SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2016 11:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Lord will Deliver Jerusalem
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 12:1-3; 14:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 The burden of the word of the LORD
concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays
the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, 2 "Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a
cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is
against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3 “It will come about in that
day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift
it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered
against it.”
“1 Behold,
a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided
among you. 2 For I will gather all the
nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses
plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the
people will not be cut off from the city.”
The name “Jerusalem”
is mentioned 52 times in the book of Zechariah, and 22 of those times it is
mentioned in the final three chapters.
Chapter on of Zechariah we learn that God is jealous for Jerusalem and
for Zion with a great jealously (1:14).
Dr. Wiersbe writes “This statement reveals the yearning heart of a
loving Father for His first born (Ex. 4:22) and the desire of a faithful
Husband for His unfaithful bride (Jer. 2:2; 3:2). God’s timing isn’t always what we would have
planned, but He is wiser than we are and will keep His promises to Israel.”
Now we move
on to “Jerusalem will be attacked” as seen in our verses at the beginning of
this SD.
We see in
12:1 that God is sovereign and also that God is powerful for after all this
mentions that He is the one who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation
of the earth, and that surely takes great and awesome power. If we look up we see His creation, and if we
look down we see the earth that God formed, and if we look within we find
spirit that he formed, and all of us have a spirit, but not all have the Holy
Spirit living in them.
In verse
two of chapter twelve we see who will be involved in this battle that will be
attacking Jerusalem, and Zechariah states “all peoples” will be involved, and
so he must be speaking about what the Bible calls “The Battle of Armageddon.” Joel 3:9-16 says “9 Proclaim this among the
nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near,
let them come up! 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks
into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man." 11 Hasten and
come, all you surrounding
nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty
ones. 12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will
sit to judge All the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest
is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their
wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For
the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon grow
dark And the stars lose their brightness. 16 The LORD roars from Zion And
utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the
LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.” Jesus also speaks of this in Matthew 24:27-30
“27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the
west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 “Wherever the corpse is,
there the vultures will gather. 29
"But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL
BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from
the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "And then the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the
earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE
SKY with power and great glory.” The
book of Revelation certainly speaks of this battle too (Rev. 9:13-18; 16:12-16;
and 19:17-21.” Dr. Wiersbe writes “Three
forces are involved in the gathering of this great army; (1) the nations agree to
cooperate in the fight against God and His people (Ps. 2:1-3); (2) Satan uses
demonic powers to influence the nations to gather (Rev. 16:13-15); and (3) the
Lord exercises His sovereign powers in gathering them (Zech. 14:2; Rev. 16:16).”
Zechariah
describes Jerusalem’s situation for that day as he writes “Behold, I am going
to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when
the siege is against Jerusalem (v. 2).”
A careful study of Scripture shows that in my incidences a cup is used
when judgment is coming. The nation’s
plan is to swallow up Jerusalem, but they will be fighting against the sovereign
will of God, and they will not succeed in doing that. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following very
important statement “History shows that every nation that has ever tried to
destroy the Jews has itself been destroyed.
It will be no different when the nations collectively attack God’s
chosen people.”
Zechariah
14:1-2 speaks of the nations coming into Jerusalem to loot it and to rap their
women, but in the end God will conquer all the nations who are doing this kind
of thing. “1 Why are the nations in an
uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take
their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against
His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their
cords from us!" 4 He
who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will
speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for
Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain’ (Psalm 2:1-6).” And at the end of this battle the victory
will be the Lords and Jesus Christ will sit upon the throne of David ruling the
whole world from Jerusalem.
9/28/2016 11:43 AM
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