Passage of the Day - March 7, 2011

Zechariah 3:1-7

 ¹Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

 ²The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"

 ³Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.

 ⁴He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him " Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes."

 ⁵Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

 ⁶And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying,

 ⁷"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

Why are we called to be faithful?  Why are we called to obey even after we have been saved?  Is it that we can lose our salvation, or is it more like what verse 7 is pointing to?  We have been cleansed from our sin and that cannot be changed.  Our faithfulness to God will allow us unfettered access to Him and He will entrust us with much.  Of all your employees, who would you give the important confidential stuff to, the hard working guy, the smart girl, the ambitious youngster, or the twenty year vet that you have grown to trust?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 6, 2011

Zechariah 2

¹Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.

 ²So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is."

 ³And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him,

 ⁴and said to him, "Run, speak to that young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.

 ⁵'For I,' declares the LORD, 'will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"

 ⁶"Ho there! Flee from the land of the north," declares the LORD, "for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens," declares the LORD.

 ⁷"Ho, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon."

 ⁸For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.

 ⁹"For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

 ¹⁰"Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the LORD.

 ¹¹"Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.

 ¹²"The LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

 ¹³"Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation."

The beginning of verse 8 "For thus says the LORD of hosts" and the end of verse 9 "Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me." is, in my opinion, the  greatest proof of Jesus being God.  I have gone through struggles with wrapping my head around that in the recent past with a lot of other verses being able to be word played or interpreted differently to mean something else.  However here the LORD of hosts in verse 8 is Jehovah and the LORD of hosts in verse 9 is Jehovah.  There is nothing one can do here to play games with this passage.  God is saying that God sent Him.

In addition, the great hope that is offered in this passage is amazing.  God will destroy all of our enemies and we will be able to abide with Him in peace.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 5, 2011

Zechariah 1:18-21

 ¹⁸Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.

 ¹⁹So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem."

 ²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

 ²¹I said, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it."

The four horns are commonly understood as the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians since this was mentioned during the time of the Persian Empire.  The Babylonians defeated the Assyrians, the Persians defeated the Babylonians, the Greeks defeated the Persians, and the Romans defeated the Greeks thus making them the four craftsmen.  However, I'm not as sure here.  How can the Babylonians and the Persians be both the horn and the craftsman?  Perhaps the craftsman involve two other historical forces.  The Ottoman Empire was another terrifying group that ravaged the Middle East and North Africa.  Also the United States (since World War II) has been another terrifying country to those that have dared to threaten Israel including the countries that make up the former Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians (Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt).  Maybe, just maybe, America really is in the Bible.  I'm probably making a leap, but how would that change our perspective if America was in Biblical prophecy?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 4, 2011

Zechariah 1:7-17

 ⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:

 ⁸I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him.

 ⁹Then I said, "My lord, what are these?" And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

 ¹⁰And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, "These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth."

 ¹¹So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, "We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet."

 ¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?"

 ¹³The LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with gracious words, comforting words.

 ¹⁴So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

 ¹⁵"But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster."

 ¹⁶'Therefore thus says the LORD, "I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it," declares the LORD of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem."'

 ¹⁷"Again, proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem."'"

There is peace at this time because God had allowed evil to win the battle.  The Jews were in captivity and since Satan didn’t need to wage spiritual warfare on the nation of Israel/Judah, there was relative peace in the region.  However, God will win the war.  He was going to free His people and raise up Jerusalem.  This was only a foretaste of what is to come when Christ returns to establish His kingdom with His headquarters in Jerusalem.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 3, 2011

Zechariah 1:1-6

 ¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying,

 ²"The LORD was very angry with your fathers.

 ³"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return to Me," declares the LORD of hosts, "that I may return to you," says the LORD of hosts.

 ⁴"Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds "' But they did not listen or give heed to Me," declares the LORD.

 ⁵"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

 ⁶"But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, 'As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.'"'"

George Santayana uttered one of the most famous lines of all time “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.  This pretty much sums up Zechariah 1:1-6.  This passage and George Santayana’s famous quote can be applied globally, nationally, socially, economically, religiously, and personally.  We must learn from the mistakes made throughout the history of the world.  We must learn from the mistakes made by our own country.  We must learn from the mistakes our society has made.  We must learn from poor economic choices and flawed economic policies and philosophies.  We must learn from the mistakes the Christian Church has made throughout its history along with the mistakes the Jews made before the birth of the Church.  We must also learn from our own mistakes. 

Do we really want to endure the consequences that others or we have endured already by making the same mistakes?  We have learned throughout history that evil must be confronted, not appeased.  We have learned that God detests societies that do not lift up and protect their vulnerable.  We have learned that sinning destroys relationships, erodes reputations, and depresses psyches.  We have learned these things, yet we fail to remember them and condemn ourselves to repeat them.  Let us do forget no more!

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 2, 2011

Acts 28:17-31

 ¹⁷After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

 ¹⁸"And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death.

 ¹⁹"But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation.

 ²⁰"For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel."

 ²¹They said to him, "We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.

 ²²"But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."

 ²³When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

 ²⁴Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.

 ²⁵And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, "The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers,

 ²⁶saying,
         'GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY,
         "YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;
         AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
    ²⁷FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
         AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
         AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES;
         OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
         AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
         AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,
         AND I WOULD HEAL THEM."'

 ²⁸"Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen."

 ²⁹[When he had spoken these words, the Jews departed, having a great dispute among themselves.]

 ³⁰And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him,

 ³¹preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.

And this concludes the Book of Acts.  This passage shows us the simple truth that some will believe and others will not.  It shows us that belief or unbelief has less to do with our ability and more to do with the hearts of the audience.  God is offering salvation that is found in His Son.  Our primary responsibility is to deliver the offer to world.  That is it.  We can have little impact on the buyer.  We are like a television or a newspaper or even a valpak envelope.  We don’t influence the buyer, but rather it is the offer itself and the heart of the buyer that determines whether or not the offer is accepted.  We don’t buy something because our television told us to.  We buy something because we recognize a need or desire and the offer will meet such a need or desire.

However, if the tv decides to not work, then the offer (although made) won’t be delivered and no such acceptance can take place.  That is why we must be diligent to continue to deliver the offer to the world.  We must deliver the offer to everyone so all will be without excuse.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)  

Passage of the Day - March 1, 2011

Acts 28:11-16

 ¹¹At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

 ¹²After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.

 ¹³From there we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli.

 ¹⁴There we found some brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and thus we came to Rome.

 ¹⁵And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

 ¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

Hospitality.  Hospitality is something us Christians need to get back to being known for.  There is a lot in the Bible about hospitality.  These include the Good Samaritan, Zaccheus, Lot (sort of), what Christ had to say about “the least of these”, and Rahab who hid the two spies in the story of the fall of Jericho.  We should all examine how hospitable we are and find ways to be more so.  As the writer to the Hebrews says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)