| Geneva Study Bible Thus saith the LORD, {l} In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give {m} thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the {n} earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; (l) Thus he speaks of his Church when he would show his mercy toward it, 2Co 6:2. (m) Meaning, Christ alone. (n) Signifying that before Christ renewed the earth by his word, there is nothing but confusion and disorder. Wesley's Notes 49:8 The Lord - God the Father unto Christ. Heard thee - Though not so as to deliver thee from death; yet so as to crown thee with glory and honour. For a covenant - To be the Mediator and surety of that covenant, which is made between me and them. To establish - To establish truth and righteousness upon earth, and subdue those lusts and passions, which are the great disturbers of human society. Desolate heritages - That desolate places may be repaired and repossessed. That Christ may possess the Heathen, who were in a spiritual sense in a most desolate condition. King James Translators' Notes establish: or, raise up Scofield Reference Notes [1] Verse Heading: Israel to preserved and restored The Lord Jesus and the believing remnant of Israel are here joined. What is said is true of both. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 8. Messiah is represented as having asked for the grace of God in behalf of sinners; this verse contains God the Father's favorable answer. an acceptable time-"In a time of grace" [Hengstenberg]. A limited time (Isa 61:2; 2Co 6:2). The time judged by God to be the best fitted for effecting the purposes of His grace by Messiah. heard thee-(Ps 2:8; Heb 5:7). day of salvation-when "the fulness of time" (Ga 4:4) shall have come. The day of salvation is "to-day" (Heb 4:7). helped-given Thee the help needed to enable Thee, as man, to accomplish man's salvation. preserve-from the assaults and efforts of Satan, to divert Thee from Thy voluntary death to save man. covenant of the people-(See on [833]Isa 42:6). "The people," in the singular, is always applied exclusively to Israel. establish the earth-rather, "to restore the land," namely, Canaan to Israel. Spiritually, the restoration of the Church (the spiritual Israel) to the heavenly land forfeited by man's sin is also included. cause to inherit . desolate heritages-image from the desolate state of Judea during the Babylonish captivity. Spiritually, the Gentile world, a moral waste, shall become a garden of the Lord. Literally, Judea lying desolate for ages shall be possessed again by Israel (compare Isa 61:7, "in their land"). Jesus, the antitype of, and bearing the same name as Joshua (Heb 4:8), shall, like him, divide the land among its true heirs (Isa 54:3; 61:4). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 49:7-12 The Father is the Lord, the Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel, as sending the Son to be the Redeemer. Man, whom he came to save, put contempt upon him. To this he submitted for our salvation. He is a pledge for all the blessings of the covenant; in him God was reconciling the world to himself. Pardoning mercy is a release from the curse of the law; renewing grace is a release from the dominion of sin: both are from Christ. He saith to those in darkness, Show yourselves. Not only see, but be seen, to the glory of God, and your own comforts. Though there are difficulties in the way to heaven, yet the grace of God will carry us over them, and make even the mountains a way. This denotes the free invitations and the encouraging promises of the gospel, and the outpouring of the Spirit. | 
