Isaiah 51

Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug. Wesley: Look—consider the state of Abraham and Sarah, from whom all of you sprang. The chapter-head still governs: Abraham, our pattern to trust in Christ, in his promises, and righteous salvation.

The rock and the quarry are Abraham and Sarah, the stock from which Judah sprang—not a later-age chart. Hewn from the rock; dug from the quarry; those who pursue righteousness must look back. Then gospel: the comfort that reaches the church in Christ starts here, at the one man God called. The point is the LORD who can still multiply from one.

Hearken to me, ye that follow righteousness. Calvin: the Prophet now exhorts the Jews not to despair because they are few in number; they had been cut down and diminished to such a degree that they appeared to be on the eve of being reduced to nothing. Look to the rock of your hewing: some take Abraham as a Rock because he was strong in faith, others because he was worn out by age and Sarah a Pit because barren; but both, in my opinion, are in the wrong; it is a simple metaphor, taken from quarries. He does not speak to all, but to those only who could rely on the promise, that is, to those whom he calls followers of righteousness; although they boasted that they were the children of Abraham, yet all were not capable of receiving this doctrine. Following righteousness consists in seeking the Lord.

Quarry, not a faith-rock or a barren-pit allegory. Abraham and Sarah are the stone and the pit; God can multiply a remnant. The address lands on those who seek Jehovah, not on every boast of Abraham’s name. The remnant told to look to the rock they were cut from is the same people the Servant of chapter 49 is sent to restore; there is no second Israel waiting in the wings.

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him. Wesley: Him alone—to follow me to an unknown land: him only of all his kindred. Increased—into a vast multitude, when his condition was desperate in the eye of reason. And therefore God can as easily raise his church when they are in the most forlorn condition.

The call of one man was historical, to an unknown land; the increase was against reason’s eye. Those who despair of Zion’s smallness do not despair because the LORD cannot multiply, but because they will not look to the one he called. The point is the God who called.

For I called him alone. Calvin: not only because he had none along with him when called out of his country, but because the Lord suffered him to dwell in Canaan without children up to a worn out old age; yet the Lord increased and enriched him with a great number of children. To us also, amidst this distracted condition of the Church, it is highly necessary that we may not be discouraged because our number is small, and that we may hope that God will increase his Church by unexpected methods. That promise relates not to the Jews only, but to other nations; on this account he was no longer called Abram, but Abraham.

Childless to old age, then a people. Common to both: one called; blessed; multiplied. The gospel reach is already in Abraham’s new name. Calvin’s unexpected methods are the same LORD Wesley hears raising his church from the forlorn.

For the LORD has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of song. Wesley: Therefore—for the sake of Abraham, and of that covenant which I made with him.

Zion’s wastes are not in doubt; the ground of comfort is the covenant with Abraham. Agreed on both sides: wilderness like Eden; joy and thanksgiving. The Servant who is light for the nations in 49:6 does not undo this Zion; he is how the comfort travels.

Surely Jehovah will comfort Zion. Calvin: in the person of Abraham there was exhibited an example which applies to all ages; as the Lord suddenly produced from one man so numerous an offspring, so he will also people his Church by wonderful and unknown methods, and not once only, whenever she shall be thought childless and solitary. He will comfort his Church not only when flourishing, but when desolate and reduced to solitude. The desert like a place of delights alludes to Eden, from which man was driven by his own fault; we who have been deprived of that blessing are exiles throughout the whole world. Restored, she shall rejoice and render thanksgiving to God.

Abraham is the pattern of how God peoples a desolate Church. Zion comforted; wastes made Eden; song. The point is the LORD who comforts. Calvin’s Church-from-solitude is the gospel already reaching those gathered in the Head, not a second Zion.

Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples. Wesley: My people—ye Jews, whom I chose to be my peculiar people. A law—a new law, even the doctrine of the gospel. Judgment—judgment is here the same thing with law, the word of God, or the evangelical doctrine, of which he saith that he will make it to rest, that is settle and establish it. The people—people of all nations.

The gospel is a new law going out, settled for the nations, while “my people” remains the Jews he chose. Both sides agree: a law from him; justice as light to the peoples. “A law will go out from me” picks up 49:6: the Servant’s light reaches the nations as teaching and justice. Those who stay in the dark do not stay because no law went out, but because they will not give ear.

Attend to me, my people. Calvin: the Lord so frequently demands that he shall be heard because we are slow to hear him, especially in adversity. The law shall go forth from me: the Lord will again reign, and will arouse his Church to call on his name. Law is equivalent to the edict which God shall order to be proclaimed when he shall be pleased to gather his Church; he describes his manner of reigning by his Law and by his doctrine. Wherever doctrine is rejected, God’s government is not found. By judgment he means the order and administration of government by which he shall restore his kingdom. For a light of the peoples: when God begins to reign, miserable men are rescued from darkness and enlightened by the doctrine of the word.

The nations’ light is the Word by which he reigns. The Servant’s light from 49:6 is here the doctrine that actually enlightens. The fork is how the going-out is named, not whether the peoples are in view.

