Isaiah 51:11, commentary and pictures

God promises that His redeemed will come home to Zion singing, crowned with lasting joy where gladness is gained and grief and mourning disappear. He speaks this to those who pursue right and treasure His law in their hearts, urging them not to fear human scorn because His comfort, righteousness and salvation endure and make a way for the ransomed as through the sea. In the last crisis when earthly powers threaten His faithful remnant with death and want, He will display His power as at the Red Sea to free them, end their captivity and bring them into Zion. That homecoming comes to its fullness when Christ appears in glory, opening endless day for the righteous who have held to His law and gospel message and longed for their King. Therefore His people can take courage now under burdens and painful affliction, trusting His watchful care instead of acting as if they had no helper, since present suffering will give way to lasting gladness.

Promise and Its Setting

The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads, obtaining gladness and joy while sorrow, sighing and mourning flee away. This is a return in singing marked by lasting joy and gladness, even an entering of the city of God with everlasting joy, and the disappearance of sorrow and sighing. That hope belongs to those who fear God, while those without it have no expectation of entering the city with joy.

The word is spoken to those who follow after righteousness and seek the Lord, who know righteousness and have His law in their heart. They are the ones told not to fear the reproach of men.

Its immediate setting is that the Lord shall comfort Zion and make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord, with joy and melody. In that setting His law and judgment shall go forth as a light, His righteousness is near and His salvation gone forth, His righteousness shall be forever and His salvation from generation to generation. There too His arm that cut Rahab and dried the sea made a way for the ransomed to pass over.

The return to Zion is deliverance and restoration by God: He comforts His people, frees the captive, and protects them when earthly powers threaten them. He makes a way through the sea for the ransomed, recalling how He dried the sea to make a way for them to pass over. This comfort answers fear of human oppressors, and it rests on His enduring righteousness and salvation and on His promise to comfort and save His people.

The chapter gives God's covenant with the people He is seeking to save, the terms of salvation, and the education of most value today. It holds instruction spoken by Jesus Christ as the greatest Teacher when enshrouded in the pillar of cloud in educating His church in the wilderness. That instruction is for the mental, physical and moral improvement of the whole being, for formation of right sentiments and practical usefulness. It teaches how to conduct oneself as a citizen of heaven for present and eternal good through knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

The chapter is a clear word that should not be disregarded or misunderstood. It calls people to seek the Lord, repent of sins, and practice righteousness.

Final Crisis and Coming

The promise belongs to God's people in the final crisis and time of trouble, when truth is departing and earthly powers threaten them like captive exiles with death, hunger, starvation and violence. It assures them that God will deliver them from danger, display His power, turn their captivity and bring it to an end. As He once divided the sea and the Red Sea for Israel, He will protect them until their coming deliverance and use His power to bring them out of captivity into Zion with everlasting joy, ending sorrow and mourning. Their return with singing unto Zion, with lasting joy and gladness replacing sorrow, sighing and mourning, is that deliverance from oppression, comfort, freeing of the captive, and protection when earthly powers threaten.

The verse describes what happens when Christ comes in power and great glory. God's people wait with earnest longing for the tokens of their coming King, and soon there is a revealing of His glory when the Sun of Righteousness shines forth. Then the ransomed return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, obtaining joy and gladness while sorrow and sighing flee away. This is the opening of endless day to the righteous, while at the same time eternal night settles down upon the wicked.

It belongs to the message of Isaiah 51:7-16 to the remnant people of God to the very close of this earth's history in the final conflict, when the gospel must be aggressive. It promises the joyful gathering to Zion of those who hold the banner of truth firmly and refuse to compromise, hide their colors, or prophesy deceit. These are those who proclaim the law of God connected with the faith of Jesus, give the first, second, and third angels' messages, build the old waste places, and raise up the foundation of many generations.

The redeemed will return to Zion with singing and enter the city of God with everlasting joy and gladness, while sorrow and sighing disappear. This hope belongs to those who fear God, while those without it have no expectation of entering the city with joy. The verse is a plain scripture on the Sabbath question holding wonderful promises for those who obey God's law, showing that God has made no change in His day of rest. It belongs with Isaiah 58 and Exodus 20 to be put before the people in print and in tract form, brought to the front now to do its important work in hearts and to lead workers to draw nigh to God and receive the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

Assurance for Obedient Living

The chapter and the promise give assurance and hope because the Lord bears His people's burdens. The redeemed shall return and come to Zion with singing and lasting joy and gladness, while sorrow and mourning pass away. The same chapters from verse 7 to verse 16 are encouragement from God's Word.

The promise belongs among the Scriptures that reveal God's life-giving Saviour and humanity's hope of life with God. It gives assurance and hope to one in painful and tedious affliction and to the afflicted. The Lord strengthens by grace, Jesus watches over the sufferer by night, He bears every burden, and present suffering can be for the glory of God, so the redeemed need not murmur but can trust in coming deliverance into lasting gladness where sorrow and pain are gone. It is a clear word that should not be disregarded or misunderstood, calling people to seek the Lord, repent of sins, and practice righteousness, and it offers hope and courage to the afflicted.

The redeemed shall return to Zion with singing and enter the city of God with everlasting joy and gladness, while sorrow and sighing disappear. This hope belongs to those who fear God, while those without it have no expectation of entering the city with joy. God is not glorified when His professed people act as though they have no helper.