Isaiah 49:8 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thus saith the Lord God the Father unto Christ; In an acceptable time Hebrew, רצון בעת, in the season of acceptance, as Bishop Lowth renders it, or, in a time of good-will, according to others: in that time when God shall, in a special manner, manifest his good-will to the sons of men; in the day of his grace and man's salvation, that is, in the time of the gospel, which was, and is, the time of God's peculiar good-will toward men, Luke 2:14. In the days of thy flesh, when thou shalt offer up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, Hebrews 5:7; have I heard Or, will I hear, thee Though not so as to deliver thee from death, yet so as to support thee under thy sufferings, to give a blessed success to thy labours, and to crown thee with glory and honour. And in a day of salvation In the time which I have appointed for the effecting man's redemption; have I helped Or, will I help, thee Namely, upon earth, till thy work be finished; and preserve thee Unto that eternal kingdom and glory which is prepared for thee. And give thee for a covenant of the people To be the Mediator and Surety of that covenant which is made between me and all my people, that is, all penitent and believing persons, whether Jews or Gentiles. To establish the earth To settle the church upon firm foundations, and compose the great differences in the world between God and man, Jews and Gentiles, Ephesians 2:13-16; as also to establish truth and righteousness upon earth, and subdue those lusts and passions which are the great disturbers of human society: to do which things was the great design of God in sending his Son into the world. To cause to inherit desolate heritages That desolate places may be repaired and possessed: or to bring the heathen, who are in a desolate and forlorn condition, to be Christ's inheritance, according to Psalms 2:8.