The Continuity of the Bible
Adult Class
Winter 2005/2006
Lesson 8: Exile and Hope
From the beginning of the Bible, God's promises lead to His plan for world redemption. We've traced these promises from Adam through Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. With each expansion of the promises and the covenants, God amplifies His plan and reveals more of it to humanity. In the Exodus, God established a nation of His people and later provided a monarchy to rule it in His name and according to His law. But a terrible thing happened in Israel. The people became complacent about the promises and contemptuous of the covenant. They overlooked some important provisions of the covenant God had established through Moses:
Deuteronomy 4:25-31; 6:10-12; 8:6-20; 28:1-29:24-28 all warned of disaster to come on the nation for failure to follow the covenant. It is important to note that this judgment was included in the covenant all along-it was not due to a fit of anger by God. Within the covenant, though, was another promise in Deuteronomy 30:1-4. God promised that repentance and sincere contrition would result in a restoration of His people and a return to the blessings He offered. With discipline, there is still hope.
After King David died, Solomon, his son, took over according to the promise of God. He did well as king until the latter part of his reign when he allowed his foreign wives to introduce idol worship into the nation. This triggered God's discipline and launched a catastrophe that ultimately destroyed Israel. The kingdom split into a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah). In the 250 year history of the northern kingdom, it was ruled by 19 kings from 11 different family lines. Meanwhile, the southern kingdom had 12 kings-all from the family line of David, according to God's lasting promises.
By 606 B.C., God's discipline resulted in Judah being captured by Babylonians with many of the noble families taken into exile-including the royal descendants of David. Further insurgency resulted in Jerusalem's destruction in 586 B.C. The surviving exiles were crushed and confused. What of God's promises now? They had lost their land, their Temple and their independent throne. It seemed that all the promises of God had been dashed.
But God left Himself voices to remind the people that His plans weren't thwarted. He would still bring about the restoration of His people and the redemption of the world. While several of these promises were heard and recognized during the invasions and later exile, some of them are only completely understandable from our perspective after God's redemption has been provided in Christ Jesus. Here is a survey of some of the prophets and some of their messages of hope to be heard in a time of turmoil.
Isaiah-during a time of war long before the Babylonian invasion, he offered oracles of judgment by God. At the same time, he pointed toward God's promises of peace and hope:
Micah-contemporary with Isaiah, Micah plainly foretold that a ruler would be born in Bethlehem-5:2.
Jeremiah-during the Babylonian invasions and the subsequent exile, Jeremiah included in his oracles repeated promises of peace, restoration and good things to come.
Ezekiel-contemporary with Jeremiah, Ezekiel recorded very startling visions about the destruction of Judah and the future of God's people. In all that, he noted that the divided people of God would be bound into one nation under the rule of David-37:20-28.
Daniel-contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Daniel was granted visions of future events that affected God's people. In his earliest public prophecy, he revealed that God would establish an everlasting kingdom-2:44.
After the Babylonian Exile, the Jews returned to the land, but the promises of restoration seemed hollow to them. They were vassals to other rulers; they were oppressed by the Greeks and then the Romans in turn. By the opening of the gospels, the nation was effectively ruled by Herod the Great-an Edomite. The family line of David was still identifiable, but they were nowhere in power. Were the promises of God finally and completely lost?
There had been one other important voice from God:
Malachi-at the highest point of Persian domination of Judah, Malachi promised that a messenger would come before the Lord's arrival-3:1; 4:5-6.
The promises were still in place, but silence descended for 400 years and suspense mounted. There were important promises left to be fulfilled, but nobody could see how any of this could be brought about, even by God.