Captivity and the Coming Kingdom- God’s Grand Story #6

Captivity

Read Psalm 137, an honest reflection of Jewish sentiments in captivity. What feelings does it describe? Can you relate? Why or why not? What aspects of God’s perspective seem to be missing in this psalm?

Just as we often associate certain popular or praise songs with “this period of my life” (or with “that former sweetheart”), so the Jews connected certain hymns and psalms with better times in their history. Psalm 137 was written during the period of the exile. It pictures the Jewish people far from home in distant Babylon, thinking with sadness about their former lives in the land of Israel. Though prompted by their captors to sing some of the “oldies but goodies,” they were in too much pain to engage in singing the ancient songs of the people of God. You will notice that Psalm 137 also expresses righteous anger against Edom and Babylon for their ruthless and cruel destruction of the Jewish homeland.

Both Ezekiel and Daniel saw overwhelming, hard-to-decipher visions of God during the captivity. Why do you think God revealed Himself so openly during this time? If you were suffering in exile in a distant land because of your own sins, what attributes of God would you need to see most clearly?

Theologians and Bible scholars often disagree about the precise meaning of the strange and vivid imagery in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel. But there can be no disagreement about this one central fact: Through these visions God was reminding His exiled people that He exists, that He sees, that He doesn’t forget His promises, that He communicates to His people, and that nothing can thwart His will. God is in control of history. In the most basic, literal sense—history is His-story. This is a great reminder to anyone who is suffering. Reassurances about the future won’t take away our pain, but they do remind us that one day our pain will be no more.

Return

Daniel realized from reading Jeremiah’s prophecies that the time for Judah’s return was near. Why do you think he prayed so desperately for the release of the captives if God had already foretold it? What does this tell us about the need for and effectiveness of our prayers?

Regarding the mystery of prayer, the Bible reveals the triune God commanding people to pray, teaching His followers how to pray, prompting believers to pray, hearing the prayers of the humble, delighting in the prayers of the upright, answering prayer, and using the prayers of men to accomplish His purposes on earth. We will probably never understand this side of heaven—when it comes to the issue of prayer—how to reconcile God’s absolute control over all things with the assorted responsibilities He gives us. But there is no question, though God is in complete control of all things, our prayers somehow matter in the unfolding of God’s plan. We should remember the honest words uttered by an anonymous old believer: “When I pray, I see God do amazing things. And when I don’t pray, not much happens.”

Read Psalm 126, which depicts Judah’s return from captivity. In what ways is this psalm a reflection of God’s purposes for all of us? In what ways have you experienced the truths of this psalm? What feelings or longings does it stir in you?

Psalm 126 was part of a group of hymns (Psalms 120-134) called “the psalms of ascent.” As the Jewish people would make their way up Mount Zion to the capital city of Jerusalem for one of their national feasts, they would sing these “prayerpoems.” These were great reminders, celebratory songs of God’s faithful love and care for the Jewish people. Psalm 126 recounted His goodness in bringing back His people from decades of captivity in Babylon. The psalm pictures this experience as being like a dream come true, a national nightmare giving way to a party.

Restoration

Read Ezra 3:10-13. Why were some of the people weeping while others were joyful? Are you more likely to focus on your past or to focus on your future? Why?

Some of the older priests and Levites in this crowd remembered the glory and splendor of the original temple—i.e., Solomon’s temple, destroyed some 50 years earlier in 586 B.C.). Comparatively speaking that first temple may have been more impressive and the site of more spectacular worship services than the one being constructed by Zerubbabel and his helpers. As such, these old-timers were battling the common human tendency to elevate past experience (i.e., “the good ole days”) over present-day experience.

Read Zechariah 8:2-3. In what ways is this passage surprising? How does God feel about His people? What does He intend to do for them? Do you think this is an accurate reflection of His heart toward us today? Why or why not?

In multiple places in Scripture, God reveals Himself as jealous. (Imagine your new spouse slipping out during your honeymoon to be with a former sweetheart or someone he/she just met, and you get the idea.) We were made by God and for Him, so there is a kind of holy jealousy that is right and pure. Here in Zechariah 8, we see the God of Israel jealously vowing to live in the midst of His people. Jesus, prophesied first by Isaiah and then identified by Matthew, as “Immanuel” (i.e., God with us) fulfilled this prophecy when He “became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). Now, because the Spirit of God indwells believers in Jesus, we too are able to experience intimacy with the God who is not only with us, but in us. This should preclude us from chasing after lesser gods or loving anything or anyone more than we love God.

The Scattered

The book of Esther is a story of how the Jews were delivered from extinction, written about those who were scattered across the empire and for their benefit. It does not mention God, nor does it stress His instructions for His people (dietary laws or feasts and Sabbaths, for example) like other writings of this era do. Why do you think it’s so different from the words written to the returnees to Jerusalem? What can its story tell us about God without mentioning Him?

The book of Esther is a great story of suspense. Even though God is not overtly mentioned, we see evidence of Him working behind the scenes and orchestrating a series of unlikely events. Esther’s story is a great reminder to us of so many theological truths: God is in the details of life; God is at work even when we can’t see Him working; God keeps every promise He makes; God can use both promotions and setbacks to accomplish His plan; godly people can have huge influence in ungodly cultures.

What does Mordecai’s statement in Esther 4:14 tell us about God’s sovereignty? about human free will? about how His sovereignty and our free will interact? Do you have any examples of how God worked in and through your actions to accomplish something you never could have foreseen?

Esther 4:14 is a marvelous statement to ponder. God will use us to accomplish His will on earth, if we make ourselves available to Him. On the other hand, if we balk or disobey, God’s work is in no way bothered or hindered. He will simply bring about His purposes through other means and other human instruments. This should motivate us to want to be part of what God is doing in the world. You are where you are for divine reasons, not merely due to coincidence or because of purely human scheming and striving. Will you let God use you for His purposes?

The Coming Kingdom

Read Haggai 2:7 and Malachi 3:1. What concept do these verses have in common? According to these verses, what do human beings desire? How does God fulfill that desire in you?

Haggai 2:7 and Malachi 3:1 speak of the future glory of God’s temple. Ultimately, these prophecies will be fulfilled most fully and gloriously when Jesus Christ returns again to reign and rule upon the earth—and when every eye sees His splendor and bows before Him. However, during his first coming, Jesus was brought into the temple by His parents as an eight-day-old infant. An older, godly man named Simeon saw Him, and praised God, calling the Christ child, “the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:32, NASB). As present-day, living temples, we are “most glorious” when Jesus Christ lives and reigns in our hearts.

Why do you think there were 400 years without written, scriptural prophecy after the Old Testament writings?

The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, depicts the people of God as spiritually indifferent if not hard-hearted. It is for this reason that God stopped sending prophets: His people were merely going through the motions of serving Him. They weren’t listening, and they surely did not have a passion to live in such a way that people from other nations would be drawn to worship their God. Not until John the Baptist cried out, “Repent!” some 400 years later would God directly speak to His people through a prophet.