Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

These verses are part of the larger text complex of Isaiah 40-55, which biblical scholars call “Deutero-Isaiah,” that is, “Second Isaiah.” This is because these chapters presuppose a situation that does not fit the time of the historical Isaiah, namely, the crisis of the Babylonian exile and the misery of those who remained behind in Jerusalem and Judea. In this situation a prophet arose who deliberately linked to the tradition of the historical Isaiah and even assumed his character and his voice. We do not know the name of the prophet because this person simply continued the prophetic words of Isaiah, writing against the danger that Israel would assimilate to Babylon and be sucked into the worship of the gods of Babylon. But the prophet also writes against the danger of resignation, radicalizing faith in the one, unique God (the “worship of YHWH alone” thus became “monotheism”) and announcing a new exodus. The deported will return to Zion in a solemn festival procession, and in that way the God of Israel will show himself to be the lord of all the nations.

Isaiah 40–55 is constructed as a great dramatic poem. Voices are interwoven: here the voice of God, there the voice of the prophet. Israel, the suffering servant of God in Babylon, is addressed; in other scenes the addressees are those who have remained behind in Jerusalem and Judea. The text we have quoted, Isaiah 52:7-9, has those still in Jerusalem in view. For them the future is brought into the present: the new Exodus from the land between the rivers into the motherland is already happening. Those remaining in Jerusalem already see how the procession of those formerly deported is approaching the city. They see the messengers of joy who run ahead of the caravans. They hear the jubilation of the watchers on the city walls. A shout of joy breaks forth over the ruins of Jerusalem.

What is so special about this text? What does it have to do with the origins of Jesus’ specific message? We may offer five observations:

1. A messenger of good news appears, in Hebrew a mebassr, in Greek an euaggelizomenos. There is much to favor the idea that here in this passage, and in Isaiah 61:1-2, we find the theological source of the word evangelium, “Gospel.” It is true that there were in the Hellenistic world of the time a good many euaggelia, messages of good news, as, for example, in the announcement of a new ruler’s ascent to the throne. But the one Gospel of God that speaks of God’s action in history has its origin here, in this text.

Evidently Jesus recognized himself in the messenger of good news in Isaiah 52. He was convinced that now, with his appearance, Isaiah’s message of salvation was being fulfilled. Now the promises of Isaiah, that “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them,” are coming to pass.⁹ So what Jesus brings is the good news, and he himself is its messenger.

2. In accordance with our text, the content of the good news is called out, proclaimed by the messenger. Jesus did exactly that. He not only taught like the scribes but announced his message of the reign of God in all of Israel, or caused it to be announced by the disciples he sent out. That is something different from mere teaching.

3. What, according to Isaiah, is the content of this message? In itself it is the return of the exiles to Jerusalem and thus the rescue and restoration of Israel. But that is not how it is formulated. Instead, Isaiah speaks of God’s return to Zion. So behind the return of the deportees stands God himself; it is God who has brought about this return, God who leads it, God who is coming back. God identifies once again with his people.

4. And the direct content of the proclamation? It is: “Your God has become king.” That is, God becomes king precisely in gathering, leading back, and restoring Israel. So the proclamation does not speak primarily about God’s eternal kingship, something it simply presumes. Nor does the proclamation say that God’s royal reign will break forth soon after the return of the exiles. What it really says is that in the very moment in which the exiles return, God becomes king. That is, God’s eternal lordship is now revealed as an event within history. With the return of the exiles God’s royal rule is definitively realized in the world. God now reveals himself conclusively and ultimately as king; God manifests himself decisively as king. The watchers are already beginning their rejoicing.