CAPTIVES, HOSTAGES, AND PROMISES
A friend of mine has a birthday that falls just before October 7th. Her desired gift this year, as with so many Israelis, was simply the return of the hostages and the end of the war. When she expressed this to me in late August, I felt a pang in my heart as even then, it felt unrealistic. My hope for these two prospects had begun to erode. But somehow, as the day and second anniversary of the war-igniting massacre both approached, it seemed plausible. Or at least, not impossible.
And then it happened. A ceasefire was ratified by the Israeli Knesset before Shabbat began days after the third October 7th in this fever nightmare of a war; by Monday October 13th, the President of the United States stood before the Knesset in Jerusalem and gave “deepest thanks to the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[1] It was a remarkable opening to an era-defining speech, which came after the remaining twenty living hostages were finally released from Hamas/Palestinian Islamic Jihad custody and returned to Israel, finally reunited with their families. These were biblical scenes.
Remarkably, President Trump continued:
After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families. And it is glorious. 28 more precious loved ones are coming home at last to rest in this sacred soil for all of time. And after so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises. On a holy land that is finally at peace, a land and a region that will live. God willing, in peace for all eternity.
This is not only the end of a war. This is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God. It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations; of what will soon be a truly magnificent region. I believe that so strongly. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.[2]
This is incredible language, leaning on words introduced through the Hebrew prophets millennia past: The end of unceasing war and danger.[3] Silenced guns.[4] A new and hopeful dawn.[5] A holy land “finally at peace.”[6] The life and enduring longevity of the Jewish nation.[7] Eternal, everlasting peace. [8] The end of an age of terror and death.[9] The beginning of an age of restored faith and relationship with God.[10] Harmony between Israel and her neighbors in a regenerate Middle East.[11] All this in the context of the captives of Zion finally set free from their dungeons of torture.[12]
Trump’s speechwriter should get a raise for this piece alone.
It does not threaten me that a world leader, or even the nation of Israel, is inhaling all the living breath available from the hope in these promises many days before the world sees the fruition of their fullnesses. The prophets themselves often spoke into affairs of their day, and the Lord leveraged their contexts to provide clarity for the days to come— days we ourselves still look forward to. Still, even after the carnage of October 7th; even after the restoration of October 13th. Still, we wait for 13 deceased to be freed from the clutches of Hamas and returned to Israel for a dignified burial in their own soil. Still, we wait for the last gunshot human ears will ever hear. Still, we wait for the end of this “present evil age” and final resolution of the age-defining “controversy of Zion.”[13] If we want to have clarity today and endurance through our remaining tomorrows, we would do well to become literate in the prophets ourselves, remembering a critical principle: The Scriptures are no ordinary texts vulnerable to the scrutiny of our own wavering criticisms; we must submit to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are under no burden to submit to us.
Perhaps by virtue of being the longest book in the prophets and simply just having more words to work with, Isaiah provides us some of the most illuminating glimpses into the promises to come. They are breathtaking:
The LORD will reign from Zion, disperse the Law from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, and we will melt down our tanks and guns and RPGs and strip our ambulances for scrap metal to manufacture regenerative farming equipment. All war is over. (It is worth the caveat that the “war to end all wars” takes place at the end of Jesus’ thousand-year reign.)[14]
The Kingdom is established and upheld with justice and righteousness, enduring forever, achieved by the zeal of the LORD of Hosts. “Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end."[15]
The LORD will ensure all perpetrators on the earth and in the heavens get their just due; His presence from His throne in Zion will put the sun and moon to shame.[16]
A profound upheaval will occur resulting in: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame are healed and walk. Wilderness areas are flooded with life-giving water. Wrong things are put to right, and the captives set free as the LORD delivers Zion will return to the City of the Great King, singing the songs of the redeemed. “Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads….sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”[17]
The LORD’s comfort for Zion will be demonstrated through the restoration of the wilderness, becoming like Eden, the Garden of Paradise.[18]
The LORD will conclusively end Jerusalem’s oppression, rebuke her oppressors forever, and will rebuild her with precious stones and gems.[19]
The regeneration of Jerusalem and Israel will ignite the renewal of all things worldwide, nursing the nations with her abundance.[20]
All this in addition to the promised resurrection of the saints as the Son of Man comes on the clouds in power and glory.[21] The apostles leaned heavily on these promises as they proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom soon to be restored to Israel. We must as well.
