SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2016 4:51 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Divine Presence
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Zechariah 8:3
Message
of the verses: 3 “Thus says the
LORD, ’I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then
Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of
hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’”
First of all notice that this is
the second “Thus says the LORD” and so we are looking at the second point from
this eight chapter of Zechariah. Another
thing that John MacArthur points out is that what the Lord is showing us is the
Shekinah presence of God is what is seen here and there is as series of places
where this is seen throughout the OT, NT, which will go into the Millennial
Kingdom, and then in the eternal kingdom.
You can follow it from the beginnings of the NT all the way until it is
seen in the eternal kingdom. When the
tabernacle was built as described in the book of Exodus we saw the Shekinah
glory between the two cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant. When the tabernacle was finished the glory of
the Lord filled it so much that no one could go into it for a while. Now before that His glory was seen in the
Garden of Eden, but it was not there for very long, for after Adam fell His
glory would next be seen in the tabernacle.
Next we see it fill the temple that Solomon built, but years later we
see it left there as recorded in the book of Ezekiel who saw it in a
vision. Ezekiel 9-11 is where this is
spoken of and on my blog I did a study of the book of Ezekiel. There is a word that speaks of the glory of
God leaving and that word is Ichabad as it actually means the glory has
departed.
Now the Jews in Zechariah’s day had
never seen the glory of the Lord for the temple had been destroyed, and before
that it had left so all they knew about it was only a memory. In the 42nd chapter of Ezekiel he
has a similar vision of the glory of the Lord returning as we see here in
Zechariah. Now it is good to remember
that chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel speak of the Millennial Kingdom, the temple, the
city, the sacrifices, and other things that pertain to it. “1 Then he brought me out into the outer
court, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the chamber which was
opposite the separate area and opposite the building toward the north. 2 Along
the length, which was a hundred cubits, was the north door; the width was fifty
cubits. 3 Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and
opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery corresponding
to gallery in three stories (Ezekiel 42:1-3).”
What we see here is a great big building, a fantastic facility, a huge
temple. Now as we follow what Ezekiel is
talking about we come to chapter 43:2 which says “2 and behold, the glory of
the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like
the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.”
We can also look at the glory of
the Lord in the Person of Jesus Christ as seen in John 1:14 “And the Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Now we know what the Jews did to the Lord Jesus Christ to get rid of His
glory on earth, as the crucified Him. 1Co
2:8 “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
John MacArthur writes “Now I go back to Zechariah
and this is essentially what Zechariah is saying. The Lord is going to come
back and the word return and dwell are so wonderful. The word dwell means to
abide or reside or settle down. He's going to come back and He's going to
transform Jerusalem into a city of truth. Boy won't that be something. You know
the names for Jerusalem in the Bible aren't very complimentary. Did you know
that? Did you know that in Lamentations Chapter 1, Jerusalem is called the
unclean city? Did you know in Isaiah 1:21, Jerusalem is called a harlot and a
murderer? Did you know that in Revelation Chapter 11 Jerusalem is called Sodom
and Egypt?
But there's coming a day when Jerusalem will be
called a city of truth. You know why? Because the God of truth will reside
there. And it is also called, look at the next line, the mountain of the Lord
of hosts. What does that mean? That's headquarters for the army in the kingdom
by which He will rule with a rod of iron. It's also called the holy mountain.
Why? Because it is the residence of the holy God. In other words, God is going
to come back and he's going to live in Jerusalem in the kingdom. You can't
believe what ecstasy this could bring to a Jew in Zechariah's time, think of
it. God's going to come back.”
7/23/2016 5:22 PM
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