SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/12/2016 11:37 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Covenant Standards will be Renewed
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 8:14-19
Message of the verses: “14
"For thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Just as I purposed to do harm to
you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ’and I
have not relented, 15 so I have again purposed in these days to do good to
Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear! 16 ’These are the things
which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and
judgment for peace in your gates. 17 ’Also let none of you devise evil in your
heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’
declares the LORD." 18 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.’”
Whether we
are looking in the OT or in the NT God standards do not change. The Church today does not live under the
Covenant law of the OT, which is what Israel was living under, but “the
righteousness of the Law” is still what God wants to develop in our lives as seen
in Romans 8:1-4 “1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you
free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as
it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so
that the requirement of
the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.” Peter
tells us that we are to “be holy, for I am holy” and this is quoted from Lev.
1:44.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes “God reminded His people of their obligations to speak the truth, to
practice justice in the courts, to honor His name by not swearing falsely, and
to love their neighbors. Of course, all
the law is fulfilled in our conduct when we practice love (Rom. 13:8-10). The God of love hates sin! (See Prov. 6:16-19.) God’s dispensations may change, and He can
work in different ways at different times, but His character and standards
never change. He wants His people to be ‘a
holy nation’ (Ex. 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9). ‘Therefore,
love the truth and peace’ (Zech. 8:19).”
In chapter
seven we talked about the feasts that the Jews were keeping, with the question
as to whether or not they should continue to keep them. The answer is given in 8:18, and the day would
come when they would be keeping the fasts mentioned in verse 18. Wiersbe concludes “Zechariah and Isaiah were
both saying, ‘Don’t live in the past tense; live in the future tense! Rejoice
at the promises God give you for a joyful future!’” I draw to the conclusion that this will
happen during the millennial kingdom. 7/13/2016
12:11 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment