In the context of Isaiah 9, the prophet has declared that God intends to punish Israel utilizing the Assyrians. The invasion of the Assyrians would be terrible and ultimately result in Israel’s anguish and captivity. Amid such gloom and darkness, Isaiah foretells of the light of the Messiah who will rescue and redeem Israel and reign and rule over Israel and the world. Shockingly, Isaiah reveals that the Messiah will come as a Child and a Son (Isaiah 9:6-7). Isaiah provides five prophetic names for the Child. In Semitic culture, a name expresses the nature of an individual. Thus, Isaiah’s use of these five prophetic names describes Who the Child is and what He will do.
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There are many messages communicated during the Christmas season -- funny messages, romantic messages, and religious messages. The Scripture presents another message of Christmas. It is a message of humility, joy, love, worship, and proclamation.
Luke 1:28-35 presents some of the most wonderful words of assurance and divine certainty in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ from His conception and birth as King of the Jews, to His ultimate triumph as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Specifically, in verses thirty-one to thirty-three, Luke presents seven wills in this Christmas narrative. Contextually, each of the verbs translated as will is in the future tense — will conceive, will name, will be great, will be called, will give, will reign, and will have no end. The use of the future tense here is known as a predictive future. That is, the tense indicates the expectation that something will take place. These wills speak of Christ’s Advents — His First and Second. From the present readers perspective, four of these wills are past, occurring at Christ’s advent. The last three wills are future and will be fulfilled at Christ’s second advent.
Peter laid out five critical warnings about false teachers (cf. 2 Peter 2:1-3). False teachers are a continuous threat, promote destructive heresies and alluring immorality, have impure motives, and are doomed to judgment. Regarding their judgment, Peter used the judgment of the fallen angels who cohabited with women, the ungodly generation of Noah’s era, and the ungodly of Sodom and Gomorrah to demonstrate that the judgment of false teachers is certain (cf. 2 Peter 2:4-10a). In the first part of verse ten, Peter gave two reasons for the certainty of judgment upon false teachers, namely they indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
These two reasons for judgment against false teachers function as the transition to Peter’s damnable description of false teachers in 2 Peter 2:10b-22. It should be underscored that Peter’s description in verses ten through twenty-two parallels his warning in verses one through three. The purpose of the parallel is to focus the reader on the false teachers’ wickedness. In doing so, Peter uses more expressive and detailed terms to emphasize their wickedness. Peter presents a sevenfold damnable description of false teachers.
Peter states in 2 Peter 2:3 that the false teachers are doomed to judgment — “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” While verse three served as the final warning of the previous section, it also is the springboard for what comes next. Consider the following logic. Because the false teacher deliberately misleads others, God will, without doubt, judge them. God’s judgment of false teachers is absolute because God routinely judged the wicked throughout history. Thus, in 2 Peter 2:4-9, Peter presents three examples of God’s judgment in the past.
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