Bible Study Notes 12/2/2025
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(Much gratitude is given to Dr. Carol Kaminski for her Old Testament Survey course at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the study materials that accompany and inform this teaching.)
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God Will Bring Israel Back to the Land and Multiply Them
The restoration will be considered in greater detail in the period of EXPECTATIONS, but we will briefly consider them here.
We learned that the exile will last 70 years.
God told Jeremiah to buy land in Israel in anticipation of the return (Jer. 32:6-44).
Through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God promises that he will gather his dispersed people and bring them back to the land (Jer. 23:1-8; 29:14; 30:3; 31:8; 32:37; 50:19; Ezek. 11:17; 20:34; 34:13).
- God will gather his scattered flock, as a shepherd gathers his sheep (Jer. 23:1-4; Ezek. 34:11-24).
- The desolate land will be filled with God’s flock, and the land will become a fertile place like the Garden of Eden (Ezek. 36:8-12, 34-38).
- God promised Abraham that he would multiply his descendants as the sand of the seashore, yet, the judgment of 586 BC resulted in Israel becoming few in number (Deut. 28:62-63).
- In the restoration, God will multiply them as in the days of old (Jer. 3:16; 23:3; Ezek. 36:10-11, 37-39).
- This promise realizes a world-wide people of God who will worship the God of Abraham (Isa. 2:1-4; 49:6; Pss. 2:8; 22:27; 86:9; Jer. 3:17; Mal. 3:12).
God Will Make a New Covenant
Jeremiah announces that God will make a new covenant with Israel: READ Jer. 31:31-32.
It will be unlike the Mosaic covenant; the new covenant is not a renewal of the Mosaic covenant – the people have continually broken this covenant (Lev. 26:14-15; Deut. 31:16, 20; Jer. 11:1-17; Ezek. 16:59).
Jeremiah states that the new covenant is not like the covenant that Israel has broken.
Hebrews refers to the Mosaic covenant as the FIRST covenant (Heb. 8:7-13; 9:15, 18), referring back to Jeremiah.
- The Hebrews writer contrasts the new covenant with the old, stating that the new covenant is a better covenant, founded upon better promises, and one which will endure forever (Heb. 7:22; 8:6).
- We will see that the Messiah initiates the new covenant through his own shed blood.
- Jesus says on the eve of his death: “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20; cf. Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15-17).
This NEW covenant will accomplish what the old covenant is unable to do, for it will deal with Israel’s rebellious heart.
God Will Put His Law in the Heart of His People
Under the new covenant, God promises that he will put his law within his people and write it on their heart (Jer. 31:33; cf. Heb. 10:16).
The 10 Commandments were written on stone tablets but with the new covenant, God will place his law in the heart of his people through his Spirit (2 Cor. 3:1-11; Heb. 10:16), bringing about an internal transformation of the heart.
- The prophet Ezekiel says that God will give his people a ‘new heart” and a “new spirit” (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26; cf. Jer. 24:7; 32:39).
- The indwelling of God’s Spirit will empower his people to follow his ways and walk in his statutes (Ezek. 36:27).
- Through this internal work of God through his Spirit, He will be Israel’s God, and they will be his people (Jer. 24:7; 31:33; 32:38).
THE COMING OF GOD’S SPIRIT IS CENTRAL TO THE RESTORATION OF HIS PEOPLE.
Remember that the prophet Joel looked forward to the day when God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-36).
God Will Forgive the Sin of His People
Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe a future time when God will cleanse his people from their sin and pardon all their iniquities (Jer. 33:8; 50:20; Ezek. 36:25-27; 37:23).
Forgiveness of sin will mark the restoration of God’s people: one of the promises of the new covenant is that God will forgive Israel’s iniquity and no longer remember their sin (Jer. 31:34; 33:8).
God’s promise to forgive sins under the new covenant will be realized by the provision of a substitute, God’s very own Son, Jesus, the Messiah, through His shed blood that atones for the sins of the world.
