COVENANTS

Reading the writings of the Old Testament is like reading a sealed book. Why can't science, history, and the bible relate?  When the prophets spoke, they spoke about the past, the present and the future. Everybody expects all this to come together at once. Since it doesn't, they turn it into a folk story or a myth. Paul explains in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Prophets speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God."

I believe that the keeper of prophecy relates to modern times, that history repeats itself and that the things that prophecy predicted for ancient times could happen again. Judaism teaches that the writings of the prophets may be read on two distinct levels. One relating to a prophets own day to advance in his time. The other applying to the end of the world. Conditions of the end time would so resemble those in the prophets day that his prophecy would have a second fulfillment. Therefore, everything that the prophets wrote in the Old Testament has more than one meaning. We can then look at the problems of the Jews and Gentiles of that day; then correlate the problems of the end time.

Jews take one piece of scripture, scrutinize that piece of scripture, settle it in their mind, then go to the next verse. They don't look at a whole book and work that book out. They take it a verse at a time and work with it. Isaiah states, "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."

Each verse of prophecy must be interpreted on many levels; literal, allegorical, historical and typological. Prophets also organize their work so the literary structure possessed a meaning. Isaiah is the largest, most powerful book of prophecy in the Old Testament.

All prophetic writings, whether about the end of the world or not, share common visionary elements. The imagery John uses describes what he sees and hears. It has its roots in prior classical prophecy like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others. The harlot Babylon, the dragon, the beast, the exile in the wilderness, the land, the servants of God on Mount Zion, all of which John speaks, first appear in prophetic writings before his time. So while the visions of Daniel and John were entirely their own, one cannot isolate them from these other prophets. The other thing that we have to understand when we interpret prophecy; God gave Isaiah, Jeremiah, and John visions of things to come, not what or how to write. Since each prophet wrote under God's Spirit, only God's Spirit can interpret.

Isaiah should overlay the top of Daniel, Malachi, Jeremiah, or any other prophets writing, including Revelations. The common thread being; God's Spirit looking at the consistent wickedness of God's people, Jew or Gentile. The common thread; the closer you get to God, the more wicked you become. Each prophets message; "Repent of your abominations or face God's consequences." In that present day by death, and in the Day of the Lord with judgment of eternal damnation, "HELL". God always raises up a cruel, militaristic world power from the north that will invade and destroy their lands. Many will be killed by burning and by war. Others will be captured and taken away as slaves. In His mercy, however, God will provide deliverance for the righteous of that day. He will raise up a deliverer who will defend their cause and bring them to repentance. Those who trust in God will survive and find even greater blessings than before.

Isaiah was involved in the year 700-742 B.C. God's people were divided into two kingdoms. The tribe of Ephraim dominated the northern kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Judah headed up the southern kingdom. The evil power from the north was Assyria. Assyria destroyed and took captive the northern kingdom in Isaiah's lifetime. This fulfilled the negative aspects of Isaiah's prophecy. In the reign of Hezekiah the king of Judah, later in the days of Cyrus king of Persia, Isaiah's predictions of Israel's restoration started to happen, but what happened did not match Isaiah's prophecy, so that was left open. So Isaiah must have been wrong or was that a future event? So a hundred years after Isaiah in Jeremiah's day, which is 627-598 B.C., the people of God only consisted of the southern kingdom, which was Judah. They still had a super power from the north, Babylon. The Babylonians destroyed Judah and desolated the temple in Jerusalem; fulfilling the negative aspects of Jeremiah's prophecy. But Jeremiah's positive predictions of Israel's restoration again weren't answered. They were only partly fulfilled. There was a mere remnant of Jews that returned from Babylon in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, which scarcely fulfilled a full return. None of the Old Testament prophets limited the return to Israel of just the Jews. Sooner or later every one of God's people, including the Gentiles, has to return to Jerusalem. Isn't that what Revelations tells us is going to happen? Revelations then ties right back into Jeremiah and all these other writings and says in the future all the people that belong to God, all of them, not just the Jews, are going to return to Jerusalem.

