4:6
“In that day ..” So in the midst of the present confusion and disobedience, and when over the next period of time much judgement was going to come upon Israel and Judah, God outlines His long term plans. God always keeps the long term goal in view, and so should we. God’s plans have not changed, and the destination is certain to be reached. God would gather the lame and the exiles. Remember that at this time there weren’t many exiles. “and those I have brought to grief”. The Bible has no qualms at all about saying that God has caused some of the suffering, for it was judgement upon Israel and Judah for their sins. At the same time we should realise that that is not the whole story, it does not explain all suffering, but there are times when the judgement of God comes in this age.
4:7
The lame and the exiles would become a strong nation, and the Lord will rule over them. So again we have the ruling of the Lord as the fundamental feature of the “successful” nation. We also see God calling into being things that are not, and God reversing situations. The remnant came from those driven away as a result of God’s judgement. We should also note that Israel has not yet become that nation. She is now a nation again, but is not under God’s rule, indeed is very atheistic in many ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment