[But] Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
17. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord ] Israel is saved by Jehovah.
with an everlasting salvation ] which shall never be turned into confusion. The state of things introduced by the deliverance is final, including the manifestation of Jehovah as He is, and such a union between Him and His people as can never be dissolved. As is usual in the prophets, the perfect dispensation, or what is called the Messianic age, is conceived as issuing immediately from the historical crisis which is the subject of the prophecy, in this case the deliverance from Babylon.
world without end ] More literally: to all eternity. The exact expression does not occur again.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But Israel shall be saved – Referring primarily to the Jews in Babylon, but affirming the universal truth that the true Israel (compare Rom 2:28-29), that is, the people of God, shall be saved from all their trials, and shall be brought to his everlasting kingdom.
In the Lord – By Jehovah – bayohvah; Septuagint, Apo kuriou. It shall be done by the power of Yahweh, and shall be traced to him alone. No more human power could have saved them from their captivity in Babylon; no human power can save the soul from hell.
With an everlasting salvation – It shall not be a temporary deliverance; but it shall be perpetual. In heaven his people shall meet no more foes; they shall suffer no more calamity: they shall be driven into no exile; they shall never die.
Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded – This means:
1. That they should never find God to fail, that is, to be either unable or unwilling to befriend and rescue them Psa 46:1.
2. That they should never be ashamed, that is, have cause to regret that they had put their trust in him.
The idea is, that they who become his friends never regret it; never are ashamed of it. The time never can come, when anyone who has become a true friend of God will regret it. In prosperity or adversity; in sickness or health; at home or abroad; in safety or in danger; in life or in death: there will be no situation in which they will be ashamed that they gave their hearts to God. There never have been any true Christians who regretted that they became the friends of the Redeemer. Their religion may have exposed them to persecution; their names may have been east out as evil; they may have been stripped of their property; they may have been thrown into dungeons, laid on the rack, or led to the stake; but they have not regretted that they became the friends of God. Nor will they ever regret it. No man on a dying bed regrets that he is a friend of God. No man at the judgment bar will be ashamed to be a Christian. And in all the interminable duration of the world to come, the period never will, never can arrive, when anyone will ever be ashamed that he gave his heart early, and entirely to the Redeemer. Why then should not all become his friends? Why will not people pursue that course which they know they never can regret, rather than the ways of sin and folly, which they know must cover them with shame and confusion hereafter?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 45:17
But Israel shall be saved in the Lord
A forecast of the Messianic age
As is usual in the prophets, the perfect dispensation, or what is called the Messianic age, is conceived as issuing immediately from the historical crisis which is the subject of the prophecy–in this case, the deliverance from Babylon.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Israel saved in the Lord
I. THE GLORIOUS OBJECT. Everlasting salvation in the Lord.
1. Includes deliverance from ignorance, guilt, &c., and the possession of light, peace, &c.; and this state continued and increased for ever. It is grace consummated in eternal glory.
2. This salvation is in the Lord–the Lord Messiah.
(1) As a possession, purchased by His own blood, in whose right only we can obtain it.
(2) As an inheritance, kept in trust, and to be conveyed by Him to the appointed heirs of it.
(3) As in a grand exemplar, in His human nature, of the complete and final happiness of the saints (Rom 8:29; Php 3:21). It is in Him both as a beatific object and a perpetual medium, through which the blessed will see and enjoy God for ever.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS TO WHOM EVERLASTING SALVATION IS PROMISED. Israel.
1. A name of great distinction in Scripture The Israelites, to whom everlasting salvation is promised, are such as are so in a spiritual sense.
2. True Israelites are such as have given their unfeigned consent to be Gods people, subjects, and servants; such as have joined themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.
3. True Israelites are such as live in an unreserved subjection to the laws and government of God and the Redeemer (Rom 7:22). Through faith in Christ they are vitally united to Him, and from Him receive those hourly supplies of grace that qualify men for every good word and work.