It brings me no joy to reflect on the events of the last two years, and feel their familiarity in the language of the less hopeful prophetic passages.[22] We have not yet seen the last breach of borders or kidnapping of civilians. That Jesus liberates innumerable captives as part of His triumphal entry necessitates that captives will be taken again. We have not yet seen our last hostage. We have not yet seen the last villages razed. We have not yet seen the defiance of pagan puppets transgress the City of the Great King[23] with the consequences the prophets spoke of— not the least because we have not yet seen the LORD of Hosts, a Man of War, Himself standing on the Mount called “Olivet” as He splits it in two and ransoms His people.
I believe it is these promises that birthed the “new song” first heard by Isaiah in the middle of a most gruesome chapter, in many ways previewing what would be understood as “birth pangs” and “seals, trumpets, and bowls.” To ponder Isaiah 24 is not for the faint of heart, but smack in the middle of it all is a remarkable remnant in the far-flung islands of the South Pacific who are not offended, who have clarity, and perhaps most importantly have an unflinching confidence in the name, nature, and character of the God of Heaven and Earth— the One we would do well to remember still knows Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[24] To remember He is the God of the living and not the dead.[25] To remember His promises so that we may sing this song in the midst of it all:
They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.
Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise
of glory to the Righteous One.[26]
To be a people who can sing this song in the midst of the calamity described by Isaiah indicates a people whose eyes are on the promises described by Isaiah. It is one thing to know Jacob will yet experience the time of his trouble; it is another to confidently proclaim and remind the nations: He shall be saved out of it.[27] And when he is, the blessing covenanted to Abraham will flow to all nations like Eden’s water on the dry and barren sand of the Judean wildernesses.
May we be this kind of people.
[1] A transcript of this speech is available at https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/Documents/ SpeechPdf/trump.pdf – alternatively, a video of the full speech is available here: https://youtu.be/ EjAyIUmF5P4?si=TmFtle23me893dgS
[2] Ibid.
[3] Psalm 46:9
[4] Isaiah 2:3-4; Micah 4:1-3
[5] Isaiah 24:14-16a
[6] Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16; Zephaniah 2:7
[7] Jeremiah 31:36-37
[8] Ezekiel 37:26
[9] 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
[10] Jeremiah 31:31-40
[11] Isaiah 19:19-25
[12] Isaiah 49:24-25; 61:1; Jeremiah 28:4
[13] Isaiah 34:8
[14] Isaiah 2:3-4
[15] Isaiah 9:6-7
[16] Isaiah 24:21-23
[17] Isaiah 35:5-10; you’ll notice these themes are reiterated in Isaiah 61, and partially quoted in both Luke 4 and Matthew 11. The deliverance of Zion is elaborated upon by Zechariah in his twelfth and fourteenth chapters.
[18] Isaiah 51:3. Ezekiel also discusses this in Ezekiel 20:33-44.
[19] Isaiah 54:1-17; The apostle John sees this restored covenantal city in more detail in Revelation 21-22.
[20] Isaiah 66:7-14
[21] See Daniel 7:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
[22] Zechariah 12:1-9; 14:1-4 briefly demonstrate the real-time implications of what the prophets knew as the Day of the LORD, concluding what Daniel and Jesus both called the “great tribulation,” or what Jeremiah referred to as the “time of Jacob’s trouble.”
[23] Psalm 48:2; Matthew 5:35
[24] Exodus 3:6
[25] Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27
[26] Isaiah 24:14-16a, ESV
[27] Jeremiah 30:7
Stephanie Quick (@quicklikesand) is the founder and creative director of The Emmaus Table. She lives in the Golan Heights and hosts the TABLE TALKS podcast. Browse her free music, films, and books in THE EMMAUS TABLE App and at stephaniequick.org.