Isaiah 49:1-6

OUR SAVIOUR AND THE WORK OF OUR SALVATION

Isaiah 49:1. Listen, O isles, unto me, &c.

It is to the Gentiles, to us, that Christ here speaks concerning Himself and the work of salvation (Isaiah 49:1). What is the information to which He would have us “hearken?” This—

I. For the work of redemption He was appointed and set apart by God (Isaiah 49:1. Cf. Matthew 1:21). From the womb of eternity, before all worlds, He was called to this service. From this divine appointment comes His authority for its prosecution (Hebrews 5:4).

II. God had fitted and qualified Him for the service to which He had designed Him (Isaiah 49:2. Cf. Revelation 1:16; Revelation 19:15; Hebrews 4:12). [1492]

[1492] The sword and arrow were the chief weapons of the ancients, and were emblems of powerful and persuasive speech. The Tartars proclaim a powerful prince thus:—“His word shall be as a sword.” Of Pericles it is said, “His powerful speech pierced the hearer’s soul, and left deep behind in his bosom its keener point infixed.” Such is the power of the Gospel.—Thodey.

III. For the service to which He was preferred, God had reserved and protected Him (Isaiah 49:2). “In the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, in His quiver hath He hid me,” denotes—

1. Concealment. The Gospel of Christ, and the calling in of the Gentiles by it, were long hidden in the counsels of God (Ephesians 3:5; Romans 16:25).

2. Protection. The house of David was the particular care of the Divine Providence, because that blessing was in it. Christ in His infancy was sheltered from the rage of Herod.

IV. That God had Himself announced to Him His election and its ultimate result (Isaiah 49:3).

V. That when He shrank discouraged from the prosecution of His work, God had strengthened His heart (Isaiah 49:4).

1. There came to the Redeemer a period of discouragement (Isaiah 49:4). This seems to point to the obstinacy of the Jews, among whom Christ went in person, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, laboured and spent His strength, and yet the rulers and the body of the nation rejected Him and His doctrine; so very few were brought in, when one would have thought that none should have stood out, that He might well say, “I have laboured,” &c. His prophets had passed through the same trial (Isaiah 6:9; Jeremiah 20:9). It is the complaint still of many a faithful minister.

(1.) Let not ministers think it strange that they are slighted, when the Master Himself was.

(2.) Every faithful minister passing through such a trial, may be sure of the sympathy of Christ (Hebrews 4:15).

2. In this period of discouragement, He comforted Himself by remembering that it was the cause of God in which He was engaged, and the call of God that engaged Him in it, and that by God Himself His efforts would be judged (Isaiah 49:4).

3. In that trying time He was comforted by a gracious communication made to Him by God Himself (Isaiah 49:6). If He seemed for a time to fail in the small work to which He was called, in a work much greater He should be successful.—Matthew Henry, Commentary, in loco.