Friday, April 29, 2016

PT-3 The Future Glory of Jerusalem (Zechariah 2:5)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/29/2016 11:03 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 The Future Glory of Jerusalem

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Zechariah 2:5

            Message of the verses:  We are looking at the third point in the vision that is described in chapter two which is his second vision that he received from the Lord, second of eight, which were all received on the same night.  The name of this point that comes from a sermon by John MacArthur is “The Divine Protector,” and of course that would be the Lord Jesus Christ as we will see from verse five:  “5  ’For I,’ declares the LORD, ’will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’"” 

            Now as we look at this verse we can see for sure that there is some historical principles seen in it as we think about when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt after God destroyed their nation with ten plagues.  When they were traveling in the wilderness the Lord would be a cloud over them to protect them from the heat in the desert, and then at night when it got cold He would be a fire around them to keep them warm.  There is a name for this and it is called the Shekinah glory of the Lord, the same glory that would fill the tabernacle and then the temple once they were built.

            John MacArthur writes “God has been a flaming wall. I couldn't help but mention to you II Kings 6:15, remember this one? This is great! We went over this when we studied angels. "When the servant of the man of God was risen early, Elisha's servant, and he'd gone forth, the host compassed the city with horses and chariots. "And his servant said to him, 'Alas, my master, what will we do?'" He says, the army is on us. "And he said, 'Don't be afraid for they who are with us are more than they who are with them.' The servant looks around and he says you got to be kidding. You and me guy, that's it. What do you mean they who are with us? "Oh Elisha prayed and said, 'Lord open his eyes.' And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha." God had His angelic wall of fire protecting His prophet and his servant. God can make a wall of protection around and in and that's exactly what He'll do in the future for Israel.”

            One more quote from MacArthur’s sermon which is actually a long quote from the book of Ezekiel:  “Afterwards, says Ezekiel in Chapter 43, "He brought me to the gate, to the gate that looks toward the east and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east and His voice was like the noise of many waters and the earth shined with His glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, that according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face and the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house. And I heard Him speaking to me out of the house and the man stood by me and said, "Son of man the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever, and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places." God returns to Israel, a wonderful, wonderful truth. So we see the glorious plan and then we see the wonderful delivering protecting God.”  Now remember that chapters 40-48 of the book of Ezekiel speaks of the Millennial Kingdom and what the nation of Israel, and especially what Jerusalem will look like during that time period.

4/29/2016 11:18 PM

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