June 3, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Where are your ancestors now?” (Zechariah 1.2-5a)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

One of my favorite verses in the scriptures say this: “Let those with eyes to see, perceive [see]; and those with ears to hear, listen [hear].” It occurs in both the Old and the New Testaments. Far too many love to repeat it with the simple English “see, hear.” Such an interpretation speaks to the flat and ordinary sense of “worldly perception.” Paul addresses this in one of his four letters to the Corinthian Community of Faith in Christ with the following [reflecting Isaiah 64.4], “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived’ — the things God has prepared for those who love him.” Of course, that is until Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten Son walked the height, depth and breadth of Israel bringing the word of righteousness to the prepared ears of the people. Who prepared them? It was none other than God’s tool of justice and prophetic redemption- John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin. He was the tip of the sword, so to speak, which lanced the boils of hypocrisy, irreligiosity and false teaching that covered the nation. Strange how those who professed themselves as “holy and good” before all the world because they held the offices of Sadducees, Pharisees, High Priest and Teachers of the Law were actually those who were the most “sin-fected.” They declared the physically, mental and emotionally distressed as the greatest sinners, unworthy of their presence and the “scape” goats of Israel. They were pushed out and away into wilderness of “sin” as a type of “spiritual genocide” in order to purge Israel of such wickedness. John called those very individuals into accountability and literally “lost his head” for the sake of God’s word of justice.

Then stepped into the fray was Jesus. He acted in the ways of, and remains so, the true Judge, Prophet, Priest and King of Israel. He saw the fleshly afflictions which sin brought to the people of the world in general and to the nation of Israel, in particular. He heard, in contradiction to the prophetic word of old, that such diseases of the mind and body were evidences of God’s disfavor. Virtually, those in leadership proposed they were evidences of an alliance and allegiance with Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub. Jesus would accuse those very leaders of not being the true descendants of Abraham. Instead, Jesus offered that they were “sons of the Devil” and fomented his lies. He accused them of being white-washed tombs that sparkled and gleamed on the outside to cover over the darkness an filth on the inside where living, rotting corpses lay as the walking dead. Mighty ones of God, can you see the depth of expression in both the raising of Lazarus and the allusions to the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus most certainly was aware of the prophecies of Ezekiel which gave great description to both the old Jerusalem with its poisoned temple and the new Jerusalem with its pristine Temple as well as the valley of dry bones which rattled alive with the preaching of God’s word at God’s command. That which was dead would come alive and be evidences of the glory, grace, sovereignty and majesty of the One True God.

Those eyes which can see must look deeper into the word of God and perceive its truth applicable in each and every situation of life. Those with ears which can hear must listen earnestly to the word of God and understand the truth which was to be manifested in each and every situation in life. Such use of our eyes and ears allowed, in the words of Paul, for the people of God to be content in each and every situation. Zechariah would have hoped for the same. He heard God calling the nation of Israel to lead the way in capturing the vision and the revelation of what God full well intended. They were to be a different people from those in their past who refused to truly see and truly listen, truly perceive and truly understand, truly apply and truly manifest the Word of God for the salvation of a nation and as a leader of the sheep of the world who were lost but could be found. Such a time as this, mighty ones of God, do we live in and are now called to minister in spirit and in truth with eyes perceiving and ears listening to declare the way of the Lord leading to redemption, reconciliation and new life.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.