Isaiah 49:8, commentary and pictures

The promise is spoken to Christ as God's chosen Servant, the despised and rejected Redeemer of Israel whom God honors, assuring Him that in the appointed time of favor God hears and helps Him, preserves Him, and gives Him for a covenant of the people. His work is to set the earth in order and restore wasted and desolate lands to their inheritance, freeing prisoners, bringing those in darkness into light, feeding and guiding the afflicted by springs of water without hunger or thirst or scorching heat, and gathering people from distant nations as a light to the Gentiles and God's salvation to the end of the earth. Though His labor seems fruitless and meets humiliation and opposition without Israel being gathered, the promise sustains Him with the assurance that His mission will succeed and that God has not forgotten Zion. That saving work is fulfilled as the gospel is carried to every people and the worldwide church is built up, and it portrays the work of His messengers today who are heard, helped, preserved, and given to establish the earth, restore what is desolate, and proclaim salvation throughout the world. The acceptable time and day of salvation is now, when God hears and helps and His grace must not be received in vain but answered by accepting salvation, loving as Christ loved, and ministering faithfully through hardship with purity, patience, kindness, and the power of God.

Promise to Christ's Mission

The words are spoken to Christ as God's Servant, the Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One. He is the one whom man despises and the nation abhors, whom rulers command, yet whom God chooses and honors. Though Israel may reject Him and may not be gathered, He remains God's appointed Redeemer and covenant for the people. In an appointed, acceptable time of favor and salvation God hears Him and helps Him. That hearing in the right time and helping in the time of rescue is joined to preserving and keeping Him and giving Him for a covenant of the people.[3]

Given as covenant, His work is to establish the earth, to set it in order. Through Him desolate heritages, wasted places and desolate lands are caused to be inherited and restored. Through Him also the word goes to prisoners to go forth into freedom, and to those in darkness to show themselves and come into light. Those on whom He has mercy are led and guided and sustained, so they do not hunger or thirst nor are smitten by heat or sun, but are fed in the ways with pastures in high places and led by springs of water. His salvation reaches beyond Israel to the end of the earth as a light to the Gentiles, people are gathered from distant lands and nations to share in it, and His people are made His co-workers.

Though His work may appear fruitless, meet rejection, humiliation and opposition, the promise assures that His mission will succeed and sustains Him. God upholds His work for His people despite that rejection. The surrounding promises belong with this assurance, picturing God guiding and sustaining the afflicted, freeing prisoners, gathering people from afar, and assuring Zion that He has not forgotten her.

Fulfillment and Present Application

The promise to the Messiah is fulfilled as His saving work is carried to the ends of the earth and to every people, gathering the Gentiles and building up the worldwide gospel church. In the appointed time of favor and salvation God hears and helps His Servant, preserves Him, and gives Him for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth and restore desolate inheritances, to free prisoners and bring those in darkness into light and freedom. People from distant lands and nations come to share in this salvation, which reaches beyond Israel to the ends of the earth. This promise stands among the promises God has made concerning His church.

The chapter belongs to the work to be done in proclaiming salvation throughout the world and carrying out soul-saving work, including urgent efforts in the cities. That work includes freeing prisoners, guiding and sustaining the afflicted, and gathering people from distant lands as desolate inheritances are restored. The Lord's words portray the work of His messengers and ministers today, who are heard in the acceptable time and helped in the day of salvation, preserved and given for a covenant of the people to establish the earth and cause desolate heritages to be inherited. Their work is to be a light to the Gentiles and His salvation unto the end of the earth, saying to spiritual prisoners to go forth and to those in darkness to show themselves, so they feed in the ways with pastures in all high places, and this is what it means for ministers to keep their lamps trimmed and burning.

The verse foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world and giving the reason for this faith through camp meetings that supply the information people desire. That work arouses slumbering senses to see how far there has been departure from the Lord's ordinances by worldly policy and conformity. It reforms the people and restores in them the moral image of God through knowledge of the Word of God. The verse also calls upon all to make diligent work for repentance, including the call to physicians to see the importance of establishing small sanitariums in connection with schools and to labor as true medical missionary workers under His direction to fulfil His purpose.

The accepted time and day of salvation is now, for God hears in the right time and helps in the time of rescue. His grace must not be received in vain but answered now by accepting salvation and by loving one another as Christ has loved the church. The promise gives assurance to wait for God's help and guidance through spiritual darkness rather than acting rashly or relying on human wisdom. Workers serving with God are to conduct their ministry faithfully through hardship with purity, patience, kindness, love, truth, and the power of God, and this faithful heeding of the promise is part of the way by which Christlike attributes of character may be obtained, as God keeps His servant and gives him as a covenant for the people, to set the earth in order and to give the wasted places as an inheritance.