SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/17/2016 7:48 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 The Shielding of Israel
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 12:4-9
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.”
I have
highlighted a portion of verse five and as John MacArthur notes this is a
critical verse because it opens the door just a crack for the light of the
salvation of Israel to shine through.
When Israel became a nation in May of 1948 they were and still are
depending upon their military might to defeat their enemies. There have been different wars that have been
fought against the nation of Israel, even as early as 1948 as nations came
against them because they had become a nation again. In 1967 there was a war in which Israel
gained control of Jerusalem for the first time since they lost it in 586
BC. Another war in 1973, and all of
these wars, we as believers knew that Israel won them because of God, but they
trusted a lot in their military and now we see in this verse these words “A strong
support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem though the LORD of host, their
God.” Israel does not understand this
yet, but this verse shows that they will during this most terrible time that will
come upon the world.
Let us move
on to verse six where Zechariah is not talking about Jerusalem, but the
countryside around Jerusalem in Judah, and says that Judah will be like a
firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves. Fire pots were used before we had furnaces in
our houses and were used to start a fire, as they kept burning, and this verse
says that the leaders will be fire pots.
These little towns will be defeating their enemies like a fire pot burns
wood, even though they will be outnumbered many times over.
Nothing
will happen to Jerusalem as God will take care of it as we have spoken about in
earlier Spiritual Diaries. “All the
nations round about on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem will be
inhabited again in her own place even in Jerusalem.”
John MacArthur writes “Then a very interesting note in verse 7. This is very interesting. "The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first in order that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah." In other words, if Jerusalem won this big victory to start with, if all the military geniuses and all the hotshots in Jerusalem won, they'd say, "Well, it was us." And so just to make sure they don't mistake it being human and know it's God, the great victory comes first to all the little folks out in the countryside who win the war, who knock off the big Gentile armies. And then Jerusalem's got nothing to boast about because by the time it comes to them, all they can say is it's got to be God, it sure isn't us, it wasn't them.
“In other words, to prevent Jerusalem from magnifying
itself against the country folks, God makes sure the country folks gain the
first deliverance. Why?
This is a time of humbling
for the nations. This is a time of penitence. This is a time of repentance.
This is a time of bending
the back and bowing the knee and laying prostrate before God. God wants no human glory, no
human magnification and so just to make sure it won't happen He starts by
giving the victory first to the little folks in the countryside. The
defenseless land is delivered first. The well defended capital last in order
that Jerusalem not think it was by her military might and be lifted up with
pride. So God defends the defenseless and then Jerusalem.”
We will pick this up in verse eight in our next SD.
10/17/2016 8:07 PM
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