Prophets, both classical and apocalyptic, deal with future events in terms of nations and peoples already familiar with them. If the identity in the militaristic power from the north in classical prophecy changes from prophet to prophet, while its role remains the same, why is the name important? In Isaiah's time, it was Assyria. In Jeremiah's time, it was Babylon. In John's time, the whore of Babylon. The name doesn't matter. The role that it fulfills is what's important. And that's what we miss. We're always looking for names. Who is it? Who's the anti-Christ? Who's this? Who's that? We have to look for a type; a role model. And who is that role model in cahoots with? In prophetic patterns, role models and role positions are always the same. They never change. Any power coming against Israel was nothing more than a code name. The king from the north; Assyria, Babylon. The prophecy in the end times with the whore of Babylon is nothing more than a type.

Classical prophecy comes from the Old Testament. Apocalyptic comes from the New Testament and Daniel. They all involve marvelous visions. They didn't speak of an end time deliverance or restoration of God's people as an isolated idea. When God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt, it wasn't complete until the whole annihilation of Egypt's army had taken place. Their restoration as heirs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wasn't complete until they had inherited the promised land.

Just so, deliverance for God's people at the end of the world will mean deliverance from a catastrophic destruction. God will release His people from the awful oppression of evil world powers as in the visions of Daniel and John. The wicked will be destroyed and tyranny will finally cease. God's people will be restored to perpetual lands of inheritance where they will enjoy everlasting peace.

Apocalyptic prophecy actually predicts the end of the world. Classical prophecy supplies historical precedents or types. Classical prophecy supplies a much fuller picture of the end time scenario than apocalyptic prophecy.

The prophet Zechariah talks about "Assyria" and "Egypt" as world powers that God will put down in the great future day of destruction and deliverance. Yet, Assyria and Egypt were not a threat to Israel at the time of his prophecy. The typological use of names demands that we go back in time and look at how these nations related to Israel in their heyday.

Isaiah describes Assyria as being from the north; oppressive and ruthless, a law unto itself, militaristic, intent on ruling the world. They enslaved other nations, took over their lands, inspired fear in the people's hearts. When God's people and other nations ripened in wickedness, Assyria briefly made peace and then suddenly burst forth like a flood and swept through the earth. According to Isaiah, Assyria conquered and destroyed all nations.

Egypt, meanwhile, was an elite civilized nation, industrious but suffering economic woes; politically stable, but fast deteriorating; religious, but turning to idolatry; having fertile lands, but experiencing adverse weather. The smaller nations looked to Egypt's vast forces of chariots and horsemen for protection from Assyria. Egypt was the only power sufficiently strong enough to counter Assyria. God chastised His people for looking to Egypt for help against Assyria. God requires His people to look to Him and trust in Him for deliverance, not trust in an arm of flesh, Egypt.

Hebrew prophecy is not one-dimensional. It contains more than just future predictions. Isaiah captures the past and the future, the earthly and the heavenly, prophecy and theology all in one.

A common literary structure that matches Isaiah is fairy tales. That doesn't mean that, like fairy tales, Isaiah's writings are fictitious, not at all. But fairy tales resemble the prophecy of Isaiah in the sense that they deal with archetypes of good and evil. Take any fairy tale and lay it over any prophets book in the bible. You will see that you have the same characters, the same witnesses, the same good and evil, the same overcoming, and the same far away castle. The wicked ogre or giant tries to kill the hero and ends up dead himself. That's the king of Assyria/Babylon. He seeks to annihilate the people of God. The cruel despotic stepmother corresponds with the harlot Babylon. She is standing out there doing her thing. She oppresses the virgin Zion or the righteous people of God. Then we have the fairy godmothers who correspond to angels or messengers from God. God intervenes in the affairs of His people in times of crisis. Fairy tales concern themselves in particular with a hero or heroine who must go through a series of ordeals in order to live happily ever after. On one level, they speak to us of our own happiness, projecting what obstacles we all must overcome in order to achieve our goal. At the same time, they describe the acts of journey, obstacles and outcome for the specific hero or heroine. Fairy tale writers imitated this style of writing to draw readers away from the bible, using the same figures and ideas and eliminating God. Both Isaiah and fairy tales find true happiness, eternal life and exultation comes only after a period of severe trial and humiliation during which the hero and heroine nearly perish. The hero and heroine attain this other worldly state of happiness only when they follow to the letter the higher wisdom that is offered them. Those given the same opportunity, but refuse to submit to wisdom and trials, end up as ugly stepsisters and other villains in the story. This is perhaps why it's never made clear whether the castle in which the prince and princess live happily ever after is on earth or in heaven or where it's really at. Because that's not important. What's important is that they achieve the goal.

