49:18
It seems as if God is still speaking to Jerusalem, and it is obviously speaking about the future. There will come a time when Jerusalem’s “children” come flooding back to her. Now we need to be clear that this is much more than the Jews physically returning to Israel. It should be obvious from the Bible that being physically in the land is not it (this does not mean the land of Israel is of no importance, just that there is much more to it than this). It is looking forward to a time when the people put their trust in the Lord. Up to this time the people had, quite frankly, been a disgrace, and the same is true of us all. But a time will come when the people are an ornament, a credit to Jerusalem, “like a bride”. And Revelation 19:7 speaks of the bride having made herself ready, and this refers to the “righteous acts of the saints”.
49:19
The land had been decimated. When they were in Babylon Jerusalem was utterly desolate. There can be times when our lives feel like that, or the lives of people we love look like that. We should not lose hope, for our God is a God who restores the desolate places and the desolate people. So Jerusalem would become too small for her people. In Zech 2 the prophet is told that the new Jerusalem is to be a city without wall, and this is why. God’s plans are always so much greater than ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment