Daughters Rejoice

Read Isaiah 62
 
Isaiah 62:10-12 Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up; build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. 11 The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” 12 They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted. 
 
BE sure to read the entire, short chapter. These words are a beautiful outpouring of God’s grace upon his broken people, upon a lost world.
   Once more the LORD points Judah and the city of Jerusalem past the exile in Babylon, to see the time of physical rebuilding spiritual restoration. He promises a complete transformation will come. The city will glorify God as they come to understand his authority over the earth, their nation and their lives.
   When God declares, “Say to the daughters of Zion.” He is using a figure of speech that relates to all Jewish citizens. As the LORD has prophesied that the city will be deserted, God is now declaring that Zion, the mountain of God, will gain a great reputation as the Holy City. People will want to live there and enjoy fellowship with God and with one another. The city will be filled with God’s Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord.
   After the exile, the leaders Nehemiah and Ezra did two very essential tasks to complete Jerusalem’s reconstruction. They first led the Jews to a purposeful rebuilding of the walls and the temple. Second, they arranged for a national worship. God’s Word was read from the city’s walls. For several days during the Feast of the Tabernacles, Jerusalem’s “daughters” – a word here that indicates all Jews – stood for 4-6 hours listening to God’s Word. This was the first time many from the exile had heard of God’s creative, redeeming, restorative power proclaimed in Genesis to Deuteronomy. They did not know God’s plan to form the nation and prepared a place for them to live in comfort and peace. The Jews did not know of a coming Messiah, who would eternally restore their lives to God.
   What was their response? They wept over their sins, and they worshiped God. They also signed an agreement that listed the correct ways of living with each other and obeying God. Together they said, “We will do this.” to a number of requirements and stipulations. In other words, they strived to live holy lives in God’s law. This is repentance. There is no repentance until we say, “Forgive me, LORD. What must I do to live in your righteousness?”
   We know this didn’t last for long. As a generation and leaders passed, many Jews again forgot their parents’ convictions and vows. Yet, out of this God would use Jerusalem to point to the eternal city. One day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and Matthew said his triumphal entry fulfilled these words: Matthew 21:5 :Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Indeed, it was the day the king came to make the entire world a Zion, a place where God’s people dwell and worship the Holy God.
   Yes, you can say that each Christian today is a Daughter of Zion. We are descended from the Christ, made holy by his blood shed and his body resurrected in that city. In Christ, our desolate, empty lives become a rich harvest of the fruit of the Spirit. In God’s power his broken world will “Build up! Build up!” to become the Redeemed, the Sought After, the Holy People in Jesus.
 
Remember the New Truth: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; the new has come!”