Isaiah 52:4
For this is what the Lord GOD says: "At first My people went down to Egypt to live, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.
Sermons
Take My Yoke Upon YouHugh BinningIsaiah 52:4
A Call to ExertionJ. H. Hinton, M.A.Isaiah 52:1-6
Awake, AwakeF. B. Meyer, B.A.Isaiah 52:1-6
Awake, O ZionS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
Effort Gives StrengthW. Burrows, B.A.Isaiah 52:1-6
God's Call to a Sleeping ChurchC. Inwood.Isaiah 52:1-6
God's Call to be StrongS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
Injunctions to be StrongS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
Relapses in the History of the ChurchR. V. Foster, D.D.Isaiah 52:1-6
Some Elements of Church StrengthD. Winters.Isaiah 52:1-6
Strength Increased by UseChristian Budget.Isaiah 52:1-6
Strength Put on by Being Put OutS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Church AsleepS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Church Tenacious of its LifeR. V. Foster, D. D.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Church: its Strength and its WeaknessW. M. Paxton, D. D.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Church's Duty Towards the WorldJ. Sherman.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Church's StrengthJ. C. Rust, M.A.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Danger of InactionSunday School ChronicleIsaiah 52:1-6
The Elements of the Church's StrengthBp. W. X. Winde.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Essential Elements of a Church's StrengthR. V. Foster, D.D.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Sleeping ChurchS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Supreme Point of EnergyJ. Parker, D.D.Isaiah 52:1-6
Thy Strength of ZionS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
What Sends the Church to SleepS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
Zion's AwakeningR. V. Foster, D. D.Isaiah 52:1-6
Zion's StrengthS. Martin.Isaiah 52:1-6
The Redemption of JerusalemE. Johnson Isaiah 52:1-12
The Liberty of the ChurchW. Clarkson Isaiah 52:2-9














Ye shall be redeemed without money. This truth is more fully stated in Isaiah 55:1. Here we only note two senses in which God's redemption of Israel from the captivity of Babylon, and of us from the captivity of sin, may be called a priceless redemption.

I. BECAUSE ITS VALUE IS BEYOND ANY PRICE MAN CAN FIND. A man may hear of a "pearl of great price," and be willing to sell all else that he may have in order to get possession of it. But redemption is a pearl of such price that no man's all could suffice for its purchase. Illustrate what returning to a regenerate Jerusalem was for the captives. And what had they by which they could buy such a national restoration? What relation would it bear to the matter if they put all their wealth together? And we are not redeemed from sin with "corruptible things, such as silver and gold," so that we could recompense him who gave the silver and gold for us, by giving him our silver and gold; "but with the precious blood of Christ," the value of which no human scales can measure, and which no human wealth could buy. The price of our redemption is "beyond all measure of so much." Compare the poetical estimate of the value of "wisdom," in Job 28:12-19.

II. BECAUSE IT IS GIVEN WITHOUT ASKING ANY PRICE AT ALL. We could not pay the price. We should not have it at a price, if we could pay. It cannot be bought. Illustrate how men put a fictitious price on things which they do not wish to sell; and how they refuse to name any price at all when they are determined that the thing shall be a free gift. So God's redemption is priceless, for he does not want to sell. Nay, it is priceless, for it can only be received as a gift. "God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." How strange that this very "pricelessness" should be our greatest stumbling-block! We have a saying that "only nothing worth can be got for nothing;" and we find ourselves applying it to God's free gift of salvation. To illustrate this very human weakness, a man bought the entire stock of a herring-vendor, and sent him round a district of poor people, to cry, "Herrings for nothing!" and give them away. He was laughed to scorn, and not one person was found willing to receive. It is hard to believe that a priceless redemption is offered to us "without money and without price." - R.T.

