How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)

• How beautiful . . . good news. Messengers will traverse the mountains around Jerusalem to spread the good news of the return of redeemed Israel to the land. Paul broadened this millennial reference to the preaching of the gospel in the kingdom to include spreading the gospel of God’s grace from the time of Jesus Christ on.
• happiness . . . salvation . . . “Your God reigns.” The good news pertains to the ideal conditions of Israel’s golden age, during which Christ will reign personally over his kingdom. (John MacArthur)

The removal of the Jews from Babylon to their own land again is here spoken of both as a mercy and as a duty; and the application of Isaiah 52:7 to the preaching of the gospel (by the apostle, Romans 10:15) plainly intimates that that deliverance was a type and figure of the redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ, to which what is here said of their redemption out of Babylon ought to be accommodated. (Matthew Henry)

“My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait expectantly”. (Isaiah 51:5)

near . . . gone out. The Servant’s power to restore his people and bring justice, righteousness, and salvation to the world was at work, but God’s perspective differs from man’s reckoning of time. Though near by God’s reckoning in timeless eternity, the fruition of his deliverance was still many centuries from Isaiah’s day. The nations who survive judgment will trust in him and enter his kingdom. (John MacArthur)

• There is no salvation without righteousness; and, wherever there is the righteousness of God,there shall be his salvation. All those, and those only, that are justified and sanctified shall be glorified.
• My righteousness is near. It is near in time; behold, all things are now ready. It is near in place, not far to seek, but the word is nigh us, and Christ in the word, righteousness in the word.
• My salvation has gone forth. The decree has gone forth concerning it; it shall as certainly be introduced as if it had gone forth already, and the time for it is at hand. (Matthew Henry)

“Pay attention to Me, O My people, And give ear to Me, O My nation; For a law will go forth from Me, And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples”. (Isaiah 51:4)

justice . . . light to the peoples. The Servant’s rule over Israel’s earthly kingdom is to cause righteousness to prevail for the benefit of all nations. (John MacArthur)

This law is his judgment; for it is that law of liberty by which the world shall be governed and judged. This shall not only go forth, but shall continue and rest, it shall take firm footing and deep root in the world. It shall rest, not only for the benefit of the Jews, who had the first notice of it, but for a light of the people of other nations. It is this law, this judgment, that we are required to hearken and give ear to, at our peril; for how shall we escape if we neglect it and turn a deaf ear to it? When a law proceeds from God, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. 2. That this law and judgment shall bring with them righteousness and salvation, shall open a ready way to the children of men, that they may be justified and saved. (Matthew Henry)

I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6)

my back . . . my cheeks . . . my face. The Servant remained obedient though provoked to rebel by excessively vile treatment. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by remaining submissive to the Father’s will. (John MacArthur)

These are all instances of great shame and reproach; as what is more reproachful among us, or more exposes a man, than to be stripped of his clothes, receive lashes on his bare back, and that in public? in which ignominious manner Christ was used: or what reckoned more scandalous, than for a man to have his beard plucked by a mob? which used to be done by rude and wanton boys, to such as were accounted idiots, and little better than brutes (x); and nothing is more affronting than to spit in a man’s face. (John Gill)

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back. (Isaiah 50:4-5)

This is Messiah’s soliloquy about being perfected through obedience and sufferings. (John MacArthur)

As an acceptable preacher. Isaiah, a prophet, was qualified for the work to which he was called, so were the rest of God’s prophets, and others whom he employed as his messengers; but Christ was anointed with the Spirit above his fellows. To make the man of God perfect, he has the tongue of the learned, to know how to give instruction, how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. God, who made man’s mouth, gave Moses the tongue of the learned, to speak for the terror and conviction of Pharaoh. He gave to Christ the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season for the comfort of those that are weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin. (Matthew Henry)

Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted. Promise to Zion (Isaiah 49:13)

Nothing can furnish us with better matter for songs of praise and thanksgiving. Let the whole creation join with us in songs of joy, for it shares with us in the benefits of the redemption, and all they can contribute to this sacred melody is little enough in return for such inestimable favors.

Let there be joy in heaven, and let the angels of God celebrate the praises of the great Redeemer; let the earth and the mountains, particularly the great ones of the earth, be joyful, and break forth into singing, for the earnest expectation of the creature that waits for the glorious liberty of the children of God shall now be abundantly answered. God’s people are the blessings and ornaments of the world, and therefore let there be universal joy, for God has comforted his people that were in sorrow and he will have mercy upon the afflicted because of his covenant. (Matthew Henry)

Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages” (Isaiah 49:8)

• time of favor. . . day of salvation. Messiah is represented as asking for the grace of God to be given to sinners. God gives his favorable answer in a time of grace when salvation’s day comes to the world. At his appointed time in the future, the Lord will, by his Servant, accomplish the final deliverance of Israel. Paul applied these words to his ministry of proclaiming the gospel of God’s grace to all people (2 Corinthians 6:2). 
• a covenant to the people. When the Lord saves and regathers Israel, they will return to the land, to which Joshua brought their ancestors after their exit from Egypt, now restored and glorious (Joshua 13:1–8). (John MacArthur)

All our happiness results from the Son’s interest in the Father and the prevalency of his intercession, that he always heard him; and this makes the gospel time an acceptable time, welcome to us, because we are accepted of God, both reconciled and recommended to him, that God hears the Redeemer for us. (Matthew Henry)

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, “Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.” (Isaiah 49:7)

despised, abhorred. This speaks to the humiliating treatment of the Servant at his first advent, a theme emphasized by Isaiah (50:6–9; 52:14–15; 53:3). The “nation” is used collectively for all who reject him, particularly Gentiles, who are the rulers, kings, and princes referred to as someday giving exalted treatment to the Servant at his second advent. Former oppressors will bow down to him as in 52:15, because of the salvation of Israel. (John MacArthur)

kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship; they shall see the glory and majesty of Christ, and rise up in reverence of him, and fall down before him and worship him; which has had its accomplishment in part and will have a further fulfilment in the latter day. (Excerpt from John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible)

He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.” (Isaiah 49:3)

You are my servant, Israel. That the Lord’s use of the name Israel refers here to Messiah is explainable through the intimate relationship that exists between the nation and her King. (John MacArthur)

in whom I will be glorified; this is Jehovah’s end in all he does in nature or grace; and is what Christ had in view in working out our salvation; and all the divine perfections are glorified in it by him, the wisdom, power, faithfulness, holiness, justice, love, grace, and mercy of God. (John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible)

He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. (Isaiah 49:2)

• my mouth like a sharp sword. The Lord has given power to his Servant to speak effectively and thereby to conquer his enemies. His word is always effective (Isa. 55:11; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12) 
• hid me. Messiah, before his appearing, was hidden with God, ready to be drawn out at the precise moment. (John MacArthur)

God had fitted and qualified him for the service to which he designed him. He made his mouth like a sharp sword, and made him like a polished shaft, or a bright arrow, furnished him with every thing necessary to fight God’s battles against the powers of darkness, to conquer Satan, and bring back God’s revolted subjects to their allegiance, by his word: that is the two-edged sword which comes out of his mouth. The convictions of the word are the arrows that shall be sharp in the hearts of sinners. (Matthew Henry)