III. THE GROUNDS OF THE CERTAINTY OF THEIR SALVATION.
1. The possession Christ has taken of it in the name and nature of all true believers in Him (Heb 6:20; Joh 14:2-3).
2. Christs intercession, which He ever lives in heaven to make for them Heb 7:25).
3. His mighty power which is engaged for them (1Pe 1:4-5).
4. Gods promise (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:17-18). (Sketches of Sermons.)
Saved in the Lord
That is, through Him (Rom 5:9). The elect of God dispersed over the earth shall be saved through the powerful operation of His glorious excellences, and in virtue of the perfect righteousness of the great Messiah. They shall be saved–
1. Through the love of God (Joh 3:16).
2. In His infinite wisdom, which He hath wonderfully displayed in devising and executing the astonishing plan of salvation.
3. Through His almighty power.
4. In His consummate righteousness; the rectitude of His nature, the equity of His providence, and the faithfulness of His promises, being clearly demonstrated by the accomplishment of this salvation. (R. Macculloch.)
Isaiahs far-reaching glance
He foresaw the redemption of suffering Israel by the hand of Cyrus, but uses terms that it would be a misleading and inexcusable blunder to employ if they are intended to be restricted to those small bands of immigrants returning under Ezra and Nehemiah, whose descendants rejected the Christ, and went forth into the great and long-ending dispersion after the Romans had destroyed the rebuilt city. Standing once, at sunrise, on a lower height of the Himalayas–lower, though still 10,000 feet above the plains–we saw beneath us, stretching away into the blue distance, leagues upon leagues of rolling country clothed with evergreen forests of tree ferns, tree rhododendrons and magnolias, till the view was lost in cloudland. But, behold, even as we watched, the clouds broke and scattered, trooping away into the vault of heaven like hosts of white-robed angels. Between their ranks were revealed, one after another, the mighty flanks of Kinchinjunga and her sister mountains; then their snow-peaks and glaciers. Another few minutes, and the last cloud had vanished, and the glittering crest of Mount Everest, the loftiest summit in the world–we know not how many hundreds of miles afield–flashed upon the horizon. The lower and nearer landscape was not lost, it was there still, in all its beauty and verdure, but we had no longer any eyes for it because of the glory that exceeded. Something like that would have been the prospect unfolded to the rapt Isaiahs spiritual eyesight, could he have understood all that was involved in his prophecies. He must have had at least a partial understanding of their meaning, for we read that these things said Isaiah because he saw [Christs] glory, and he spake of Him. Nevertheless, it is reserved for us to see most distinctly the full extent of the prophetic landscape, because from before our eyes even the remotest clouds that linger on the horizon have been lifted by the sun-rising of New Testament teaching. (F. Sessions.)
World without end
To eternal eternities. (F. Delitzsch.)
The expression does not occur again. (J Skinner.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
With an everlasting salvation; not for a short time, as it was in the days of the judges and of the kings, under whom their dangers and calamities did frequently return upon them; but unto all ages, as it follows; whence it appears that he speaks not only nor chiefly of their deliverance out of Babylon, which was far from being complete or perpetual, as appears both from Scripture, as Ezr 9:8, and elsewhere, and from other authors; but of their redemption by Christ, by which this was truly and fully verified unto a great number of Israelites after the flesh, and especially unto the mystical, Gods church and people, who are frequently called in Scripture by that name; as the ordinances and privileges of the gospel are commonly described in the Old Testament by expressions borrowed from the Levitical dispensation. And that this is the meaning of the place is evident from Isa 45:22, wherein all the ends of the earth are said to be sharers in this salvation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. in the Lord (Isa 45:24;Isa 45:25), contrasted with theidols which cannot give even temporary help (Isa45:16); in Jehovah there is everlasting salvation(Isa 26:4).
