Isaiah 51:4 - Meaning and Application

Both of these messages end with the same promise: God’s righteousness and salvation will last forever. So we should read them together, since both are meant to comfort God’s people.

Who are the people this comfort belongs to? They are “my people” and “my nation,” the people God has set apart for himself. They belong to him, and he claims them as his own. They live under his rule as their King and God, give him their loyalty, and trust his protection. They are also a people who know what is right, not only because they have been taught it, but because they put that teaching into practice. They can tell truth from falsehood, and good from evil.

They do not only have clear minds, they also have changed hearts, because God’s law is written in them and rules there. Those whom God counts as his people are the ones who have his law in their hearts. Even so, people who know what is right and have God’s law within them may still suffer deeply, be grieved, and be treated with shame and contempt. Yet their God comforts them with the very righteousness they know and the law they carry in their hearts.

The comfort itself is this: the gospel of Christ will be preached and made known in the world. “A law shall go out from me,” an evangelical law, meaning the law of the gospel, the law of Christ, the law of faith (Isaiah 2:3). This law is God’s judgment too, because it is the law of freedom by which the world will be governed and judged. It will not only go out, it will also remain and take deep root in the world. It will stand not only for the Jews, who heard it first, but also as a light for the nations.

This is the law, this is the judgment, that we must hear and pay attention to, or we do so at our own peril. If a command comes from God, then anyone who has ears should listen. And this law and judgment will bring righteousness and salvation with them. They will open a sure way for human beings to be made right with God and saved (Isaiah 51:5). These are called God’s righteousness and God’s salvation because he planned them and brought them about.

The first is a righteousness that God accepts for us, and one he also works in us and graciously accepts. The second is the salvation that comes from the Lord and ends in him. There is no salvation without righteousness, and wherever God’s righteousness is present, his salvation will also be there. All who are justified, meaning made right with God, and sanctified, meaning made holy, will also be glorified.

This righteousness and salvation will soon appear. “My righteousness is near.” It is near in time, because everything is now ready. It is near in place too, because it is not hard to find. The word is near us, and Christ is in the word, along with righteousness in the word (Romans 10:8). “My salvation has gone out.” The decree has already gone out concerning it, so its coming is as sure as if it had already arrived, and the time is close.

This gospel righteousness and salvation will not be limited to the Jewish nation. It will reach the Gentiles too. “My arms shall judge the peoples.” Those who refuse to yield to the judgments of God’s mouth will be crushed by the judgments of his hand. Some will be judged in this way by the gospel, for Christ came into the world for judgment as well as salvation. But others, including people from the islands, will wait for him and gladly welcome his gospel, along with its commands and its comforts.

This was comfort to God’s people, because many would be added to them, and their growing number would add to their strength and beauty. It is also said, “On my arm they will trust,” meaning the arm of the Lord revealed in Christ (Isaiah 53:1). God’s arm will judge those who refuse to repent, and yet others will trust in that same arm and be saved by it. The same gospel is for us a fragrance of life or of death, depending on how we receive it.

This righteousness and salvation will last forever and never be done away with (Isaiah 51:8). The Messiah brings in an everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24), and he is the author of eternal redemption (Hebrews 5:9). Just as this salvation spreads through all nations, it will also continue through all ages. We must never expect any other way of salvation, or any other covenant of peace or rule of righteousness, than what we have in the gospel. What the gospel gives will remain to the end (Matthew 28:20).

It is forever, because its results last into eternity, and this law of freedom will decide people’s eternal state. The lasting nature of the gospel, and the blessed things it brings, is shown by the fading away of this world and everything in it. Look up at the heavens above. They have lasted until now, and seem likely to keep going, but they will vanish like smoke that quickly disappears. They will be rolled up like a scroll, and their lights will fall like leaves in autumn.

Look down at the earth below. It also lasts for a while (Ecclesiastes 1:4), but it will wear out like a garment that grows old with use. The people who live on it, even those who seem most settled here, will die in the same way. The soul will vanish from this world like smoke, and the body will be laid aside like an old garment. They can be easily broken down (Job 4:19), and their loss will not stop God’s purposes.

But when heaven and earth pass away, and all flesh withers like grass, the word of the Lord will remain forever, and not one small part of it will fail. Those whose happiness is tied to Christ’s righteousness and salvation will still have that comfort when time is over and days are no more.

If God’s righteousness and salvation are near to his people, then they should not fear the insults of human beings, weak and mortal as they are, or be troubled by their mockery and spiteful words. These may be the people who taunt them, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion,” or sneering, “Where is your God now?” Those who receive the gospel righteousness should not fear people who call them Beelzebub, or speak all kinds of evil against them falsely. They should not be shaken by such words, as if their reputation were ruined forever.

They should not be afraid that these threats will be carried out, or let them push them away from duty. They should not be frightened into sin, or driven into dishonest ways to protect themselves. Those who can bear little for Christ cannot bear much for him. We should not fear human reproach, because those who speak it will soon be silenced. The moth will eat them up like a garment (Isaiah 51:8), and the worm will consume them like wool or wool cloth.

If we have the approval of the living God, we can ignore the criticism of dying men. It matters little what people say about us when they themselves will soon become dust and worm food. The words here may also point to God’s judgments on those who speak against his people. Because of their hatred, they will be slowly and quietly, yet surely, destroyed when God calls them to account for all their harsh words (Jude 1:14-15).

The cause we suffer for cannot be defeated. Their false accusations will be exposed, but truth will win in the end, and the righteousness of a wronged cause will stand clear forever. Clouds may hide the sun, but they cannot stop its course.