62:1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent; for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain still till her righteousness shines like a light, her salvation like a flaming torch. Here we have the category—Zion and Jerusalem—in parallel. And Righteousness and Salvation in parallel, associated with that category of God's people, because they're the ones to whom the Servant ministers. The Servant ministers to all of the Lord's people, to the Jacob category Israel. But as a result of the Servant's mission they arise to the Zion/Jerusalem category and inherit salvation. To them the Lord can come. This verse implies that someone is interceding, or praying to the Lord on behalf of Jerusalem, or Zion, on behalf of that category of the Lord's people, that category that repents. Who is that person? Probably the one who is speaking in verse ten. Anyone who rises up to be a Savior figure, who ministers to people, and intercedes for those who are down, is a Savior. You're not just teaching the people or helping them. You're also praying for them. That's a dimension that's common all the way through the Old Testament. You have King Hezekiah praying for his people for deliverance from the Assyrians who are besieging the city. There's the prophet Moses interceding to the Lord on behalf of his people who have transgressed. There is Christ praying to the Father on behalf of his disciples, praying for them that they may be one, that they have peace, that not one will be lost, and so forth. And, of course, we have heads of families praying for their children. And there is a king praying for his people. He's someone in a superior position, in a higher position on the spiritual ladder praying for those below him. We would assume that, in this case, someone praying in Zion, or Jerusalem would be the Servant himself, or anyone who falls in the category of Servant with him—such as the servants that we've already seen, beginning in chapter fifty-four, where it starts mentioning "servants of the Lord. " In chapter fifty-four verse seventeen it mentions servants and their vindication. In chapter fifty-six it talks about servants who love the name of the Lord, who keep covenant with him, who hold fast to the covenant. After this chapter it goes on mentioning servants as well. Things kind of come to a conclusion, as far as the servants go. In chapter sixty-five it talks about the servants who will eat and drink and rejoice, while others who don't serve God will suffer covenant curses. It talks about servants in chapter sixty-five, saying that God will spare certain ones. He will not destroy them all, because of his servants, or for the sake of his servants, or on behalf of his servants, chapter sixty-five, verse eight. Again, in chapter sixty-three, verse seventeen it talks about the Lord relenting, not judging his people so harshly, for the sake of his servants. "The tribes of thine inheritance," identifies the servants there with the tribes. John the Revelator does that; he identifies twelve-thousand servants of God for each of the Twelve Tribes. The servants are like proxies for the people to whom they minister. They intercede with God on their behalf, on behalf of the people to whom they minister. God spares the people for the servants' sake. That follows the pattern of a Davidic king and the Davidic covenant, like King Hezekiah. According to the terms of the Davidic covenant if the people are loyal to the king, and keep the king's law, and the king is loyal to the Lord and keeps his law, then the Lord will extend his blessing and protection upon both king and people. He will extend it to the people for the king's sake, because of the righteousness of the king. And on that basis, no doubt, is why we have patriarchy and not matriarchy. Because the husband's job is to intercede with God for those who are his, and to keep God's law as they keep his law. That's the pattern God has set up for the blessing of his people. And it's a special role that's required of the head of the family, or the king of a nation, or the father of a people, or the prophet—in the case of Moses. It's a special role and law that's required of him that's not required of others. There's always paying a price, like Hezekiah did, in suffering certain things, to back up your intercession. "Hey, if you want this to happen, and you're asking me to bless these people, then you pay the price, because they have been unfaithful to Me. They may be faithful to you, but they've been unfaithful to Me, so, if you want mercy extended to them, or some kind of physical deliverance from destruction, then you pay the price. The law of justice must be met; the price of justice has to be paid by somebody, at some time." That's where the idea of proxy salvation comes in, in a physical sense, in a political or temporal sense. We see that that is a type of Christ's own proxy suffering, as we saw in chapter fifty-three, which extends to the spiritual salvation, or spiritual deliverance when it's combined with the proxy sacrifice of the animal that pays for the sin, and dies for the person that has transgressed under the law of Moses. This is going on here, in chapter sixty-two, verse one. Someone is interceding with the Lord on behalf of Zion, or Jerusalem. And he, no doubt, like a true proxy for them, is willing to pay the price, too. He covenants with the Lord by sacrifice and pays