My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm they wait. Wesley: My righteousness—my salvation, the redemption of all my people, Jews and Gentiles, which is the effect of his righteousness, his justice, faithfulness, or mercy. Is gone—shall shortly go forth. Judge—shall subdue the Gentiles to my authority, and rule them by my word and spirit. Isles—the remote countries shall expect this salvation from me, and from me only.

Redemption of Jews and Gentiles is what “my righteousness” means here—sincerely gone forth, not a feint. Both traditions see: righteousness near; salvation gone out; coastlands wait. Then gospel: isles waiting on the same arm that called Abraham. The islands that wait for his arm are the nations promised the Servant’s light in 49:6. Those who perish do not perish because this salvation never went out to the remote countries, but because they will not trust the arm.

My righteousness is near. Calvin: the righteousness of the Lord has relation to men who know by experience that he is righteous. By the word righteous the Prophet does not mean that he renders to every one a righteous reward, but that he yields the best protection, and dispenses the largest kindness to his people, that he faithfully performs his promises to all believers, when he delivers them and does not suffer them to be finally overwhelmed. My salvation hath gone forth: the righteousness of God shone brightly in the deliverance of the people. The captivity in Babylon was a kind of death, in consequence of which that deliverance is here called Salvation. My arms shall judge the peoples: by arms he means the wide exercise of his power; he will spread his kingdom far and wide.

Babylon first as death and deliverance; then the arms that spread the kingdom. Agreed on both sides: righteousness near; salvation gone out; coastlands hope. Calvin does not deny the peoples; he will not read “righteous” as a wage paid to every one. The kingdom spreading is the same gospel light, not a later-age chart.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish away as smoke and the earth wear out as clothing, and its inhabitants will die in the same way; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. Wesley: The heavens—the heavens and earth shall pass away, in regard of their present state, and properties, and use, as smoak is said to vanish, tho’ the substance of it be not destroyed.

Men are transitory; the righteous salvation is constant—the chapter-head again. Both note: heavens like smoke; earth like a garment; salvation forever; righteousness not dismayed. The point is the salvation that outlasts the present use of heaven and earth. Trust in Christ, Wesley said, in his promises: that is the forever.

Lift up your eyes toward heaven. Calvin: when we see so great changes in the world, we are apt to think that the Church comes within the influence of the same violent motion; we need to have our minds elevated above the ordinary course of nature, otherwise the salvation of the Church will appear to hang on a thread. Though heaven and earth hasten to decay, it is impossible that the Church shall fail, the stability of which is founded on God. Everything contained in heaven and earth is frail and fading; but God’s salvation, by which he guards the Church, is eternal. The grace he displays in the preservation of his Church surpasses all his other works.

The Church does not ride the same thread as the garment-earth. Calvin’s Church-guarded-eternally is the same forever Wesley names; the fork is not invented here as Arminian versus Reformed.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults. Wesley: Know—that love and practise it.

Knowing righteousness is loving and practising it, not a party badge. Listen; law in the heart; fear not man’s reproach. Then gospel: the same people told to look to Abraham are now told not to flinch at reviling. Recall 50:6–7: the Servant set his face like flint; those who know righteousness need not be dismayed. The point is the law already in the heart.

Hearken to me, ye that know righteousness. Calvin: wicked men, when they enjoy prosperity, laugh at our faith; the Prophet exhorts believers to patience, that they may not dread their reproaches. He does not address unbelievers, but those who know righteousness; though they do not intentionally reject the word, they often shut the door against his righteousness under adversity, shut their ears and almost despair. A people in whose heart is my law: without the word of the Lord there can be no righteousness; no laws of men, however well framed, will lead us to true righteousness. The seat of the law is not in the brain, but in the heart, that being imbued with heavenly doctrine we may be altogether renewed.

Word in the heart, not human codes in the brain. Common to both: know righteousness; law in the heart; fear not revilings. Calvin’s warning that knowers still shut the door under adversity is not a sneer at Wesley’s love-and-practise; both send the fearful to hear again. The Servant’s voice in 50:10 is still the voice to obey.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations. Wesley: Like wool—like a woollen garment, which is sooner corrupted by moths or such creatures, than linen.

Revilers wear out faster than wool; the LORD’s righteousness does not. Compare 50:9: accusers of the Servant are moth-eaten; here the same moth eats those who reproach the people in whose heart is the law. Do not force Isa 53 atonement onto this verse; Wesley does not go there. Men are transitory; the righteous salvation is constant, and the church may trust it in Christ.

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment. Calvin: believing servants of God must endure many reproaches from enemies of the word; true valor springs from this, that although the world reject us as filth and offscourings, God holds us in estimation. The death of wicked men would yield small consolation if we were not saved: we shall never be left destitute of God’s righteousness and salvation. Salvation is in God, that by it he may preserve, not himself, but us; righteousness is in God, that he may display it for our defense and preservation. From the eternity of God’s salvation and righteousness we ought to infer that the servants of God cannot possibly perish; the children of God do not subsist in themselves, but in God, and have the foundation of their salvation in him.

Revilers are food for worms; the servants subsist in God. Both readings hold: moth-eaten garments; righteousness forever; salvation to all generations. The same moth as 50:9; the same forever as v. 6. The point is that those held in God’s estimation cannot perish because their salvation is in him.