Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 50:2

"Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst." — Isaiah 50:2 (ASV)

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer?

It is Christ who is speaking here by the mouth of the prophet.

When he came, there was "no man." He could not find in all the nation any faithful one to help him in his great redemptive work.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. He preached repentance and faith throughout the land; but they cried, Crucify, him! Crucify him! They loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?

If you are in the worst plight in which you can be, God can still help you. Despair of yourself, but do not despair of him. If you have come to the very bottom of all things, and the last ray of hope is quenched in midnight darkness, God is still the same.

Hear what he says to you: Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?

Can he not break the bonds of drunkenness? Can he not deliver the unchaste from their vile passions? Can he not pick up from the dunghill the outcast and the rejected?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the salvation of the greatest sinners impossible for him to accomplish? That can never be, for he is mighty to save.

Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

God divided the Red Sea; he parted the Jordan, and made a way for his people to pass over. He who has done this can do anything.

When God takes up the case, impossibility is not in the dictionary. However great your sorrow, however deep your misfortune, or however grievous your sin, if God comes to deal with it, he will make short work of all your troubles, and all your despair.

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer?

Christ came to this world at a time when there practically seemed to be none left on the earth who were good for anything.

The Pharisees, who were, outwardly, the most religious of men, were proud formalists and base hypocrites, and the whole nation had gone astray from God, so that Christ might well ask, When I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer?

Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stinketh because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

Here the Lord reminds them of what he did at the Red Sea. This same Christ, who came here, and found none to answer to his call, is the true God who was the Redeemer of Israel. He led the tribes through the Red Sea, drying it up by the word of his mouth, that there might be a way for his ransomed to pass through; yet, when this great Redeemer came to earth, as far as most men were concerned, there were none to welcome him. Even though he came in love and tenderness, there were none to answer to him.