Isaiah also adapts other nation's literary patterns. Many centuries before Isaiah, Egyptian writers wrote stories with three themes; trouble at home, exile abroad, and a happy homecoming.

That is also the story of Israel. Isaiah's story has three parts to it. The people of Israel find themselves in trouble in their homeland. {Isaiah 1-39}. But because of wickedness, God exiles them to the world at large. {Isaiah 40-54}. There they interact with people and gain the experience of self awareness. And as they realize their true identity, who they are, they repent of their sins and renew their allegiance to God. At that point, they are escorted home in a glorious and happy homecoming. {Isaiah 55-66}. And God then appoints them as priests and royal ministers to the remainder of His people. And a millennial peace begins.

His second structure. Apostasy {Isaiah 1-9}, judgment {Isaiah 10-34}, restoration {Isaiah 35-39}, salvation {Isaiah 60-66}. This structure reveals Israel, by choosing to sin, has never been in a worse condition. God's people have been alienated from their maker. They become like other nations. So God commissions the king of Assyria against them, to punish them for their crimes by letting other nations rule them. But the time will come when He will restore His people, teach them His law, and send His word among them. As they respond to His love, God comes and reestablishes peace among them.

Isaiah's third structure. Threat one {Isaiah 1-38}, threat two {Isaiah 39-48}, threat three {Isaiah 49-66}. These are three tests that God's people must pass in order to inherit a millennial peace.

Threat one; the king of Assyria/Babylon. Will Israel give her allegiance to him or to her God? Is she going to trust this king; these people that want to destroy her because of her God? Is she going to give up that Godhood or is she going to trust God? If they give their allegiance to the king of Assyria, they'll have all kinds of temporary benefits. Good job, good vacation time, good benefits. But they're going to suffer an everlasting loss. If they give their alliance to God, they won't have a good job, won't have good vacation time, they're going to be harassed by the people. Everybody is going to be against them. There is going to be temporary challenges but God will deliver them and be with them forever. Do you want God forever or do you want friendship, job, vacation.

Threat two; will Israel worship things made by human hands. Will she worship the goods that these idolaters are making? Will she worship good clothes, good cars, good houses, good lifestyle or will she worship God the maker? If she worships idols, she'll find that focusing on material pleasure brings spiritual blindness. She is going to come away in the end empty handed. But if she worships God, He promises to bless her now and always. She has only to put God to the test.

Threat three; false brethren, family members. Will Israel yield to pressure from evil authorities, evil friends, people that want to destroy her, or will she trust in God and wait for His deliverance. She can join religious and civil authorities among her people in persecuting those who follow righteousness, then she herself will not come under attack. If she takes that choice, she's going to be cut off from God's people. But if she joins herself to God and suffers persecution because she bears His name, then God will ultimately deliver her from shame. He again will absolve her as His spouse in the sight of all peoples.

Isaiah's fourth structure parallels the covenants that the Hittite emperor made with the vassal kings and their people. Certain blessings and curses follow the vassal kings faithfulness or his unfaithfulness to the covenant.

If the vassal king kept the terms of the covenant, blessings or good fortune would result. If the vassal king did not keep the terms of the covenant, he and his people would suffer curses or misfortunes. So it was in God's covenant with Israel. Israel's faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the covenant would bring blessings or curses. Moses outlined these covenants in Deuteronomy 28. {Isaiah 1-39}, Israel suffers every misfortune that the covenants mention. Israel and her kings have broken their covenants with God. {Isaiah 40-66}, God renews His covenant with Israel and they renew their allegiance to Him. Blessings start pouring forth.

Some blessings occur among the curses and some curses occur among the blessings. These exceptions suggest that not all Israel needs to suffer the curses of the covenant. Even in a time of national wickedness and calamity, God will deliver the righteous. On the other hand, not everyone will enjoy God's glorious promises. Only those who keep God's terms to His covenant qualify for God's blessings.

Isaiah's fifth structure is formed by linking three ideas; the destruction of the wicked {Isaiah 1-39}, deliverance of the righteous {Isaiah 40-66}, at the presence of a righteous king, a descendent of King David {Isaiah 36-38}. Isaiah's Zion theology; Jerusalem or Zion is made a safe place by the virtue of the righteousness of its king, who is a loyal vassal {servant} of God. If ever there is a threat to the people, the king may appeal to God for help. God will deliver both the king and his people so long as the king proves faithful to the terms of God's covenant and in turn the people prove themselves loyal to their king.

