Inspired by Isaiah 52, the dust gets shaken off, the messenger’s feet look beautiful coming up the road, and then it all stops on a servant so beaten that people can barely look at him. Two friends at a coffee shop don’t get how the wrecked guy is the good news, and they’re trying to be okay with not getting it.
Tom and Ray are at their corner table. Morning light through the window. Ray’s stirring his coffee.
Tom: So I’m in Isaiah 52 this week.
Ray: Where’d we leave off, 51?
Tom: Yeah. And honestly, 52 kind of picks up right where it left off.
Ray: How so?
Tom: It opens the same way. Wake up, wake up. Shake the dust off. Stand up.
Ray: We talked about that last time.
Tom: Right. He says it again. Put on your good clothes, you’re not a captive anymore.
Ray: Even though they still kind of were.
Tom: Yeah, that’s the thing. He’s telling them to act free before the freedom actually shows up.
Ray: Huh. That’s backwards from how I’d do it.
Tom: How do you mean?
Ray: Like I’d wait till the thing actually changed before I changed how I act.
Tom: Yeah. Me too. He’s telling them the other way around.
Ray: Because he already knows it’s coming.
Tom: Right. It’s certain to him even if it’s not here yet.
Ray: Okay. What else.
Tom: There’s that line about beautiful feet.
Ray: I’ve heard that one. Didn’t know it was here.
Tom: Yeah. How beautiful are the feet of the guy who shows up with good news.
Ray: Beautiful feet is a weird image.
Tom: It is. But I think the point is you’re so glad to see the messenger coming that even his dusty feet look good to you.
Ray: Like when you’re waiting on news, and you finally see somebody coming up the road.
Tom: Yeah. Exactly that.
Ray: Okay, I get it now.
Tom: And then the chapter just turns at the end. Like really turns.
Ray: Turns how?
Tom: It starts talking about the servant. And it says he’s going to be lifted up and exalted.
Ray: That’s good.
Tom: But then it says he’s going to be so beaten up and disfigured people can barely look at him.
Ray: Wait. Both?
Tom: Both. And it just kind of stops there.
Ray: It stops?
Tom: Yeah. 53 is where it explains it. They’re really one thing; the chapter break just cuts it weird.
Ray: So it leaves you hanging.
Tom: On purpose, I think. Like, here’s this guy who’s going to be wrecked, and somehow that’s tied to the good news.
Ray: I don’t get how those go together.
Tom: I don’t fully either, honestly. That’s what next week is.
Ray: The beat-up guy is the good news.
Tom: Somehow. Yeah.
Ray: That doesn’t make sense yet.
Tom: No. It’s not supposed to yet, I don’t think.
Ray: Man.
Tom: I know.
Ray: I kind of want to just read 53 right now.
Tom: Me too. But I’m trying to sit in the not knowing for a week.
Ray: Why?
Tom: I don’t know. I think they sat in it longer than a week. The people back then.
Ray: Fair.
Tom: Centuries probably.
Ray: Okay. I’ll wait.
Tom: We’ll get there.
Ray: Yeah. Alright. Same time Thursday.
Tom: Yeah. See you then.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 52
“Wake up, wake up;
put on your strength, Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, the Holy City!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
will no longer enter you.
2 Stand up, shake the dust off yourself!
Take your seat, Jerusalem.
Remove the bonds[a] from your neck,
captive Daughter Zion.”
3 For this is what the Lord says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without silver.”
4 For this is what the Lord God says:
“At first My people went down to Egypt to live there,
then Assyria oppressed them without cause.[b]
5 So now what have I here”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“that My people are taken away for nothing?
Its rulers wail”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.
6 Therefore My people will know My name;
therefore they will know on that day
that I am He who says:
Here I am.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the herald,
who proclaims peace,
who brings news of good things,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 The voices of your watchmen—
they lift up their voices,
shouting for joy together;
for every eye will see
when the Lord returns to Zion.
9 Be joyful, rejoice together,
you ruins of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people;
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has displayed His holy arm
in the sight of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Leave, leave, go out from there!
Do not touch anything unclean;
go out from her, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you will not leave in a hurry,
and you will not have to take flight;
because the Lord is going before you,
and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
The Servant’s Suffering and Exaltation
13 See, My Servant[c] will act wisely;[d]
He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at You[e]—
His appearance was so disfigured
that He did not look like a man,
and His form did not resemble a human being—
15 so He will sprinkle[f][g] many nations.[h]
Kings will shut their mouths because of Him,
For they will see what had not been told them,
and they will understand what they had not heard.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 52:2 Alt Hb tradition reads The bonds are removed
- Isaiah 52:4 Or them at last, or them for nothing
- Isaiah 52:13 Tg adds the Messiah
- Isaiah 52:13 Or will be successful
- Isaiah 52:14 Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg read Him
- Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
- Isaiah 52:15 As the blood of a sacrifice is sprinkled on the altar on behalf of the people
- Isaiah 52:15 LXX reads so many nations will marvel at Him