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" F1: ye shall not be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end;
or, "unto the ages of eternity" F2; 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.