Isaiah 45:17

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 OBJECT—“Everlasting 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 Lord”—the 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 PROMISED—“Israel.”

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 generation—not 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 God’s people, subjects and servants—such 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. Christ’s 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. God’s promise (Joh_5:2; Tit_1:2; Heb_6:17-18).

Application.

1. How precious should Christ be to believers!

2. The Lord’s people have good reason to love Christ’s 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. 289–294).

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

45:17 Israel would never again be humiliated and disgraced, oppressed, harassed, or abused. The finality of these declarations suggests that this promise will be fulfilled at the end of time.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

in the Lord-- (Isa 45:24-25), contrasted with the idols which cannot give even temporary help (Isa 45:16); in Jehovah there is everlasting salvation (Isa 26:4).

not . . . ashamed--opposed to the doom of the idolaters, who, in the hour of need, shall be "ashamed" (see on Isa 45:16).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(17) World without end.—Literally, for the ages, or œons on œons in Psa_77:5.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 - ביהוה bayohvâh; Septuagint, Ἀπὸ κυρίου 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?

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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, God’s 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Israel shall be saved... with an everlasting salvation; literally, a salvation of ages; i.e. one which will continue age after age. As Mr. Cheyne remarks, for this to be so, the redemption required to be spiritual as well as temporal. Otherwise it would ere long have been forfeited.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“Israel is saved in Jehovah (with) an everlasting salvation (literally, salvation, of ages or eternities); ye shall not be ashamed, and ye shall not be confounded forever” (literally, until the ages of eternity), or as the English Version has it, world without end. This is the counterpart and contrast to the threatening in the verse preceding, upon which it throws some light by showing that the shame and confusion which awaits the idolater is not mere wounded pride or sense of disappointment, but the loss and opposite of that salvation which is promised to God’s people, or in other words, eternal perdition. Israel is saved already, (i.e., his salvation is secured), not merely through the Lord but in Him, (i.e., by virtue of an intimate and vital union with Him), as genuine and living members of His body. The general form of this solemn declaration, and the eternity again and again predicted of the salvation promised, seems to show that the Israel of this text and of others like it, is not the Jewish people, considered simply as an ancient nation, but the Jewish people considered as the church of God, a body which has never ceased and never will cease to exist and claim the promises.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Israel is saved by the Lord. Therefore they will not be ashamed, as those men have been put to shame, that made vain things which cannot help in times of trouble.

עד Innumerable.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.