Friday, September 30, 2016

The Lord will Defeat the Enemy (Zech. 12:4-9; 14:12-15)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2016 11:01 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  The Lord will Defeat the Enemy

Bible Reading & Meditation                                Reference:  Zechariah 12:4-9; 14:12-15

            Message of the verses:  “4 “In that day," declares the LORD, "I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ’A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the LORD of hosts, their God.’ 6  "In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem. 7 “The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. 8 “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them.  9 "And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

            “12 Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15 So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.”

            Dr. Wiersbe begins this section stating “Panic, a plague, and special power given to the Jewish warriors (12:8) are the means God will use to conquer the invading armies.”  In the first section from chapter twelve we see that God will strike every horse with bewilderment and the rider of the horse will be struck with blindness.  Notice that God says that He will be the One doing this, and it reminds me a little bit about the story of Gideon when the Lord used Gideon and three hundreds to defeat an enemy of Israel as the enemy went mad and started killing each other, but God was the One who caused that and will be the One who causes this.  Think about the whole world being against Israel in the tribulation period, all the nations going to go against her and yet it will be the nations themselves who will be in trouble, even though many in Israel will be killed, in the end Israel will be the one who will stand against her enemies. 

            God has promised to look out for His people and He will keep that promise.  Zechariah says that God will make the Jews to be like fire and their enemies will be like dry stubble.  Jesus Christ will be the One who will defend His people as He will defeat their enemies with the sword of His mouth as it says in the 19th chapter of Revelation.

            Now Judah is mentioned in this section as they will play in this battle, even though Jerusalem will be the main focus the invaders must march through Judah to get to Jerusalem.  The people in Judah will fight bravely as Dr. Wiersbe says they “will wax valiant in the fight, and God will enable them to conquer (vv. 5-6).  The weakest Jewish warrior will have the power of David, who slew tens of thousands of enemy soldiers (1 Sam. 18:7).  The Jewish army will go forth like the Angel of the Lord who slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (Isa. 37).”

            In our next SD on Zechariah will begin to look at the second point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline “The Lord will Cleanse Israel” and this will cover Zech. 12:10-13:9.

9/30/2016 11:22 PM

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