Ensign: Back To The Beginning
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 8 July 2017
[A few of the studies I've read this week come from the Old Testament book of Zechariah. Not exactly on ... I expect most everybody's list of people in the Bible, but nothing and no one appears in or contributes to God's Word without a reason, even if it's not obvious. You could say the same of us. -- David]
"And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob's wrestling match with the angel recorded in Genesis 32 ended with a change of name and outlook. By and large, Israel is used in the Bible first as a proper name and then as a geographic designation. Throughout recorded history, even when they hasn't been an assembled tribe or kingdom or nation of Israel (commentators disagree on whether the word means "prince of God", to go with the translation I'm using, or "God rules/judges"), it has always been a distinct entity whom God regards and blesses, even and often in the face of the world's opinion.
Flash forward nearly two thousand years. "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying," begins the book of the eleventh minor prophet. Even though being a prophet of God is not necessarily hereditary (cf. Amos), it was important to establish this because, as we saw last week with Haggai, the Israelites had returned from Babylon after seventy years. But as the people got into the business of living, they forgot to honor God with anything more than lip service. At the same time Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai lived, the prophet Zechariah had a series of messages from God concerning not just themselves, but gradually the whole world. (Not for nothing is Zechariah the most quoted prophet by Jesus in the New Testament.)
Rebuilding God's house, the Temple, is Jerusalem was just the beginning. The book of Zechariah is a series of visions meant to be conveyed to the people, meant to reestablish God's primacy in their lives. When the high priest Joshua stands before the LORD's angel in chapter 3 and Satan is standing against him, the angel rebukes Satan in the name of the LORD (2). When the governor Zerubbabel is promised in chapter 4 that the Temple started under his administration shall also be finished under it, the people shall know that the LORD sent Zechariah to deliver his word (9).
God does not only promise His presence among His people in the here-and-now (and by extension our here-and-now), but in their future as well. Zechariah's book ends with the coming of "the day of the LORD" (14:1) and the gathering of all nations against Jerusalem -- also echoed in Revelation. In fifth-century B.C. and A.D. twenty-first century terms, the result is the same. There will be a great and terrible war on Earth as it is in heaven (go to Revelation for more details) and there is no middle ground; we either have to be committed to the cause of Christ or we aren't. Contributing our best to rebuilding God's temple in our own lives is just the beginning. And we can see the change in our lives from God's presence in them -- especially in Israel, yet also in ourselves -- right now.
Out of the nearly quarter of the Bible devoted to prophecy, the nation most mentioned is the nation of Israel. Other commentators cover this in greater detail than I, but another way to look at the name I feel people miss is that not only did Jacob struggle (in the sense of "actively resist") against the angel, in the end the future patriarch struggled WITH God as well. God was there with Jacob in his struggles when he went to meet Esau, when he settled in Canaan, and when he traveled to Egypt to be saved with his family -- the ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel -- from famine. Read the rest of Genesis, and you'll discern pretty quickly that God's blessings haven't come to Israel, then or now, due to any inherent worth but due to His promise to bless them. His promise is also there to bless us; we just have to be willing to go back to the beginning.
Sincerely yours,
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encouragement too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!
We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for communities around our world. Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won't either.
Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 8 July 2017
[A few of the studies I've read this week come from the Old Testament book of Zechariah. Not exactly on ... I expect most everybody's list of people in the Bible, but nothing and no one appears in or contributes to God's Word without a reason, even if it's not obvious. You could say the same of us. -- David]
"And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob's wrestling match with the angel recorded in Genesis 32 ended with a change of name and outlook. By and large, Israel is used in the Bible first as a proper name and then as a geographic designation. Throughout recorded history, even when they hasn't been an assembled tribe or kingdom or nation of Israel (commentators disagree on whether the word means "prince of God", to go with the translation I'm using, or "God rules/judges"), it has always been a distinct entity whom God regards and blesses, even and often in the face of the world's opinion.
Flash forward nearly two thousand years. "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying," begins the book of the eleventh minor prophet. Even though being a prophet of God is not necessarily hereditary (cf. Amos), it was important to establish this because, as we saw last week with Haggai, the Israelites had returned from Babylon after seventy years. But as the people got into the business of living, they forgot to honor God with anything more than lip service. At the same time Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai lived, the prophet Zechariah had a series of messages from God concerning not just themselves, but gradually the whole world. (Not for nothing is Zechariah the most quoted prophet by Jesus in the New Testament.)
Rebuilding God's house, the Temple, is Jerusalem was just the beginning. The book of Zechariah is a series of visions meant to be conveyed to the people, meant to reestablish God's primacy in their lives. When the high priest Joshua stands before the LORD's angel in chapter 3 and Satan is standing against him, the angel rebukes Satan in the name of the LORD (2). When the governor Zerubbabel is promised in chapter 4 that the Temple started under his administration shall also be finished under it, the people shall know that the LORD sent Zechariah to deliver his word (9).
God does not only promise His presence among His people in the here-and-now (and by extension our here-and-now), but in their future as well. Zechariah's book ends with the coming of "the day of the LORD" (14:1) and the gathering of all nations against Jerusalem -- also echoed in Revelation. In fifth-century B.C. and A.D. twenty-first century terms, the result is the same. There will be a great and terrible war on Earth as it is in heaven (go to Revelation for more details) and there is no middle ground; we either have to be committed to the cause of Christ or we aren't. Contributing our best to rebuilding God's temple in our own lives is just the beginning. And we can see the change in our lives from God's presence in them -- especially in Israel, yet also in ourselves -- right now.
Out of the nearly quarter of the Bible devoted to prophecy, the nation most mentioned is the nation of Israel. Other commentators cover this in greater detail than I, but another way to look at the name I feel people miss is that not only did Jacob struggle (in the sense of "actively resist") against the angel, in the end the future patriarch struggled WITH God as well. God was there with Jacob in his struggles when he went to meet Esau, when he settled in Canaan, and when he traveled to Egypt to be saved with his family -- the ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel -- from famine. Read the rest of Genesis, and you'll discern pretty quickly that God's blessings haven't come to Israel, then or now, due to any inherent worth but due to His promise to bless them. His promise is also there to bless us; we just have to be willing to go back to the beginning.
Sincerely yours,
David
P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encouragement too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!
We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for communities around our world. Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won't either.
Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
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