Old School - Prophets - Judgment and Exile

For an Essay discussing the judgement of Good please see Judge Not the Judgment of God.

Old School

The Prophets

In Defense of Judgment

Where we are in the Story

The Backdrop for the Prophets

 Deuteronomy 28 —  The Covenant of God

• Blessings
• Curses

A Kingdom Crumbling

• Solomon as King —  Up, Down then Dead
• Rehoboam is an Idiot —  1 Kings 12

Old Heads Counsel

Young Men’s Counsel

The Kingdom Divided

The Prophets

•  Major Prophets/Minor Prophets
• Pre Exile, Exile, Post Exile

God’s Judgment: Jeremiah 2:11-13

Shocked and Appalled

Two Evils

1.  

2.  

God’s Consequence: Habakkuk 1:2-11

Oh No He Didn’t!

Oh Yes He Will!

The Patterns of Life in Scripture

Our lives have a beginning and our time in this age on the earth has an end...it is appointed for us to live and to die and then we will be judged...

• Not by Public Opinion Polls
• Not by Popularity
• Not by the size of your bank account
• Not by your net worth
• Not by your good looks
• Not by your educational accomplishments
• Not by career attainment

But you will be judged by what you have done in the body, good or bad...and we will be judge by God’s appointed judge, Jesus Christ for every bit of your life...

In light of this truth we read these life giving words from the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵ For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Isaiah 30:15

The words of a song we sing often here at Jacob's Well hold great meaning in light of God's judgment and his grace in Jesus Christ.

• At the Cross, Wrath was Taken Away, Christ was in our Place What Marvelous Grace
• At the Cross, Justice was Supplied (Judgment Absorbed), by the Blood of Christ, forever we will praise.

Community Meditation 

• Read Matthew 7 and discuss what ways it is wrong for a human being to be judgmental? In what do you see that we should make judgments?
• Discuss why you think it is right for God to judge human beings? Why do you think we recoil from the idea of God being a “judging God”?
• How can God’s judgment of us be good news? How should we respond when we learn of God’s judgment?
• Discuss as a community how we can explain God’s judgment and his mercy in Jesus to someone who is not a Christian. Be very practical. What questions does judgment raise?
• Why should we never speak of judgment without also speaking of God’s covenant love, grace and the cross of Christ?