John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 66:7

"Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child." — Isaiah 66:7 (ASV)

Before she travailed, she brought forth. The Lord, having previously comforted believers so that they would not be discouraged by the insolence and contempt of brothers whom He would eventually punish, and having thus commanded them to wait for His coming with a steady and resolute heart, at the same time adds that He will punish them in such a way that, by their destruction, He will provide for the safety of believers. Nor does He speak of one or two men, but of the whole Church, which He compares to a woman. He has already used this same metaphor at times, for God primarily aims to gather us into one body, so that we may have in it a testimony of our adoption, acknowledge Him as Father, and be nourished in the womb of the Church as our mother. This metaphor of a mother is therefore highly appropriate. It means that the Church will be restored in such a way that she will obtain a large and numerous offspring, even though she appears for a time to be childless and barren.

Before her pain came upon her. He repeats the same statement that He has already used on other occasions; but He expresses something more, namely, that this work of God will be sudden and unexpected. For He guards believers against carnal views, so that they do not judge the restoration of the Church according to their own opinion. Women carry a child in the womb for nine months and eventually give birth to it with great pain. But the Lord has a very different way of bringing forth children; for He says that He will cause the child to see the light before it is possible to perceive or discern it by any feeling of pain. For this reason, He also claims all the praise for Himself, because a miracle sets aside human effort.

She brought forth a male. He expressly mentions “a male,” in order to describe the manly and courageous heart of these children; for He means that they will be a noble offspring, and not soft or effeminate. Similarly, we know that believers are regenerated by the Spirit of Christ so that they may finish, with unshaken fortitude, the course of their warfare; and in this sense Paul says that they have not the spirit of timidity (Romans 8:15).