not . . . ashamedopposedto the doom of the idolaters, who, in the hour of need, shall be”ashamed” (see on Isa45:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But Israel shall be saved in the Lord,…. Not the carnal seed of Israel, or the natural posterity of Jacob, for only a remnant of them were saved; indeed, in the latter day, when there will be a general conversion of them, there will be a general salvation of them,
all Israel shall be saved; but here the spiritual Israel of God are meant, such as God has appointed unto salvation; who are taken into the covenant of his grace, in which their salvation is secured; who are his spiritual people, whom Christ saves from their sins; who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and are called by his grace; who believe in him, and hope in the Lord: these “shall be saved”: there is a certainty of their salvation, and not a mere probability and possibility of it only. It is not they “may be”, but they “shall be” saved; it is the will of God they should, whose will cannot be resisted; they are the purchase of Christ, which he will never lose, and the Spirit is the earnest and pledge of salvation to them: and it is “in” and “by the Lord” they are saved, not in of themselves; their destruction is of themselves, but their salvation is of the Lord; and they are saved as they are in him, and owing to their being in him; they are chosen in him, and hence spring all the blessings of grace and salvation to them; they are representatively in him, as their federal Head; they are openly in him, in effectual calling; and they are justified in him, and by his righteousness, and so saved; and being in him, there is no condemnation to them, nor can they ever come into it. They are saved “by” the Lord; by the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; by Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word; by his obedience, sufferings, and death; by his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; and by his interceding life, and that “with an everlasting salvation”; which is distinguished, by this epithet, from a temporal one, and is opposed to eternal damnation, the desert of sin; it is the salvation of the immortal soul, and includes in it grace and glory, which are perpetual and everlasting; and the duration of it is owing to the perpetuity of Christ’s person, office, and grace: or, “with a salvation of ages”, or “worlds” a:
ye shall not be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end; or, “unto the ages of eternity” b; that is, such who believe in Christ, and are saved by him, they shall not be ashamed, though the makers and worshippers of idols will; they shall not be confounded, neither in this world, nor in the other; they shall not be ashamed of Christ, his word, and ordinances, nor of their faith and hope in him, or of their sufferings for him; they shall not be ashamed in the resurrection morn, their vile bodies being fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, when others shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt; nor shall they be ashamed at the coming of Christ, and when they stand before him, being clothed with white robes, and having on the wedding garment; when they shall be introduced into his own and his Father’s kingdom and glory, into the world of happiness, which will know no end.
a “salute Seculorum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatublus; “salvatione seculorum”, Cocceius. So Ben Melcch interprets it, this world and the world to come; everlasting salvation takes in both. b “in secula perpetuitatis”, Montanus, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
ISRAEL SAVED IN THE LORD
Isa. 45:17. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord, &c.
The text contains a promise of everlasting salvation to the pious just, and is brought forward among the promises of their temporal deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; and there is a better, greater, and more lasting salvation that affects the soul, preserving it from endless misery, and securing its everlasting happiness, in and through the Lord Messiah.
I. THE GLORIOUS OBJECTEverlasting salvation, in the Lord.
1. Everlasting salvation includes a deliverance from ignorance, guilt, &c.; and the possession of light, peace, &c.; and this state continued and increased for ever. It is grace consummated in endless glory (Rev. 7:9, &c.)
2. This everlasting salvation is in the Lordthe Lord Messiah, Jesus Christ. It is in Him as a possession, purchased by His own blood, in whose right only we can obtain it. It is in Him as an inheritance, kept in trust, and to be conveyed by Him to the appointed heirs of it. It is in Him as in a grand exemplar, in His human nature, of the complete and final happiness of the saints who are predestinated, &c. (Rom. 8:29; Php. 3:21). It is in Him both as a beatific object and a perpetual medium, through which the blessed will see and enjoy God for ever.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS TO WHOM EVERLASTING SALVATION IS PROMISEDIsrael.
