The triple call is found in chapter 51, verses 1-8. The first of these three calls is found in verse 1; the second in verse 4; and the third in verse 7. At first the prophet addressed certain ones and urged them to "Hearken to me," then he called upon them to "Attend unto me," finally, he urged them again to "Hearken unto me." In verse 1 he addressed his auditors as "... ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah," in the second instance he spoke to them as "... O my people ... O my nation," finally, in the third call, he addressed them as "... ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." There is progress in each of these addresses.

At first the Lord spoke of their following after righteousness and seeking Jehovah. These people are groping their way toward God. In other words, they are seeking for light. In the second place, the Lord recognizes them as His people, as His nation. At that time they will not in reality be converted and in actuality be His people. But He speaks this in anticipation of what they will be, since they are truth seekers. Finally, He recognizes them as those who know righteousness and those in whose hearts His law is, or has been written. In the third stage they are recognized as actually having been born again and having the new nature implanted in their hearts. When we read these facts in the light of other passages, we know that the prophet was looking at those who will constitute the faithful remnant of the end time. The Lord knows who wants truth and who does not. He guarantees that the truth will be gotten to every honest, conscientious soul. Everyone who hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled.

In the first call the prophet exhorted these truth seekers to "... look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged." The imagery here is a rock quarry from which stones have been blasted. The Jewish nation is thought of as these stones that have been quarried from this rock. That this interpretation is correct, is seen by a glance at the second verse: "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many." In this verse the prophet was referring to the fact that Abraham and Sarah had passed the age of parenthood when Isaac was born. In order that they might become parents, God performed a biological miracle upon their bodies. Thus the birth of Isaac was the result of the creative activity of the Almighty (Isa. 43:1). Although Abraham was but one, by that biological miracle his descendants had become many. When the Lord called him from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Palestine, He promised that He would make his descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens and as the sands beside the sea. The Lord has never fulfilled this promise in the proportions here contemplated, but He will do it in His own good time. That Isaiah had this future vision of Israel and of her becoming many in view in this prophecy is clear from verse 3, which foretells the time when Palestine shall become as the Garden of Eden, that Jehovah planted. At that time joy and gladness will be the order of the day. Many scriptures foretell the conditions which will prevail in Israel during the Millennium.

In the prophet's second call to Israel to give heed to him, the Lord calls attention to the fact that a law shall go forth from Him and that He will establish His justice for a light of the nations of earth (vs. 4). The giving of this law is of course future from Isaiah's day and from our own time. God gave the law at Sinai, but when our Lord, the Hebrew Messiah, returns, the law of the Lord shall go forth from Jerusalem and the word of God from Zion: "... for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3). Other prophets speak of the time when this law will go forth from Zion.

According to verse 5 the prophet was looking forward to the time when God's righteousness of which he spoke is, of course, imputed; it will be near in that He who is Israel's righteousness will be close at hand, that is, His coming will be near. In view of these facts, I know that the prophet looked forward and saw the time shortly before Messiah makes His personal appearance to save Israel. At that time the Lord will judge His people. They will expectantly await His coming and will put their trust in Him. Thus we see in verse 5 a prediction of the conversion of the world, which will be brought about by saved Israel.

When a person reads verse 6, he sees that there shall come a time when the present heavens and earth shall pass away. The Lord Jesus Christ foretold the same event (Matt. 24:35). John, in Revelation 20:11, informed us that the passing away of the material heavens and earth occurs at the end of the Millennial Age, at the great white throne. Though the material universe passes away, God's salvation which He gives to His people will continue forever and ever. In other words, those who are saved from this earth will be saved eternally and will live in the eternal Jerusalem which comes down out of the eternal heavens and rests upon the eternal earth--as we read in Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. (For a more detailed study of the subject of "The Eternal Order," see my volume, What Men Must Believe, chapter XV.)

