The imagery portrayed here of what Jerusalem will be like sounds excellent: men of ripe old age sitting in the streets, boys and girls playing, great harvests and joyful festivals. I am sure this came as a welcome prophesy to the people of Judah – even the Lord knows it (verse 6)!
The Remnant
This phrase is used throughout this chapter and relates closely to what Isaiah was speaking about in Isaiah 10:20-22. While the Lord is going to be merciful to the people of Judah and restore their city, it is not everyone who will be around to see it. Just as only two of the original Israelite exiles made it to the promised land, only part of the current people of Judah will live to see the restoration of Jerusalem as God’s Holy city.
It is interesting also to note the language the the Lord uses when the days of ‘doom and gloom’. Check this out in verse 10:
It is worth reminding ourselves here that it is God who used other peoples (such as the Philistines and the Babylonians) to discipline His people by turning everyone against each other. There are many trains of thought that suggest that God was ‘like that’ in the Old Testament but He is not in that business any more because the ultimate sacrifice has been paid. But don’t we still need disciplining? Don’t we still need reminding that God desires and pursues us through ways that we cannot ignore? I’d be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.
Men from all languages
Verse 23 says:
I think this is awesome – this is the true effect of God living and breathing with us that other people will come up to us and say “We need to be around you, because being near you is being near to God”. That is a true challenge to each of us today. Are we living the kind of life that makes people turn their heads and say “there is something different about this person that I want”?
This question of “Does God use such aggressive methods of discipline today?” is really hard. In our youth cell we have recently been studying Exodus and have just done the 10 plagues. Now, I know that this is slightly different as it was more of a punishment than a disciplining but it still posed this really uncomfortable question.
Does God use these methods today?
I, like most, am going to sit on the fence. The reason I think that we tend to be non committal on this is because we know that if God does still work in this way then we, as a nation, are due. Whether it is discipline or punishment I guess would be open to interpretation.
As an aside, what do folk think it means when it says that the Israelites were God’s chosen people? Are they still? What does that mean for the current world situation? (bit political, sorry *smile*)
Firstly to all who contribute to this website, greetings! It is such a blessing from God that I stumbled across your website while reading the latest articles on boagworld.
Rob, we were discussing this the other week in our youth group as well and after our discussion I think God still does use methods like this today. The country where most Christians are being persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith is Indoniesia (do you get the Barnabas Fund newsletter). The Lord has control over the natural elements and He cannot let sin go unpunished forever – I believe it was no coincidence that the tidal wave of Boxing Day 2004 was focused round Indoniesia.
What you said about us being due is so true. We really need to pray that our leaders open their eyes and see how unGodly the laws they pass are (both in London and in Belfast, I’m from Northern Ireland). Do you read any of the articles from the Cristian Institute and the work they do? It’s scarey how much of a grip Satan has on our Parliments.
Dave, welcome, great to have you with us.
St Simon’s are big supporters of the Barnabas Fund and it is quite striking the level persecution in the world today. We herd from their head recently when he came to preach and he explained how more Christians are being persecuted today than at any other time in history, even if you stack them all together.
It great that you discuss this stuff with your youth group as it’s vital that we are all aware of the cost (albeit seemingly very remote for us westerners) of following Christ.
Many people believe that a time is coming soon when we too could face such persecution. Watching the news, and seeing what is going on in parliament, it is not too difficult to see how such a situation could come about.
We need to be aware, and we need to be ready.
Look forward to hearing more from you Dave, here on Threedays.
Been thinking about this a little more recently. It seems to me that God is clearly into blessing & cursing. In both the old and new testament He seems to curse just as much as He blesses.
We read the history of the Jewish nation and we see time and again that God blesses them and curses them He said that this is the way it was going to be. He told them if they followed His commands then they would be blessed for all to see. But if they didn’t then they would be cursed above all others.
That seems to be what it means to be God’s chosen people. They are chosen to be an example. To show light in a dark world. And to be made an example of if they do not live righteously.
Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. The God of the old testament is the same as the God of the new testament is the same as the God of today. owever, today we seem so wrapped up in Gods love that we neglect the fact that Gods demand for righteousness is talked about much more in the Bible than His love and compassion. The phrase “unconditional love” is not a Biblical one. And yet so often we hide behind it so we can do whatever we like.
Does God bring disasters. History tells us yes. Did he bring the great Tsunami or did He wipe New Orleans off the map? Quite probably. Although we don’t like that because a lot of innocent people died. They didn’t deserve it. They are no worse than us really.
And that is correct. Except, we all deserve it. We all deserve a slow, painful gruesome death. How do we know this? Because this is what Jesus had to endure in our place.
I wonder if it’s time we rediscover the fear of the Lord. Before it’s too late.