the price, whatever the Lord requires of him, as he did of king Hezekiah, or as he did of Moses, or of anyone whose intercession is effective. He doesn't keep silence. He keeps on asking, like the importuning widow. That's what Jesus taught in the New Testament. "Ask and receive. Keep asking because eventually your prayer will be answered." It requires faith. It's not just a one-time shot at it, as you say, O God, do this, do that," and just forget about it. Because, that's not faith. It's the challenge that the intercessor has to meet, a believing. Not just praying and interceding, but believing that God will do it. Because everything is done according to a person's faith. And so he keeps up his intercession. He keeps up his petitions to God. He wants to see this thing fulfilled. He wants to see the full fruits of his labors. He doesn't want to see half of a redemption. He wants to see the whole redemption. He's not going to rest until the task is completed, "till her righteousness shines like a light, her salvation like a flaming torch. "Until the salvation is complete, until righteousness is attained, that level of righteousness necessary for salvation is attained. And it happens! That's the only way it happens. Until that Servant or servants are all fulfilling their intercessory roles with God, and getting the work done, together. The terms, Light, Righteousness, and Salvation, are also metaphors describing the Lord's Servant. At some point his righteousness—or he as a person--will shine like a light. Well, he is the light. You saw that already. And "her salvation," when the Lord comes like a flaming torch." Remember the walls. He will send out Salvation as walls around the city? That's the Lord's presence. The flaming torch will be the cloud of glory that rests upon the people, at the temple, or over their congregation., and as they come on the exodus. And it is imagery borrowed by Isaiah from the book of Genesis where Abraham makes a covenant with the Lord, by sacrifice. He had animals that symbolized his own personal sacrifice, that sacrifice of himself. Remember how Abraham's life was sought by the Babylonians, to kill him, to offer him as a sacrifice on their altar? Abraham offered his life on the altar, and he was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice on the altar. The covenant by sacrifice, they required of the proxy. Abraham, in Genesis, had these animals which symbolized his sacrifice. He divided them in half and lay them in kind of a line by his altar. "and the Lord passed through the midst of them like a flaming torch." And it was the presence of the Lord, as it was in the cloudy pillar. What it symbolized to Abraham was that if he did not keep covenant with the Lord, "then let happen to me what happened to these beasts" that were cut up into two pieces. So there was a blessing and there was a curse attached to the covenant. "Let me like the slaughtered beasts that have been cut in half. Let me like them if I don't keep my covenant, to fulfill it, to serve you all my days." And the Lord blessed that action, that ritual, that covenant, gory as it was, because the Lord knew it was Abraham's serious commitment. It was no light thing that Abraham did. It was no menial thing to covenant with the Lord in that manner of covenant. That alludes to this proxy here, whoever he is—the Servant, or the other servants, maybe a hundred and forty-four thousand servants-- are all making the same kind of covenant. It goes back to that flaming torch passing through the pieces of the animals. That's what kind of proxies they are. They're interceding with God. They're saying, "Let me be like that, if we don't get this job done. If we don't don't fulfill the task you've given us as we covenant with thee to do." That is their righteousness. That is what's going to shine like a light. That is their salvation. That's going to bring the Lord's coming—that kind of valor in the service of God. 62:2 The nations shall behold your righteousness and all their rulers your glory; you shall be called by a new name conferred by the mouth of the Lord. This glory doesn't just come; it's hard won. It's earned. It's merited. Glory comes upon the heels of righteousness, as these two ideas here, in parallel, show. Now, as to these parallelisms, "her righteousness shines like a light, her salvation like a flaming torch— we have synonymous parallelisms, and we have antithetical parallelisms. In synonymous parallelism we have two ideas that are presented in parallel lines, like this one here, but the ideas are synonymous; one is almost equated with the other. In antithetical parallelism there are two opposite ideas in parallel with each other by way of contrast, to show that one is the opposite of the other. There's two ideas. But these parallelisms, here, are complimentary parallelisms. Righteousness is NOT the same as salvation. It is different. Righteousness is a precursor, or precondition of salvation. It has to come first. It has to be established first so that salvation may come. There's no salvation for a wicked person. There's only salvation after righteousness qualifies that person. So it is with glory. The glory of the Lord shall come to dwell among his people when they become righteous. It doesn't just pop out of the sky and it's there among the wicked. There are certain terms that must be met, covenantal laws that must be fulfilled. In