The Exile and the Mission

By Arthur D. Bright

The Exile and the Mission is a historical novel that shows how God uses His children to fulfill His purposes. It shows how God used Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel to bring his wayward children back to Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512712766

Arthur D. Bright

A late-blooming Christian saved at the age of fifty-two, Arthur recognized that God was always with him, but he not with God. Thanks for God's grace. He teaches Sunday school and loves reading the Bible.

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Copyright © 2015 Arthur D. Bright.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Scripture taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-1277-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1278-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1276-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015915161

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/21/2015

CONTENTS

Note from the Author

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1   Keep Hope Alive

Chapter 2   Reap What You Sow

Chapter 3   The Mission

Chapter 4   Doubters

Chapter 5   God’s Visit and His Word

Chapter 6   Perseverance

Chapter 7   Fear and Rebellion

Chapter 8   On Mission

Chapter 9   Treachery and Retribution

Chapter 10   Mission Accomplished

Chapter 11   Conclusion

To my grandmother, Addie Semedo, who planted and nurtured the seed in me that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. In spite of all the negative disincentives around her, she consistently displayed her faith in Jesus by the way she conducted her life.

To my late pastor, Dr. George McCalep Jr., who cultivated that seed, which brought me to the point of accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior at the late age of fifty-two. I thank God for His patience and for putting the people in my life who would bring me to Him.

And finally, there is no writing a book without the understanding and support of family. Mine has my gratitude and love for giving me the space I needed to do what God had put into my heart.

Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

—Isaiah 39:5–6 (KJV)

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

T he first church I joined as an adult was Greenforest Community Baptist Church in 1994. In reading the weekly bulletin one day, I saw that its academy needed grant writers. At the same time, I was volunteering at the academy, where the principal informed me that the church’s Community Development Corporation (CDC) needed assistance with the development of its 114 acres. I began working for the CDC in 1999 and ultimately became the project manager for an $8 million child-development center and a $3 million middle school. I also assumed the role of facility manger for the entire campus, including 160 garden apartments owned by the church.

The twenty-five years I providentially worked in the construction industry prepared me to serve God and help Greenforest reach their campus development goals. It is a wonderful and grateful feeling to realize that even during the years I did not give God the respect and love He deserved, He still walked beside me, gave me the gifts I would need, and tirelessly waited for me to turn to Him.

But God didn’t stop there. I started teaching adult Sunday school classes, which forced me to study more, and this ultimately became the catalyst for my passion to write stories about the Bible.

I thank God for His patience with me and pray that this book will prod many others to look to Him as I finally did. He is anxiously waiting to see your face. It’s never too late for God!

PREFACE

T he Exile and the Mission is a historical novel of biblical events that interrelate with Isaiah’s prophecy that Judah would be conquered, the citizens exiled to Babylon as well as Jerusalem, and the temple destroyed. This book includes real conspiracies and the strategies taken to counter those schemes during this protracted ordeal. The story is about actual biblical characters who lived during the exile and the collaboration of the prophets and priests who enabled God’s children to become restored and return home from Babylon.

The Exile and the Mission strives to show the relationships these characters had with one another, their people, their adversaries, and God. It endeavors to show the probability of lives overlapping and exemplifies that several of these famous characters actually did know one another. Equally important, this book attempts to illustrate that God realizes His purposes through His children, a method He has used from the beginning—the exile era—and still implements today.

Reading the Scriptures, researching numerous biblical sources, and delving into biblical scholars’ speculations has contributed to the development of the dialogue. This book takes factual circumstances and interposes the dialogue between the characters to help us become more acquainted