Promises of Restoration in the Prophets

...Pt. III

Continuation of Redemption Promised

All throughout the OT, we see Israel turning from God and God imploring them to return. The books of the prophets are some of the most beautiful writings on this. They do contain warnings and list Israel’s offenses against God but they also have the most beautiful promises of restoration.

You have Hosea, whose life is a living picture of how God pursues his unfaithful bride. She continues to walk away and commit adultery but Hosea keeps seeking her out and bringing her back even when she has children by other men.

Isaiah has the most beautiful promises of what God will do for his people and how he sees his people—chapters 40-66 especially. He tells the end story there of how He will restore His people and restore to them more than what they lost.

Isaiah 43:4, 5—Because you are precious and honored in my sight and because I love you, I give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not for I am with you.

Isaiah 57:18-19—I have seen his ways but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says the LORD and I will heal him.

Isaiah 61:7—Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion.

 

Isaiah 62:1-5— For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness and the kings your glory and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken and your land shall no more be termed Desolate but you shall be called My Delight is in Her and your land Married for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman so shall your sons marry you and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Jeremiah talks about what will happen to God’s people if they do not turn back to Him.

It talks about how He will restore them even though they won’t repent.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 – For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you declares the LORD and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you declares the LORD and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 33: 8-9—I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them.

Then we have Ezekiel. God tells the story of Israel as a faithless bride in Ezekiel 16. He saw her cast out as an unwanted child left to die in the wilderness and he saved her. He gave her beautiful clothes and jewelry and food. But she trusted in her beauty and paid people to sleep with her. Because of this Israel was exiled but God promises to establish an eternal covenant with his people. He continues to list the things they have done but concludes with I will restore you. This is what you have done but I will restore you.

Ezekiel 36:24-30— I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Then right after this God brings Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and tells him to prophecy over them life. The valley of bones would come from a great war. Man fought against God and lost and died. But God promises to bring life and to restore so he has Ezekiel be part of his picture example. He speaks life over the bones and restores the bones to people. No longer is it a valley of dead bones but now it is a valley of people restored to life. In the New Testament we get to see this more clearly with salvation. Jesus came to restore life to us. We fought against God and died. But Jesus came and raises us to life so that we may live in Him.

The amazing thing is that Jesus was never Plan B. Man’s sin did not surprise God. He did not have to scramble for a Plan B. 1 Peter 1:20 says Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world. Before Genesis 1:1 the plan was already set to save mankind. Before Adam was even created God already had a way to restore him. Talk about amazing love!

Redemption Promised

... Pt. II. 

A continuation of A Tale of Two Kingdoms.

It is in this perfect paradise that Satan enters as a serpent. He sows deceit into the pure sanctuary and brings forth death. As a result, all of creation is cursed. The woman saw the fruit was pleasing and desirable. She was being tempted to find pleasure outside of God. She is being told she does not have full pleasure in God. They turned from the Pleasure-giver and tore from Him. They were no longer filled with Him. Instead, they feel shame. They both hide in the trees that were to bring them pleasure.

However, it is at this bitter time that God makes a promise to restore his people back into his kingdom made clear by the appearance of His Son. Imagine that moment. You are full of shame, God curses things, you watch God kill and skin an animal and you are kicked out of the Garden, your home, the place you know you are meant to belong because you are with God and in a right relationship with Him. God tells them to get in this dead and bloody thing and they will be okay. Their shame will be covered. Later, God tells us to get in a dead and bloody thing that is now risen and alive and our shame will be taken away. We get the upgrade, the new and improved. Just as a lamb was slaughtered in the Garden to clothe the man and woman and cover their shame, so the final Lamb was slaughtered to remove their shame.

God curses the serpent and says one day you will be crushed by the descendant of a woman. Jesus was the descendant of a woman. He did not have an earthly father. Romans 16: 20 says, “And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” We are one with Christ and get to take part in crushing Satan under our feet.

Fast-forward to Exodus. God brings His people out of the land of slavery and into the desert where He gives them a new identity as children of God. They are no longer slaves. It is in the desert that he washes away the identity of slavery and restores to them to their proper identity as children of God. They definitely don’t get it all the time and God gives them a picture example. He has them make the tabernacle. The tabernacle was made to look like the Garden of Eden—fruit everywhere, vines, cherubim covering the walls (Ex 36:8). He has them make the Ark of the Covenant. The base wood of the ark and the tabernacle is acacia, a thorn bush. It was not originally part of creation. God covers it with gold. The thing that was a curse is now covered in gold and used for something royal instead of firewood.

On top of the Ark of the Covenant are two cherubim, just like there are cherubim guarding the way to Eden. God will meet us between the two cherubim (Ex 25:22). Every year a priest was to put blood between the two cherubim on the ark on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16). This was when they offered a sin offering and a burnt offering and did the scapegoat. The amount of blood between them would look like someone tried to enter Eden and was slaughtered. Fast forward to the New Testament for a moment. Jesus did meet us between the cherubim and took the first blow to make a way. He was massively obedient and made a way.

The veil covered with cherubim was torn at crucifixion. Where cherubim once kept us from entering the garden of pleasure, the garden of fellowship, they could no longer do so. Before, only the high priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8). The first thing God does is remove the veils with the cherubim; a way to God and the tree of life in Eden is reopened. The Garden of pleasure is where people can fellowship with God. A way back into the kingdom of God was made.