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You Are Stronger Than You Think

Zechariah 7-11

Okay, I saw two bits of prophecy in today’s reading that were actually fulfilled during the last few days of Christ’s human life.

Zechariah 9:9

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

If that sounds familiar it should.  Do you remember this from Matthew’s Gospel?

Matthew 21:1-5

“Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble, and mounted on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

And then there was this passage from Zechariah:

Zechariah 11:12-13

“Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.”

That also should sound familiar.  Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Later Judas realized what he had done.  He went to the chief priests and elders and threw the wages of his sin into the temple.  He promptly went and hung himself.  The priests, always concerned about following the letter of the law, decided they couldn’t put the money into the treasury since it was “blood money” so they bought a “potter’s field” as a burial place for strangers.  Here is Matthew said about that as well.

Matthew 27:9-10

“⁹ Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰ and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

The quoted verse is actually from Zechariah as you can see above.  I’m not sure why Jeremiah was mentioned here.  The New King James Version has a note that refers to Zechariah 11:12-13 as well as Jeremiah 32:6-9.  The Jeremiah reference does speak of redeeming a field but I don’t see a reference to thirty pieces of silver or a potter’s field.

At any rate, these “minor” prophets have been describing destruction and the coming Prince of Peace.  The Bible is a story God wanted told to His children.  It has been full of action and excitement.  It has also contained a great deal of foreshadowing.  Everything has been pointing to the arrival of the Messiah, His sacrificial death as the Lamb, and his return to earth as the Lion.

There is one last verse from today’s reading that I’d like to share with you.

Zechariah 10:12

“I will make them strong in the Lord,
and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord.”

Jesus has made you strong in Him by sending His Holy Spirit to reside within you.  You don’t know your own strength.  You are like a big Baby Huey!  You have to be as old as I am to get that reference but Baby Huey was a giant who thought he was a baby.  You are strong!  Walk in His name!

Have a blessed day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Are You Thankful?

Isaiah 10-13

In Chapter 11 of Isaiah we once again hear of God’s promise to provide a Savior.

Isaiah 11:1-5

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

There He is – Jesus Christ!  Isaiah tells us that the Messiah is coming!  But look at this:

Isaiah 11:10-11

“In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.”

Did you notice in verse 11 that it says “the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time …”?  Jesus is the “Lion and the Lamb”.  He came the first time as “The Lamb” and will come the second time as the Lion.  The Bible talks about the descendants of Abraham as God’s chosen people.  This refers to his physical descendants but it also refers to his spiritual descendants who are adopted into the family through rebirth in Christ.  As much as I’d like to, it is a bit simplistic to say that His first coming was for the Jew and the second coming for the Gentile.  Remember this?

Matthew 15:22-26

“And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”  But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.“  But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”  And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

So, Jesus does tell us that He came the first time specifically for Israel but those few verses are not the entire story.  Look at what happens next.

Matthew 15:27-28

“She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”

He came the first time primarily for the physical descendants of Abraham, the Jews, but He also provided for the Gentiles; those who have faith.  The second time He will come to recover the remnant of His people who will include both Jew and Gentile; but only those who are spiritual children of Abraham will be gathered to Him.  It will not be enough to be a physical descendant of Abraham you must be a spiritual child of his as well; you must have Christ.

And here is, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story”.

Isaiah 12:1-6

“You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

I wonder if you noticed that immediately after stating that God provides salvation these verses go on to say that the thankful, joyful, saved person is to make His deeds known in all the earth.  How often does God have to make these connections for us before we get it?  God says “I saved you – go tell others”, and He says it over and over again.  He even says it here in the Old Testament hundreds of years before that Savior has even come to save.  Are we blind to this truth?  Are we not truly thankful?  How can we be saved and not thankful?  If we are thankful how can we not tell others about Christ?

I believe we must think about this, brothers.  Do we really believe what we say we believe?  If so, how does it show?  One of my greatest fears is that at my funeral some who knew me will be surprised to learn I was a Christian.  I want people to know I am a Christian, not because I told them I was a Christian but because they could tell I was a Christian.  For that to happen I must shine the light of Christ in this dark and dying world while I have breath.  They will know we are Christians by His love that shines through us.  Feeding the lost is good.  Clothing the lost is good.  Housing the lost is good.  But what they are dying for is Christ.  By all means do the other but never neglect the Gospel.

Have a thankful day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!