Israelites Prophetic Message

Even in the days of Jeroboam I, the man who founded the Kingdom of Israel, God already knew that Israel would be troublesome. It was forewarned that, “…the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles.” The Israelites’ reason of doubt for God was that they were unsure that they could take over their promised land. God told them that they could remove the current inhabitants, but they were convinced that they could not. Not believing in the word of the Lord led to their exile for forty years of “wilderness wandering.” They had forgotten all of the great things that He had done for them, such as delivering them from Egyptian enslavement. Hope was given up on Him

In the Beginning: At the beginning of the universe. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. During those six days God spoke to the darkness and created the world, brought forth light, created the sky, land and animals and plants to inhabit them. However, even during this creation he was contemplating the creation of a being made in his own image.

When Solomon completed the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, the city solidified its position as the center of Israel’s religious, political and economic world. The Temple housed the ark of the covenant, which was associated with the physical presence of God, and it was placed in close proximity to the palace of Jerusalem’s richest king to date, King Solomon. Through the establishment of the temple, Jerusalem experienced a powerful sense of spirituality, protection by their God and national independence. When it was destroyed in 586 BCE, many Jerusalemites felt that, like the presence of God, their meaning in life had diminished. The Temple would be rebuilt, razed to the ground and built up again several more times after this.

After their exile, around fifty-thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem which was now called Judaea. The leader of Judea, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return and to build another place of worship (Fisher 251). The second temple was built in 515 BCE and according to the text Living Religions, became “the central symbol to a scattered Jewish nation” (Fisher). The temple became a place where the Torah was formed and where the religion prospered. However, Jewish prosperity was not going to last. After four centuries of Roman rule, that was domineering and dreadful, a group of Jews decided to rebel against their oppressors. This led to Jews being slaughtered by the Romans and to the second Temple being destroyed. All that is left of the Temple are foundation stones which are referred to as the Western Wall. The temple has never been rebuilt and the Western Wall has become a place for prayer and remembrance for Jews all over the world. Jewish people look at the Western Wall as a representation of the hardships and oppression that their religion and people have endured. According to the article, Mystical Secret of the Western Wall:

The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah: 2 ?I have longed to help Jerusalem because of my deep love for her people, a love which has made me angry with her enemies. 3 I will return to Jerusalem, my holy city, and live there. It will be known as the faithful city, and the hill of the Lord Almighty will be called the sacred hill. 4 Once again old men and women, so old that they use canes when they walk, will be sitting in the city squares. 5 And the streets will again be full of boys and girls playing.

In verses 4-5 Nehemiah called out to the Lord against the people who are showing opposition. Nehemiah asked the Lord to punish the opposition for trying to stop the Lord’s plan and discouraging his people. The wall was built to half the height, and the surrounding nations were encouraged to work before the enemy started to affect the building. All of these enemies conspired to come against Jerusalem because the breaches within the walls had been closed and they no longer had control over Jerusalem (Neh 4:4-8).

As Lewis Chafer notes, continuity in the Bible is best shown through the fulfillment of prophecy (164). Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. And the Second Coming of Christ is the expected fulfillment of the New Testament prophecies. In both cases, and throughout the Old and the New Testaments, "highways of prophecy" are directed towards Advents of Christ.

The book of Haggai’s and Zechariah’s message was to the reconstruction of the temple of God that was destroyed by the Babylonians. Haggai was solely commissioned to get the Temple rebuilt where Zechariah was of repentance through the preceding eight visions. Overall, the visions speak of God’s plans for Israel and specifically the temple and Jerusalem. One other main theme is the coming of the future Messiah. Zechariah also had a charge with Haggai to encourage the post-exilic to continue to rebuild the temple. The temple foundation began almost immediately after the people returned from Babylon. The foundation was done but after that it took sixteen years before the work would resume. This was due to hostility’s from Samaritan settlers. It

The Prophecy that is recorded in chapter 53 is revealing that Jesus Christ would come to this earth. This passage records the fact that the entire nation would reject his arrival. In His appearance, he did not look like a royal person in beauty and majesty. This nation despised and rejected this Servant (Jesus Christ) even though He took on himself all the sin of the nation and carried them on himself. The Lord was pierced, was crushed, and was punished all because of their transgressions and iniquities. Those of us, who have believed in Him, have an inner peace that the rest of the world does not understand. We understand as believer that the are guilty of all of our sin and we had no hope before Christ came for us. Christ’s death upon

The people of Jerusalem were sinning against God and worshiping the false god Baal. They were liars, thieves, and some were even murderers, but God still loved them. God sent a message to a man named Jeremiah. God told him to preach to his people. Jeremiah did as God said and told the people that God would not punish them as long as they learned to do good. The people did not listen, some even tried to kill Jeremiah. He warned them that the people of Babylon would attack. The leaders of the city hated him so they went to the king and told him everything. The king told them to do whatever they had to, so they put Jeremiah in a well to starve to death. A royal servant saw and warned the king that bad things would happen if Jeremiah died. The king then sent

There are several challenges with the historical background and political setting of Isaiah 40-66 concerning author, date, time and situation of life for the Jews. LaSor notes that traditional views that Isaiah authored the entire book are held by very few scholars. More and more critics are accepting a two book theory with chapters 1-39 as book one and chapters 40-66 as book two. Moreover, there are further refinements resulting in three books, dividing chapters 40-66 into 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah) and 56-66 (Trito-Isaiah). (LaSor, William 1996., 281)

The first lesson we should learn is that our complaining is always heard by God. (Num. 1:1,18, 12:2)

Zechariah is one of the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. His book is located between the books of Haggai and Malachi. Zechariah is thought to have preached from about 520-518 B.C. The book of Zechariah deals with the restoration of Jerusalem, the Temple, and God‘s people. Chapter 11 verses 4-17, which is a story of two shepherds, is one of the most difficult passages in the Old Testament to understand. From the New Living Translation, the passage reads as follows: 4 This is what the LORD my God says: "Go and care for a flock that is intended for slaughter. 5 The buyers will slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers will say, 'Praise the LORD, I am now rich!' Even the shepherds have no compassion for them.

Nehemiah the Israelite leader displays numerous traits of a Servant Leader in the biblical book, Nehemiah. Nehemiah sets out on a quest to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the wall that surrounds his beloved home. During this time, he encounters many obstacles and will overcome all roadblocks put in front of him. This paper will provide an analysis of two significant events, building the wall around Jerusalem and organizing Jerusalem’s people to rebuild the city.

After the temple was completed, Zechariah gave several prophecies about Israel’s future. It vividly describes the first and second coming of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This book contains more about the person, work, and glory of Christ than any other minor prophets combined. Israel’s king would come, but his people would reject him. They would later repent and be restored to God. The king is going to come again for the Judgment, we pray that when he comes again that we have been faithful and he will find us pure in his sight. The building of the temple is important here. Our bodies are our temple and we must continue to work on them until Christ comes again to claim us, the Church the people of