As suggested above, the third call goes forth to those who know righteousness and to those in whose hearts God's law is written, not with pen and ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God. To these of the faithful remnant the salvation of God will be clear. They will understand the matter of imputed righteousness. They will also understand the great doctrine of the regeneration of the heart. To them the Lord gives the exhortation that they should not fear the reproach of men, nor be dismayed at any of their revilings. In verse 8 the prophet compared these wicked ones to a garment that the worm and the moth may eat; but, being clothed with the garments of righteousness as implied from the context, those heeding the call shall enjoy God's salvation forever and ever, their garments being made of God's righteousness.

In verse 9 we read the first exhortation which is directed by the prophet to him who is addressed by the phrase, "O arm of Jehovah." But in verse 17 the second exhortation is directed to Zion in the following words: "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that has drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath; thou has drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it." The third of these appeals is also sent to Zion and appears thus: "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean" (52:1).

As we have already seen in the study of the first eight verses of chapter 51, the prophet looked out into the future, to the end time, and saw a portion of the nation seeking God and actually finding Him, coming into an actual experience of grace. With this vision before him, the prophet addressed the "arm of Jehovah," urging Him to arise to the occasion and to meet the new situation--that of Israel and of her being ready to accept Him. But the prophet assumed that which is stated in other connections, and which prepares the nation to accept the Messiah. That which gets Israel ready to receive Him, as reflected in this passage, is nothing other than the persecutions which will come upon the nation of the Jews at this future time. Along with the persecutions which Israel will yet suffer, will be her having to drink of the cup of the wrath of the Almighty, which will consist of various judgments that will come upon the earth during the Tribulation: "... for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9).

Above it was assumed that "the arm of Jehovah" is none other than Messiah. That this hypothesis is correct is abundantly proved by the proper understanding of Isaiah 53:1; which reads: "Who hath believed our message: and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?" An examination of Isaiah, chapter 53, shows that the prophet was speaking of King Messiah. In this prediction he compared Him to an arm of a person and also to a tender plant growing up out of dry ground. Isaiah is fond of speaking of the Messiah under the symbolism of "the arm of Jehovah." In 51:9 where the prophet speaks of "the arm of Jehovah," he has the same idea in mind. This is confirmed by an examination of the context.

In addressing this "arm of Jehovah," the prophet spoke of His awaking "as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the monster?" In these words the prophet went back into the dim, distant past and spoke of this "arm of Jehovah" and of what He did then, namely, of His piercing Rahab the monster. This being was doubtless the same one of whom Jehovah spoke in Job, chapters 40 and 41. An examination of these two passages shows that God was speaking of Satan and certain of his lieutenants under the symbolism of wild, ferocious monsters, behemoth and leviathan (Job 40:15; 41:1-34). A reference is made to these same wicked, mighty spiritual forces in Psalm 74:12-17. A close study of each of these passages shows that the writers were speaking of Satan and his chief lieutenants under the symbolism of wild animals. From the passage in Psalm 74 we know that the sacred penman was speaking of Satan and the calamity which overtook the earth and concerning which we read in Genesis 1:2: "And the earth became a desolation and a waste ..." (lit. trans.) In Isaiah 51:9,10a, when studied in the light of all related passages, Satan and his cohorts are clearly in view.

When Satan rebelled against God and caused that great catastrophic judgment to come upon the earth, this "arm of Jehovah" awoke and arose to the conflict in which He pierced the great monster, Rahab, Satan himself. This decisive struggle occurred at the time when the earth was enveloped in water; but, on the third day of the reconstruction of which we read in Genesis, chapter 1, this mighty "arm of Jehovah" dried up the waters and caused the dry land to appear.

Not only did this "arm of Jehovah" awake and arise to meet the situation at the time of this primitive disaster, but He awoke, arose, and made a path through the depths of the sea for the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. The "arm of Jehovah" in the Exodus narrative is called "the angel of Jehovah," Jehovah himself--Messiah in His prenatal state. The redeemed of this passage (Isa. 51:10) is none other than the children of Israel whom the Lord delivered and preserved when the death angel passed over the land of Egypt. Those who were screened behind the blood of the paschal lamb were spared the death stroke.

