Isaiah 49

In an acceptable time I have answered you. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage. Wesley: The Lord—God the Father unto Christ. Heard thee—though not so as to deliver thee from death; yet so as to crown thee with glory and honour. For a covenant—to be the Mediator and surety of that covenant which is made between me and them. Desolate heritages—that Christ may possess the Heathen, who were in a spiritual sense in a most desolate condition.

The Father answers the Son and sets him as mediator, not a later scheme of ages. The time of favor is help held out, not a feint. Both affirm: covenant to the people; land established; desolate heritages apportioned. Christ is the one given, as Wesley hears, and Calvin will not give the covenant-title to any other. The fork is whether the “you” stops at the Head or, with Calvin, also addresses the body.

In a time of good pleasure have I heard thee. Calvin: while he addresses the whole body of the Church, he begins with Christ, who is the head. I will give thee to be a covenant is applicable to no other than Christ. Christ is not so much his own as ours; he neither came, nor died, nor rose again for himself. The good-will of God is the foundation of our salvation; we are saved not through our worthiness or merits, but by his free grace. These predictions belong to the whole Church in all ages: begin with Babylon, go on to the redemption of Christ, proceed to the last day. The Head receives what is meant for the members; the partition-wall broken, Jews and Gentiles one body. The Mediator who raises what was waste.

Saying to those who are bound, Come out!; to those in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights shall be their pasture. Wesley: Prisoners—to the Gentiles who are fast bound by the cords of their sins, and taken captive by the devil at his will. Go forth—come forth to the light, receive divine illumination. In high places—they shall have abundant provision in all places, even those which commonly are unfruitful.

The call is a come-out, held out to bound Gentiles. Illumination is received; this is not a chart of later captivities. Common to both: prisoners hear “Come out”; the dark are told to appear. The Servant who is a light for the nations now speaks that light. Those who stay bound do not stay because the word was never for them, but because they will not come forth to it.

That thou mayest say to them that are bound, Go forth. Calvin: before the coming of Christ we are bound under a miserable yoke, and plunged in darkness. The preaching of the Gospel is the means by which we are delivered. If we desire liberty, let us listen to Christ when he speaks. Where then is the liberty of our will? Whosoever claims for himself light, or reason, or understanding, can have no share in this deliverance; liberty is not promised to any but those who acknowledge that they are captives.

The Shepherd’s say is the release. The bound are addressed; pasture is given. Calvin’s warning is not a sneer at Wesley’s “receive”; it is that the captive must confess captivity, not claim a native light.

They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them; he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water will guide them. Wesley’s note on the prior verse already promised abundant provision even in unfruitful places; the same Gentiles who came out are not abandoned in the way. Pity that actually leads, springs that actually guide. Not a diet-war, not a later-age chart. Where they meet: no hunger, no thirst, no scorching; the pitier leads. The nations given light in 49:6 are here kept on the road.

They shall not hunger nor thirst. Calvin: there is food in the hand of God, so that they shall not want provisions for the journey. He recalls manna in the wilderness and the pillar of cloud against the sun, and the waters from the rock: former benefits magnify the power of God in securing the safety of the Church.

The Church is fed as Israel was fed; the Shepherd does not run out. Pity is the LORD’s, not a wage.

I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways will be exalted. Wesley: A way—I will remove all hindrances, and prepare the way for them, by levelling high grounds, and raising low grounds. Hindrances removed so the gathered can come. Both traditions hear: mountains become a road; highways raised. The LORD prepares what he commands.

I will place all my mountains. Calvin: he will remove every obstacle that might prevent the return; mountains that appeared impassable he will render passable. When he calls them my mountains, he declares that he will be the leader of the expedition and travel along with the Church, as if consulting his own interests when he assists his people.

God marches with the body he restores. Common reading: every hindrance yields. No scheme of ages; the LORD who gave the Servant as light now levels the road.

Behold, these shall come from afar, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim. Wesley: These—my people shall be gathered from the most remote parts of the earth. He speaks of the conversion of the Gentiles, with allusion to gathering and bringing back the Jews from all parts where they were dispersed. Sinim—Sinites, or Sin in Egypt for the southern parts.

Conversion of the nations is the point. The allusion to a Jewish return is type, not a second gospel. Both confess: they come from afar, north, west, south. The light for the nations in 49:6 now has a geography.

Behold, those from afar shall come. Calvin: while Isaiah promises a return from Babylon, he extends this prediction to the time of Christ. The second birth of the Church is here described. Not only shall the Jews return to Jerusalem to build the temple, but they who had formerly been aliens from the Church shall be collected from every corner of the world.

Aliens gathered into the one body under the Head. From afar, every direction. Not a chart of ages; the Church’s increase, Gentiles associated with Jews, as already in 49:6.

Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people. Wesley’s head-note on the stretch: God’s love to his church perpetual. The comfort is the LORD’s; the afflicted are his.

Heavens are told to sing because the people have actually been pitied. Agreed on both sides: the LORD has comforted; compassion on the afflicted. The Servant’s work in 8–12 lands as comfort, not as a scheme.

Praise, O heavens; and rejoice, O earth. Calvin: he confirms the promise which afflictions make doubtful. Though believers behold nothing but death and ruin, they are to sustain the heart by hope of a better condition. He will have compassion on his poor: the Church in this world is liable to many calamities; under the cross we partake of that compassion.

Comfort: the song is commanded while the wound is still open. Heavens, earth, mountains; the LORD has comforted his people. Compassion is on the afflicted Church, the body under the Head.