Good evening from Liverpool, New York! Our reading for this Monday, November 17, 2014 is Zechariah 14:1-11. A day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. 7 It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime — a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. 9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name. 10 The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. (NIV) There is a lot of historical references which could be explored and explained, too many for the limited space that I have with you. What is important to our spiritual journey at this moment is of concern for me. It is obvious that the author is referencing the concluding intervention of God into present human history. We know this as the return of Christ or the Second Coming where Jesus will return to earth with the host of heaven to claim His Lordship over its affairs. The author speaks of that time in the context of his circumstance, referring to Jerusalem that is known in the Old Testament as the City of God, the centerpiece of the community of those who responded to God’s invitation to be His particular people among all people of the earth. We know them in the Old Testament to be the Hebrews or the Israelites. In the New Testament this people includes the church, those of any nation or race who have embraced Jesus as personal Savior and Lord of their life. The history of God’s people from the Old Testament is a tale of faithful response marred by periodic and consistent rebellion to their covenant of faithfulness. The consequence was moral and cultural ups and down depending on their faithfulness of the covenant and the assessment by the prophets who were raised to motivate the nation to continue on the right path and that periods of social upheaval was the consequence of unfaithfulness. Hopefully we also know from the Old Testament that obedience does not guarantee good times. Often good people suffer and evil persons prosper, however we can each name examples where evil most frequently leads to human suffering. The question is why God would allow His people to be conquered and subjugated by others? Why could God not have prevented His people’s rebellion and diverted the evil which befell them? The answer is of course “free will.” In our creation we were made in God’s image which describes several human qualities we share in association with God. One is a measure of free will. God’s freedom is limited by God’s own character – God cannot do anything out of character to who God is. Similarly, though we have a measure of freedom to choose, our will is limited by our character which is self-directed and self-defining. So while we are not completely free to choose every circumstance we face in life we do exercise our freedom to accept God’s grace and to follow God as God should be followed. It is inescapable that we should suffer the consequences for our choices. God cannot protect us from them or else we would cease being creatures made in God’s image. Even as followers of Christ we are people who do not live up to our character which should be shaped in the image of Christ who perfectly reflects the character of God. We are helpless to achieve this perfect consistency in character due to our nature and circumstance. Though Zechariah speaks through the eyes of Israel’s history and suffering we see that our only hope will come when Jesus returns and changes our environment to match the change of our heart when we made our genuine profession of faith. We cannot begin to comprehend what that day will be like because Zechariah states it shall be a unique day unlike any other “a day known to the Lord” only. It will be a time of true miracles when there will be light even in the darkness of evening. At Christ’s coming we will find the “coming with Him of all His holy ones” which includes those who have died in faith and under grace as 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18 describes. Without explaining all the imagery and geographical references contained in the passage we should accept that restoration and abundance accompany His return. When all is said and done the corruption of humanity shall be corrected and damage caused by sin repaired. True security that we all yearn for shall be found, when all has been said and done. Until then we live each day in an imperfect environment with imperfect lives struggling to find our way with God’s help to the life we envision is possible and which is only possible through Christ’s help. We may not always like where we are at, but this in itself is a sign or guarantee of our security, for it is God who instills in us a dissatisfaction for the way things are, the way we are, so we will seek Christ and live for Christ and through Christ. May you b secure in His grace in all you face through Christ, our Lord. Selah! Dr. Brian Homan
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:21:27 +0000
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