Continuing in the context of post-exile restoration being described before Judah goes into exile.
The Lord says: All you have to do is keep justice and do righteousness.
Blessed is the man... who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
When you come back from captivity, all you have to do is what your ancestors failed to do.
Makes me think about the goal of prophetic office. It is not just to tell the future, it is to prepare the listener for the future. In other words, Here is what God wants you learn while you are in exile so that when you come back you will understand what is has happened to you.
So to me, the natural question to ask is "Why are the returning exiles going to be able to do what their ancestors failed to do?" I think Paul helps us at this point. Romans 7:9 - when the law came, sin came alive and I died. Now Paul grew up in the law which was given through Moses centuries before, so it was not just knowing the law. In the conversion process, the Spirit convicted him of his deadness through the law. Up to that point, he thought he was alive, but he was actually dead.
The lesson of exile is that Judah, like his ancestors, is dead and unable to fulfill the law. Awareness that they need a Savior like the one described in chapter 53 so that in response to salvation they will live differently.
Dear reader, have you learned this lesson? Has the "law killed you"? Have you realized your need for the Savior? The purpose of reading the Bible is not to know facts and figures, but to know the Author.
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