Hope for the Exiles

GOLDEN TEXT: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” —Isaiah 55:3

ISAIAH, CHAPTER 55

YEARS before the Hebrews were taken captive into Babylon, the Lord said to them through the Prophet Amos, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2) It was because they were exclusively God’s people that they were now in Babylon being punished for their iniquities.

But God loved his people, and watched over them even while they were being punished. His love was further manifested in the many promises he had made on their behalf. To the extent of their faith, these promises could be a basis of hope for them. The most important among God’s promises to his ancient people were those pertaining to the Messiah, that out of this nation would this great deliverer be raised up who not only would bless the natural descendants of Abraham, but the Gentile nations as well. It was certain, then, that the Jewish people would be held together until the Messiah, the promised “seed,” came.

Jacob’s deathbed prophecy narrowed down the fulfillment of the messianic promise to the tribe of Judah. (Gen. 49:9,10) Then, in a promise to David through the Prophet Nathan, it was restricted to his descendants. The expression in our Golden Text, “the sure mercies of David,” is a reference to this. The reason God’s mercy is emphasized in connection with this is apparent when we read the promise.

The promise to David is recorded in II Samuel 7:8-16. Verse 10 is a promise to all Israel. The Lord said, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more.” In the 11th verse Nathan says to David, “The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house”; and in the 12th verse, he tells him, “I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels.” “If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him. … But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul. … And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee.”—vss. 14-16

When Saul sinned, God removed the kingdom from him. But the promise to David was that he would not do this with his descendants, that instead, he would exercise mercy, and continue his line as the one from which the great King would ultimately come. Solomon, David’s own son, sinned, but the kingdom was not given to another family. God exercised mercy. Thus it is that this particular promise is described as “the sure mercies of David.”

God’s promises, however, were not to be carried out in the way the Israelites might expect. Our lesson assures us that the Lord’s Word cannot return to him void, yet that his ways are higher than man’s ways. (vss. 8-11) The Israelites could not then know that the real “seed” of promise, the “Shiloh” promised by Jacob, and the One who would establish David’s house forever, would be Jesus.—Isa. 9:6,7

Jesus came of the Davidic line. Forty years after Jesus declared their house to be desolate, the whole nation was scattered, the people separated. Jesus, the royal heir to David’s throne, had been killed. From the human standpoint, it might have looked as though God’s promise to him had failed. But God raised the king from the dead, and in Acts 13:34 Paul refers to this as being a guarantee of the “sure mercies of David.” What could be more “sure” than that which is made sure by the exercise of resurrection power!

In connection with God’s promise to Israel, his ways are higher than man’s in another sense. The whole nation of Israel was chosen to be a kingdom nation, but their attaining to this was conditional upon their obedience—not like the “sure mercies of David” which guaranteed that the great king would come of his family. The nation did not qualify for the high honor offered, and Jesus said that the kingdom would be taken from them and “given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”—Matt. 21:43

This new kingdom nation is referred to by Peter, saying, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation.” (I Pet. 2:9) This “nation” is made up of believing Jews and Gentiles who, follow faithfully in Jesus’ footsteps, suffering with him that they might reign with him. This new spiritual nation is referred to in verse 5 of our lesson, and also the fact that “nations,” in the plural—all nations, in fact—will seek blessings from the Lord through the “holy nation” of which Christ will be the Head, the One who will re-establish the throne of David, which temporarily—from Zedekiah to Jesus—was inactive.—Isa. 9:7; Acts. 15:16,17

QUESTIONS

In what sense were God’s punishments upon the Israelites an evidence of his love?

Name some of God’s promises pertaining to Israel which could have given hope to them as captives in Babylon.

What promise of God is referred to in our text as “the sure mercies of David”?

Explain how God’s ways are higher than man’s ways in the manner in which he makes “sure” the “sure mercies of David.”

What is the “nation” through which the messianic promises will be fulfilled?

What inheritance is assured the natural descendants of Abraham?

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