this case it includes the law of the higher covenant, the Davidic covenant, where you have a proxy, or proxies of people, interceding on their behalf. And when we have those people who are interceded for rising from a lower to a higher level than they were before, all of that's part of the scenario that's going on here. "Nations shall behold your righteousness and all their rulers your glory. You shall be called by a new name conferred by the mouth of the Lord." That is what happened to the Servant, in chapter forty-five. He's given a new name. He's named by the Lord. And now, because they follow the Servant, because they're followers of righteousness, because they know righteousness, because he's their covenantal proxy and mediator of the covenant, what happens to him happens to them. They are called by a new name, too, now. The Lord called him by a new name, now he confers a new name upon them. The Servant does. This new name is conferred by the mouth of the Lord, it says. "The mouth of the Lord" is also his Servant. He's God's mouthpiece to them. So he gives them the new name. The new name symbolizes ascent or arising to higher level on the spiritual ladder. Every time you ascend up a step on the spiritual ladder you are a new person. You are reborn as some new entity. It's a new birth. And so you're given a new name. Every time you're born again, you're given a new name. The new name, as far as the Lord's people are a whole concerned is the Zion or Jerusalem category. Before they they were Israel, or Jacob, or Judah, or some other name. But for someone who's already on that level and ascends to the next level, they're given a new name, personally. Like each one of those hundred and forty-four-thousand servants, according to John the Revelator, they're given a new name. The Lord's Servant is called by a new name, in chapter forty-nine. It says, "Israel," there, but that's only going back to the type of Jacob being called Israel. He was given his new name when he ascended the spiritual ladder. The Servant is called "Israel," there, but that's not the literal name, that's just a type and a shadow of what his new name will be. What happens to him will be what happened to Jacob in the Old Testament. Abraham was also given a new name. His first name was Abram, and it was changed to Abraham. That's when he rose to a different level on the spiritual ladder, or was reborn on that level and became a new person, a new creature. When Jesus talks about it in the New Testament, it's perfectly consistent with Isaiah's theology. In fact, he's talking about rising to "a" particular level, this very same level of being born again on a Zion, or Jerusalem, level. 62:3 Then shall you be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the palm of your God. Now, in chapter sixty-one we had, more or less, the spiritual aspect of the endowment. We have a spiritual endowment there, the ordained priests. They're arrayed in priestly robes. They're called to a priestly position; they're to be ministers of God, priests of the Lord, as in chapter sixty-one, verse six. But here they're given a crown, and they are a crown. When a vassal king is given a new name, that means he accedes, or attains, to world's status. He is give a new name by the suzerain, or emperor. The emperor grasped him by the hand and gave him a new name. He was adopted by the emperor as his servant, or as his son, and he ruled as a vassal king under the emperor. He glorified the emperor. He glorified the emperor because his righteous rule added to the emperor's glory. It extended his empire, made it bigger. And if the emperor had no empire he wouldn't be an emperor. So the fact that this vassal king exists, at all, adds to the glory of the emperor. All of that's going on, here. There's a political aspect covered here in chapter sixty-two that contrasts the spiritual endowment, the spiritual aspect in chapter sixty-one. That implies that those who ascend to this level, to the level where they are endowed as priests, and crowned and then they become kings and priests. And we have types of that in the Old Testament. King David was a king, King Hezekiah was a king. Aaron was a priest. In this latter-day exaltation of the Lord's people these people become both kings and priests. They're both spiritual ministers after the pattern of Aaron. They're clothed in the robes of righteousness, in priestly robes at the time they are married or sealed in a marriage covenant. And, they're also vassals to the Lord, in a political sense. They're kings. It has to do with crowning and being given a new name. "Then shall you be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of your God." And he's the one who ordained them priests. He's also the one who calls them by a new name. And thus assigns them vassal status to the Lord. It glorifies God and it glorifies the Servant. It's all part of a glorious work of salvation and exaltation. It's what it boils down to. 62:4 You shall no more be called the forsaken one, nor your land referred to as desolate; you shall be known as her in whom I delight and your land considered espoused. For the Lord shall delight in you, and your land shall be espoused. Again, this is alluding to the reversal of circumstances from a forsaken or desolate state, of both people and their land, now becoming a delight like the bride whom the bridegroom delights in. He rejoices over her. He delights in her. She is his glory. She is his exaltation. And so it is, here. From that forsaken and desolate estate the people are now raised to a higher level. Their circumstances are reversed. And this is a renewal of the covenant of the Lord and his people. It's simply on a higher level that they were before. It involves the Promised Land; the land is now a blessed land. People come to this land from all around the world, because it's where the Lord dwells, himself. "You shall be known as she in whom I delight and your land considered espoused." 