19 November 2015

Scriptures:

• John 11:55-12:19
• Isaiah 7-8
• 2 Kings 18
• Psalm 110

Observations:

In the John passage, we see that the Pharisees have sent notice asking for for anyone with Jesus' whereabouts so they could arrest him. We also see Jesus preparing to return to Jerusalem over Passover, stopping first at Lazarus' house, where Mary anoints Jesus' feet with expensive perfume (worth ~ 1 year's wages) and Jesus rebukes Judas who'd balked at the waste of such expense.

After this, we see the triumphal entrance, as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

In the Isaiah passage, we see God, in a very dramatic way, prophesying the downfall of Israel and Syria to the Assyrians and the provision of a miracle as evidence of the prophecy: that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This is a dual-prophecy. We see an apparent, immediate fulfillment with the birth of Maher-shalal-hash-baz and a later, proper fulfillment with the birth of Christ.

In 2 Kings, we see Hezekiah, considered a godly king, being faced with invasion by Assyria immediately after they'd just overrun Israel (see the above prophecy). We see the Assyrians taunting Hezekiah and God, attempting to demoralise the Jews. In chapter 19, we will see Isaiah prophesying the downfall of Sennacherib by his own family because of his offense to God.

In the psalm, we see God as the final arbiter. We see him making an end to sin and the wicked.

Application:

 From the two middle passages, we can see aspects of internal consistency, seeing a prophecy given by Isaiah about Israel and Assyria's downfall to Ahaz and fulfilled during his son's reign. Also, in looking up "Nehushtan" I found out that a couple otherwise reputable historians made reference to flying serpents in the Arabian peninsula. That kinda makes me wonder about exactly when dinosaurs were around, especially the smaller ones whose fossils continue after the K/T (see, the flood?) extinction, as this would really lend huge credence to the young earth theory and force geologists ad evolutionists to revise their theorems. But, only time will tell on that count.