SERMON: Old Testament Overview, Part 9: Major Prophets, Part 1

Old Testament Overview
Part 9: Major Prophets, Part 1

• This Session
• Introductions
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah 
• I. Introductions
• In the Hebrew canon known as The Latter Prophets.  Why?
• There were earlier prophets – Moses, then Samuel, Nathan, etc.!  
• The historical books are written by the former prophets, whereas God intends the prophetic thrust of these latter books go beyond their time.  
• Moses predicted curses on those who failed to follow God’s Law, the Torah, and the other former prophets demonstrated this.  
• When we get to Isaiah and the rest, these were men who came later, and they were men of God’s Word.
• We’re following the canon in our modern texts, which will also include Lamentations and Daniel.
• The historical books have brought us up to the time of the exile:
• In 722–721 BC, the Assyrian Empire besieged Samaria in the northern kingdom of Israel, captured the inhabitants of the land, and deported them.
• A permanent departure — they did not return.
• A permanent change — they were bred out reproductively and religiously 
• The exile of the southern kingdom of Judah is on the horizon…
• II. Isaiah
• “…To the law and to the testimony!" (Isa 8:13–20).
• NAME: Isaiah [“Yahweh is Salvation” or “Yahweh will Save”]
• DATE: 739–681 BCDuring the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh
• THEME: Sanctification and Salvation of God’s People
• For 150 years, Assyria on the rise!
• Isaiah witnessed:
• deportation of Northern Kingdom (734 BC, the start of the Syro-Ephraimite War)
• Israel and Syria tried to pressure King Ahaz into fighting against Assyria
• When Ahaz refused, they marched against him
• Ahaz sought help from Assyria, starting its incursion into Israel
• ruin of entire nation of Judah, except for Jerusalem
• 701 BC: Assyrians advance in Judah and come to Jerusalem
• King Hezekiah is on the throne, praying! (Isaiah 36–37)
• In the middle of the night, an angel of God slaughters the invading army.
• The Assyrian king’s historical inscriptions acknowledge his conquest of many Judean cities but don’t claim the defeat or capture of Jerusalem, aligning with the biblical account of Sennacherib's retreat.
• OUTLINE:
• I.  Chastening of God (1 – 39) | Wrath | (39) OT 
• II. Comfort of God (40 – 66) | Redemption | (27) NT 
• Because of the contrasting emphasizes, some skeptics have taught that there are two Isaiahs (Deutero-Isaiah Theory).
• This helps avoid supernatural implications of Isaiah naming “Cyrus, King of Persia” in Isaiah 44:28–45:1 almost 200 years beforehand.
• Not only is this a novel theory w/o historic support, Jesus references both halves of Isaiah and identifies them both as written by the prophet (Mk 7:6–7; Mt 8:16–17)
• The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in caves between 1946–56.
• One of the largest was the Great Isaiah scroll (24 ft long!)
• This copy came from the second century BC.
• Before the discovery, the oldest known copy of Isaiah came from 1000 years later (Middle Ages).
• It displayed very little variance from the later copy, evidencing how carefully the Bible is copied and transmitted over time.
• Isaiah predicted the Messiah.  Consider Isaiah 7:14:
• Hebrew: Almah = A young maiden or a virgin
• Greek: Parthenos = Virgin
• He predicted that the Messiah would die “for us” (53:4–6):
• Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
• III. Jeremiah
• “…in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jer. 36:1–3).
• NAME: Jeremiah
• THEME: Warning, Last Hour: Repentance/Confrontation 
• DATE: 627 BC to 586 BC (80 yrs after Isaiah, witness to the destruction of Jerusalem)
• Jeremiah, aka, “The Weeping Prophet” (Jer. 9:1)
• Ministered over 40 years.
• Any converts? Any thanks?
• Interesting book containing both poetry and prose.  
• There is also a lot of history to this book outside of the obvious commands to Judah and the nations.  
• It records some of the process of inspiration and preservation, where God commands Jeremiah to write, King Jehoiakim destroys those writings, and God tells him to write again.
• OUTLINE: 
• I. Jeremiah's Call (1)
• II. Judah's Prophecies (2–45)
• III. Gentiles' Prophecies (46–51)
• IV. Jerusalem's Fall (52)
• Jeremiah promised a new covenant (cf. Jeremiah 31:31–34)
• This is not like the Old Covenant with Moses
• God’s Law will be within their hearts and minds (internal change)
• Permanent forgiveness of sins (not yearly sacrifices!)
• Everyone will know God (has this happened yet?)
• Predicted the destruction of Babylon (Jer. 50, 51; cf. Isa. 13, 14)
• Never inhabited again
• No rebuilding
• Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
• Fall of Babylon (539 BC)
• Without a battle
• Alexander the Great was welcomed by its inhabitants and used it as a hub, planned to make it a capital.
• Atrophied over the years
• Will it be revived and then received its prophesied destruction? (“Mystery Babylon,” Rev. 17–18)
• IV. Lamentations
• “…Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22–23).
• TITLE: Hebrew: “Hebrew: “How”, Talmud: “Lamentations”,  LXX & Vulgate: “Tears”
• DATE: 586 BC – The End of Jeremiah’s Jerusalem Ministry
• THEME: Lament (The Funeral of a City)
• OUTLINE: 
• I. The Ruin of Jerusalem (1)
• II. The Wrath of God (2)
• III. The Request for Mercy (3)
• IV. The Review of the Siege (4) 
• V. The Request for Restoration (5)
• Are the people to be utterly cast off? (See 5:19–22)
• Jeremiah already addressed this (Jer. 30:11; Lam. 3:31–32)
• The people will return from exile at the end of their captivity
• Next Time:
• The Major Prophets, Part 2
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• The Prophetic Scene
• Our Remaining Time:
• …The Minor Prophets (The Twelve)
• …The Final Writings (Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah) and the Intertestamental Period