Passage of the Day - March 14, 2011

Zechariah 7

 ¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

 ²Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to seek the favor of the LORD,

 ³speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, "Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?"

 ⁴Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,

 ⁵"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?

 ⁶'When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?

 ⁷'Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?'"

 ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying,

 ⁹"Thus has the LORD of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother;

 ¹⁰and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.'

 ¹¹"But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.

 ¹²"They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

 ¹³"And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts;

 ¹⁴"but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate."

The fast of the fifth month was a tradition that was not from scripture.  That doesn't make it wrong OR necessary.  It simply was a tradition.  There is nothing wrong with traditions, it matters to whom the traditions are geared towards.  Take Christmas.  The date of December 25th has nothing to do with the birthdate of Jesus, yet we celebrate it on this day.  Is that wrong?  No.  But how do we celebrate it?  Is it gimme, gimme, gimme, spend, spend, spend, fret, fret, fret, overdo, overdo, overdo?  Or do we focus on the fact that God gave, gave, gave His Son, who paid our price, price, price, to give us peace, peace, peace, and did it all, all, all?  Unless specifically laid out or forbidden in scripture, it doesn't matter what we do.  It does matter why.  It does matter for whom, to whom, and about whom it is done.

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 13, 2011

Zechariah 6:9-15

 ⁹The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

 ¹⁰"Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah; and you go the same day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have arrived from Babylon.

 ¹¹"Take silver and gold, make an ornate crown and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

 ¹²"Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD.
 ¹³"Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."'
 ¹⁴"Now the crown will become a reminder in the temple of the LORD to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen the son of Zephaniah.
 ¹⁵"Those who are far off will come and build the temple of the LORD " Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you And it will take place if you completely obey the LORD your God.

I believe this has a dual meaning.  Christ established His Church when He came to Earth the first time and He will rule in the Temple when He returns.  He is our Priest and our King as verse 13 points to and as we learned throughout the Letter to the Hebrews.  Also, notice how the "Branch" is compared to Joshua which the name Jesus is derived from.  As I asked several times in our walk through Hebrews, is Christ your High Priest?  Is He your King?

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 12, 2011

Zechariah 6:1-8

 ¹Now I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming forth from between the two mountains; and the mountains were bronze mountains.

 ²With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses,

 ³with the third chariot white horses, and with the fourth chariot strong dappled horses.

 ⁴Then I spoke and said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these, my lord?"

 ⁵The angel replied to me, "These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth,

 ⁶with one of which the black horses are going forth to the north country; and the white ones go forth after them, while the dappled ones go forth to the south country.

 ⁷"When the strong ones went out, they were eager to go to patrol the earth." And He said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth.

 ⁸Then He cried out to me and spoke to me saying, "See, those who are going to the land of the north have appeased My wrath in the land of the north."

This passage can be interpreted in various ways (see Matthew Hentry, John Calvin, Jamieson Fausset, etc. However, this much can be agreed upon, God is very much involved in the affairs of men.  God is always seeking His own glory, and therefore His faithfulness must always be upheld.  This isn't some kind of pride problem God has, but is rather an attribute of Himself we can rely on.  He cares immensely about His reputation that we can count on Him to always be faithful, steadfast, unwavering, and unchanging.  God was going to protect and defend His people by altering the course of history.  He does this for His glory and for His children.

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 11, 2011

Zechariah 5:5-11

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth."

 ⁶I said, "What is it?" And he said, "This is the ephah going forth." Again he said, "This is their appearance in all the land

 ⁷(and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah."

 ⁸Then he said, "This is Wickedness!" And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.

 ⁹Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.

 ¹⁰I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they taking the ephah?"

 ¹¹Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal."

I like this quote from the Jamieson-Fausset commentary "For more than two thousand years, ever since the Babylonian exile, the Jews have been free from idolatry; but the full accomplishment of the prophecy is yet future, when all sin shall be purged from Israel on their return to Palestine, and conversion to Christ."  I never thought of that.  This is the "wickedness that was being removed from Israel and left in Babylon.

This relates to what the previous passage was about.  Sometimes God brings us to horrible places so we can leave the horrible contaminants of our lives there.  Sometimes it is refinement, other times it gets so bad God must start with (forgive the imagery) removing the turd from the punchbowl.  This MUST happen when our reputation is affecting His reputation as the Jews reputation was said to be doing in verse 6.  This is very hard to think about and write about, so I will leave it here even though I think I could expound upon 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/)  

Passage of the Day - March 10, 2011

Zechariah 5:1-4

 ¹Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll.

 ²And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."

 ³Then he said to me, "This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.

 ⁴"I will make it go forth," declares the LORD of hosts, "and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones."

The Jews were enduring a time of refinement.  Most trials are a time of refinement.  When you refine anything, gold for example, it isn’t as simple as picking out the impurities and removing them.  It is a process of subjecting the entire lump to the process, the pure and the impure.  The impure will not be able to abide with the pure during the process and will remove themselves.

The same can be said for us when we endure refinement.  It isn’t just our sin that is subject to the sanctification process, but it is our entire being.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  In some instances God is refining good people into godly people.  We are His treasure and he wants us to shine with the brilliance He created us with.

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 9, 2011

Zechariah 4

 ¹Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep.

 ²He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it;

 ³also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side."

 ⁴Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, "What are these, my lord?"

 ⁵So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord."

 ⁶Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.

 ⁷'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"'"

 ⁸Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 ⁹"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

 ¹⁰"For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel--these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth."

 ¹¹Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?"

 ¹²And I answered the second time and said to him, "What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?"

 ¹³So he answered me, saying, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord."

 ¹⁴Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth."

I am not even going to pretend to have a strong grasp on the meaning of this.  Let me refer you to Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage:  http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=38&c=4&com=mhc

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 8, 2011

Zechariah 3:8-10

 ⁸'Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.

 ⁹'For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

 ¹⁰'In that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.'"

Jesus, “the Branch”, took our sins away when He died on the cross.  Now we can have rest from the guilt, shame, and fear our sins create.  We can rest in the hope of the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to bring not only eternal, but also temporal 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/)