“Is Israel, Israel?” -2

   In my last tidbit, I offered several ‘natural’ reasons to affirm that contemporary Israel is indeed the Biblical(historical) Israel. In this tidbit, I want to break open the Word of God to offer my ‘spiritual’ reasons that contemporary Israel is synonymous with Biblical/historical Israel.
   The King James version of Isaiah 45:17:
“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” 
  The New American Standard version says:
“Israel has been saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; You will not be put to shame or humiliated to all eternity.”

   The context of Isaiah 45 begins with God introducing Himself to Cyrus, the pagan King of Persia! God points Cyrus to His works of creation as evidence for His sovereignty and power over all things, and in this particular case, God refers to using King Cyrus to free His people, Israel, from their 70-year exile in Babylon.
  Next, notice that everything that occurs up to verse 17 depends on God alone…not on the actions of Israel!! I repeat, Isaiah 45:17 declares the action of this context is God working sovereignly in behalf of Israel…apart from their involvement!
   Now that the foundation is set, let’s interpret Isaiah 45:17. My first keyword in this verse is “saved” (yasha), which means wide or free, to be safe; deliver, help, preserve, rescue (Strong’s). My second keyword is “salvation” (teshûʿâh) and means national deliverance, help, safety, salvation, victory (Strong’s). In addition, yasha is a root of the second word teshûʿâh. These definitions are critical because, they show what ‘GOD ALONE’ is going to do for Israel!
  Let’s continue. The word “everlasting” in Isaiah 45:17 is the word ‘owlam’ and means eternity or everlasting; continuance, perpetual (Strong’s). In other words, when ‘owlam’ is applied to God, as in Psalms 90:2- “…even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”; ‘owlam’ means eternal—or, that which has no beginning and no end. ‘Eternality’ is an attribute of God and means He has no beginning and no end. So, God was not created, but always has, and always will…exist as God!
   On the other hand, when ‘owlam’ is applied to man, or a specific aspect of God’s creation, it means ‘everlasting’ or ‘forever’, or has a beginning, but no end.
  Let’s now move forward to the latter part of the verse: “world without end”! The Hebrew words are: “ad owlam ad”!  First, notice the word “owlam” appears a second time in this verse! Second, the definition of ‘ad’ means duration, perpetuity, eternity (Strong’s), which means that although ‘ad’ and ‘owlam’ are different Hebrew words, they are synonyms, possessing ‘eternity’ in their definitions!
   For emphasis, allow me to repeat myself. God inspired into the latter half of Isaiah 45:17 the Hebrew word ‘ad’ before and after the word ‘owlam’: ‘ad owlam ad’…even though both words have ‘eternity’ in their definitions! Literally, ‘ad owlam ad’ could be interpreted as ‘eternity, eternity, eternity’!
   So, the first ‘owlam’ in verse 17: owlam teshûʿâh is “everlasting salvation” and refers directly to the salvation of Israel; and the second ‘owlam’ (‘ad owlam ad’), which has ‘ad’ before and after it, also refers to the “salvation” of Israel.
   I’m aware that the words “ashamed” and ‘confounded” are followed by the words “world without end”(‘ad owlam ad’), but both “ashamed” and “confounded” are part of God’s salvation for Israel. In other words, the two words describe aspects of God’s salvation to Israel, or what God does as part of saving Israel.
   So…why all the emphasis on the salvation of Israel in this context? There can be only one answer: to emphasize, highlight, underscore, describe…the ‘length of time’, and ‘width of space’…that God SAVES Israel!!
   In other words, the literal interpretation of Isaiah 45:17 is a double whammy! In the first part of the verse, God calls Israel to an “everlasting salvation” using the Hebrew words “owlam teshûʿâh”. However, to make certain we understand His point, God repeats His focus on Israel’s salvation using the Hebrew words:  ‘ad owlam ad’ (“world with end”)!
Following is a visual:
      1.first part of Isaiah 45:17, God promises to save Israel using the
         words “everlasting salvation” (owlam teshûʿâh)!

In case you missed His point, God repeats Himself using different words:

      2.second part of 45:17: God AGAIN points to Israel’s salvation, but
         adds “ashamed” and “confounded” into the context, as part of His
          salvation for Israel
 
BUT…the focus of the first and second parts of the verse is the same…God’s wonderful salvation for Israel!
   As a reminder…because the word “eternity” (no beginning and no end) is reserved for God, the words ‘owlam’ and ‘ad’ in Isaiah 45:17 cannot refer to God. Because Israel is a creation of God(Is43:15), the words ‘owlam’ and ‘ad’, can only refer to Israel, and Israel’s salvation.
   Therefore, and incredibly, the first part of Isaiah 45:17 means Israel’s salvation is ‘owlam teshûʿâh’:
             “Everlasting salvation” or
             “Forever salvation”
   And the second part of Isaiah 45:17 means Israel’s salvation is ‘ad owlam ad’:
             “Forever, Everlasting, Forever” or
              “Everlasting, Forever, Everlasting” or
              “Forever, Forever, Forever” or
              “Everlasting, Everlasting, Everlasting”
 
What an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING revelation!!
 
   How can the words “Everlasting” and “Forever” apply to Israel’s salvation if Israel does not exist, or has changed to another Israel? On the contrary, from the time Israel was created…to this day, the existence of Israel, and the salvation of Israel are…EVERLASTING, i.e. FOREVER!
 
So, “Is Israel, Israel?!?!  ABSOLUTELY YES!