God made this covenant with King David and his heirs. And so, it is called the Davidic Covenant. Faithfulness to God's covenant is put to the test. God's people are threatened by an opposing power. A legitimate king, heir of King David appeals to God for help. God destroys their enemy and delivers His people. The peoples safety actually lies in God's response to the kings intercession on their behalf.

In the time of Isaiah, Hezekiah king of Judah, was a righteous descendant of King David. An Assyrian army of 185,000 men surrounded Zion {Jerusalem} and demanded its surrender. Hezekiah, being loyal to God, and the people, being loyal to Hezekiah, heard Hezekiah's appeal for help. An angel of God struck the Assyrian hord with a plague. In one night, they all died. Thus, God delivered His people.

Isaiah informs us, God "foretells the end from the beginning" {46:10}. The end is foretold-from the beginning-in Israel's very history. Events in Israel's history will repeat themselves. This structure of human history, a predetermined plan Isaiah proclaims, proves that God is real; that He is divine. What He's done in the past, He must do in the future. A comfort to those who must experience the end. It serves as a guide to God's people in troubled times; a help in identifying what is real amidst delusion.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NKJV) That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it may be said, see this is new. It has already been in ancient times before us. There is nothing new under the sun, all we're doing throughout history is recycling history.

Whether in the past or in the future, God deals with His people in the same equitable manner. As God expects Israel to do, He Himself always acts within the bounds of the covenants He has entered into. God does nothing at any time unless it is within covenant relationship that He has established with His people and with individuals. As God acts or intervenes in human history, these actions underscore His faithfulness to His covenants.

The covenant God made with Israel in the Sinai wilderness was a conditional covenant. The privileges of that covenant had to be earned. Its blessings depended on whether Israel kept the promises she made as terms of the covenant. The Sinai covenant differed from the covenants God had made with Israel's ancestors; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

With them, He made unconditional covenants. These unconditional covenants came only after Israel's ancestors had proven themselves faithful to God under all conditions. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had proven themselves faithful to God under all tests. These blessings of God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob consisted of a promised land, and an enduring posterity. He also promised that their offspring would continue and increase through all generations of time and eternity. Their descendants would become as numerous as sands on the seashore and the stars of the heavens.

When the Egyptians enslaved Israel and began killing her children, God took steps to preserve the posterity of those with whom He had covenanted. Like a woman in travail, Israel gave birth to a son, Moses, whom God chose as His peoples deliverer. God then made a covenant with Moses, in Sinai, to raise them up to a different spiritual plane. He wanted them to grow. He had to get them back to the same level that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had attained. In the Sinai wilderness God officially made Israel a nation. And through Moses, God brought a nation, Israel, out of another nation, Egypt, with signs and wonders. Egypt, the oppressor, really gave birth or forced the birth of Israel. God created these special circumstances in order to ennoble and elevate His people. Israel became God's people and He became their God. God sought to make an example of Israel to all nations. A testimony of what God could do for all peoples. Before they started out of Egypt, Israel was not God's people. They were simply the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God did not deliver them out of Egypt for any merit of theirs, because on their own they could claim no covenant blessing. There was no covenant for Israel at that point in time. The only covenant they had was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When the people of Israel were imperiled in Egypt, God "remembered" His covenant with their ancestors and brought their descendants out.

The events surrounding Israel's coming out of Egypt set a pattern for what God would do in the future. Everything that happened between God and Israel was determined by covenant relationships. What will happen in the future therefore, will likewise be determined by covenant relationship.

Even though God promised Israel's ancestors a land of inheritance, Israel could not just go in and possess it. If she did, she would be just like any other aggressive nation and would subject herself to grave danger. Rather, Israel had to obtain the land for herself as a covenant blessing. The covenant God made with Israel in the Sinai wilderness provided the means by which she could obtain the land. Once God made the covenant with Israel, she, as a nation, became God's servant or vassal. It was as though God made the covenant with a single individual, even though that individual was really the whole nation. All the blessings and privileges of the covenant, would be hers as long as the entire nation was faithful to God. Likewise, the curses of the covenant would fall upon her if she was unfaithful. It took forty years in the wilderness for Israel as a nation to finally keep the terms of God's covenant.

