NOTES for Isa 52:7

Today's reading is devoted entirely to the coming revival of Jerusalem. Of course, the prophecy given here also had a very concrete historical meaning: after Cyrus's decree and the return of the repatriates from Babylon to Judea, the city and the Temple were indeed rebuilt. Rising again from the ruins, Jerusalem subsequently became a major economic, political, and cultural centre of the ancient Near East. Yet Isaiah is evidently speaking not only about history. At the centre of his preaching is not the return of the people, but the return of God to the place from which He had once been driven out (v. 8). Ezekiel once saw God leave the Temple, where no room remained for Him (Ezek 11:22–23); now it was revealed to Isaiah that He would return to the place where His house had once stood and would be rebuilt.

But this would not mean a return to the past. Now He returns as King (v. 7), which means that the time has come for the triumph of the Kingdom of which the pre-exilic prophets had already spoken. The new Jerusalem becomes the centre of this Kingdom. The Jerusalem of Isaiah of Babylon is the messianic Jerusalem. Yet it does not cease to be a completely real, earthly city whose walls and towers can be touched and whose streets can be walked.

Moreover, this is not only about a new city, but also about a new people (vv. 14–15). The community of exiles becomes the remnant of which Isaiah of Jerusalem had already spoken. And when God returns to His house and restores His people to the land of their fathers, the remnant, transformed, becomes the nucleus of the new, messianic Israel—whose appearance, of course, none of those who had once driven the Jews from that land expected, convinced as they were that the rebellious city had been dealt with forever. Only when all this is accomplished will the Messiah promised by God appear to the world.

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.

Thus Jerusalem 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, struck down for the people's sins 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) perhaps speaks more clearly than any other about the sufferings of the Messiah.

Perhaps this is also the path of every person, for each of us has had trials and sorrows, and will have them again. Then today's words of Isaiah are an appeal addressed to us: not to lose heart or despair, and even in the most difficult moments to remember God's mercy, which will not forsake those who serve God and trust in Him.