On Monday night we continued with our study of what the bible says about the end times by looking at what the Old Testament prophets said about the last days. This was part four of our study. They’re just a pretty sketchy outline, but here are the notes:
What the Prophets Saw in the OT
The old testament prophets foretold that God would carry out his plans for the world and the end of our age by enacting two solution: First, they said that God himself would come and fix everything; Second, they said God would send a man who would fix everything.
What was crucial for us to notice was that, in all of these prophecies (for both of the two “strands”) the prophecies were given to show that God was keeping his promises that he made in the three “promise” covenants, the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with David, and the New Covenant.
God will come HIMSELF and fix everything:
• Judgment: Isaiah 24:1-3, 21-23
• Re-gather Israel: Jer 31:10-12, 23-36; Amos 9:11-15
• Rule & Bless Israel: Is 33:20-22, 40:9-11
• Rule & Bless the World: Is 2:1-4, 25:1-9
That is, God himself will fulfill the three promise covenants:
- To Abraham:
He will bless his descendants, they will inhabit the land forever
He will bless the whole world - To David:
He will establish the kingdom of Israel forever - New Covenant:
He will unify Israel as a nation forever
God will send A MAN to fix everything:
• Judgment: Psalm 2:1-12
• Re-gather Israel: Isaiah 49:1-7
• Rule & Bless Israel: Isaiah 9:6-7
• Rule & Bless the World: Isaiah 11:1-11, Jer 23:5-6, Zech 9:9-10
That is, God’s servant-King will fulfill the three promise covenants:
- To Abraham:
He is his descendant, who will be blessed and will bless all the nations of the earth
He will be over the nation, in the land of Israel, forever - To David:
He is the descendant of David, ruling on Israel’s throne, forever - New Covenant:
He will be the ruler of the unified people of Israel pleasing God
God will also fulfill the purpose for humanity stated in Gen 1:26-28: a human exercises dominion over the whole earth, which is now healed and cooperative with him.
How Does God tie these two strands together?
We have to turn to the New Testament to see that God makes sense of both of these predictions:
…In a man who is both: John 1:1, 14, Matt 1:1
…In a man who embodies all three covenants: Son of Abraham, Son of David, baptizing with the Spirit
Applications:
1. God is not far away. He’s personally involved, and will personally fix all the things everyone says he should. God cares about the things that are wrong with the world, and is doing something about it.
2. God is super committed to his promises. After he made the covenant agreements, he kept promising to keep them “to the T.” Mt 5:18
3. God is committed to humanity, and to this earth.
Nevertheless, our world is headed for a huge change—the one who made it is going to eradicate evil, and rule the world his way through his people. Everyone will have the opportunity to come under his new government and allow him to fix things his way—by judging sin and enforcing justice