John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 62:11

"Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him." — Isaiah 62:11 (ASV)

Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed. He means that the Lord, by acting miraculously and beyond human judgment or expectation, will cause all the nations to know that this is done by His command. It might be objected: How will it come about that the peoples, who now fiercely resist God, will become obedient to Him? He assigns the reason: “Because the Lord will proclaim your return, so that they will acknowledge that at His command you are restored.”

Say ye to the daughter of Zion. Undoubtedly this refers literally to the ministers of the word and to the prophets, whom the Lord invests with this office of promising deliverance and salvation to the Church. Therefore, we conclude that these promises are not merely limited to a single age but must be extended to the end of the world. For, beginning at the return from Babylon into Judea, we must advance as far as the coming of Christ, by which this prophecy was finally accomplished and redemption was brought to a conclusion. This occurred because the Savior came when the grace of God was proclaimed by the Gospel. In a word, he foretells that the voice of God will one day resound from the rising to the setting of the sun, and will be heard, not by a single nation only, but by all nations.

Behold, the Savior cometh. This is a word which, we know, belongs specifically to the Gospel. Therefore, he bids the teachers of the Church encourage the hearts of believers with confirmed expectation of the coming of the Lord, though He appeared to be far from His people. But this promise relates primarily to the reign of Christ, by which these things were fully and perfectly accomplished. For He actually showed Himself as the Savior of His Church, as we have seen before in the fortieth chapter.

Behold, his reward is with him, and the effect of his work is before him. So that they may no longer be distressed by any doubt when God the Savior will appear, He invests Him with power, as in Isaiah 40:10; for he repeats the same words which we found in that passage. It is as if he had said, “As soon as it will please God to display His hand, the effect will be rapid and sudden; for so long as He stops or delays, human judgment pronounces Him to be idle.” And we see how very many fanatics imagine some deity that has no existence, as if they were painting a dead image. Justly, therefore, does the Prophet declare that God’s work and reward are before Him, that He may make it evident, whenever it will be necessary, that He is the righteous Judge of the world.