SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/1/2016 9:05 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Messiah the First Feature PT-1
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 10:4
Message of the verses: “4 “From them will come the cornerstone, From
them the tent peg, From them the bow of battle, From them every ruler, all of
them together.”
When we
looked at the introduction to this chapter in Zechariah John MacArthur
mentioned that there were going to be eight features in this chapter that we
will look at. We also learned that this
chapter is about the redemption of Israel.
We will follow the outline found in MacArthur’s sermon as we work our
way through this chapter and his first feature is seen in verse four.
What we are
looking at in this verse is that first of all Israel will receive a redeemer,
which we know will be their Messiah, and we know that their Messiah is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I want to quote verse
four from the King James Version of the Bible as that is what MacArthur used
when he preached this sermon, and it will help us follow what he says
here. “4 Out of him came forth the
corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every
oppressor together.” In both the KJV and
the NASB we see that verse four refers back to verse three where we learn that
the “him” and “From them” is speaking of the house of Judah. “3 Mine anger was kindled against the
shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his
flock the house of Judah,
and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle (KJV).”
Now as we
look at verse four we see that Zechariah reminds the people that the Messiah is
coming and he also identifies Him in this verse. We see some different names of the Messiah in
verse four as we look at the NASB we first of all see Him as the cornerstone,
and while Jesus was on earth He mentions this word “cornerstone” a number of
times. Some of the things mentioned in
verse four have already been mentioned by the “former prophets,” those prophets
that prophesied before the Babylonian captivity. Zechariah is a “latter prophet” as he is
after the Babylonian captivity. As
mentioned we see the word cornerstone in verse four which refers to the
Messiah, and also a nail, and a battle bow and in the NASB the nail is referred
to as the tent peg. First of all we see
that the Messiah comes from the tribe of Judah or the house of Judah as we have
already mentioned that “Out of Him” which refers to Judah will come and then
goes on to mention these things we have already mentioned. Let us look at Micah 5:2 “"But as for
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you
One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.’” Bethlehem
of course is David’s home town and Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.
“Now having
established that, the Spirit then gives Zechariah three pictures of the
Messiah, three pictures of the divine redeemer, this great prophet who will
come, this great deliverer. The first one is that He is called in Hebrew pazaz
and that means the cornerstone,
verse 4 calls Him simply the corner. That's a Messianic title and in the former
prophets, such as Isaiah 28:16, it says, "Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tested stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation and he that believeth shall not be
ashamed." So Isaiah prophesied that He would be a stone, a tested stone, a
precious stone, a cornerstone, a foundation stone. That has to be Jesus Christ,
none other than Jesus Christ. And as you look at the New Testament, you find
that Jesus Christ repeatedly is stated to be the cornerstone (John MacArthur’s
sermon).”
Now let us
look at Romans 9:32-33 “32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as
though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,
"BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A
STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM
WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’” This speaks
of our Lord Jesus Christ as the stumbling stone or the cornerstone which is the
most important stone of the foundation of a building. There are other NT verses that talk about
this: 1 Cor. 1:23; and also Ephesians
2:20 “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus Himself being the corner stone.”
As I have been listening to the Bible this year I just looked at the
book of Daniel and in the second chapter of Daniel, the chapter that speaks of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream he say a stone come out of the mountain to destroy the
statue that he saw in his dream and that stone is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let us
look at Matthew 21:44 “"And he who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."” This speaks of the crushing aspect of
Messiah, similar to what we see in Daniel chapter two. This speaks of Messiah’s judgment on those
who reject Him as their Savior and Lord.
We
mentioned about how important the cornerstone was and MacArthur quotes David
Barron who writes “The great architect of the universe has purposed for Himself
from all eternity to raise out of frail imperfect human materials a glorious
temple for His own eternal habitation through the Spirit, which when completed
shall show forth even more than the material temple of the universe, to
principalities and powers the infinite power and manifold wisdom of God. And in order to insure that temple’s eternal
safety, He has bestowed great care on the foundation. He Himself has laid it and the tried and
precious cornerstone which He has laid as the basis of this mystical structure
is His own Son who is perfected forever more against whom the gates of hell
cannot prevail.’” And that is quit a
statement.
MacArthur
adds “And so we can say, let the storms rage and let infidelity assail and let
men and devils do their utmost. When God sets Jesus as the cornerstone, the
foundation stands sure. And we know that now, don't we? Because Christ is the
cornerstone of the foundation of the church. And we have seen the church stand
and weather the storm. And some day, He'll become the cornerstone of Israel.
“Now
there's something else about this cornerstone concept that struck me as I was
studying it and that is that a cornerstone holds up two walls in the corner. It
holds up two walls. And without pushing the point too far, I think it's kind of
interesting to realize that the cornerstone Christ holds up the two walls that
make up the redeemed people and that is the church and Israel. And where there
used to be a wall between us, we now have a common cornerstone. And some day
when Israel enters its kingdom, we'll enter it with Israel. And when we go into
eternity, we'll go in together. And I daresay, by the time we hit eternity,
there won't be any way to tell us apart. In fact, for all those who know and
love the Lord Jesus Christ today who are a part of Israel, they'll have to find
a spot in both walls. He is the cornerstone for two people and He will give
stability and solidarity and foundation to Israel. That's the promise of God
for them. The day is coming when you're going to get solidarity.”
I think that we will stop here and continue looking at this
first feature in our next SD.
9/1/2016 9:43 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment