Expository Interpretation of Isaiah 51:4–11 – From The Isaiah Institute – Avraham Gileadi In the song below:  

“Listen to me, my people; give heed to me, O my nation”—There is something urgent right now I have to tell you. So perk up! “The law shall go forth from me; my precepts shall be a light to the peoples”—My gospel has been proclaimed thus far as a light to humanity. (Isaiah 51:4; cf. 26:9.)

“Then, suddenly, I will act: My righteousness shall be at hand and my salvation proceed”; —In a way that is unexpected, I will bring forth my servant who is called Righteousness to prepare the way for my coming as Salvation.  “My arms shall judge the peoples; the isles anticipate me, awaiting my arm”— I, the Lord, who personify Salvation, and my servant, who personifies Righteousness, are two arms of God who will intervene among a corrupt humanity.  I will reward the faith of those in the earth’s island continents who anticipate the coming of me and my forerunner.  (Isaiah 51:5; cf. 33:5; 41:2; 42:21; 46:11-13; 55:3-4; 56:1)

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens; look on the earth beneath: the heavens shall vanish as by smoke, the earth wear out like a garment; its inhabitants shall die in the manner of vermin”—A great and terrible destruction, cosmic in scope, is coming upon the whole earth, in which most of humanity will perish. “But my salvation shall be everlasting; my righteousness shall never fail”—As a deciding factor, only those aligned with me and my servant will live through the coming times into eternity. (Isaiah 51:6; cf. 5:13–14; 24:4–6.) 

“Hear me, you who know righteousness, O people in whose heart is my law. Do not fear the reproach of men; be undaunted by their ridicule”—You who “know” my servant, a covenant term, who accept and don’t reject him, who are committed to the gospel to your inmost being, will inevitably be persecuted. But there is no reason to fear because your spiritual descent through sufferings and humiliation, as you offer an acceptable sacrifice to me, is the very thing that will propel you upward and will define your personal righteousness that my servant exemplifies. (Isaiah  51:7; cf. 42:6; 49:8; 51:1; 61:3; 66:5–6.)

“For the moth shall consume them like a garment; moths shall devour them like wool. But my righteousness shall endure forever, my salvation through endless generations”—Reiterating the worldwide division that underscores humanity’s imminent fate, of destruction on the one hand and deliverance on the other, of covenant curses on the one hand and covenant blessings on the other, I warn you that the time is at hand when I will act among humanity decisively and everlastingly. (Isaiah 51:8; cf. 48:1, 18–19; 54:14; 58:1–2; 59:1–4; 61:10–11; 62:1–2.)

“Awake, arise; clothe yourself with power, O arm of Jehovah! Bestir yourself, as in ancient times, as in generations of old”—When evils in the world reach their apex, when those who are righteous by my standard, not their own, are persecuted to the utmost, then I will intervene by empowering my servant as I empowered my servants in the past. “Was it not you who carved up Rahab, you who slew the dragon?”—As a type and precedent from the past, what my angel did in subduing Egypt and its Pharaoh provides a pattern of what my servant will do to their end-time world counterparts. (Isaiah 51:9; cf. Isaiah 10:26–27; 17:12–13; 27:1; 63:9; Exodus 14:19; 23:20–23; 33:2.)

“Was it not you who dried up the Sea, the waters of the mighty deep, and made of ocean depths a way by which the redeemed might pass?”—What I did formerly through my angel, I will do again by my servant at a great end-time exodus out of Babylon, the world in its wicked state. I will subdue the powers of chaos, the end-time king of Assyria and his alliance, and deliver my elect from all their enemies in a great reversal of their circumstances. (Isaiah 51:10; cf. 10:26–27; 11:15–16; 43:16–17; 48:20–21; 63:11–14.)

“Let the ransomed of Jehovah return! Let them come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy; let them obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away”—Those of my people who participate in the end-time exodus out of Babylon will inherit eternal glory, joy beyond measure, and permanent lands of inheritance. (Isaiah 51:11; cf.  14:32; 30:29; 35:10; 52:11–12.)