Wednesday, July 31

Isaiah declares hope for faith-walkers

is 66

Isaiah 66:18–24 CSB

18 “Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see my glory. 19 I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the coasts and islands far away—who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “so your offspring and your name will remain. 23 All mankind will come to worship me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says the Lord. 24 “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”

vs 19, the period of exile will be a sign that God will send the Messiah. God will use the exile as a means to spread the message about God’s glory to the nations.

vs 20 God is offering hope to a people who will be scattered. But this is also a picture of the work of the church. Often we think of evangelism as something we do to obey Jesus’ command. It is a task. I want you to notice the bigger picture. We will bring new believers from every nation as an offering to the Lord.

Every church will bring the offering to the Lord of those who were lost but are now saved.

vs 21 God will take from the nations some to be priests and Levites. The new covenant will not be based on bloodline, but on faith.

vs 22 The nation of Judah will be scattered for a time, but just as God has promised to create a new heaven and new earth, He is promising not to completely destroy Judah. The church is the fulfillment of this promise.

vs 23 Every day will be a day of worship in the new covenant.

vs 24 The Lord will execute judgment on those who rebel against Him. It will be a terrifying reality that all people will be aware of for eternity.

57 Years of Rebellion and Judah’s final reform

Manasseh reigned for 55 years and his son Amon ruled for 2 years.

Manasseh and Amon:

He did evil such as the Canaanites did. He returned to the ways of his grandfather, Ahaz.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah destroyed. He reestablished the altars for Baal. He made and Asherah and placed it in the temple (sexual immorality).

He worshiped the stars and served them. He built altars to the stars in the temple.

He built altars to false God’s in the temple.

He sacrificed his son in the fire of Molech.

He practiced witchcraft and divination.

He shed so much innocent blood that Jerusalem was filled with it from one end to the other.

Manasseh caused the people to do worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

Amon continued the ways of his father.

Josiah followed the Lord.

God sent Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habbakuk to pronounce judgement on the people and offer hope to a people of faith.

2 Kings 21:10–15 CSB

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets, 11 “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts—worse evil than the Amorites who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, 12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder. 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’ ”

2 kings 21 10-

Josiah:

became king when he was 8 years old. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight.

To Help you make sense of this time period, notice the value of studying the Bible Chronologically:

The prophets who influenced Josiah’s reforms

Zephaniah and Jeremiah:

Zephaniah was probably older than Josiah—because Manasseh and Amon sacrificed their sons in the fire (this probably at the very least would have been their oldest sons). He was Hezekiah’s great-great-grandson. Josiah was Hezekiah’s great-grandson.

Because he was the g-g-grandson of Hezekiah, he would have had access to the king’s court. He would have been a powerful influence on Josiah.

Josiah became king when he was 8. When he was 16, he began to seek the Lord…probably a result from Zephaniah’s teaching. When Josiah was 20, he began to purge Judah of idol worship.

The very next year, when Josiah was 21, Jeremiah began preaching as a young man (youth). After 5 years of Jeremiah’s preaching, Josiah ordered that the temple be restored. At this time they found the Book of the Law. When it was read, Josiah tore his clothes in repentance and he sent Hilkiah the priest who had found the Law with a few men including Shaphan the scribe to the prophetess, Huldah, to inquire of the Lord.

Here is what she said:

2 Kings 22:15–20 CSB

15 She said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: Say to the man who sent you to me, 16 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, fulfilling all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read, 17 because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods in order to anger me with all the work of their hands. My wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’ 18 Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord: ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, 19 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard’—this is the Lord’s declaration. 20 ‘Therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place.’ ” Then they reported to the king.

2 kings 22 15-20

Also remember that Zephaniah preached:

Zephaniah 2:1–3 CSB

1 Gather yourselves together; gather together, undesirable nation, 2 before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you. 3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord’s anger.

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Josiah responded to this by enacting sweeping reforms:

He gathered everyone in Jerusalem, including the prophets, and read the first 5 books of the Bible.

He made a covenant to obey the Lord, and all the people agreed to the covenant.

he removed all of the idols and articles made for the idols out of the temple. He also removed the false priests (probably killed them).

he tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the temple.

Josiah destroyed the golden calf at Bethel that Jereboam had set up as it had been prophesied to Jereboam.

He put away all witchcraft and mediums and spiritists.

He reinstituted the Passover.

2 Kings 23:22–23 CSB

22 No such Passover had ever been observed from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Lord’s Passover was observed in Jerusalem.

2 kings 23

2 Kings 23:25 CSB

25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.

The messages of Josiah’s three prophets:

Zephaniah: The Lord will judge all nations, repent now and maybe you will be hidden during the judgement.

Habakkuk: God tells him that God will raise up the Babylonians to judge Judah. Habakkuk asks why—the Babylonians are more wicked than Judah? God answers him by teaching him that the just will live by their faith. Pride is the great contrast to faith, and the proud will be torn down—eventually also the Babylonians. But that God would accomplish this:

Hab

Habakkuk 2:14 CSB

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the water covers the sea.

Jeremiah: God confirms to him that the Babylonians will indeed conquer Judah, but it will only last 70 years.

Jeremiah 25:8–14 CSB

8 “Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever. 10 I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12 When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it a ruin forever. 13 I will bring on that land all my words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.’ ”

8-

Danial will read these words and believe them and obey the Lord during his captivity:

Daniel 9:2 CSB

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.