah does this just as voluntarily and consciously as the people once sinned quite consciously and voluntarily, thereby opening the road to the Kingdom for the people and becoming the Redeemer.

Even if we did not know the traditional reading of these lines, it would still be impossible not to compare them with the Gospel passages that preserve the sufferings and humiliations of Christ; Isaiah is therefore quite rightly called “the Old Testament Evangelist.” Yet we know that several centuries later, many of those who knew and constantly reread the Book of Isaiah did not recognize in Jesus the One of whom the prophet spoke. The prophecy remained misunderstood.

Should we Christians exalt ourselves above the ancient Jews on the grounds that we understand the prophetic words more correctly? Are we always ready to see the image of God in someone who does not conform to our ideas of prosperity, giftedness, and success? A “theology of success” is still popular among some Christians, seeking to declare life’s good fortunes a reward from above—which is possible, but far from true in every case—and misfortunes evidence of God’s disfavor...

But every seductive attempt to adapt doctrine to earthly interests and pragmatic notions was rejected beforehand both by Isaiah’s prophecy and, all the more, by the One of whom the prophet spoke.

The lines of the prophet Isaiah make it terrifyingly clear that Jesus was tormented though innocent, voluntarily going to His death. In those rare moments when we draw near this mystery, the heart is pierced by pain at the injustice done to the Innocent One and at His meekness in willingly giving Himself. He went to the most terrible death known to humanity for our sake—for all people—those who have lived on earth and those yet to be born. And the most terrible—and the most beautiful—thing is that I am among these people... For my sake He endured these sufferings, to redeem my sin by His sacrifice, and through this He grants life, because He “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).