For thus saith the Lord, Ye have mold yourselves for nought.
"Ye have sold yourselves for nought." You got nothing by it, nor did

I. God considers that when they by sin had sold themselves, He Himself, who had the prior, nay, the sole title to them, did not increase His wealth by the price (Psalm 44:12). They did not so much as pay their debts to Him with it. The Babylonians gave Him no thanks for them, but rather reproached and blasphemed His name upon that account; and therefore they, having so long had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for nothing; you shall be redeemed without price, as was promised (chap. 45:13).

( M. Henry.)

It appears to have been no unusual thing amongst the ancient Jews for a man who was sunk in debt and difficulties, and reduced to the extreme of poverty, to sell himself, or to be sold by his creditors, as a bondsman for a certain term of years. There seems to be an allusion to this circumstance in the text before us. In its strict and primary sense it relates peculiarly to the nation of the Jews, who by a long course of wicked and rebellious conduct had sold themselves, as it were, into the hands of their enemies; that is to say, their wickedness had been the immediate cause of their being delivered up by God into the hands of the Babylonians, who had reduced them into abject slavery. And they are said to have sold themselves "for nought," inasmuch as there was nothing in the fruits and consequences of their sin to compensate for the miserable state into which it had reduced them.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

Did the Lord perform His word? Yes; for, after they had remained in their bondage during the time God had appointed it to last, He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, a heathen king, to set them free. And on what terms? Captive exiles commonly pay dear for their deliverance. But what sum did Cyrus ask when he gave the Jews their liberty? Nothing whatsoever. He literally sent them home without the smallest recompense; without requiring or expecting anything at their hands. "They were redeemed without money."

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

A redemption, far more precious than the temporal redemption of Israel from. their Babylonish bondage, is to be considered as here hinted at.

I. THE AWFUL ACCUSATION. It is twofold.

1. That we have sold ourselves. The figure here employed is used in other passages,of Scripture, to express the conduct of the sinner in abandoning himself to Satan s service. Thus of Ahab it is said, "he did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord;" and of the people whom he governed, "they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger." St. Paul adopts a similar expression, in reference to himself, "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." In all these places the idea under which the conduct of sinners is described is that of a man selling himself for a slave. And under this guilt we are every one of us included.

2. That we have sold ourselves "for nought."(1) Look at the inducements of our sins — at the motives which led us to commit them. O how lightly and how cheaply have we yielded ourselves up to Satan's service! He has not needed, as in our Lords case, to promise all "the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;" he has not needed to tempt us with large offers or golden baits.(2) Look again to the consequences of our sins. There have been many times, no doubt, when we have committed sin in expectation of some great advantage to be gained by it. But what has been the price? Bitter disappointment, pain, grief, anguish, and in the end, everlasting death. Such have been the only fruits which men have ever gathered from their sins.

II. THE MOST GRACIOUS PROMISE OR PROPOSAL. "Ye shall be redeemed," etc. "As freely as you have given yourselves up to ruin, so freely am I ready to deliver you from that ruin." Considered in this light, in what a striking manner does my text present to us the riches of God's grace towards a ruined world! But to comprehend this matter more distinctly, look at the Cross of Jesus!

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

Homilist.
The whole world is an emporium; buying and selling are going on everywhere. The text refers to the sale of self.

I. It is the most COMMON SALE in the emporium of the world. What do I mean by self? Not the body, not the mere bundle of intellectual faculties, but the conscience, the moral ego, the "inner man," that which works the faculties and which will live when the body is dust. Now, men are selling this manhood for a variety of things.

1. For pleasure. The voluptuary and the debauchee have sold it, and it is gone far into the mud of sensuality.

2. For wealth. The worldling has sold it, and it is gone into the miserly grub.

3. For fame. The aspirant for worldly honours and distinctions has sold it, and it is lost in the rolling current of fashion.

II. It is the most FOOLISH SALE in the emporium of the world. "Sold yourselves for nought." The man who has sold it far pleasure, what has he got? "Nought." What is sensual pleasure but the pleasure of animals at best? and this wears out as animal life decays. "Desire faileth." The man who has sold it for wealth, what has he got? That which will soon "take wings and fly away." "What shall it profit a man?" etc. The man who has sold it for fame, what has he got? That which, if aromatic to-day, may be a stench to-morrow, and never at any time self-satisfying. Charles Lamb had fame, and what did he say? "I walk up and down, thinking I am happy, but knowing I am not."

