Thus saith Jehovah In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isaiah 49 sets before us a Servant whom His own nation rejects. Verse 8 is Jehovah's reply to Him: acceptance, help, and a covenant that reaches far beyond the nation that refused Him.
The "you" of this verse is not the prophet and not the nation. It is the Servant whom men despise. The promise given to Him assumes a scene of total ruin.
It is clear that Christ is now viewed here as a rejected person, the cross being the great expression of that rejection. It is evident that this supposes all to be in ruin, but that the Lord Jesus is the destined repairer of the breaches.
Before there could be an acceptable time, there was an hour when the answer did not come.
There was a moment when He was not only despised and rejected by men, but forsaken by God. In that moment He could not say, "As for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, in an acceptable time" (Psalm 69:13). His words were, "I cry, but you do not hear." He had to pass through this moment of unspeakable sorrow, and He passed through it in atonement for our sins... He who was crucified in weakness was raised by the power of God. So Jehovah can now say to Him in resurrection, "In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you."
Older translations read "heard" where the ESV has "answered," and the writers quoted here follow them. Both words point to one event, and that event starts a whole era.
The humbled Servant whom men would not hear has been heard by Him, helped and lifted up... The significance of this may have been lost on Old Testament readers, but the Apostle Paul seized upon it in 2 Corinthians 6:2. The rejection of the Messiah, foretold in verse 7, would result in His death. He would be "heard" and "helped" by resurrection from the dead, and this was to inaugurate the "acceptable time" and the "day of salvation."
Paul takes up the first half of this verse in 2 Corinthians 6:2 and adds one word: now. That word marks off the time we are living in.
The words of the eighth verse are quoted here: "I have heard you in a time accepted and in the day of salvation I have helped you." They are addressed to Christ, whom Israel rejected. God raised Him from the dead, and though Israel is not gathered, He becomes the power of salvation for the Gentiles. This is the meaning of "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "Now" means this present age, when God offers salvation to the Gentiles.
Old Testament readers could not have guessed how far these words would reach.
Old Testament saints read of Messiah being heard in an accepted time and helped in a day of salvation. Who among them could have known that there would be a people accepted in His acceptance, saved in His own salvation out of death and judgment, and able to say that by His resurrection they were risen with Him? Jehovah said "I have heard you in a time of acceptance" to Christ personally. The Spirit of God has made known to us that we, through grace, are now included in that "you."
One writer notes how rarely Scripture gives Christ the title used here.
Only once more is our Lord Jesus Christ called the Covenant. It is here, in Isaiah 49:8. Only through Him can this be brought about.
That title also settles the ground of Israel's blessing.
The once-rejected Messiah is to be "a covenant of the people," for they will not enter into blessing on the basis of the covenant of law. He, and He only, will bring to pass the blessing on earth so glowingly described in these verses.
The closing clauses look past our own time to a coming age, when a restored nation lives in a restored land.
The day will come when the nation of Israel will be restored and brought into millennial blessing. Jehovah was glorified by His Servant Jesus. He accepted His work, heard His cry, helped Him, and preserved Him. Through Him, and all that He has done, Jehovah will fulfil His promises to His earthly people. He will establish the land, and at last the nation will inherit the land that for so long has been desolate.
- Cry — There was an hour when the Servant cried and no answer came. That hour was the atonement, and He passed through it first.
- Answer — "Heard" and "helped" are resurrection words. God's answer to the rejected Christ was to raise Him.
- Now — His resurrection opened the accepted time we live in. Salvation now goes out to the nations, while Israel is not yet gathered.
- Accepted — Jehovah spoke those words to Christ personally. They now cover a people accepted in His acceptance, saved in His salvation, risen with Him.
- Covenant — Christ Himself is called the Covenant. Through Him God establishes the desolate land, and the nation at last inherits it.
saying to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be on all bare hills.
This verse is one line in a longer message God speaks to His Servant, and it is a command of release. Two questions decide how we read it — who are these prisoners, and when does the word go out?
The command is not the prophet's own. God gives it to His Servant, and the setting is a scene of total ruin. (The writers quote older translations, which read "Go forth" and "Show yourselves" where the ESV has "Come out" and "Appear".)
"I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people (that is, of Israel) … saying to the prisoners, Go forth" (vv. 8-9). This assumes everything is in ruin, but that the Lord Jesus is the appointed repairer of the breaches.
Some read this release of prisoners as a rescue of the dead from hell. One writer rejects that, and points to the verse's own setting: the earth and its ruined lands.
This is Jehovah's prophetic word to the Messiah, and it applies expressly to the earth and not to hell at all: "I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, … to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that you may say to the prisoners, Go forth." Familiar passages use similar language, and nobody would dream of carrying it further. Anyone who applies this to hell must assume it. Will they say why?
If the prisoners are Israel, no human effort can arrange their freedom. The One who speaks sets the time.
Men may try to restore the land to the Jew, and bring the Jews back to the land. But their efforts, even if they seem successful for a time, will only bring the Jew back for the judgment of the great tribulation. To come back for blessing they must wait until Christ gives the word. In His time He will say to the prisoners, "Go forth". And to those in darkness, "Show yourselves". Today the Jew may be a captive, often hiding from the pitiless persecution of ruthless enemies. But when Christ says "Go forth" and "Show yourselves" no power will withstand His words.
