Day 205 (Isaiah 35-36) - Year 8

**Tara-Leigh Cobble** (0:01)
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
Before we dig into our chapters today, let's zoom out a little on this situation to make sure we're addressing some of the possible nuances of these prophecies. Yesterday, we left off with Edom being turned into a sticky, smelly wasteland covered in weeds and birds. It represented a kind of undoing of creation, much like the flood when God destroyed Earth 1 and then opened Earth 2 for business. When God first made Earth 1.0, the words he used to describe it in Genesis 1.2 were without form and void, shapeless and empty basically. The Hebrew words used here are Tohu and Bohu. And in yesterday's description of that wasteland in 3411, both of those words are used again. This seems to be a very intentional move. Genesis 1 is the only other place where that combo exists in Scripture. And in fact, the only other time the word Bohu, void, is used in all of Scripture is in Jeremiah 423, where he's describing this same situation. So yesterday we read about the formless void Earth 2 after God's wrath was poured out over all the nations. And today we read about how the ransom captives are brought back to the land. So to understand this section well, we have to ask, does this refer to the time around 700 BC when this was written, or is this a future prophecy of the final days?
And if you had a chance to watch the short video we linked to about the day of the Lord, you may be wondering, is this a day of the Lord or is this the day of the Lord? If you missed that video, we'll link to it again in today's show notes. A popular opinion among scholars is that it's both judgment on the Earth then and judgment on the Earth in the future. A day of the Lord and the day of the Lord. We've talked about how prophecies can often speak to multiple things in a layered sort of way, and it's possible that's what's happening here.
A low level reference to the immediate scenario in the seventh century BC and a high level reference to the future scenario still yet to come. So when we read today about the ransom captives returning to the land, what about that? What does that point to? Again, possibly both timeframes. The already fulfilled return of the Israelites to the promised land and the not yet fulfilled return of all God's adopted children to the newly restored earth 3.0.
It bears repeating that I hold all as yet unfulfilled prophecies with an open hand. And if you happen to disagree with any of my interpretations of end times prophecy, that's okay, as long as you do it biblically of course. And we're still friends. So with that in mind, let's take a look at what happens in chapter 35 today.
Much of the partial fulfillment of these prophecies has already happened. When it speaks of the desert blooming, it is. I've been to that desert and it's a wealth of agriculture. For instance, today Israel exports tulips to Holland, and there are streams in the desert. And God brought back the ransom captives among Judah. That happened about 70 years after they were exiled to Babylon. He made a specific promise to a specific people, and he fulfilled that promise. God can be trusted to keep his word, you guys. My favorite part of this chapter is in verse four. It says, say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Why? Why shouldn't they fear? How can they be strong? He continues by saying, behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Does this mean they won't go into exile? No, they do. It just means exile is not the end of the story. He's coming to get them.
When my heart feels anxious, when I may be headed for exile, I try to preach to it. Behold your God, behold your God, behold your God.
This chapter ends with a promise we've seen before. No more tears, no more wickedness, no more threats to our peace, just everlasting joy. Then in Chapter 36, we revisit a story we first encountered on Day 200, where the Assyrians come to confront the leaders who work for King Hezekiah, and they do it in front of the people of Judah. They try to use their best intimidation tactics to get the people to doubt God and follow them instead. They promise the people protection and provision, mocking God's ability to take care of his people. They also mock the people of Judah directly. They basically say, look, we'll even give you 2,000 horses, provided you can even find that many warriors to ride on them. That's like saying, oh, you want to fight us? We'll give you the guns ourselves, but you probably wouldn't know how to use them.