The prophet, seeing what the "arm of Jehovah" has done in carrying out the plan of God which runs through the ages, looked out, in verse 11, and saw the time when the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing unto Zion: "And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." The ransomed in this instance are none other than the faithful remnant of Israel who heed the triple call of which we have been studying. The "arm of Jehovah" paid the ransom price on Calvary nineteen hundred years ago. The remnant accept Him as their Lord, Saviour, and Messiah--as the one who paid the ransom for their redemption. The prophet therefore sees the Messiah working in behalf of this faithful remnant. Because of what He has done and will do for them yet in the future, they will come from the four corners of the earth and will return to Zion with singing and with everlasting joy upon their heads. After that time they will never sorrow anymore.

The prophet saw the "arm of Jehovah," having awakened, ready and prepared to go into action for the deliverance of Israel at this future time. In verses 12-16 Isaiah impersonated King Messiah, who delivers the following message:

"12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass; 13 and hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he maketh ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 The captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail. 15 For I am Jehovah thy God, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar: Jehovah of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people" (Isa. 51:12-16).

This "arm of Jehovah" tells Israel, "I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass ..." Messiah alone can comfort downtrodden Israel at this future time, and He will do so. In view of the fact that He will champion the cause of this faithful remnant and will comfort it, the "arm of Jehovah" asks these faithful believers why they are afraid of men who die like the grass of the field and why have they forgotten Jehovah their Maker, the one who "stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth." The Jews, having been persecuted by the Gentiles and having been slaughtered worse than cattle by them, have been afraid of men. This situation has existed more or less throughout the entire Christian Dispensation--to the shame and discredit of those who claimed to be the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time Israel, in her wanderings, has forgotten Jehovah her Maker, the one who has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. From John 1:1-4 we know that the Jehovah who created the heavens is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. As the context indicates, it is He who is doing the talking in our passage from Isaiah, chapter 51.

When we read verses 13 and 14 of this passage in the light of related ones, we know that Israel will be under the heel of oppression and tyranny and will be in fear, from daylight until dark, of her opponents. Notwithstanding this terrible bondage of fear and persecution, the Messiah assures the faithful remnant that "The captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail." Israel, scattered among the nations as at the present time, is thought of as a group of exiles who shall speedily, when the time here foreseen arrives, be let loose and be led back to the land of the fathers.

The speaker here reminds the remnant that He is Jehovah who stirs up the sea and causes the waves thereof to roar. He it is who has put His words of promise--which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures--into the mouth of Israel and has covered her in the hollow of His hand, during the centuries, lest she might become exterminated by her inveterate enemies. As He has protected her through the ages, He will continue to do so during the Tribulation Period in order that He might "... plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people" (vs. 16). The devastating judgments of the Tribulation Period will wreck the earth to the extent that the Lord will have to create certain new material both upon the earth and in the heavens above in order that there might be a Kingdom Age. This creation of new material and preparation of the earth as a fit place for man to live in during the Millennium is referred to in Isaiah 65:17 as the Lord's creating "new heavens and a new earth." God will protect the faithful remnant through the trying experiences of that future time when His judgments are in the earth and when He is creating the heavens above anew and the earth anew and also creating Jerusalem the joy of the whole earth. All of this will be done with this objective in view: That Israel may be His people, the channel through which His blessings might flow out to all nations.

The second call to "Awake, awake, stand up" is directed to Jerusalem. The entire message is found in verses 17-23. In this passage Jerusalem--and with her all the Jewish people--is represented as lying in the dust, drunken, having partaken of the cup of God's wrath. Just as an intoxicating liquor dethrones the reason and renders one incapable of standing but causes one to fall and lie in the dust, so the judgments of God are thought of by the prophet as a liquid which causes the entire nation to stagger and fall.