1. Israel is a name of great distinction in Scripture. God Himself gave it to the patriarch Jacob, and in very peculiar circumstances (Gen. 32:28). His posterity bore that name; as we are now called Christians, from Christ. But these were Israelites only by carnal generationnot in spirit and temper imitating the faith and treading in the steps of their progenitors, Abraham, &c. (Rom. 9:6). The Israelites to whom everlasting salvation is promised, are such as are so in a spiritual sense: and under the name of Israel, in the sense of it, all true believers in Christ are comprehended.
2. True Israelites are such as have given their unfeigned consent to be Gods people, subjects and servantssuch as have joined themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.
3. In consequence of this, true Israelites are such as live in an unreserved subjection to the laws and government of God and the Redeemer (Rom. 8:22). Through faith in Christ they are virtually united to Him, and from Him receive those hourly supplies of grace that qualify men for every good word and work.
III. THE GROUNDS OF THE CERTAINTY OF THEIR SALVATION.
1. The possession Christ has taken of it, in the name and nature of all true believers in Him (Heb. 6:20; Joh. 14:2-3).
2. Christs intercession, which He ever lives in heaven to make for them (Heb. 7:25).
3. His mighty power which is engaged for them (1Pe. 1:4-5).
4. Gods promise (Joh. 5:2; Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:17-18).
Application.
1. How precious should Christ be to believers!
2. The Lords people have good reason to love Christs appearance (2Ti. 4:8; Heb. 9:28).
3. What an encouragement to diligence and perseverance in appointed duty, seeing everlasting salvation will be the consequence of it! (1Co. 15:58).Sketches of Sermons, vol. iv. pp. 289294).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(17) World without end.Literally, for the ages, or ons on ons in Psa. 77:5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
DISCOURSE: 941
THE EXTENT AND CERTAINTY OF ISRAELS SALVATION
Isa 45:17. Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
AS in the dispensations of Gods providence we behold a mixture of mercy and judgment, so in the records of his grace we see promises and threatenings continually interwoven. Declarations so opposite, standing in immediate contrast with each other, give to each other a double force and energy, more especially when, as in the passage before us, compared with the preceding verse, they are expressed in similar terms. In this view the promise in the text deserves particular attention. In considering it we shall shew,
1.
Who they are that are comprehended under the name Israel
We are not to limit this name to the Jews; nor even to comprehend all the Jews under it; since all are not Israel that are of Israel [Note: Rom 9:6.]: it includes those,
1.
Who worship God
[This name was originally given to Jacob by God himself on account of his having wrestled all night in prayer till he obtained the blessing he desired [Note: Gen 32:24; Gen 32:28.]. From him it passed to his natural descendants; but has in all ages more eminently characterized his spiritual seed, who, like him, worship God in spirit and in truth. Our Lord, seeing Nathanael, called him an Israelite indeed; and, on finding how much Nathanael was surprised by such an appellation from a stranger, assured him that he had seen him under the fig-tree [Note: Joh 1:47-48.]. Most probably Nathanael, supposing that no human eye beheld him, had been praying there to God: and our Lord, adverting to this circumstance as well as to his integrity, addressed him by a name that marked his character in both respects. Thus every true Israelite is frequent at the throne of grace; and God, who seeth in secret, will testify of him, In such and such a place I saw thee lifting up thy heart to me, and imploring my blessing with thy whole soul.]
2.
Who worship God alone
[There were some among the Jews who feared the Lord, and yet served other gods [Note: 2Ki 17:33 and Zep 1:5.]: so amongst ourselves there are many who would be thought to fear God, while they are endeavouring to reconcile the inconsistent services of God and mammon. But Israel stand directly opposed to such characters in the context [Note: ver. 16.]: they not only will not make or worship idols of wood or stone, but they will harbour no idols in the heart: they will not provoke the Lord to jealousy by any hidden abominations [Note: Eze 14:3.], but labour to be Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.]
