SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2016 10:23 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Conclusion of Zech. 8
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 8:18-23 Message of the
verses: “1 Then the word of the LORD
of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’The fast of the
fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the
tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of
Judah; so love truth and peace.’ 20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’It will yet
be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 ’The
inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, "Let us go at once to
entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also
go." 22 ’So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of
hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ 23 "Thus says
the LORD of hosts, ’In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the
garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God
is with you."’"”
We will be
looking at three elements that come out of these verses as we close this 8th
chapter of Zechariah, and the first comes from verse 19, and it is
pleasure. As we look at this verse we
can see that God is telling them that He will turn their fasting into feasting,
and this was the question that was brought up in chapter seven, “shall we fast
in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months.”
MacArthur writes “You see the fast of the fourth month was the fast that remembered the taking of Jerusalem and the flight of the royal seed. The fast of the fifth month was the fast that remembered the destruction of the temple. The fast of the seventh month was the one that remembered the murder of Gedaliah who was the governor. And the fast of the tenth month was the one that remembered the mourning for the day that the seeds began. And they had all these fasts and all this weeping and all this mourning. And God says, some day I'm going to take the whole bunch of them and I'm going to turn them into joy and gladness and a feast. No more fasts, no more fasts. And so He says, that's my promise. And so there will be in the kingdom pleasure.”
Prayer is our next element we will look at from verse twenty and twenty-one. What we see here is people want to go to see Jesus who is at this time on the throne in the Millennial Kingdom, ruling and reigning over the whole world, and people will get excited to take people to see Him. MacArthur adds “The world is going to take one look at the Jews and say they are the people. Let's grab their coattails and get in on this deal. They'll get the special favor. And the ten again represents all. The whole world is going to grab the Jews who are going to be God's emissaries and God's ambassadors. Isn't that exciting? Wow. This is what it's going to be beloved in the day when the Lord fulfills His covenant. You say, hey John, I don't know how to tell you this, but you left out two verses. I knew you'd say that. Verses 16 and 17, right? Well, I want to come back to them and close with it.”
MacArthur calls the last element “prominence” and it comes from verse twenty-three as he explains “And then number ten, the sum of it all the thing which Israel had always known God had promised I call it prominence; prominence. Three elements pleasure, prayer, prayers of the nations for conversion and prominence. Verse 23, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts," the tenth time it's said, "in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of Him that is a Jew saying we will go with you but we have heard that God is with you." Isn't that terrific?”
So the Jewish people will receive their promised kingdom and they will be the talk of the whole world, especially their King, who should be the talk of the whole world now since we look at what kind of shape it is in, but then it will all be about Jesus and the Jewish people.
We will go back to looking at Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary as we move into the very difficult 9th chapter of the book of Zechariah in our next SD on Zechariah.
7/30/2016 10:41 PM
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