During the Exodus out of Egypt, God showed Israel what He would or would not do for her if she would be faithful to Him. The exodus was a demonstration of God's power. He revealed Himself to Israel as an all powerful God, one in whom she could trust because He loved her. So long as these people obeyed God's word, as Moses revealed it, all went well. But He wasn't doing it because of her sake, He was doing it because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Once He covenanted with Israel herself, God would deliver her for her own sake. The blessing of God's covenant would be hers directly. Then she would have control of her destiny. Once she had control, Israel or individuals could then, if they chose, go forward and obtain the same privileges as their ancestors.

The plagues God sent out on the Egyptians were for Israel's ancestors sake. By enslaving Israel and killing her children, Egypt infringed on the rights of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God's covenant with them provided for the continuation and increase of their posterity. That posterity, the Egyptians were now endangering. Once God covenanted with Israel herself, then God would bring curses or plagues on any nation that infringed on her rights. No nation would be able to stand against Israel as long as she kept the terms of the covenant.

The advantages of the Sinai covenant were real obvious, but the terms would be difficult to keep. The whole wilderness experience involved the constant weeding out of offenders. No sooner did God makes a covenant with Israel than she made and worshiped a golden calf. Only Moses' intervention and God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prevented Israel from perishing at that time on account of the curse of her covenant. Nevertheless, all the generation that had sinned still died in the wilderness. God had to abide by the terms of two different covenants He had now made. He was obliged to inflict curses on those who had sinned in the wilderness, yet He had to preserve the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The generation of Israel that inherited the promised land, after years of wandering, was faithful to God as a nation. Moses had schooled them in the law of the covenant so that all kept the covenants terms. Now the blessings of the covenant were theirs to have. They would receive not only the land but also God's protection. Their posterity would increase and prosper in the land so long as they remained faithful to God. No external force could prevent them from going forward and proving themselves faithful under all conditions as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had done.

A brief loss of God's protection, however, predicted worse things to come. That loss of protection occurred during Israel's conquest of Canaan as the Israelites drove out the idolatrous Canaanites. When one Israelite soldier unlawfully took the spoils of war, Israel's whole army suffered a set back. By this one transgression, the soldier, had endangered the entire people of Israel. After the people identified the offender and put him to death, God restored His protection of Israel. This incident again shows God's willingness to bless His people depends upon their being faithful to God as a nation.

Such complete faithfulness by an entire people would be very difficult to maintain. After the passing of Moses and Joshua, Israel's condition deteriorated. Instead of keeping the terms of the covenant, people did what was right in their own eyes. They started adding to and taking away from God's theology. It was not long before the blessings of the covenant began to fail and the curse of the covenant started happening.

Now, when the surrounding nations saw Israel's weakness, they attacked her. Up to that point, God had always delivered them. Now He doesn't deliver them and she's about to be vanquished. Israel's condition became desperate. But they still didn't try and keep the terms of the covenant.

The elders of Israel realized that Israel's condition could not continue, if she were to survive. The Philistines were about to deal the death blow to Israel. Her elders seek the counsel of the prophet Samuel to anoint a king who would lead them into battle as Joshua had done. Israel needed a king who could unite the fragmented tribes and organize them to overthrow their enemies. Israel's judges, who had ruled for a time, had never fully been able to accomplish this. The elders main concern was to find protection for the people.

Samuel's first response was to remind Israel that God was her king. If she would keep the terms of the covenant, God would protect her. God was duty bound to come to the aid of His servant in the event of a mortal threat. He would annihilate a common enemy so long as Israel was faithful to Him. In asking for a human king, Israel had rejected her God.

Israel and God both knew it would be virtually impossible for Israel to again become completely faithful as a nation. The people had drifted too far from God and they were facing their enemies right now. Special circumstances would again have to occur in order for them to attain that degree of faithfulness. It had taken Moses two generations of instruction in the wilderness to raise Israel to that level. And even though God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was still in place, Israel had covenanted with God directly; she was now responsible for her obtaining God's protection.

