Isaiah 51:4-6

4-6. Hearken unto me Another change; or rather, another stage of growth as to the importance of this glorious message. The great work of the future is the offer of salvation to all, not to Israel of holy inclination only, but to all the good and the bad alike. All Israel is summoned to learn the extension of the promise. It is here asserted that out of Israel springs the Saviour, and doubtless, (though critics differ see Lowth, Gesenius, Ewald, Alexander,) the apostleship to the whole Gentile world.

Law… judgment See Isaiah 42:1-3. As there, so here, “law” and “judgment” are used in the sense of the true religion, yet to be everywhere firmly established, and the world to be filled with blessings flowing from it.

My righteousness is near Not in point of time near at hand; but in God’s time there is actually approaching a realm of peace and purity, equity and truth, to all the good and obedient, but a sore retribution to all who resist the truth to the last.

The isles… wait upon me See Isaiah 42:4. The command to look on the unchanging order of the heavens the sun and the stars has respect to the impression they make of God’s constancy as to his promises. The heavenly bodies are the greatest of objects; yet these, being created and limited, are sometime to end. Not so the divine promises; the true religion shall never fail. The things material and earthly shall grow old, die, and vanish from sight: but salvation and true religion shall not be abolished.