This morning I awoke at 3:30 a.m. Unable to get back to sleep, it seemed good to rise and read the Bible. I read the last ten chapters of Deuteronomy, and the message is extraordinarily plain.
Israel must believe in the Lord, worship Him alone, and carry out His commands. This was no small task. The Lord would bring them into the land and prove to them that He alone is the one true God. He would do this by blessing them in their obedience and disciplining them in their disobedience. Throughout the rest of the Bible, they experience both.
Leadership and the Pattern of Israel’s History
Israel’s success or failure seems largely tied to leadership. When Joshua leads, things generally go well. When there is no leader, everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The people are punished, and the Lord raises up judges. These judges call the people back to the Lord, and they are blessed again. When a judge dies, the people fall back into doing what pleases themselves.
Over time, the quality of the judges degrades. The earlier judges are greater than the latter, and the latter increasingly seek their own ends. Samuel stands out as a great and godly man and would have been the finest of the judges. Yet the people demand a king.
The Lord tells Samuel that he has not been rejected; rather, the people have rejected the Lord as their King.
Kings, Covenant, and Consequences
Saul is chosen as king but falls out of favor with the Lord fairly quickly. He becomes a man of the world, leading according to his own wisdom. He does not outright reject the Lord, but he insists on putting his own spin on obedience.
The Lord then raises up David, who is repeatedly called a man after God’s own heart. Even so, David experiences great failure when he pursues his own desires. He bears the consequences of his sin, yet the Lord remains faithful to the unconditional covenant made with him.
Solomon, David’s son, inherits this prosperity, and it increases greatly. Through Solomon’s wisdom, Israel becomes the greatest kingdom on earth in his time. Yet Solomon does not expand the kingdom to the full extent the Lord had given. He takes many wives and is drawn into idolatry. As promised, the Lord declares that the kingdom will be taken from Solomon’s son—and so it is.
Division, Decline, and Exile
The kingdom is divided into north and south, and the people experience widespread failure. The Northern Kingdom collapses entirely and is dispersed by Assyria. The Southern Kingdom fares somewhat better, with moments of success punctuated by long periods of failure. Again, success or failure is dictated by the quality and resolve of the king in that time and place.
Both kingdoms receive prophets from God who call the people back to Him. These prophetic ministries bring great revelation but limited repentance. Ultimately, the Southern Kingdom is deported to Babylon, where the people remain for seventy years. Even there, they maintain their identity, and many keep the faith. Daniel, Ezekiel, and others continue to call the people to place their hope in the Lord.
As promised, God returns them to the land. A fraction of the people come back under Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Though progress is slow, the period is marked by the rebuilding of the temple under Persian rule.
From Idolatry to Expectation
During the intertestamental period, the people waver between faithfulness to the Lord and influence from their Greek overlords. It is not a time of resounding success, but it does lead to a significant change: idolatry is no longer the snare it once was for Israel. Though they do not always walk faithfully with the Lord, they no longer bow down to the idols of the nations.
The Ultimate Leader Appears
Then the great Leader steps onto the scene.
The Messiah, Jesus Christ, comes at exactly the right time and place. He reveals Himself by speaking truth and performing great signs and miracles. Yet He is rejected.
This is the most striking point. Throughout Israel’s history, godly leaders brought about the greatest results. But when God Himself comes in the Person of the Messiah, He is rejected. The people may have accepted men, but they rejected God when He stood before them.
The Present Age and the Coming Kingdom
Thus, a new time begins—one in which the Lord deals with every tribe, tongue, and nation through faith in the salvation offered by Messiah Jesus. This is the age we live in now.
The Lord’s leadership is perfect, yet most of humanity continues to reject Him. Even those of us who accept Him follow imperfectly, struggling to understand and apply His Word rightly. We often fail to take God at His Word and instead try to put our own spin on it—hoping to seize the kingdom for ourselves and even opposing God’s chosen people, Israel.
The Certain End of the Story
We await a coming moment. The Lord will remove His Church and resume His plan of calling Israel back to Himself. At the end of seven years, they will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Then the Messiah will return, defeat His enemies, and establish His kingdom. Jesus wins.
This will usher in Christ’s eternal kingdom, extending into the new heavens and the new earth and continuing forever. It is a long story—one that will ultimately bring God all the glory.
