Isai. xlix. 8 — 10. Thus saith the Lord : In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I hetyed thee : and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages ; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth ; to them that are in darkness, Sheiv yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst ; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them : for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
TO the Messiah God had promised, that, after his inconceivable degradation, he should be exalted, in- somuch that the kings and princes of the earth should bow down and worship at his footstool8. In the passage before us, the same idea is amplified and en- larged. Jehovah had said to him, " Ask of me, and
a ver. 7.
951.1 TIIE GREATNESS OF CHRIST'S SALVATION. l2~).~)
I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession b." And in the Epistle to the Hebrews we are informed, that " in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears ; and was heard c." Whilst he prayed for himself, he interceded also for all his people, to the very end of timed. For them also was he heard; as we are told in the words which I have just read : " In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee : and I will give thee for a covenant of the people, that thou mayest cause them to inherit the desolate heritages."
In these words, together with those which follow them, we may see,
I. The promised diffusion of the Gospel —
To enter properly into the meaning of the passage, we must bear in mind the redemption from Babylon, to which there is a manifest reference. Not that the redemption from Babylon is here predicted : that has been very fully and largely spoken of by the prophet in the foregoing parts of his prophecy. He soars far above that subject in this place ; and speaks of the redemption of the whole world by the Lord Jesus Christ, though in terms applicable to the other event. The whole of Judea was desolated by the Chaldean invaders : and, on the proclamation of Cyrus, the people were permitted to resume their former in- heritances, and to repair the desolations throughout the land. In like manner, the whole world, which has been desolated by sin and Satan, is here spoken of as to be repaired by the Lord Jesus Christ, at the period foretold in prophecy, even at " the accepted time."
1. This was begun in the apostolic age —
[The Lord Jesus Christ, after all his sufferings and death, was raised from the dead ; and, after all the efforts made by men and devils to suppress his rising cause, " was preserved ;" yea, and was " made a covenant-head to all the people of the
b Ps. ii. 8. c Heb. v. 7. d John xvii. 9, 20, 24.