SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/23/2016 11:03 PM
My Worship Time Focus: 2nd Intro. To Zech. 4
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zech. 4:1-14
Message of the verses: “1 Then the angel who was speaking with me
returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 He 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; 3
also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on
its left side." 4 Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me
saying, "What are these, my lord?" 5 So 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." 6 Then 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!"’" 8 Also 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."
11 Then I said to
him, "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on
its left?" 12 And 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?" 13 So he answered me, saying, "Do
you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." 14 Then
he said, "These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of
the whole earth."”
We will
only look at a couple of paragraphs from John MacArthur’s sermon on Zechariah
chapter four which he entitled “Israel: The Light of the World.”
“Now as we look at Chapter 4, just a quick brief review: The chronology of this vision is in perfect sequence with the others. You remember that I told you at the beginning that Zechariah has eight visions all eight of which refer to the restoration of Israel both historically as they rebuild their city after the captivity and prophetically as they will be a part of God's wonderful coming kingdom. And the first of the visions that we looked at presented the outward promise of the kingdom. And then they talked about the restoration of the city and the temple. And then after there was the outward restoration, the visions moved to the inward and we saw the inward salvation that occurred. And we saw last time in Chapter 3 the saving of Israel and the figure of the cleansing of Joshua the high priest. Joshua is a picture of the nation and as Joshua was cleansed and purified so Israel is to be cleansed and purified.
“So there is an outward presentation of the
kingdom, but the outward kingdom will never come until the inward salvation
occurs. And now moving away from that to the next in the sequence we find that
this vision deals with the usefulness of Israel in the outward kingdom when the
inward cleansing has taken place. God is going to restore them to a place of wonderful
usefulness. That's always the way it is. God has a plan in the world, God has a
design to accomplish, but the people who accomplish it will be the people who
are saved and then they will be useful to God within the framework of His plan.
“So the nation is saved in Chapter 3, prophetically
and the nation is used as God's witnessing people in Chapter 4.”
5/23/2016 11:24 PM
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