62:5 As a young man weds a virgin, so shall your sons wed you; as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. The marriage covenant, of course, is all through the Old Testament prophets, used as a type for the Lord's coming with his people. But here, in a special sense, not just Israel, not just the old covenant of Sinai which was a conditional covenant. This is now an unconditional covenant. These people, on the Zion, or Jerusalem, level have proven their faithfulness to the Lord, And so he blesses them unconditionally. She is the woman that he marries. She's not going to fall away like his people did anciently, who are on the Israel level. She has proven herself faithful to him. In connection with that political aspect of endowment, or authorization, is the bride and bridegroom imagery. Those are word links and image links to chapter sixty-one, verse ten. It says, "He arrays me in robes of righteousness, like a bridegroom dressed in priestly attire, or a bride adorned in her jewels." That bride and bridegroom imagery is associated both with a spiritual endowment and the political authorization, or endowment. No one can be a king and a priest in the House of Israel, or in Zion or Jerusalem, unless he's also married, in the marriage covenant, unless he's also sealed of God. "As a young man weds a virgin, so shall your sons wed you; as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." The sons wedding her may smack of incest, but it's referring to people coming back from exile—your sons and daughters-- wedding the woman, or renewing their covenant relationship with God, that they become part of his people. In chapter forty-nine, the beginning of verse seventeen: "your sons shall hasten your ravagers away. Those who ruined you shall depart from you." It's talking about the woman, Zion, and her children returning from among the nations. "Life up your eyes, look around you, for they gather and come to you. You shall adorn yourself with them all as with jewels, bind them on you as does a bride. The children born during the time of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, this place is too cramped for us. Give us place to settle. And you will say to yourself, "Who bore me these while I was bereaved and barren and was exiled and banished? By who were these reared? When I was left to myself, where were they?" Well, they were out in exile and they returned to her, in the end. So it is in chapter sixty-two. 62:6–7 I have appointed watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall not be silent day or night. You who call upon the Lord, let not up nor give him respite till he reestablishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned in the earth. These verses are very similar to verse one. Who is it, then, who is calling upon the Lord day and night, the ones we talked about in verse one, for Jerusalem, for Zion's sake? It is these watchmen. There are two kinds of watchmen in the book of Isaiah—the ones we saw in chapter fifty-six who were dumb watchdogs unable to bark who don't report trouble when they see it coming, or they don't even see it, and they're the watchmen? And there's the ones in chapter fifty-two who proclaim the Lord's coming. "Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice. As one they cry out for joy, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord returns to Zion," chapter fifty-two, verse eight. These are the watchmen who report what they see and hear. Meaning there are watchmen who don't report what they see and hear, if indeed they see it at all. The nature of these watchmen, in chapter sixty-two, verse six, their roles are also with that of proxies or intercessors with God. They call upon the Lord, and they persist, like the importuning widow. Don't let up, don't give him any respite. Don't cease calling upon him, in other words, until he reestablishes Jerusalem and makes it renown in the earth, until the goal is accomplished, until this whole mission, this whole scene is followed up on right through to the end. That's the plan, the whole plan. It can't without people like that doing that. It needs intercessors. It needs proxy saviors. It needs servants of God. Not just one like Moses, but a hundred and forty-four thousand, or very many of them, like John says, to get this work done. Until it becomes renown in the earth. That's the same thing as becoming illustrious that we saw earlier. The people and also the place where they live, Jerusalem, become illustrious. The city—because it says "walls"--the city that has salvation for its walls. 