REVIVAL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to Me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save My people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be My people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 8:1-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Israel and Judah were a wasteland, looted and left in ruin, deserted and desolate. Such was the aftermath of God’s judgment on His people after their willing and willful sinfulness, a sinfulness that included the worship of false gods and idols, an act detestable to God, an act that ignited His wrath and punishment.

Included in the destruction of Judah was the holy city of Jerusalem, the main city within God’s holy land, the city where God’s temple once stood. I say once stood because even God’s sacred house of worship was not spared during the Babylonian onslaught. And as it was brought down and reduced to rubble, God’s presence departed with it.

This is where things stood for seventy years, the time period God imposed for His penalty.

Well, the seventy years ended and the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians. This ushered in God’s plan to allow His people to return home to rebuild their nation, their homes, their relationship with Him, and, as you would imagine, His holy temple. You’ll recall that this book named after the prophet Zechariah was set during this post-exile period as a remnant of Israelites returned back to Israel to reestablish themselves as God’s people and a big part of that reestablishing would take place in a newly constructed, revived Jerusalem which sets the stage for the opening eleven verses of Zechariah 8. Look at those again here:

The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to Me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save My people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be My people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.  Zechariah 8:1-11

As we have seen in other parts of this book, Zechariah receives words from “the Lord Almighty” and in this message we find God giving His prophet the following assurance:

“I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

Jerusalem was going to be restored to the stature it held before the Babylonian invasion and it all was going to happen because the Lord was going to “return to Zion” and “dwell in Jerusalem” within the newly rebuilt temple, a temple God ordered Israel’s governor, Zerubbabel, to construct.

What would life within the revived Jerusalem look like?

We find the Lord painting the following picture for His people:

“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

It’s beautiful imagery that projected life, peace, happiness and vitality, no matter the age, a place the Israelites were eager to live in after seventy years of oppressive living in a foreign land under the auspice of the Babylonians.

But the Lord wasn’t finished. In fact, He promised even more, vowing to:

“…save My people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be My people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

Friends, that’s a snapshot at what restoration and revival through God looks like. For even after a period of time where He sentenced His people to suffer consequences for their wicked disobedience, God still loved His people to where He wanted them to once again be His people and He their God. After all, He Himself professed:

“I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

Today, nothing has changed regarding God’s beloved Jerusalem and the Israelites. He still loves them and burns with jealousy over them. And He still abides with His people, just as He will for all time.

Now take this picture of God’s desire to restore and revive His holy city and His chosen people and apply it to the lives of anyone of His children now. For God still longs for all of His children to open up the temple of their hearts so that He could once again reside inside, eliminating iniquity while restoring and reviving their souls to a place of peace, joy, and vigor, to a life one can have when they come back to God and enter into His favor again.

It’s this life that I pray for you today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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CHANGE YOUR WAYS

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”

“‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

Zechariah 7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Author George Santayana wrote these words in his book, “The Life of Reason”, published in 1905:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The words have evolved through the years to where we maybe most often here them in a statement similar to this one:

“Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.”

It was this latter premise that we find at the heart of Zechariah, chapter 7 as we continue our study of this next to last book in the Old Testament. Look at the words of this chapter again here and see if you can see the Lord sending the following message to His people:

“Change your ways.”

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”

“‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”  Zechariah 7

At the start of this book, we were given the following time reference:

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo. Zechariah 1:7

Using this as a starting point for the eight visions Zechariah experienced, we can see that we have moved forward in time as the seventh chapter begins to the ninth month of the fourth year of the reign of Darius.  Thus, we can ascertain that we are just under two years beyond the time of the visions when the word of the Lord comes to Zechariah in this passage.

We know that the Israelites had returned from their Babylonian captivity at this point and were in the process of rebuilding their nation, their homes, the temple of God in Jerusalem, and their relationship with God. It was in this setting that we find the people of Bethel sending representatives to inquire of the Lord through the “priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets” which included Zechariah. Essentially, they had one question:

“Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

Well, we find the Lord answering this question through Zechariah saying:

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

Note here that the Lord was getting straight to the heart of a severe spiritual problem existing within the hearts of the Israelites. For the fasts and feasts the people had been practicing during the seventy years of exile weren’t really done in honor of the Lord. Rather, they had been conducted self-centeredly and selfishly, just like they had been done before the captivity began. Thus, God was telling His people they had not yet learned anything from the mistakes of their ancestors because they were repeating the same transgressions. They had shown God through their actions that they had not yet changed their ways.

This is why God became “very angry” and sent judgment on His beloved people, because they “refused to pay attention”, stubbornly “turned their backs and covered their ears, “made their hearts as hard as flint”, and “would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.” In the midst of their punishment, the Israelites called out to God in the midst of their hardship but their cries fell on deaf ears as the Lord refused to listen as He saw to it that His people were “scattered” with a “whirlwind among all the nations” where they would be “strangers”, aliens exiled to foreign lands leaving their homeland abandoned and desolate.

Now, the Israelites had been allowed to return and the Lord expected that they would change their ways, setting standards for conduct to that end. Look at what He called on His people to do through His messenger, Zechariah:

“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”

Part of getting right with God again involved the Israelites committing themselves to doing right and living righteously, getting back to basics and being obedient in carrying out His word, will, and way.  To that end, the Lord called them to:

1. Administer true justice.

2. Show mercy and compassion to one another.

3. Watch over the widow and fatherless, the foreigner and the poor, refraining from oppression.

4. Avoid plotting evil against each other.

If the people whole-heartedly did these things, respecting and honoring God through complying with His expectations, then and only then would they find themselves back in His good graces and favor for they would be living in a way that was pleasing in His sight, a way that results in His blessings not His consequences.