Leaving this figure in verse 18, the prophet asserted that there is none of the sons of Zion who is able to guide her; neither is there any among her sons who takes her by the hand as she lay prostrate upon the ground. Two things at that time shall have befallen her: desolation and destruction, famine and sword. These judgments are to be understood as literal. This is confirmed by the proper interpretation of the judgments of the great Tribulation which are set forth in the Book of Revelation.

In verse 20 the prophet gave us a picture of the city of Jerusalem as it shall be when the storm of God's wrath shall have struck the city and destroyed many of her sons: "Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God."

In verses 21-23 the prophet resumed the figure of comparing Jerusalem to a drunken woman lying helplessly in the dust. He declared to her that the Lord Jehovah her God will have at that time taken the cup of staggering and the bowl of His wrath out of her hand. She will at that time have drunk all the wrath of God which is commensurate with her sins. She will therefore never have to drink of it again. When the Lord thus takes this cup of drunkenness from His Chosen People, He will place it in the hands of her enemies who will have to drink it to the very depths of despair. The Lord thus takes care of the remnant from that time on. There will then be a reversal of the conditions of Israel with that of her enemies.

The third and last exhortation to "Awake, awake," is also directed to Zion (52:1). In this verse and the following the prophet still thought of Israel as a drunken, helpless woman lying in the dust. Since she will nevermore drink of the cup of His wrath, and since she will at that time be recovering from the terrific strokes of His judgment, the prophet told her to arise and put on strength. Moreover, she is to put on her beautiful garments and to sit upon her throne.

These verses picture Jerusalem with the Jewish people as being delivered from her perpetual tormentors and of her having sufficient strength to arise, to shake the dust off herself, and to clothe herself with her beautiful, royal garments, and to mount the throne for the purpose of reigning upon the earth. God brings deliverance to those who turn to Him. He never coerces the will. He never forces anyone. He calls upon one to exercise one's faith by turning to Him. When one thus in faith turns to the Lord, the Almighty enables such a one to do so. The saying, "The Lord's commandings are His enablings," is certainly true--both of the individual and of the group that turns to Him.

Zion is to awake and to attire herself in order that she might reign in glory because she has been sold for nought and shall be redeemed without money (52:3). As we saw in the study of Isaiah 50:1, Jerusalem with her children was sold for their sins. Her husband, the Messiah, received no remuneration from the sale of her. Her being sold, He therefore told her that she is to be redeemed without money. Salvation is full and free. On explaining his meaning, the prophet referred to the fact that Israel went down into Egypt to sojourn there and was oppressed. Moreover, she went into Assyria and was ill-treated by that mighty, cruel power. Messiah, speaking to the people of this future time, declares that He is there, ready to assist in Zion's deliverance, since she was taken away for nought and since "they that rule over them do howl, saith Jehovah, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed" (vs. 5). Those ruling over the Hebrews were their own political and religious rulers, as well as the foreigners who conquered Israel when she was in her homeland. Thus because of the wickedness and of the sins of both the leaders of Israel and of the people following them, untold sorrow and distress have come upon the nation.

Since they have been--to a certain extent--the victims of circumstances, the Lord declares that they shall know His name and that they shall know in that day that He is the one who says to them, "Behold, it is I." Israel's Redeemer takes everything into consideration and will in graciousness and loving-kindness deliver her and bring her to the point where she will acknowledge that He is the one who accomplishes her salvation.

In thinking and speaking of Israel's final deliverance, Isaiah in a most dramatic manner, upon seeing certain ones who bring glad tidings of good news, proclaimed to the Jewish people: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that published peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth" (52:7). Thus in vision the prophet saw the messengers of the gospel coming to Israel to tell her of the redeeming love of her Messiah. He was entranced with the vision of these heralds of the cross as they go to the Jewish people scattered throughout the world and thus he exclaimed, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings ..." The prophet looked forward to the time when those who have the truth of salvation go to the Jewish people and tell them of God's redeeming love and of His salvation which their Messiah--the Lord Jesus Christ--purchased on Calvary nineteen hundred years ago.