III. It is the most UNRIGHTEOUS SALE in the emporium of the world. No man has a right to sell his soul. "All souls are Mine," saith God. Reason says you have no right to sell your soul; you are not self-produced nor self-sustained. Conscience says you have no right to sell your soul; as you barter it away, it groans damnation at you. God made the soul to investigate His works, adore His character and serve His will.

(Homilist.)

I. WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF MANKIND WHEN UNREGENERATE? In a state of sin, the text hath represented us as selling ourselves for nought; where each word is emphatical, and carries a peculiar sting in it.

1. We take upon us to drive a bargain where we have no propriety in what we expose to sale. What the prophet here charges us with exposing to sale is ourselves; and this, in other words, implies our souls, with all the interest which they have elsewhere depending upon our behaviour. Now in these our propriety is strictly and truly derivative and borrowed; it was God who made us, and not we ourselves; and every faculty and every power wherewith He hath entrusted us are employed injuriously whenever they run counter to His will and pleasure.

2. Let us consider what we are doing when we are selling ourselves. Our souls which were made to be immortal are the things we are bartering in this foolish bargain. And when once we have parted with them, what would we not give in exchange for them, to have them again, and save them?

3. The folly is yet farther aggravated by the consideration whhereupon we are induced to this wretched bargain. For the text hath charged us with "selling ourselves for nought."

II. WHAT WHEN REGENERATE? What Christ hath done for us in the affair of our redemption, by cancelling the handwriting which lay against us, was on His part free grace and bounty. Our redemption being conditional, proceed we to consider the terms whereunto it is limited.

1. Repentance from dead works.

2. Faith.

3. A sincere obedience will naturally follow.

(N. Marshall, D.D.)

Helps for the Pulpit.
I. THE SOLEMN STATEMENT.

II. A JOYFUL PROMISE. "And ye shall be redeemed without money."

1. This redemption could not be effected by human means.

2. Nor is this redemption provided by the law which the sinner has transgressed.

3. It must be effected in a way that will secure the honour of the Divine law, as well as the salvation of the sinner. There is redemption by price, and redemption by power, and each is suited to our state.

4. The redemption of man was effected by Christ at a great price. "Ye shall be redeemed without money." As the misery to which the sinner was exposed was infinite, so his deliverance required infinite means.

5. The effect of these sufferings is our redemption from captivity, and deliverance from the curse of the law. By faith, therefore, in the sacrifice of the Saviour deliverance is to be obtained.

(Helps for the Pulpit.)

Ye shall be redeemed without money
Homilist.
Redemptions, social, commercial, and political, are generally very costly things. Millions of lives have been sacrificed, and untold treasures of gold expended in order to redeem from temporal bondage. But true moral redemption — the redemption of the soul from error to truth, from selfishness to benevolence, from the devil to God — is cheap. "Without money."

I. THE MEANS OF MORAL REDEMPTION COST NOTHING.

1. You have Christ for nothing, He has given Himself.

2. You have the Bible for nothing.

3. You have the Spirit for nothing. No man can excuse himself for his moral bondage on the ground that he is too poor to obtain the means of redemption.

II. THE LABOUR INVOLVES NO SACRIFICE. Every moral bondsman must labour if he would be free, there is no moral emancipation irrespective of individual effort. Each captive must strike some hearty strokes ere his chains can be broken. But in this work there is no effort involving secular sacrifice. It need not prevent a man pursuing his ordinary avocations. He can be working out his freedom as well, if not better, when cultivating his farm, plying his handicraft, pursuing his merchandise, as alone in his chamber on his knees.

III. THE STRUGGLES CONDUCE TO TEMPORAL PROSPERITY (Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 4:8).

(Homilist.)

