Tuesday, August 30, 2016

PT-5 Divine Conqueror (Zech. 9:15-17)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2016 12:09 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-5 Divine Conqueror

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Zechariah 9:15-17

            Message of the verses:  “15 The LORD of hosts will defend them. And they will devour and trample on the sling stones; And they will drink and be boisterous as with wine; And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, Drenched like the corners of the altar. 16 And the LORD their God will save them in that day As the flock of His people; For they are as the stones of a crown, Sparkling in His land. 17 For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.”

            The first thing that I want to remind you, that I have spoken of in earlier Spiritual Diaries is that when we see the term “The LORD of hosts” it is speaking of the Lord of armies as it is translated in the NLT “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will protect his people.”  Zechariah is saying that God will protect His people like a lion protects her cubs, and MacArthur concludes “And Israel like the lion of God takes their enemies and devours them.”

            When we look at the next part of verse fifteen we see that the stones, either big or small, that are thrown at Israel will not hurt them they will just fall and not do any harm to them.  Victory for Israel will be joyous, like a person who drinks wine that makes them happy and they get loud.  MacArthur writes “The battle he’s really discussing here is Armageddon.  And the armies of the world may amass themselves against Israel, but Israel’s going to wind up just walking over the stones, shouting with joy.”

            Verse fifteen goes on to say “And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, Drenched like the corners of the altar.”  The bowl he is talking about is the bowl under the place where the sacrifices are made which catch the blood of the sacrifices.  This blood collected in these bowls is what they put onto the altar, all the corners of the altar.  This is not really a pretty sight to see, but that is what they did.

            MacArthur writes “But they were literally, he says, you will be like bowls that are used to splatter blood all over the altar.  And what he’s really saying here is that Israel is going to see the splattering of the bloodshed of the godless.  Se, both parts are here. That’s a terrible thing to think about.  There’s going to be so much blood, you’ll think you’re the bowls.  Read Revelation 14:20, the blood will be to the depth of the horses’ bridles for 200 miles.”

              So we have seen the salvation on one side and then we have seen the terrible judgment of the godless on the other hand.  We have also seen the character of one worldly king and the character of the Divine King in this 9th chapter of Zechariah.

            In verse sixteen we see the care of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and He will turn judgment into salvation again “And the LORD their God will save them in that day As the flock of His people.”  Then Zechariah writes “For they are as the stones of a crown, Sparkling in His land.”  This is like jewels in His crown. 

            Now as we have looked at this chapter we see that there is a great future for the people of Israel “17 For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.”  After all of the hardships that Israel has gone through since AD 70 they finally got their land back and will at the end of the seven year tribulation period see the return of their Messiah who will rule over them for the next 1,000 years.  We truly hope that this will happen very soon.

8/31/2016 12:34 AM

 

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