Introduction / my journey:
I don’t care how many times you have read the Bible, every time you pick it up, you will learn something new.
It takes about a year to read the Bible in its completion. To write a book about it takes far longer. And if you write successive books, each will have far more Scriptural depth than the previous one.
I don’t know how many renditions I have written since 1994, but the one you are reading presently, [which you didn’t know that I am compiling as my last book, given my advanced age (72), and some health issues that Christ is conquering for me – generously gifting me with more time to finish His task], is my ultimate gift.
This one began not too long ago with my blogpost How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New? We are almost at the completion of the Old Testament, and I am chomping at the bit to get through the Gospel in my time.
So, I have already written in the past, a very deep look into the books of the prophets, which you can find here: Bringing Hope to the Darkness 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Knock yourself out. They are very good. However, I must now approach this section with far more brevity. This will be a race through time. Hang on!
King Solomon dies in 930 B.C. His son takes over but rules with an iron fist, fomenting a rebellion. Subsequently, the country of Israel fragments into two parts. The Northern part keeps the name of Israel – populated by 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Southern part is peopled by the remaining 2 tribes, where Jerusalem was located, and now goes by the name of Judah.
Both regions revert to paganism, with Judah having a small number of good kings, but mostly corrupt ones, while all of Israel’s were immoral. Yet, Jehovah was still merciful, because His love never waivers. He began to send ‘prophets’ to speak for Him, to the two regions, to attempt to get His children to turn around.
We learn a lot of amazing things from those prophets:
In 835 B.C., we begin to encounter the prophet Joel, who first tries to rally Judah to return to God:
Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to him there. Joel 1:14 NLT
Then he uses a pattern of delivery that was common among all the prophets – that is, to speak with both a reference to the present and to the future as well:
Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem! Raise the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the LORD is upon us. It is a day of darkness and doom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears… Joel 2:1, 2. NLT
The imminent part of this message is a warning for the Judeans to get their spiritual act together, or Jehovah will send an army (the Babylonians) to conquer them and carry them away captive – which will happen to them 200 years hence, because they don’t heed God’s warning.
The future portion of this proclamation is what concerns the ‘day of the LORD,’ which marks the end of time. Seeing as how we don’t know when that day comes, it behooves us to be in right-standing with God; because when Christ returns, it’s too late for anyone who is not ready.
(By the way, the clock started ticking when Jesus ascended to heaven. These are the ‘last days.’)
The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn to blood red before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives. But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved… Joel 2:31, 32. NLT
Then, God sends another prophet, Amos, to Israel. There, God first attempts a tender approach:
“From all the families on the earth, I have been intimate with you alone. That is why I must punish you for all your sins.” Amos 3:2 NLT
Then He warns them with the harsh truth, should they not repent:
“Therefore,” says the Sovereign LORD, “an enemy is coming! He will surround them and shatter their defenses.” Amos 3:11 NLT
This prophecy would come to pass for these rebels in only 40 years, when the Assyrian army conquers them and drags them into captivity. Yet, God remains merciful in His love:
“I, the Sovereign LORD am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,” says the LORD. For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.’ Amos 9:8, 9. NLT
God kept this promise in 1948, when Israel was reestablished as a nation.
During Amos’ time, God also sent the prophet Jonah to preach to Israel. Jonah was very nationalistic, thinking that only Israel was of any importance. Imagine the irony when God told Him to go to Nineveh, the capital of their bitter enemies, the Assyrians, to save them (Jon. 1:1, 2.).
(Jonah was the only prophet sent to the Gentiles.)
Jehovah is in the business of saving everyone. Jonah wasn’t having any of it. He tried to sail on a ship far away from Assyria. God brings a storm, and Jonah winds up being cast into the sea (Jon. 1:3 – 16). He would have been happy with just drowning, but God’s will cannot be thwarted:
Now the LORD had prepared (appointed, destined) a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Jon. 1:17 AMP
Jonah repented inside the fish. In response, God had the fish vomit Jonah onto an Assyrian beach, not far from Nineveh. Jonah enters Nineveh and bellows out his very short warning:
“Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” Jon. 3:4 NLT
Very much to his chagrin, all the Ninevites repent! Jonah threw a hissy fit. God calls him on it:
“Is it right for you to be angry about this?” Jon. 4:4 NLT “
…Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jon. 4:10, 11. NLT
Jonah is learning about humility and compassion for all of humankind…
Jehovah will not brook unrepentant sin. He sends one last prophet to Israel, named Hosea, who prophesied to them from 753 – 722 B.C. Israel had descended into utter depravity – even sacrificing their own children to pagan gods.
God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute (to mirror Israel’s spiritual prostitution), an unfaithful prostitute and to take care of her offspring born from her transgressions – in the spirit of repeated forgiveness. That is one doozy of a metaphor…
Hosea convicts his charge:
Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has brought charges against you, saying, “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere… Hos. 4:1, 2. NLT
Again, God shows His tender side:
“I myself taught Israel to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria.” Hos. 11:3 – 5. NLT
In 722 B.C., Israel was decimated, and its people were taken captive by the Assyrians.
Still, Jehovah holds out a hope for future generations:
“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore – too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together…when God will again plant his people in his land.” Hos. 1:10, 11. NLT
Now that Israel is no more, we’ll follow the black hole that Judah is spiraling into.
