God is Faithful

Moses stood atop Mount Sinai with the stone tablets of the Law in his hands. He spent forty days transcribing God’s words. He brought these words to the people but saw they already turned to worship idols. Smashing these words on the ground Moses again made the trek up the mountain. God repeated these words for Moses and at the end of it, Moses made a request of God. He wanted to see God’s glory. God came and stood with Moses and declared His name as He passed by. One of the ways God described Himself as was faithful.

God cannot deny Himself. He cannot change His nature to be something He is not. He is faithful. He keeps His promises. Psalm 146:6 (NIV) says God “remains faithful forever.” The NLT translates it as “He keeps his promises forever.” A promise is not something one can earn nor can it be taken away. It is something someone else says they will do for you. They can be delayed if I am not cooperating with Holy Spirit in preparation for their fulfillment but they will not be taken away. If I did not earn the promises then it follows that I cannot work to keep them. God is not going to take His promises from you. God’s gifts and call are irrevocable (Ro 11:29).

If you want proof that God keeps His promises, you need look no further than yourself. We are a fulfillment of a promise. God promised Abraham that not only would he have children but that nations would come from him. This promise of children to Abraham was based on his righteousness, not based on the law (Ro 4:13). If it was based on his actions, then his actions could prevent the promise from coming true. We are children of this promise. And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Gal 3:29 NIV). Because of one man’s faith nations are blessed with the knowledge of Christ.

We can see God’s fulfillment of promise in the books of the prophets as well. In Ezekiel God promised to give His people a new heart and place His Spirit in them. In Isaiah and Jeremiah God promised to never remove His Spirit from us. He promised to restore us and renew us. We are living in the fulfillment of these promises.

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!

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

The Bible is really a story of God’s kingdom. It’s almost like reading a history book meets a fantasy, sci-fi book with a little bit of poetry and some philosophy/theology thrown in. But they all talk about the same thing—kingdom.

Genesis 1-3 provides an intro to this kingdom. Back in the garden God created a perfect world. It was a place where He and man could commune and have relationship. God gives man a purpose and tells him to be fruitful and multiply and to rule over the earth. All is well in God’s kingdom.

But in the undertones of this world another kingdom is lurking, the kingdom of Satan, of darkness. Revelation 12:7-17 gives us a glimpse of what was happening. There was a war in heaven. Ezekiel 28 says that Satan desired to be God. He was originally a guardian cherub, the secret service. But he desired to be God and so Michael and his angels defeated him and threw him down to earth.

But then Genesis 1 happens. It says the earth was formless and void, full of darkness. Suddenly light enters. Satan hears God’s voice creating things. Then the unthinkable happens. God makes man in His image and tells him to rule over the earth. What was Satan exiled to earth for? Wanting to be God. Now God makes man in His image and tells them to rule over everything on earth. This is when the two kingdoms really come into a clash.

The ruler of the kingdom of darkness comes to the two made in the likeness of God and twists the truth just enough that they begin to doubt God’s goodness. They fear God is withholding from them good and out of fear choose the kingdom of darkness. By choosing sin man disobeys the kingdom of God and obeys the kingdom of Satan. We switched kingdoms. No longer were we under God’s kingdom but under the kingdom of sin. The rest of the book shows the out falling of that choice. Murder is introduced into the once-perfect world. Incest, abuse, rape, famine, poverty, self-promotion, lies, jealousy, rage. These are all things that are not of God’s kingdom.

However, look at Genesis 3. God is not going to let the kingdom of darkness take those who are made in His image. God goes out looking for Adam and Eve and finds them hiding. He didn’t let them hide from Him but looked for them. He loved them enough to look for them. They are full of shame and probably feeling pretty unworthy to be around God and wondering what is going to happen. Adam blames Eve, she blames the serpent and no one is willing to account for their actions.

God steps in and begins cursing things. I imagine God was crying as He did this. The serpent is cursed among living things and God promises that from the seed of the woman will come one who will destroy him. Then he gives the woman pain and curses the ground. Now thorns and thistles will cover the perfect creation and death is allowed. God then places cherubim and a flaming sword to prevent man from entering the garden where the tree of life is.

But this isn’t the end of the story. God continues to promise restoration for his people.

More to follow....