Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests
to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of
The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“Awake, sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is
close to Me!”, declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Zechariah 13:7-9
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
As we have seen in the Book of Zechariah, the imagery of shepherds
has played a central part in the prophecies within, both good and bad.
There have been shepherds who failed to lead God’s people
in the direction He expected, guiding them into sin vice righteousness. For
those shepherds, the Lord promised judgment.
On the opposite side of things, we read of a coming Good
Shepherd who would come to watch over those in God’s flock, a foretelling of Jesus
the Messiah who would keep the Israelites in His care.
There was only one problem with the coming arrival of the
Good Shepherd, one that we have found mentioned in this book prior.
He would be rejected by the flock He came to shepherd.
And not just rejected, but as we see in today’s passage from the closing verses
of chapter 13, stricken as well. Look again at these words here:
“Awake, sword,
against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!”, declares the Lord
Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:7-9
I think it’s of utmost importance to remember this in
regard to the rebuffing, snubbing, and eventual execution of Jesus:
God, His Father, ordained it.
We know this because of the prophecy we just read:
“Awake, sword,
against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!”, declares the Lord
Almighty. “Strike the shepherd!”
These were commands issued by the Lord Almighty, commands
for the sword to be used to strike His Son, the Good Shepherd. We know a sword
wasn’t used and so this was not a literal command in regard to the use of a
particular weapon but it was a command to strike a fatal blow to Jesus, His
Son, and as we know, He was struck with many blows, before and during His
crucifixion. Such was the penalty mankind deserved for sin but God, out of His
deep love and compassion for all His children, chose to give us His one and
only Son instead, a living sacrifice to serve as the final atonement for the
transgressions of all people.
What would the aftermath of the Good Shepherd being
struck down?
Go back to our scripture passage for the following answer:
“Strike the
shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the
little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck
down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into
the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will
call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and
they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
What happened after Jesus was crucified?
Look in the New Testament scriptures and you’ll find out
His followers scattered:
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria. Acts 8:1
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostles went
about the business of growing the Christian church, just as Jesus had commanded
but their movement was met with a lot of resistance. Jesus had promised they
would be persecuted and it didn’t take long for this to happen in a big way
after Stephen, one of the seven servants selected to assist the apostles in
ministry, was stoned to death, an event supervised by Saul who would soon
become Paul. Stephen’s execution was followed by an all out assault on Christ’s
apostles who then scattered through Judea and Samaria, a fulfillment of the
very prophecy we’re studying today.
Note the striking down of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, would
not come without consequence. The aftermath of His crucifixion would find
two-thirds of the Israelites being struck down dead. The remaining one-third of
the population, a remnant, would remain but they would not remain as they were
before Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was stricken. No, God promised this remnant would
be purified, refined and tested similar to precious metals like silver and
gold. Those people, purified and restored to a place of loyal faithfulness to
their Refiner, would call on the Lord, seeing Him as their Master and Maker.
And in return, God would once again acknowledge them as His people.
It’s a beautiful picture of restoration and renewal but
then again, that’s what God is all about, right?
After all, He resurrected the stricken Shepherd and
promoted Him to Savior of the world.
Won’t you praise the Lord and give thanks for that truth
today?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment