Advent Reflections: Israel’s Broken Kingdom

We are now through Days 1-21 of our Advent Bible Reading Plan as we prepare our hearts in anticipation for Christmas this year and God continues to work through His Word in great ways! As promised, I’m going to be sharing a small reflection after each section of the reading plan, so this reflection is on Days 13-21 of the plan. If you missed Days 1-4, check them out here or Days 5-9, check them out here or Days 10-12 here. This is not meant to be a devotional, a summary, a deep dive into the passage, or really anything to add to your Bible readings throughout advent, but simply some reflections from my family and I along the way. 

My main goal is to encourage my own heart to really stop, dwell, and reflect on what we are learning together. I pray it will cause you to do the same: to slow down and reflect as you read, and allow the Spirit to work on your heart.

Let’s dive into this section! It was a big one with a lot of meat to it. The story twists and turns and there are a lot of dots to connect throughout. Let’s take some time to get a big picture of this section on the kings and prophets of Israel.

Israel’s Broken Kingdom: Kings and Prophets

Our journey this advent started at the beginning with God creating all things for His glory, to the fall as we see the affects of sin on God’s good creation, and into God calling a people out for Himself and promising to bless all nations through them. He promises to be their God and to be faithful to His covenant to them. He calls them to obey His commands and to live faithfully to Him as well. God later brings them into the land He promised them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

In this next section, we get a further glimpse into the brokenness of humanity and the faithfulness of God. We see the people of Israel reject God as their perfect King and ask Him to give them a king like the rest of the nations around have. They wanted an earthly king to rule them and to be like the nations around them. God graciously allows them to have a king to rule over them as the nations around had. The plan took us through King David and King Solomon, including the building of the temple. We are then taken through many of the books of the prophets as they declare God’s words to the people, warn them to turn from their sin, and foretell how God would one day send His promised Messiah to rescue them.

We end this section with the people of Israel exiled from the promised land and being ruled by kings who didn’t worship God and made it hard for them to do so as well. But even in the midst of this, there were people like Daniel who were faithful to follow God, uphold His commands, and worship Him. We see God continuing to bless the nations through His people, and we hear of the ultimate blessing that will one day come through the Son of Man. Rescue is coming!

Whew! A lot has happened, and again, the goal is not to unpack all of it. I just want to share what stood out to me and my family in this section.

God is Faithful in the Midst of our Sinfulness

Throughout this entire section of the Bible, there is one resounding thing that stood out to me. Over and over we see God being a faithful God in the midst of His people sinning, running away from Him, and disobeying His good commands that He gave to them. He is gracious, slow to anger, and a God who pursues the good of His creation always.

As we get lost in the winding story of the people of Israel, the ruling of the kings, and the warnings of the prophets, we see that God is steadfast. He is unchanging. He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He is a God who keeps His promises, even when we don’t hold up our end of the bargain. Then, in the middle of all of this, we continue to hear about God blessing the nations through a rebellious people, and we get glimpses into His ultimate blessing.

As we hear of this promised Savior, it builds longing and anticipation for God’s grace to be poured out. To be rid of our sinfulness and the affects of sin on all of creation, and to live in unhindered worship of the One True King. We get a glimpse into the desperate need we all have for a Savior, as well as how God’s promise continues to unfold and be foretold perfectly.

And perfectly foretold seems to be an understatement! Whenever I read the books of the prophets, I’m always blown away as I see (again!) how God is faithful to His promises. There are so many specific things told about this promised Messiah, and Jesus fulfills each and every one of them! He is truly a faithful, promise-keeping Lord of all!

What a great HOPE we have in Jesus! This indeed is “good news of great joy for all the people!!” (Luke 2:10) This is the best news the people of Israel could’ve been told and it is the greatest news we could ever hear, believe, and proclaim! These couple of passages proclaimed such hope in the Promised One as we read them over the past few days, so I wanted to remind you of them here:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

“For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Isaiah 9:6-7

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Ruling with justice and righteousness. A new covenant of hope as He saves us from our sins. Glory to God in the highest!

I can’t wait to continue along the journey of advent with you as we see how God’s big story unfolds! Just a couple of days left of the reading plan…the Promised Messiah is about to arrive on the scene! How has God been revealing who He is and His grand plan to redeem His creation through Christ to you? I’d love to hear from you!

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