People
Isaiah
Places
Egypt, Jerusalem, Zion
Topics
Aforetime, Asshur, Assyria, Assyrian, Cause, Cruel, Egypt, Formerly, Lately, Nothing, Nought, Oppressed, Reside, Says, Sojourn, Themselves, Thus, Yoke
Outline
1. Christ persuades the church to believe his free redemption
7. To receive the ministers thereof
9. To joy in the power thereof
11. And to free themselves from bondage
13. Christ's kingdom shall be exalted

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 52:4

     4909   beginning
     8791   oppression, nature of

Library
Clean Carriers
'Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.'--ISAIAH lii. 11. The context points to a great deliverance. It is a good example of the prophetical habit of casting prophecies of the future into the mould of the past. The features of the Exodus are repeated, but some of them are set aside. This deliverance, whatever it be, is to be after the pattern of that old story, but with very significant differences. Then, the departing Israelites had spoiled the Egyptians and come out, laden with silver
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Great Revival
Now, leaving the figure, which is a very great one, I would remind you that its meaning is fully carried out, whenever God is pleased to send a great revival of religion. My heart is glad within me this day, for I am the bearer of good tidings. My soul has been made exceedingly full of happiness, by the tidings of a great revival of religion throughout the United States. Some hundred years, or more, ago, it pleased the Lord to send one of the most marvellous religious awakenings that was ever known;
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Vanguard and Rereward of the Church
I shall first consider this as it respects the church of God; and then, in the second place, I shall endeavour to consider it as it respects us, as individual believers. May God comfort our hearts while considering this precious truth! I. First, consider THE WHOLE CHURCH OF GOD AS AN ARMY. Remember that part of the host have crossed the flood; a large part of the army are standing this day upon the hills of glory; having overcome and triumphed. As for the rear, it stretches far into the future; some
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

"Take My Yoke Upon You," &C.
Matt. xi. 29.--"Take my yoke upon you," &c. Christianity consists in a blessed exchange of yokes between Christ and a pious soul. He takes our uneasy yoke, and gives his easy yoke. The soul puts upon him that unsupportable yoke of transgressions, and takes from him the portable yoke of his commandments. Our burden was heavy, too heavy for angels, and much more for men. It would crush under it all the strength of the creatures, for who could endure the wrath of the Almighty? Or, "what could a man
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jesus, the Great Object of Astonishment.
A COMMUNION ADDRESS AT MENTONE. "Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at Thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."--Isaiah lii. 13-15. JESUS, THE GREAT OBJECT ASTONISHMENT. OUR Lord Jesus
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

If Then the Prophets Prophesied that the Son of God was to Appear Upon The...
If then the prophets prophesied that the Son of God was to appear upon the earth, and prophesied also where on the earth and how and in what manner He should make known His appearance, and all these prophecies the Lord took upon Himself; our faith in Him was well-founded, and the tradition of the preaching (is) true: that is to say, the testimony of the apostles, who being sent forth by the Lord preached in all the world the Son of God, who came to suffer, and endured to the destruction of death
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Elucidations.
I. (Princes and kings, [154]p. 13.) How memorable the histories, moreover, of Nebuchadnezzar [1609] and his decrees; of Darius [1610] and his also; but especially of Cyrus and his great monumental edict! [1611] The beautiful narratives of the Queen of Sheba and of the Persian consort of Queen Esther (probably Xerxes) are also manifestations of the ways of Providence in giving light to the heathen world through that "nation of priests" in Israel. But Lactantius, who uses the Sibyls so freely, should
Lactantius—The divine institutes