God agreed to Israel's demands for a king and instructed Samuel to anoint Saul. In her distress, Israel again gave birth to a son, the king of Israel, who was to become his people's deliverer. Saul, however, fell into disfavor by going against God's word. So now God told Samuel to anoint David as king in place of Saul, who died. Unlike Saul, David gains God's favor. God gave power to David. He gave him success in all that he did. David led Israel against the Philistines until they were no longer a threat. Now once David had proven himself faithful in all the conditions that were laid down in the covenant up to that point as being kingship, God made with him an unconditional covenant. It was called a covenant of grant. A covenant of grant was a free gift. He became known as the emperors son not just as His servant. And the emperor was called his Father. David than became God's son, David's father was God.

In a covenant of grant the Emperor gave vassal kings a promised land or land over which he and his heirs would rule forever. The emperor undertook to protect the vassal king and his people in the event of a mortal threat. The emperor promised to annihilate a common enemy provided the vassal king remain faithful to the emperor. When the vassal king proved unfaithful, the emperor would replace him with an heir who was faithful. This is the covenant concerning Jesus. God guaranteed David an unfailing line of ruling heirs to set on David's throne as well as land in which they could dwell. God promised to protect both king and people so long as the king remained faithful to God. But the king would also lose God's protection for himself and his people, if he became unfaithful.

David commits adultery with Bathsheba and family strife follows. Disobeying God, David holds a census. A plague follows killing seventy thousand men. The king now served as Israel's proxy, mediating with God and obtaining Israel's protection. Saul didn't do to well. David, being a faithful king, became the means by which God delivered Israel from all their enemies. David's kingly reign commenced a golden age for Israel. David and Solomon, David's son, themselves became emperors over the nations of the ancient and near East. They acted as servants and sons to the God of Israel. They fulfilled the will of the Father, or Emperor, to the people that were under them; their servants and their sons. Israel no longer needed to keep the terms of the covenant made at Sinai to obtain God's protection. She was merely required to be loyal to her king. Israel's fortune fluctuated with the kings faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Instead of being a step closer to attaining the status of her ancestors, Israel now seemed a step further away. Instead of being herself faithful to God under all conditions, Israel left that to her king.

After King Solomon, Israel's condition quickly deteriorated. Jeroboam broke away from Solomon's son and ruled over the ten northern tribes of Israel. None of the kings of the northern kingdom were faithful to God. So few kings of the southern kingdom were faithful that within several centuries of Davidic rule all Israel was exiled from her land. Israel finally lost God's protection.

With this exile, Israel's circumstances changed again. Some of her people had retained their ethnic integrity among the nations of the world. Others married Gentiles and assimilated with them. They became known as Gentiles. But David's covenant was unconditional. David would always have an heir or heirs ruling over the people of Israel. And they would always have a land or lands in which they could live.

The prophet Jeremiah, who lived at the time Babylon destroyed Judah, reaffirmed God's promise to David. David's heirs, he predicted, would continue to rule over Israel, forever, so long as there was night and day. Ezekiel, who prophesied at Judah's exile, predicted in an allegory that God would transplant David's heirs to other lands. There in exile, they would rule over Israel and again gain renown.

Isaiah picks up the threads of all the covenants God made and predicts that God will again create special circumstances at the end of the world. And then, those who return from exile will once more keep God's covenant as a nation. As they prove themselves faithful to God under all conditions, God will make with them an unconditional covenant. They will live to enjoy all the blessings during the millennium time of peace. They will be as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their fathers.

According to Isaiah, God's new covenant will be a composite of all former covenants. It will contain all their positive features. And He will make His new covenant with the people as a nation. Just like He did in Sinai.

There is another structure in Isaiah that we need to cover. We have seven themes. Ruin and rebirth, rebellion and compliance, punishment and deliverance, humiliation and exaltation, suffering and salvation, disloyalty and loyalty, disinheritance and inheritance. So you have both positive and negative in all structures. This is something that is new to ancient history and prophecy writing, originating with Isaiah. They suggest two ways God's people can choose; two courses of action to follow. Humiliation involved ruin and disinheritance, punishment and suffering, all a consequence of rebellion and disloyalty. The counterpart, exaltation involved rebirth and inheritance, deliverance and salvation, all a consequence of compliance and loyalty.

Part one, ruin {1-5}, rebirth {34-35}. We find that there's a reversal of circumstances. If there is ruin, there has to be rebirth. We find part one establishing the idea of a reversal of circumstances between Zion and the nations of the world. At some point God's people will experience rebirth as a nation, revived from their deteriorated state. The covenant curses they have endured will be replaced by blessings. At the same time, the nations will suffer ruin and their blessed state will turn into a cursed one. It happens simultaneously for both parties.