It is clear from the passage that those who bring the message of salvation to Israel understand the truth and know how to present it to the Jewish people. It is absolutely essential that the one who wishes to bring the truth to Israel must have a thorough knowledge of her place in the plan of God, as set forth in the prophetic word and of the gospel message itself. Moreover, he must understand the proper approach to the Jew and be tactful in presenting the truth. That one must possess the highest qualifications and preparation if one wishes to be able to present the message to all classes of Israel is evident from the fact that the Jewish people, admittedly, are a great intellectual group. They are thinkers and are great readers. It behooves us, therefore, who are interested in Israel that we spare no time nor expense in our preparation for the task to which God calls us. (For those who are especially interested in giving the truth to Israel, I would suggest that they study most carefully my small volume entitled, Preparing for the World Wide Revival.)

A second exclamation of the prophet is contained in verse 8: "The voice of thy watchmen! They lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah returneth to Zion." In verse 7, as we have already seen, the prophet in vision saw messengers, heralds of good tidings, coming to Zion to proclaim the truth to her, but in verse 8 he saw watchmen, sentinels, upon the walls of Zion, whose vigilant eyes scan the country as they perform their duties as sentries. Suddenly they see these heralds of the gospel coming to them. They recognize in their countenance that they are not enemies but that they are friends; and that they have a message of good news for them. These watchmen therefore lift up the voice, "... together do they sing." When these heralds approach, they of course give them their message. They believe it; they understand it; they therefore lift up their voices in song together. The reason for their doing this is stated in the following clause: "... for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah returneth to Zion." From this statement it is clear that these heralds of the gospel tell these watchmen in Israel--the leaders of the nation--about the return of Jehovah to Zion and of His coming in a visible manner to her in order to deliver her. In other words, the entire message which these heralds of the cross bring to Zion center around the second coming of the Messiah. That the prophet was speaking of the second coming is evident, for he declared that the people of Zion will see eye to eye when Jehovah returneth to Zion. The fact that He will return to Zion implies that He has been there before, has gone away, and is coming back. In view of these facts, when they are studied in the light of related passages, we see that the prophet in vision saw a host of Jewish evangelists giving the truth of the gospel to the nation of Israel.

Isaiah, being thrilled with the vision of Jerusalem's deliverance, which will occur when Messiah returns to Zion, spoke to the waste places of Jerusalem and called upon them to break forth into joy and singing. He realized that that will be the time when the Lord comforts His people and redeems Jerusalem. At that time the Lord will make bare "his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth" shall see the salvation of God.

This message concludes with an exhortation for the people of Zion to depart and to go forth from the places where they are and to touch no unclean thing. This passage assumes that the people of Israel will be away from home, away from their native soil. As we have already seen, the Babylonian captivity and exile furnished the background of chapters 40-48. The vessels of Jehovah's house had been carried to Babylon. Many of the priests had been taken into exile. When the captives returned under Zerubbabel, those who bore the vessels of Jehovah were to purify themselves for the purpose and to come back to the homeland. In our present passage 50:1-52:12 the prophet, as we see from the context, had in mind the regathering of Israel from all quarters of the globe. But he spoke of this future regathering in terms of the restoration from Babylon under Zerubbabel. The Hebrews are therefore urged to go forth from the places where they are, to cleanse themselves, especially those bearing the vessels of Jehovah--the priestly tribe--and to return to their own land. The Lord promises protection to them and speaks of it in terms of the Exodus when the glory of the Lord hovered over them and went between them and their enemies. Great will be the deliverance of Israel at this future time.


 

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