Posts filed under ‘israel’
Zechariah 13: An End to Idolatry
Israel’s problems came from the fact that they often wandered from God, literally turning their backs on Him, to worship false gods (demons). While they often continued to observe the sacrificial system, their hearts were not in it. They simply went through the motions of worship to check things off. God saw their hearts, that they were far from Him. Because they had turned their backs on Him, He chose to turn His back (temporarily) on Israel in order to refine and purify those within Israel who were dedicated to Him.
What Can Happen to Society, Pt 2
Let’s go back to realize something Gideon did not. The reason it appeared to Gideon that the Lord had forsaken Israel is simply due to the fact that Israel had forsaken the LORD. I find it fascinating that God did not directly respond to Gideon’s question, but simply tells him to go and save Israel from her oppressor, Midian.
What Can Happen to Society, Pt 1
Though Israel endeavored to follow this judge or that judge’s leadership, as soon as that judge died, the people of Israel reverted back to their former ways and began again to worship foreign gods (v19). It is amazing to me that God continued to put up with that and if not for His unconditional covenant with Israel, He would have completely wiped that nation off the face of the earth. He did not do that though He often destroyed many within Israel because of how they rejected Him continually.
Zechariah 12: Deliverance of Judah
In truth, it is not just that Israel rejected the Good Shepherd, but that Israel then embraced/will embrace Worthless Shepherds throughout her history and will do so a final time in the future! This recounts the events of the Messiah’s first advent and death, followed by the destruction and dissolution of Jerusalem and Israel as a nation in AD 70.
Zechariah 11: Israel’s Sin and Punishment
Zechariah 11 deals with the problems that Israel would face. The prophet was speaking a hundreds of years before Roman armies surrounded and sacked Jerusalem, but his words came to fulfillment. While many conservative commentators believe there was partial fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecies in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70), the full and final aspect of this fulfillment will not occur until the coming Tribulation period of seven years, leading up to the physical return of Jesus to this planet.
Nadab’s Strange Fire
For Christians today, we are all fully under the blood of Jesus. Without it, we have zero protection from God’s wrath. With it, we are fully protected from it. However, the same temptation exists today for all Christians that existed for Nadab and Abihu. That is, the tendency to take God for granted or to allow our arrogance to move us away from how God expects us to live in this life.
It is a constant battle for the Christian, isn’t it? Thank God He does not deal with us as He dealt with the Israelites under the Law!
Zechariah 9: Israel’s Enemies Judged
In verses 11-17, God’s final deliverance and blessing of Israel will happen when Messiah returns. God will, with finality, save His people (the final Jewish remnant). Jesus will destroy all of Israel’s enemies upon His return through judgment and then He will also judge all nations (Matthew 24:31-46).
Tragedy of Hating Jews and Israel
I do not consider myself a diehard “Zionist.” However, I fully support what God is doing and will accomplish in the nation of Israel by taking a final remnant from that nation who will remain alive to the end of the Tribulation and be rewarded by being allowed to go into the Millennial Kingdom. Many Gentiles will also go into that same kingdom. There, that Jewish final remnant will finally understand what all the Abrahamic promises were all about. I also fully support what God is going to accomplish in many other nations throughout the world that will enter the Millennial Kingdom.
Zechariah 8: Israel Restored
Zechariah 8 reveals God’s jealously for Zion (Jerusalem and all of Israel), while Zechariah 7 reveals that God wanted Israel to live righteously to avoid God’s punishment. Zechariah 8 reveals that God wanted Israel to live righteously to receive God’s favor. In Zechariah 8:2, God explains that His jealousy for His people created great wrath within Him! Essentially, God, the perfect Father was dealing with recalcitrant and wayward children! God wanted their obedience…from the heart! He asks and expects the very same from all Christians as well.
Continue Reading January 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM Leave a comment
Zechariah 7: Obedience Better Than Fasting
By Zechariah 7, the people had been captive in Babylon for roughly 68 years, just shy of the requisite 70 years. Because they had been forced out of their Land, they wept and fasted each year to remember the event. The trouble was that though they were remembering the event with weeping and fasting, God had not necessarily told them to do that. Beyond this, had they lived in obedience to Him, they would not have been removed from the Land forcibly and there would have been no need to fast and weep for their loss. They brought it on themselves by their refusal to live as God wanted them to live.
But instead of recognizing this fact, the people sent a couple of representatives to “inquire” of the priests and ultimately, of Zechariah the prophet regarding their weeping and fasting over that event.
Continue Reading January 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM Leave a comment
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