Isai. xlv. 17. Israel shall be saved in the Lord zvith an ever- lasting salvation : ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world ivithout end.
AS in the dispensations of God's 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 espe- cially 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,
I. 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 Israela:" 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 desiredb. From him it passed to his natural descendants ; but has in all ages more eminently cha- racterized 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 c." Most pro- bably 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.]
a Rom. ix. 6. b Gen. xxxii. 24, 28. c John i. 47, 48.