That the Ruler Should be Pure in Thought.
The ruler should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others also; for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must needs be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil whatever it touches all the more. For on this account it is said through the prophet, Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord (Isai. lii. 11). For they bear the vessels of the Lord who undertake,
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Awakening of Zion
'Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.'--ISAIAH li. 9. 'Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.'--ISAIAH lii. 1. Both these verses are, I think, to be regarded as spoken by one voice, that of the Servant of the Lord. His majestic figure, wrapped in a light veil of obscurity, fills the eye in all these later prophecies of Isaiah. It is sometimes clothed with divine power, sometimes girded with the towel of human weakness, sometimes
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Remaining Books of the Old Testament.
1. The divine authority of the Pentateuch having been established, it is not necessary to dwell at length on the historical books which follow. The events which they record are a natural and necessary sequel to the establishment of the theocracy, as given in the five books of Moses. The Pentateuch is occupied mainly with the founding of the theocracy; the following historical books describe the settlement of the Israelitish nation under this theocracy in the promised land, and its practical operation
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia.
Part I. History of the Councils. Reason why two Councils were called. Inconsistency and folly of calling any; and of the style of the Arian formularies; occasion of the Nicene Council; proceedings at Ariminum; Letter of the Council to Constantius; its decree. Proceedings at Seleucia; reflections on the conduct of the Arians. 1. Perhaps news has reached even yourselves concerning the Council, which is at this time the subject of general conversation; for letters both from the Emperor and the Prefects
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Place of Jesus in the History of the World.
The great event of the History of the world is the revolution by which the noblest portions of humanity have passed from the ancient religions, comprised under the vague name of Paganism, to a religion founded on the Divine Unity, the Trinity, and the Incarnation of the Son of God. It has taken nearly a thousand years to accomplish this conversion. The new religion had itself taken at least three hundred years in its formation. But the origin of the revolution in question with which we have to do
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Christ all and in All.
(Colossians iii. 11.) Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty. If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

Bunsen's Biblical Researches.
When geologists began to ask whether changes in the earth's structure might be explained by causes still in operation, they did not disprove the possibility of great convulsions, but they lessened necessity for imagining them. So, if a theologian has his eyes opened to the Divine energy as continuous and omnipresent, he lessens the sharp contrast of epochs in Revelation, but need not assume that the stream has never varied in its flow. Devotion raises time present into the sacredness of the past;
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

The Gospel Message, Good Tidings
[As it is written] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! T he account which the Apostle Paul gives of his first reception among the Galatians (Galatians 4:15) , exemplifies the truth of this passage. He found them in a state of ignorance and misery; alienated from God, and enslaved to the blind and comfortless superstitions of idolatry. His preaching, accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, had a great and marvellous effect.
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

First Ministry in Judæa --John's Second Testimony.
(Judæa and Ænon.) ^D John III. 22-36. ^d 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa [That is, he left Jerusalem, the capital of Judæa, and went into the rural districts thereof. We find him there again in John xi. and Luke xiii.-xviii. He gained disciples there, but of them we know but few, such as Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Simeon, and Judas Iscariot]; and there he tarried with them [It is not stated how long he tarried, but it may have been from
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix viii. Rabbinic Traditions About Elijah, the Forerunner of the Messiah
To complete the evidence, presented in the text, as to the essential difference between the teaching of the ancient Synagogue about the Forerunner of the Messiah' and the history and mission of John the Baptist, as described in the New Testaments, we subjoin a full, though condensed, account of the earlier Rabbinic traditions about Elijah. Opinions differ as to the descent and birthplace of Elijah. According to some, he was from the land of Gilead (Bemid. R. 14), and of the tribe of Gad (Tanch. on
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

"For what the Law could not Do, in that it was Weak through the Flesh, God Sending his Own Son in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh,
Rom. viii. 3.--"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." For what purpose do we meet thus together? I would we knew it,--then it might be to some better purpose. In all other things we are rational, and do nothing of moment without some end and purpose. But, alas! in this matter of greatest moment, our going about divine ordinances, we have scarce any distinct or deliberate
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

How Christ is to be Made Use Of, as the Way, for Sanctification in General.
Having shown how a poor soul, lying under the burden of sin and wrath, is to make use of Jesus Christ for righteousness and justification, and so to make use of him, go out to him, and apply him, as "he is made of God to us righteousness," 1 Cor. i. 30, and that but briefly. This whole great business being more fully and satisfactorily handled, in that forementioned great, though small treatise, viz. "The Christian's Great Interest," we shall now come and show, how a believer or a justified soul
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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