7th August 2016
St John’s Hebburn
What is Biblical Prophecy?
GOING DEEPER SESSION 4
The Prophesied Kingdom: 1 Kings 11 – Malachi
Recap: God’s People in God’s Place under God’s Blessing/Rule
People
The Pattern of
the Kingdom
Adam & Eve
Place
Blessing/Rule
Garden of Eden
God’s word;
perfect
relationship
Not so much about predicting the future
More about applying what God has already said to present situation
Covenant Enforcers – not saying anything new primarily, but appealing
to God’s covenant with his people.
So prophecy today is less about new revelation about the future, but
speaking God’s word applied today. Preaching, small groups,
conversation about God between people.
The Hebrew Old Testament:
Our OT is Chronologically ordered. Hebrew OT is split into three:
• Law/Instruction
Genesis – Deuteronomy
•
The Perished
Kingdom
No-one
Banished
Disobedience
and curse
The Promised
Kingdom
Abraham’s
Descendants
Canaan
Blessing to
Israel & Nations
The Partial
Kingdom
Israelites
Canaan (and
temple)
The Law and
King
The Prophesied
Kingdom
Remnant of
Israel, inclusion
of nations
New temple,
new creation
New covenant,
new king, great
blessing
Prophets
o Former Prophets
(Joshua – 2 Kings)
o Latter Prophets
(Isaiah – Malachi)
•
Writings
(Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes,
Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles)
What do you notice?
Notice not only a different order, but that some books are categorised
differently to how we think of them from our English Bibles, e.g. Daniel
The prophets include what we think of has historical books.
How can these be said to be prophets??? Prophets ministering at this
time, calling people back to God.
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1 Kings 11 – 2 Kings 25 | Disobedience, Division & Decline
Elijah & Elisha | 1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 13
Solomon’s Sin | 1 Kings 11
Many wives, including foreign wives, v4 heart turned to other gods.
10:26, accumulated many horses (Deut 17:16)
Kingdom will be torn away.
Enemies raised up.
The word of the LORD
Key idea in 1 and 2 Kings.
Notice 17:24 – man of God, word of LORD in his mouth.
What Elijah says happens.
Battles with Baal.
The LORD’s word is to be obeyed over man’s, other gods etc.
So return to the LORD.
Elijah succeeded by Elisha, same miracles done.
Divided Kingdom | 1 Kings 12 onwards
Rehoboam
Listened to young men instead of old men
Jereboam
Rebellion against line of David, Kingdom splits.
Judah in the South. Israel in North.
Jereboam sets up two golden calves, v28, “here are your gods…” – sound
familiar?
Why do this? To ensure the people don’t go to Jerusalem, Reheboam.
Alternative worship, not recognising God’s king.
Lists of Kings
Formula of introducing the king, whether they did good or evil in eyes of
the LORD, often relating to David as good example.
Israel’s kings are generally worse than Judah’s kings, leading people to
sin, not following God’s laws.
Ahab (1 Kings 16:29) one of the worst, married Jezebel, worship of Baal.
Prophets
in action around this time.
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Exile | 2 Kings 17-25
Israel / Northern Kingdom | 2 Kings 17
into Exile under Assyria because of sin (2 Kings 17:7), 722BC
Judah / Southern Kingdom
Hezekiah | 2 Kings 18-20
Assyrian threat
Prayer
Illness
Babylonians
Succeeded by Manasseh and Amon – bad kings
Josiah | 2 Kings 22-23
Good king, rediscovers book of law, brings people back to God, 23:25
But only delaying the inevitable, 23:26-27
Decline leads to Exile for Judah too.
A return from Exile???
In 538 Persia allowed them to return to Jerusalem, rebuilt city and
temple, but not the same, not a true return.
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Isaiah – Malachi| The Latter Prophets
The Copycat Tool
also known as writing prophets…
Consider these three examples of Bible interpretation:
1. In Daniel 6, Daniel disobeys the command to only pray to the
king of Babylon. This means we should obey God and not men.
2. In 1 Samuel 3, Samuel hears God’s voice at night. This means we
should expect God’s voice to speak audibly to us about the
future.
3. In 2 Samuel 11, David commits adultery with Bathsheba. This
means we can commit adultery.
Time
Looks like one mountain but actually three. Same with prophecy.
Three peaks of prophecy: Immediate situation, Jesus, new creation
e.g. Isa 2:1-5 or 7:14-17, same prophecy with multiple fulfilments.
Isaiah | Trust in the Holy One of Israel
1:1, Ministering before Judah went into exile.
Chapters 1 – 5, Judgement mixed with salvation. Vineyard, Israel didn’t
bear fruit.
Chapter 6, Isaiah’s call, but he won’t be heard
7-9, issue of invasion threat, need to trust LORD. New king promised.
10:20-21, remnant of God’s people will return.
52-55, a new servant, Israel, figure who will rescue Israel
65-66, a new creation, God’s place, new heavens and new earth
Jeremiah 31:31-34| A New Covenant
Not like old covenant. Law in minds and hearts. Each to personally know
LORD. Sins forgiven.
Ezekiel also promises a new temple.
The Bible being descriptive or prescriptive?
The Bible does say it gives examples:
1 Corinthians 10:6; Philippians 3:17; James 5:10.
Exercise: Judges 6:36-40 (p249)
Is Gideon an example to follow? Should we “lay down a fleece” to find
out what God wants for us? (see 6:14-18)
Exercise: Acts 4:32-37 (p1096)
Is Barnabas an example to follow?
Exercise: Acts 8:14-17 (p1101)
Some have said this means once become Christians we need “a second
blessing” or “baptism of the Spirit”. What do we think?
Malachi | Restoration
This is 400 years before Jesus, they were allowed to return.
3:1-4, a true return from exile.
Heb OT ends with Chronicles, which ends with return.
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The “Who am I?” Tool
For Next Time (Sunday 4th September)…
If we need to be careful in taking characters as examples, where do we
fit in the story of the Bible?
We will focus on the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Feel free to read all four if beforehand if you can, but at the very least
please could you read:
• Mark
• John
(these are the two shortest gospels and John is significantly different
from the others).
Note any questions you want to ask next time.
We will begin the next session with a short recap quiz on the entire Old
Testament.
Example: 1 Samuel 17 (p288) – David & Goliath
It’s been said this teaches us how to tackle the “giants” in our lives.
Why are we not David in this story?
Who are we instead?
We need to guard against making us the hero of the story.
Who is the hero (Luke 24:44)?
Exercise: John 14:26 (p1083).
Who is/are the “you” in this verse?
Quiz Questions:
1. Who did Joshua take over from?
2. If you had to sum up the book of Joshua with the description of a
single activity, what would you say?
3. What cycle repeatedly takes place in the book of Judges?
4. What is the conclusion of the book of Judges?
5. Why did the people of Israel ask Samuel for a king?
6. Who became the first king of Israel?
7. What promise does God give David in 2 Samuel 7?
8. What positive features were there to Solomon’s reign?
9. Why is it a good idea to read more than one Bible translation for
deeper understanding?
10. What is the main thing you’ve learned through Going Deeper so
far?
So what does this verse mean for us today?
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