Isaiah shows it is Zion that is born or reborn, not all Israel. It is a select group of people within Israel. Zion is made up of people who repent. Zion is also the place to which those who repent return from among the nations. A place of safety for God's people at the time the nations are ruined. Isaiah includes, among the nations, those of Israel who do not repent.

Part two, rebellion {6-8}, compliance {36-40}. Israel's rebirth as Zion comes as a result of Zion's compliance with the terms of God's covenant. Many people go forward and prove themselves faithful to God under all conditions. When God puts Zion to the test, it passes. Those of Israel who rebel against God, on the other hand, bring on themselves their own ruin. The rebellious fail the same test Zion passes.

Part three, punishment {9-12}, deliverance {41-46}. God raises up the king of Assyria to mete out punishment on the wicked who oppress them. The king of Assyria serves as God's instrument for reducing the unrepentant nations to ruin.

God also raises up His "servant" and "son" as an instrument for delivering His people. God's servant brings about Zion's deliverance by releasing God's people from bondage or exile, as Moses did in Egypt. He paves the way for God's repentant people, Zion, to return home from exile to the place Zion in a new exodus.

Part four, humiliation {13-23}, exaltation {46-47}. Babylon is a composite of all that is not Zion. The nations of the earth, tyrants and oppressors, aggressive powers, enemies and adversaries, proud kindred peoples, and the wicked and rebellious of Israel, all these and others make up Babylon. It's a religious order or belief system that composites everything that God isn't. And Zion is a composite of only what God is. Babylon is both a people and a place. The world and its wicked inhabitants.

Babylon exalts herself on her throne but is reduced to dust. Zion, on the other hand, is humbled by Babylon, put down by Babylon, and rises from the dust to set enthroned.

Part five, suffering {24-27}, salvation {48-54}. God's repentant people are relieved of suffering as their enemies, Babylon, begin to suffer a full measure of covenant curses. Salvation for Zion consists of God removing her sins, delivering her from distress and turning her curses into blessings. Zion even overcomes the curse of death and obtains a state of immortality. The God of Israel Himself, the King of Zion, brings about these spiritual aspects of Zion's salvation. Isaiah's messianic theology finds its fullest expression in this part of the structure.

As God's people qualify spiritually, God's servant or vassal brings about the physical aspects of Zion's salvation. The servants schooling of Israel in the law of the covenant, as Moses did, facilitates Zions return from exile. God's servant then is going to act as a model of righteousness both in keeping the terms of God's covenant and proving faithful to God in all conditions. Salvation occurs for Zion when her people faithfully endure a period of pain and suffering. As God delivers His servant from suffering and empowers him, so God's servant delivers and empowers Zion.

Part six, disloyalty {28-31}, loyalty {55-59}. Isaiah now establishes two covenants, a covenant of life and a covenant of death. With those who exercise loyalty toward Him, God makes a covenant of life, an unconditional covenant. These obey God's word as God's servant reveals it. They keep the terms of God's covenant as a nation. They respond to the servant's summons to return from among the nations. They prove faithful to God under all conditions.

Those disloyal toward God, on the other hand, alienate themselves from this servant of God and make a covenant with death. Those who do so reject God's word and rely instead on human counsel or schemes. They oppress the people of God and turn and fight against Zion. Among these are murderers, adulterers, evildoers, and hypocrites. For them, God's instrument of death is the king of Assyria, from which God's faithful people are delivered.

Part seven, disinheritance {32-33}, inheritance {60-66}. Here we see an eternal separation between the righteous and the wicked. One group receives a glorious and everlasting inheritance. The other suffers a shameful and everlasting disinheritance. The wicked include cultists, as well as those in authority who excludes and persecutes the righteous. The righteous include additional sons and servants of God, those who follow God's model of righteousness. These servants are among those who prove faithful to God under all conditions. They serve the God of Israel at all costs. They resemble God's servant or vassal and assist him in delivering God's people.

We find that we have extreme wickedness on the one hand and extraordinary righteousness on the other. They show that God's purpose is to raise His people to a higher spiritual and physical plane. They also show that such an ascent is actually helped by the opposition and adversity that extreme wickedness provides.

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