In 740 B.C., Jehovah sent the most famous Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, to Judah. Isaiah convicts the Judeans:
For Jerusalem will stumble, and Judah will fall, because they speak out against the LORD and refuse to obey him. They provoke him to his face. Is. 3:8 NLT
Judah thought they were okay because they performed religious rituals (by rote only). God was not impressed and told them, through Isaiah, to cease their religiosity. He is going to render judgment, but does so with a heavy heart:
“Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore – too many to count…But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD. Is. 48:18, 19 & 22. NLT
And yet, ever so merciful, Jehovah holds out an olive branch – complete and absolute forgiveness:
“I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.” Is. 44:22 NLT
The price was the blood of His Son.
Yet, God is omniscient. He knows that most of His children will not turn from their wickedness. So, He lets them know that He will bring the Babylonians to capture them, (100 years before it happens).
Judah will spend 70 years in captivity. Then, Jehovah will bring them back home through the Persian King Cyrus, whom God names now, before he is even born (Is. 45:1 – 4.). And a transformation will take place:
“And I will lead the blind in a way they do not know, in paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.” Is. 42:16 ESV
“For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel your Savior.” Is. 43:3 NLT
God also sent the prophet Micah, who was a contemporary of Isaiah. He also warns the Judeans about the coming of the Babylonians; but then, Micah also testifies of Jehovah’s mercy:
“You will soon be sent in exile to distant Babylon. But the LORD will rescue you there; he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.” Mic. 4:10 NLT
“In that coming day,” says the LORD, “I will gather together those who are lame, those who have been exiles, and those I have filled with grief. Those who are weak will survive as a remnant; those who were exiles will become a strong nation. Then I, the LORD, will rule from Jerusalem as their king forever.” Mic. 4:6, 7. NLT
That divine message still rings true today. God cherishes you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, your heavenly Father will lift you back up, if you come to Him with confession and repentance.
Jehovah tells us what He expects from us:
“…he has told each of you what it good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Mic. 6:8 CSB
Unfortunately, God’s message fell upon deaf ears. Jehovah’s patience is wearing thin; and He sends a stern warning through the prophet Zephaniah, about His coming judgment. Yet, God’s love for us never diminishes. Because of the bigness of His heart, He beckons His children once more:
“…gather together, you shameless nation. Gather before judgment begins, before your time to repent is blown away like chaff. Act now, before the fierce fury of the LORD falls and the terrible day of the LORD’s anger begins.” Zeph. 2:1, 2. NLT
Alas, they don’t. Our ever-loving Creator sends yet another prophet, Habakkuk, who tells the backslidden Judeans that God is sending the Babylonians imminently, against them.
God also sent them a prophet contemporary with Habakkuk, named Jeremiah, who brought Jehovah’s conviction against them:
“Long ago, I broke the yoke that oppressed you and tore away the chains of your slavery, but still you said, ‘I will not serve you.’ On every hill and under every green tree, you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols.” Jer. 2:20 NLT
Yet the mercy of God is immeasurable; His heart is always bigger than your sin:
“O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt… Jer. 3:12, 13. NLT
Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you.” Jer. 3:14 NKJV
At this juncture, Jehovah stops pleading:
“This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.” Jer. 25:11 NLT
However, He does offer hope to those in captivity who remain faithful to Him:
“I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.” Jer. 24:5 – 7. NLT
For no one is abandoned by the LORD forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. Lam. 3:31 – 33. NLT
(The prophet Jeremiah is thought to be the author of the Bible book of Lamentations as well).
God kept His promise: the Judeans were made captives, carried away by the Babylonians under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Jehovah sent a prophet, Ezekiel, who was amongst the first group of captives in 597 B.C., to relate to those held captive, the eternal consequences of their twisted ways, if they remained unrepentant. And God told Ezekiel there would be penalties exacted upon him if he didn’t deliver this specific warning to His children:
“If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.” Eze. 3:18, 19. NLT
So, God commands His children to inform the sinner of his or her sin, and the consequences that follow committing them. He does not give us permission to judge them, only their actions. But they must know that ultimately, death awaits the unrepentant.
Yet, God does not change. He pleads yet again, to the captives to bring their hearts back to Him:
“But if the wicked person turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all my statutes, and does what is just and right, he will certainly live; he will not die. None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. He will live because of the righteousness he has practiced.” Eze. 18:21, 22. CSB
“For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore, turn and live!” Eze. 18:32 NKJV
Twenty-one years prior to the complete fall of Judah, the prophet Daniel was exiled to Babylon, while Nebuchadnezzar was laying siege to Jerusalem. Daniel was trained to serve in the King’s court, as well as 3 of his friends:
God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. Dan. 1:17 CSB
Daniel was called upon by the king to interpret his dream. He tells Nebuchadnezzar the dream is a vision of the king’s reign, as well as 3 of his successors (Dan. 2:1 – 43.). And then, he says that God will ultimately set up an eternal kingdom under His rule:
“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.” Dan. 2:44 NLT
Nebuchadnezzar dies, succeeded by his son and then grandson, who is the last Babylonian king before being overthrown by King Darius of the Medes, and King Cyrus of Persia, both of which, poured their favor upon Daniel.
In 538 B.C., King Cyrus released the Israelites from their 70-year Babylonian captivity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (See the Biblical books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah and Malachi. See also the book of Esther, to see how the Jews were saved from certain death).
Okay, take a deep breath; we’ll slow it back down next time…
Goodnight and God bless.