Day 194 (2 Chronicles 27, Isaiah 9-12) - Year 4
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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. The northern kingdom of Israel is falling apart, but the southern kingdom of Judah is still moving along, and that's where we find ourselves today. King Uzziah has just died, and his son Jotham takes over the throne officially. Jotham was one of the good kings in the southern kingdom, and 27.6 says he became mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.

It's important to note that this corresponds directly to God's covenant promise with the kings of David's line. He promised them that if they obeyed him, they'd flourish, and if they didn't, they wouldn't. It's important to remember these kinds of context details. Otherwise, we might be tempted to look at our own lives or the lives of others and try to determine what their faith is like based solely on their apparent circumstances. After Jotham dies, his son Ahaz takes over the throne, and he is not a great king.

We'll read more about him in two days, so buckle up. Moving on to our chapters in Isaiah, the early parts of chapter 9 include some verses you may have recognized as messianic prophecy. Or maybe you just thought, hey, that's on a lot of Christmas cards. It's natural for us to look at this and immediately attach it to Jesus, but let's talk about what people in Isaiah's time would have thought of this prophecy.

They're living in a land that constantly sees war. They've experienced lots of oppression and exile. Their nation-state exists in division and decay. And they currently live with the threat of the Assyrians attacking them. So when Isaiah prophesies about the birth of a new king under whose reign light will dawn and oppression will cease, they're thinking literally. They expect a literal king who will win every war. That sounds awesome!

But in light of all it really means, it's incredibly short-sighted. There are a few hints in this passage that let us know it's more than what they expect. For instance, this king is referred to as "mighty God," so that's new. They're probably not sure what to do with that. In the meantime, though, the wrath of God is coming for the wicked. And just because these people are a part of the kingdom of Israel doesn't necessarily mean they're a part of the kingdom of God.

He's shown us over and over again that his family consists of people with new hearts, regardless of their heritage. He's adopted foreigners into his family. And he's shown us that those born in Abraham's line don't get a free pass just because they share DNA. This has always been about relationship. And in one of the more shocking parts of this passage,

Even the people God usually has compassion on, the orphans and the widows, he says they'll be cut off too because even their hearts have opposed him. God says he will use Assyria as a tool in his hand to accomplish his plans. This might be a little confusing because it's often assumed that whichever side wins the war has the most powerful God. But Yahweh is still victorious here.

Technically, this will be a war between two groups of people who oppose God: the Assyrians and the godless among Israel. And Yahweh is still sovereign over the outcome. Assyria will win, but it won't get away clean either. It will be punished for its wickedness too. But pretty much every time God goes into detail about the destruction, He also reminds them that He'll preserve a remnant.

It can be confusing language because sometimes his destruction sounds so thorough. He says he'll make a complete end of them. So will he make a complete end or will there be a remnant? Of those who oppose him, he will make a complete end. And those who aren't ended are the remnant. And because God knows the hearts of every single person, he can be trusted to be nuanced and specific like that.

God also promises to rescue them from the enemy he's sending to purify them. He has a plan in place. He's not doing this without knowing how things turn out and figuring out what plays to run based on how everyone responds. He knows. In Isaiah 11, we hit another section that is often recognized as a prophecy of the birth of Christ.

It tells of a great ruler who will usher in peace. So, of course, they're thinking literally. A king from David's line who will put all this madness to an end and save them from the foreign armies. They're not expecting an eternal savior who will save them from their sins and set things right between them and God once and forever. That's not even slightly on their radar. And maybe this is just my experience, but of all the religious and secular Jews I've talked to in both America and in Israel,

They aren't looking for a capital S Savior either. They might not even be looking for the literal level lowercase s Savior that the ancient Jews were looking for, an earthly ruler to triumph over their enemy nations. Most aren't studying these prophecies to see if they line up with anyone specific. They primarily view these verses as encouragement to bolster their spirits in the dark times, to connect them to the hope of their ancestors from millennia ago.

It's important that I offer this caveat, though. I'm certain this does not apply to all Jewish people, and it definitely doesn't apply to the ultra-Orthodox Jews. So I'd encourage everyone not to assume that about anyone unless that's what they tell you personally. The reason I wanted to share my experience here is because when we come across these prophecies of Christ, people often ask or wonder how modern Jewish people don't see the connections.

Part of it is probably that they're not looking for a Messiah. And part of it is that many of them have veiled eyes, like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3. But I'm excited about the day when the veil will be removed for the remnant and they'll see Jesus all through the Old Testament, just like we've been seeing him on every page. I pray this every day for many of my Jewish friends. Some of them are offended by my prayers and some aren't. Just another example of how everyone's different. Okay, moving on.

Our reading today ended with a prophecy of God gathering his people from among every nation and they'll sing praises to him for comforting and saving them. My God shot was in the back half of Isaiah 9 where the wrath of God is thick and heavy. It was honestly pretty hard for me to read. It left my jaw on the floor half the time. The wrath of God is real and sin has to be punished. My sin has to be punished.

And I'm blown away that the only person who deserved zero wrath stepped up to pay all I owe so that I don't ever have to face God's wrath. He took all of my punishment. That kind of act is love-inducing, and I'm in it. He's where the joy is.

Tomorrow we'll be reading the book of Micah. It's seven chapters long. We'll link to a short video overview in the show notes that you're going to love. It's going to really help explain this book well for you. Check it out if you've got six minutes to spare.

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