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!