- Sacrifices will no longer be required (Heb. 7:26-28; 9:12, 28; 10:10).
In Jesus the last days have arrived.
God Will Raise Up a Righteous Davidic King
Jeremiah and Ezekiel both announce that central to the restoration is the enthronement of the true Davidic king, who will shepherd God’s restored people (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:14-26; Ezek. 34:23-24; 37:24-25).
No Davidic king reigns in Jerusalem after 586 BC, but Jeremiah proclaims these words of hope: READ Jer. 23:5, and he identifies the name of the Davidic king as: “The LORD is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6).
- Israel and Judah will be united under his rule, so that there will no longer be two kingdoms (see Ezek. 37:22, 24), but one people of God.
Jerusalem and the Temple Will Be Rebuilt
Ezekiel is given a detailed vision of the restored temple (Ezek. 40-48).
- His temple vision has the sanctuary as a city on a massive scale.
- The river that flows out of God’s dwelling place renews the entire earth and its inhabitants.
- Only the righteous remain and there is no more evil
- Remember that the tabernacle and later, the Jerusalem Temple were originally patterened after the heavenly temple (Exod. 25:40).
- God’s ultimate intention is to be enthroned in the midst of a redeemed people, who are granted eternity to behold and celebrate his infinite worth and glory (Rev. 5-7).
When God’s people return from exile, they begin to rebuild the temple, which is important in the period of TEMPLE.
- The temple is rebuilt in 516 BC under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, but the prophetic hope of God’s presence is far from reality.
- There is hope that God will one day dwell in the midst of his people (Zech. 2:1-12).
- God’s desire to dwell with his people is fulfilled NOT within four walls of a temple built by human hands (Acts 7:48-50), but in human beings, who are built up into a spiritual house through God’s indwelling Spirit.
- When John is brought by the Spirit to see a vision of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21-22), he sees that the tabernacle of God is among his people, but he does not see any temple, “for its temple is the LORD God the Almighty and the Lamb" (Rev” 21:22) – AND the vision is the same city envisioned by the prophet Ezekiel and is rightly named “The LORD Is There” (Ezek. 48:35).
The Prophet Daniel Works in Nebuchadnezzar’s Court
Let’s back up a bit to address Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar first attacked Jerusalem in 605 BC and took a number of leading citizens to Babylon, including members of the royal family, nobles, and wise men.
Nebu. had also taken vessels from the temple, which he placed in the house of his gods (2 Kgs. 24:13; 2 Chr. 36:7; Dan. 1:1-2).
Now we are in the book of Daniel, as he was (with his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) among the deportees who had been brought to Babylon in 605 BC and were among the first to live as God’s people in a foreign land.
- They were to be educated for 3 years in the literature and language of the Babylonians so they might enter into the king’s personal service (Dan. 1:3-6).
- They were renamed: Daniel became Belteshazzar, and his 3 friends were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego (Dan. 1:7) and resolved together to learn the culture and language of this new environment while maintaining their devotion to Yahweh, not bowing down and worshipping anything or anyone other than the LORD God.
- While in exile, God does not abandon these young men, but gives them great wisdom and insight.
- Nebuchadnezzar discovers that their wisdom is superior to all the magicians and enchanters in his realm (Dan. 1:17-20).
- God plans to speak to Nebu. through his prophet, Daniel, who begins his service in the Babylonian court in 605 BC (Dan. 1:1) and continues his prophetic ministry until the rise of the Persian king Cyrus in 539 BC (Dan. 1:21).
As we work through Daniel, there are things to remember along the way:
· Not all the chapters are in chronological order;
· The events Daniel describes and the visions he is shown occur during the reigns of three kings:
o The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 1-4),
o The Babylonian crown prince Belshazzar (Dan. 5, 7, 8),
o The Persian king Cyrus who is also known as Darius the Mede (Dan 6, 9-12).
Recognize that Daniel’s visions take us beyond these earthly kingdoms to the advent of a heavenly king, whose kingdom will last forever.