Now since it is promised to such persons that they shall be saved, it will be proper to inquire,
II.
In what way they shall be saved
The Lord Jesus Christ is the person mentioned in the text as the author of their salvation [Note: Compare ver. 23. with Rom 14:10-11.]: and they must be saved,
1.
By the merit of his blood
[Whatever integrity of heart any man may possess, or however fervent ho may be in his supplications before God, he must be saved in the same way as any other sinner, and enter in at the same door with publicans and harlots. His very best services are polluted; and he needs to be cleansed from the iniquity of his holy things as much as from the vilest transgressions. Nor is there any other fountain opened for sin but that which was opened upon Mount Calvary: nothing but the blood of Christ can ever cleanse from sin: the holiest man that ever lived must be accepted in the beloved; nor is there salvation for him in any other: even Paul himself, notwithstanding all his legal and evangelical obedience, desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ [Note: Php 3:9.]. And in the same adorable Lord must all the seed of Israel be justified, and must glory [Note: ver. 25.].]
2.
By the efficacy of his grace
[It is not by any efforts of their own that Israel are enabled to differ from others: they are saved, not by the exercise of created power, but in the Lord their God [Note: Hos 1:7.]. They must all adopt the same humiliating confession, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength [Note: ver. 24.]. Are they strong? it is in the Lord, and in the power of his might [Note: Eph 6:10.]: do they gain the victory? they must thank God for giving it them through Jesus Christ our Lord [Note: Rom 7:25.]. In him all their fresh springs are found; out of his fulness they receive continually grace for grace: and if this lock were shorn, they would instantly become weak as other men [Note: Alluding to Jdg 16:17.]. Being fully assured of this, they evince that they are the true Israel, by worshipping God in the spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh [Note: Php 3:3.].]
For their abundant consolation God declares,
III.
The extent and certainty of their salvation
As to the certainty of their salvation, no words can more fully express it, than those which are now before us
[God absolutely declares that Israel shall be saved: lest we should limit our expectations to some temporal benefit, he assures us that the salvation he will afford them, shall be everlasting: and lest we should still be slow of heart to believe, he repents his assertion in terms as strong and energetic as language can afford, or imagination can conceive. The same truth is confirmed in every page of the sacred volume, and that too in the richest variety of expression, in order more effectually to engage our minds and establish our faith. And has God spoken all these things merely to deceive us? Has he said, and will he not do it; has he spoken, and will he not make it good? Let this then be received as an infallible truth, that whatever may become of others, Israel shall be saved; nor shall any difficulties, any dangers, or all the conspiracies of earth and hell, ever make void this promise in any single instance to all eternity [Note: Joh 10:28-29.].]
Nor can any thing be added to enhance the greatness of their salvation
[It shall be so perfect, that there shall be nothing wanting to complete it. Their sins shall all be cast into the very depths of the sea. However high their expectations may be raised, they shall never be ashamed; nor, however strong their confidence may be, shall they ever be confounded. They shall appear before God with holy boldness: they may even now, as they shall also at the bar of judgment, adopt the triumphant language of the apostle, Who is he that shall lay any thing to my charge? It is God that justifieth: who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ that died. Yea, they may lay claim to all that God himself can give in time and eternity; and, neither in time nor in eternity, shall they be disappointed of their hope. Their felicity shall begin the very instant they believe in Christ; and shall be coeval with their own existence.]
Address
1.