This verse names prison and darkness. The next verse adds hunger and thirst. Each meets its exact opposite.
Prisons, and darkness, and hunger, and thirst, will yield up their captives and their victims at the gracious command of our Lord Jesus Christ; so that they may enjoy liberty, and light, and plenty. He will Himself guide them (vv. 9-10).
The second half of the verse turns from prison to pasture. It also settles where the freed come from.
"They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be on all bare heights… Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (vv. 9-12). This predicts the return of Israel from all parts of the earth. But it is a return after they were scattered there. So they come not only from the north and south, but even from the land of Sinim — that is, from China. From there they emerge at last and gather in Palestine.
These captives have a name elsewhere in Scripture, and a scene in heaven matches their relief.
In verses 8-10 God gives Him as a covenant to the people, that is, Israel. He comes to bring in the blessing on earth, to set free captive Israel — "Prisoners of hope," Zechariah 9:11-12 — and to open the prison doors to those who are bound. So the true Shepherd of Israel feeds His now gathered flock, which would hunger and thirst no more. How similar is the language of Revelation 7:16-17, which the elder in heaven uses about those who had come out of the great tribulation.
- Ruin — the verse assumes everything lies in ruin: wasted lands, prisoners, people in the dark.
- Repairer — God gives His Servant as a covenant, and He is the appointed repairer of the breaches.
- Release — these prisoners are captives on the earth, not souls after death. His word ends both prison and darkness.
- Reach — release runs from every direction, from the north, the west, and lands as far off as China.
- Rest — the freed become a flock, fed along the ways and on bare heights, never hungry or thirsty again.
They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he that hath mercy on them will lead them, and by the springs of water will he guide them.
Isaiah 49 describes the work of God's Servant. His own nation rejects Him, yet God gives Him to bring a scattered people home. Verse 10 pictures that homecoming, and it raises three questions: who are these people, when does this happen, and what makes it certain?
Verse 10 sits in a chapter about Christ. Israel's refusal of Him looks like failure. Instead God widens the promise to the nations, and then returns to Israel:
The original thought was to gather Israel, but Israel would not be gathered. Then, says God, That is too small a thing; I will save the nations also. But Christ is first given as a light to the Gentiles… "This is what Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to Him whom the soul despises, to Him whom the nation hates." Clearly Christ is now seen as a rejected person, and the cross is the great expression of that rejection. "I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people (that is, of Israel), to establish the land." All this supposes that everything is in ruin, but that the Lord Jesus is the destined repairer of the breaches.
The freedom from hunger, thirst and heat belongs to a journey home. One writer separates that homecoming from every human plan to resettle a people:
Men may seek to restore the land to the Jew, and bring the Jews back to the land. Their efforts may seem to succeed for a time. But they will only bring the Jew back for the judgment of the great tribulation. To come back for blessing they must wait until Christ gives the word… No longer will they hunger and thirst nor suffer the heat of a pitiless world. For the One who has mercy on them will Himself go before them. He will restore His wandering sheep, lead them by springs of water, and guide them over mountains and along His highways. They will be led back from every part of the earth.
The verse gives the reason for this care: the One leading them has mercy on them. One writer underlines that word:
At last the comfort announced in the opening verse of Isaiah 40 will have reached "His people." Those who for so long had been "His afflicted" will find mercy. MERCY, notice; not merit, as the end of Romans 11 shows so clearly.
The picture sounds like paradise, so many readers take it for heaven. One writer points to what the rest of the chapter says:
This passage is not a prophecy about heaven, but about restored Israel; for it goes on to declare, "I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh," and concludes by saying that "all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob." (v. 26.)
The promise is spoken to Israel. Yet one writer notes that the same prophecy reaches further:
And though these blessings are promised to Israel, the same prophecy shows us also a Gentile remnant, who share, at least in part, the same portion.
Revelation uses the same words of a crowd drawn out of every nation, and another writer takes both companies to be in view:
In the first part of Revelation 7 we have seen that in the time of these judgments God will have a saved remnant from Israel and the Gentiles. In the closing verses one of the elders in heaven answers the question of who this company is and where they come from. It would seem that these verses apply to both classes, for in Isaiah 49:10 exactly similar language is used to describe the blessing of restored Israel.
One writer gives the passage two applications, one future and one present:
This beautiful passage… will come literally true during the millennium, for all who are faithful to "the King of glory." (Compare Isa. 49 with Rev. 7.) But it is also true now, in a spiritual sense, of every sheep and lamb in the highly favoured flock of Christ. But do you know this truth, O my soul, for yourself — is it your own experience? Only the word of God can make it known, and only faith can enjoy it in the heart.
- Mercy begins it. The One who leads them leads in mercy. The blessing comes to those who "find mercy… not merit."
- Mercy is carried by a Servant. His own nation rejected Him, yet God gives Him as a covenant, and He becomes "the destined repairer of the breaches."
- Mercy sets the timing. No human effort brings the people home for blessing; they "must wait until Christ gives the word."
- Mercy reaches wide. Revelation uses the same words of a saved company from every nation, so both Israel and the Gentiles seem to be in view.
- Mercy lands on earth. This is "not a prophecy about heaven, but about restored Israel" — yet its comfort is true now, by faith, for every sheep of Christ.