Friends, the Lord is calling to us today through these scriptures from Zechariah. He is calling on us to examine where we are in our relationship with Him and whether or not we are honoring Him in the way we are living. Ask yourself these four questions:

Am I administering true justice in the way I deal with others?

Do I show sincere mercy and compassion to others?

Do I make a concerted effort to care for those who are vulnerable in the world, the widows and orphans, the foreigner and the poor?

Finally, am I intentional in not conjuring up or participating in wicked schemes against others?

If your answer to these questions is “yes” then congratulations because you have come a long way in living as the Lord desires.

If you still have work to do (like I think most of us do), then the Lord would send us the same message as He did His people in Zechariah’s day:

“Change your ways.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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THE GIFT

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne.

And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen, son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Zechariah 6:9-15

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through the first five and a half chapters of the book of Zechariah, we have covered all eight of the visions experienced by the prophet. At the end of chapter 6, we find a shift toward a coronation event which begins with a simple offered gift, one gift that would lead to another divine one. Look again at these words here:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne.

And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen, son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.” Zechariah 6:9-15

In our passage for today, we find the Lord directing Zechariah to repurpose a gift he would receive from three Israelite exiles who were visiting their homeland from Babylon. Of interest, the three men – Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah – are only mentioned here in the Old Testament. Perhaps this is because it really isn’t the givers that God focuses on but the gift, a gift of two precious metals: silver and gold.

Now, you would think the rightful places for these valuable metals would have been in the storehouse along with other high-value items but as we see in the scriptures, God had other things in mind. He tells Zechariah to take the silver and gold to the house of Josiah where he was to melt it down, “make a crown”, and “set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua”. In turn, we find God making it clear that there would also be a ruler, a Branch, who would “branch out”, “build the temple of the Lord” and be “clothed in Majesty”. This Branch mentioned was Zerubabbel, the new governor of Judah following the Babylonian captivity, who God had commanded along with Josiah the high priest to rebuild the temple. Note that the crown would eventually be placed within God’s temple as a memorial, a remembrance.

Actually, all this, including the crown, carried with it a future foreshadowing for the true King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus, was coming and not only would He reign over all creation in majesty but He would carry the dual role of being a high priest and reigning King. He was the Messiah the prophets had been telling about, a gift of God who not only came to rule but more so to save humanity from their sins, a gift far more priceless than the silver and gold from Babylon used by Zechariah to fashion a crown.

That gift from God, the gift of His one and only Son Jesus, is a gift that continues to keep giving today, more than 2,000 years after His coming. To everyone who receives Him as Savior, He grants the gift of salvation and a piece of the kingdom to come, the kingdom where all Christians will inherit and live with God and Jesus forever.

Have you received the gift God has sent you, the gift of everlasting life only found through Jesus, His Son?

If not, won’t you believe and trust in Jesus today and receive a present far more valuable than silver or gold, a gift that will never perish, even when this world as we know it does.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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A PATROLLING SPIRIT

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And again I looked up and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses, the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled gray horses.

Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of heaven going out, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go toward the west country, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.”

When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

Then he cried out to me, “Lo, those who go toward the north country have set my spirit at rest in the north country.”

Zechariah 6:1-8 (NRSV)

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As chapter 6 of Zechariah opens, we find the eighth and final vision of the prophet, one which brings a majestic scene of God’s power and authority over His creation. Look again at this passage here:

And again I looked up and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses, the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled gray horses.

Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of heaven going out, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go toward the west country, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.”

When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

Then he cried out to me, “Lo, those who go toward the north country have set my spirit at rest in the north country.” Zechariah 6:1-8 (NRSV)

It’s interesting that Zechariah’s first vision involved a cadre of multi-colored horses but those in that scene were markedly different in their utility and actions than the ones we find here in chapter 6. The horses in the opening vision were standing still amongst the myrtle trees, having went through the world to find it at peace. Contrast this to the horses in this vision, horses pulling mighty chariots of judgment sent by the Lord Himself to exact judgment on the wickedness of the world. Although chariots were used for a variety of purposes, these chariots were definitely instruments of war, representative of God’s Spirit going to all parts of the world, covering all directions outside of Israel.

God purposed His Spirits to patrol the earth and as we read in the scriptures, they were very eager to carry out that task. In their patrols, they were to seek out any nations who opposed God and were hostile toward Israel, bringing judgment where needed to eliminate any threat and thus bring peace to the Lord and His people, setting their spirits at rest. In particular, we find specific success mentioned from the work of the Spirit sent to the north, believed to align with the location of Babylonia and the downfall of the Babylon empire, the empire used as instruments of judgment to attack and oppress the Israelites.

Today, the Lord continues to send His Spirit to all parts of the world to patrol the hearts and minds of people in search of sin and wickedness, anything that would bring a person into opposition with the God who is their Master and Maker. The end goal of the patrolling Holy Spirit is to eradicate sin and in doing so, restore a person’s spirit to a place of peace and rest, a place of good standing with their Lord who revels in joy with every heart that is turned away from transgression and toward His righteousness.

Have you responded to the work of the patrolling Spirit today?

If so, then it is well with your soul and more importantly with God as well.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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