The idolatrous worldling
[It is not only the maker of idols, but he who setteth up idols in his heart, that is an idolater in the sight of God: if we love and serve the creature more than the Creator, we are as truly idolaters, as if we bowed down to stocks and stones; and do not the consciences of many testify, that their hearts are incomparably more set upon the world, than on God? If they compare their devotion before God with their zeal about earthly things, may they not see that they differ widely from from the true Israel? Shall we then say to them, that they shall be saved with an everlasting salvation? Should we not speak more truly if we were even to reverse the terms, and declare the judgments of God against them? Yes, indeed; for though they now will scarcely admit a doubt or a fear respecting their eternal state, God has warned them, in the very words before the text, that they shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them; they shall all go to confusion together. But is there no way for their escape? Blessed be God, there is: if they believe in Christ, they shall yet be saved; for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus [Note: ver. 22.]: and his command to them is, Look unto me and be ye saved [Note: Rom 8:1.]. Let them but prostrate themselves at the foot of his cross, seeking redemption through his precious blood, and they shall yet become monuments of his pardoning mercy, and his sanctifying grace.]
2.
The true Israelite
[Happy art thou, O Israel, O people saved by the Lord [Note: Deu 33:29.]! What a mercy is it to have God himself saying respecting you, Israel shall be saved! Possibly you may meet with many troubles in your way to glory; but you need not regard them, as long as you have the promise that you shall survive them all. Perhaps, like Paul and those who were with him in the ship, you may be so tossed with tempest, as to be brought almost to despair: but God had promised that not a hair of their head should perish; and though they suffered shipwreck, yet was his word fulfilled to them: for all of them, some on boards and others on broken pieces of the ship, got safe to shore [Note: Act 27:34; Act 27:44.]. Thus shall it be with you also. You may, as thousands hare before you, suffer the loss of all earthly comforts; but Gods word shall not be broken: he has promised; and he is not only able, but determined to perform. Look forward then with comfort to death and judgment, and know that that day which shall be to others the beginning of sorrows, shall be to you the commencement of eternal joy.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 45:17 [But] Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
Ver. 17. But Israel with an everlasting salvation.] By Cyrus they were not so, for not long after, Antiochus afflicted them, Herod got the sceptre from them, the Romans came and took away both them and their nation; but the Israel of God were, and are still, saved by Jesus, with an everlasting salvation.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
everlasting salvation. See note on “ancient” people (Isa 44:7).
world without end = the ages of futurity.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Israel: Isa 45:25, Isa 26:4, Hos 1:7, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29, Rom 8:1, Rom 11:26, 1Co 1:30, 1Co 1:31, 2Co 5:17-21, Phi 3:8, Phi 3:9, 1Jo 4:15
an everlasting: Isa 51:6, Isa 51:8, Isa 54:8, Isa 60:19, Psa 103:17, Jer 31:3, Joh 5:24, Joh 6:40, Joh 10:28, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, 2Th 2:16, Heb 5:9, 1Jo 5:11-13
ye shall not: Isa 29:22, Isa 49:23, Isa 54:4, Psa 25:3, Joe 2:26, Joe 2:27, Zep 3:11, Rom 9:33, Rom 10:11, 1Pe 2:6
Reciprocal: Exo 15:2 – my salvation Deu 33:29 – saved Psa 4:2 – my glory Psa 22:5 – and were Psa 24:5 – God Psa 31:17 – wicked Psa 50:23 – salvation Psa 51:14 – thou God Psa 62:6 – rock Psa 68:20 – our God Psa 71:1 – let me Psa 74:21 – O let not Psa 91:16 – show Psa 97:10 – preserveth Psa 118:14 – is my strength Psa 119:31 – put me Psa 119:116 – and let me Isa 12:2 – God Isa 30:3 – your confusion Isa 36:20 – that the Lord Isa 42:17 – be greatly Isa 45:15 – O God Jer 3:23 – in the Lord Jer 14:3 – they were Jer 17:13 – all that Jer 23:6 – Judah Jer 33:16 – shall Judah Eze 39:29 – hide Jon 2:9 – Salvation Luk 1:74 – that we Rom 5:5 – hope Rom 16:7 – were Phi 1:20 – in nothing 2Th 1:12 – and ye 1Pe 1:5 – unto 1Jo 2:28 – have Rev 14:6 – everlasting Rev 17:17 – until