Text: Isaiah 52:7-8
No other prophet in all of scripture paints for us a more victorious picture of God’s people shaking off the fetters of Exile and returning triumphant to Jerusalem. With majestic strokes of prophetic genius, Isaiah colors the canvas of his book with beautiful illuminations of Mt. Zion – a symbol for both the Temple and the Holy City of Jerusalem that sits atop it. Taken all together, these epic scenes and tiny vignettes reveal a mosaic of God’s coming Kingdom with all peoples streaming to it.
Our passage this week gives us only a piece of Isaiah’s vision, but it is one that even Paul thought stretched into our lives as disciples:
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good tidings,
who publishes peace, who brings good news,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice,
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
Paul saw this vision as unmistakably about Jesus, the Messiah – the Anointed King of the Kingdom of God. The ‘good news’ Isaiah sketches here can be no other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaimed by the Church, who is both messenger and watchman of the Kingdom.
Perhaps most striking in this passage, however, is exactly how the Lord returns to Zion – and how the watchmen are able to see it: ‘Eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.’
Without a doubt there is a multitude of ways to translate, let alone interpret, Isaiah’s words here. At the very least, though, he appears to suggest that the watchmen see the returning of the Lord, not in the sky or at the gates, but rather in each other’s faces.
What I find really striking about this, and makes this passage practically jump off the page for me, is that this is exactly how Paul understood the return and presence of the Lord Christ himself.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 he writes: ‘All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’
Like Isaiah, Paul seems to suggest that through the power of the Spirit, we are reflecting the glory of the Lord to one another, and reflecting has the effect of transforming us together into the image of Christ himself. In other words: We see the return of our Lord in each other’s faces.
We are the Word of God enfleshed in the world – and if the Word proclaimed has no limits, imagine what the Word embodied can do for this world – especially now.
All this makes me incredibly grateful and even excited to Zoom with you all, because while it’s not ideal, it allows me to see the face of Christ in each of your faces, which fills my weary soul with the hope that comes from our Lord returning and being present in our midst.
I can’t wait to see you in class this week!