Isaiah 51:5 - Exposition

My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth . "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and. a thousand years as one day" ( 2 Peter 3:8 ). Isaiah always speaks as if the Messianic kingdom was to supervene almost immediately on the return of the exiles to Palestine. It was not revealed to him that there would be an interval of from five hundred to six hundred years between the two events. By God's " righteousness " here we must understand his righteous plans for the redemption of his people through Christ, and for the punishment of those who resist his will and remain impenitent. The salvation and the judgment are the two parts of the "righteousness.'' The isles shall wait upon me (comp. Isaiah 41:1 , Isaiah 41:5 ; Isaiah 42:4 , Isaiah 42:10 , Isaiah 42:12 ; Isaiah 49:1 ; Isaiah 60:9 , etc.; and the comment on Isaiah 42:4 ). On mine arm shall they trust. God's "arm" is his executive power—that might by which he effects his purposes. The "isles" or "countries" that have been expecting the coming of a Deliverer will have faith in his power to redeem and save them. Christianity was received with more readiness by the Gentiles than by the "peculiar people" ( Acts 11:21 ; Acts 13:42 , Acts 13:46 ; Acts 14:1 , Acts 14:2 ; Acts 17:4 , Acts 17:5 ; Acts 18:6 , etc.).