62:8–9 The Lord has sworn by his right hand, his mighty arm: I will no more let your grain be food for your enemies, nor shall foreigners drink the new wine you have toiled for. Those who harvest it shall eat it, giving praise to the Lord; those who gather it shall drink it within the environs of my sanctuary. That is covenant blessing. In Deuteronomy twenty-eight when the curses of the covenant come upon the people, they serve their enemies. They become the farm hands and the vinedressers, chapter sixty-one, verse five, to aliens and foreigners, when they come into their power. Now the situation is reversed. Others become their farm hands and vine dressers. Their circumstances are reversed. Their grain was for their enemies,, and foreigners drank the new wine that they toiled for. Where do we send a lot of our grain today? To our enemies, don't we? This is an answer to the prayer. When these people, or the Servant prays to the Lord, the Lord responds and answers them. He doesn't just ignore them. These servants are on the very highest spiritual level. Their prayers are effective with God, as Moses' prayer was effective with God, or as Abraham's prayer on behalf of the righteous in Sodom was effective with God. Abraham prayed for the deliverance of the righteous in Sodom, and the Lord delivered them. He delivered Lot and his two daughters because they were the only ones that were righteous. It says in the book of Genesis that the Lord saved Lot out of the overthrow, for Abraham's sake. And so the Lord delivers people, here, for his servant's sake. He swears by his right, hand, by his mighty arm. That right hand, the mighty arm, is the Lord's Servant. He is the arm of righteousness. He's also the right hand of the Lord. Those are metaphors that describe him. It also implies intervention in the affairs of his people, using his Servant, an instrument of intervention. When? When that own Servant's own circumstances are reversed. Remember, he's abhorred, he's powerless for a long time, and then the Lord empowers him, in chapter forty-nine. He endows him in chapter fifty-five. And so, when he says, "by his right hand, his mighty arm," it's the same person, but now empowered, mighty arm, not puny arm. Do you remember when he was endowed, in chapter forty-nine, with power? It says, "for I won honor in the eyes of the Lord, and my God became my strength," because he's pleading with the Lord, saying: "I've labored in vain, I've spent my strength for nothing, for no purpose." He's kind of bewailing the fact that he's not getting anywhere, in the service of God. And then the Lord reverses his circumstances, and empowers him, and says, "Is it too small a thing for my Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, to restore those preserved of Israel? I'll also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel, to him who is despised as a person, who is abhorred by his nation, rulers shall rise up when they see you, heads of state shall prostrate themselves, because the Lord keeps faith with you because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you." Sometime, his whole situation is reversed, and he becomes illustrious. That's also in chapter fifty-two, where the Servant was marred beyond human likeness. People were appalled at him and yet he becomes exceedingly eminent and it astounds many nations, and "their rulers shut their mouths at him, chapter fifty-two, verses thirteen through fifteen. In chapter sixty-two, verse eight it is the Servant already endowed with power to do these things and to intercede with God. His intercession is mighty with God, and God does thing for his people, for the Servant's sake. It reverses their circumstances. They were subservient to their enemies, and now their enemies become subservient to them. "Those who harvest it shall eat it, giving praise to the Lord; those who gather it shall drink it within the environs of my sanctuary." That's covenant blessing. They have a Promised Land. "Harvest" implies covenantal blessing. They praise God for it. Where? Within the environs of his sanctuary. So they inherit the Promised Land where the temple of God is, where the Lord dwells, in that blessed land, Zion. 62:10–11 Pass on, go through gates; prepare the way for the people! Excavate, pave a highway cleared of stones; raise the ensign to the nations! The Lord has made proclamation to the end of the earth: Tell the Daughter of Zion, See, your Salvation comes, his reward with him, his work preceding him. This harks back to chapter forty, this cross reference here, verses three through five, where there is one who prepares the way before the coming of the Lord. The Lord IS salvation; he personifies salvation. He's it. Of course the name, Jesus, means salvation. Yeshua means salvation. It's not the same word as Joshua, which is Yehoshua, the verb, "the Lord will save." Yeshua, the name Jesus, is the noun, salvation. Some people get confused on that subject. There is a way prepared here, for the people, that they might welcome their king, the Lord, who comes on the highway. And they may go to meet him on that highway, and someone is excavating and paving a highway cleared of stones. Stones are what? Stones are the common variety of people, the sinners, the sinner category, the category that's being destroyed. They have to be moved out of the way. They have to be gotten rid of. How do we get rid of stones? Well, we upgrade them. If people will repent and ascend to the next level, then they can be there to receive their king. But if they don't they must be thrown away. They must be gotten rid of, just like you get rid of stones of a garden, or as you're making a road you get rid of boulders and things, you clear them out, because only those who will receive the Lord will be left around. This kind of goes back to the imagery of chapter thirty-five, verse eight where it says, "there shall be highways and roads which shall be called the way of holiness, for they shall be for such as are holy. The unclean shall not traverse them. On them shall no reprobates wander. And this is the way of return. The ransomed of the Lord shall return. They shall come singing to Zion." Zion is where the Lord comes. All of this is a preparatory work. "Who's making this proclamation to the end of the earth, telling the Daughter of Zion, see your Salvation comes, your reward with him, his work preceding him?" The Servant does. He is the forerunner. It doesn't just happen spontaneously that the people get themselves ready, by themselves, on their own back. Somebody comes along, like Moses and delivers them from bondage, from blindness, from being oppressed by the wicked, and preaches to them, teaches them the law of the covenant, acts as a mediator of the covenant like Moses did on behalf of his people and he gets them ready for seeing, meeting God. That's what Moses wanted to do in the Sinai wilderness. He wanted to prepare the people to meet God. Did any of them do it? Moses did and Seventy of the elders went up on the mount and saw the God of Israel and ate bread with him. And that was all that went up. But that was a type and shadow of what was to come. Moses wasn't able to do it in his day. But Isaiah predicts that in the end of days, those people who come under the category of Zion will meet God. That has always been the goal, to lift people up to that higher level, to pass on, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people. That's what prophets did; they went through the gates, preaching to the people by way of oracles. This is the kind of thing this prophet, or this Servant is doing. He's paving the way. Raise the ensign to the nation," it says. The Servant is the ensign the Lord raises up in chapter eleven, verses ten and twelve. Isaiah calls him the ensign. The ensign rallies the Lord's people to covenant with the Lord. He rallies them to return from exile. His mission is a universal mission to all the nations of the earth. They come from the "four directions," in chapter eleven. Chapter eleven talks about the "sprig of Jesse which stands for an ensign to the peoples." He'll be sought by the nations. He's also called the "hand," there. "He will raise the ensign to the nations, assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered of Judah from the four directions of the earth." And they come on an exodus, there in chapter eleven, verses fifteen and sixteen. "There shall be a pathway out of Assyria," and all those countries that I mentioned there, "for a remnant of his people who shall be left as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt." All of that is the work of the Servant when the Lord commissions him as an ensign to the nations. He is the Ensign. Also, his precepts, that is, the terms of the covenant are also an ensign to the nations. That is what he preaches. He is the covenant, himself. He's appointed as a covenant, which implies his mediating of the Lord's covenant with his people. The Lord has made proclamation to the end of the earth, because the Servant's mission extends to the end of the earth. He's commissioned to preach to the ends of the earth. And he's the one who proclaims it. "Tell the Daughter of Zion--" the Daughter of Zion being "neo-Zion," you might call it. There was a Zion, anciently, and there's going to be a Zion again in the latter days, and they are the Lord's bride, the woman, Zion, the Daughter of Zion. "See your Salvation comes," of course upon the heels of righteousness, not by itself, spontaneously. "His reward is with him; his work preceding him." The reward of righteousness and the reward of wickedness, because his coming is two-fold, remember. It signals destruction of the wicked, but deliverance of the righteous. It also says "his work precedes him." It says it also in chapter forty, verse ten, which is talking about the Lord's coming. It says there, " My Lord Jehovah comes with power. His reward is with him. His work precedes him." The work that precedes him is the preparatory work, preparing a people, Zion, for the coming of the Lord, the paving of the highway among them, the clearing of all that's not acceptable. These people must repent and be cleansed. They must be sanctified in order to meet him, meet God. That's the work that precedes him, the work of righteousness. 62:12 They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be known as in demand, a city never deserted. Because you were not in demand, before. You were abhorred. You were despised. You were in a state of covenant curse. You were the lowest rung of society. You were the ones everybody looked down upon. You were always deserted. Your cities had lain desolate, for years. Now it's a city that's never deserted, and you are in high demand. You began a reversal of circumstances. You'll be called "the holy people" because you emulated the Holy One of Israel in attribute. He was the Holy One of Israel and you use him as your exemplar. You became holy, or sanctified, or consecrated, "redeemed of the Lord, " because you are the ones he can redeem, when they [words cut off in recording].