July 2, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Be still before the Lord, all humankind, because He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.” (Zechariah 2.13)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Within chapter two of Zechariah, I believe we have an even more finely woven thread in the prophetic tapestry pointing toward the Messiah. In Psalm 110, David declared “My Lord says to my lord, come and sit at My right hand and until I make your enemies your footstool.” This dynamic of “My Lord and my lord” which David speaks of can be seen as in verse 11 where it is said before Zechariah, “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become My people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent Me to you.” Jesus Himself reflects upon this psalmic identification of the Messiah in a dialogue between Himself and the Pharisees (Matthew 22). The question was “Whose son is the Christ?” In reflecting upon the psalm mentioned above, the Pharisees reply, “He is the descendant of David.” Jesus accepts that answer but then points out for their consideration that according to the words of David, that son sits at the right hand of his Lord, who is God. At that point the discussion ends. I don’t know if they had never truly thought that deeply about the scripture or not. It was significant for them that the Messiah for whom they longed was a descendant from the House of Judah. This is important enough because Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and the southern Kingdom thereby the capital of all unified Israel (when that day comes). I am speaking beyond an ego stroke for the Pharisees at this point. It is significant for them and others to capture the vision of the descendancy of the Messiah out of the line of David. David was the only king of Israel that was truly chosen by God to be king. He allowed and blessed others to be king of Israel. However, God Himself was the true “king” of Israel. Those who sat on the throne on earth were essentially no more elevated in the throne room of Heaven than a footstool. That footstool could represent servanthood or judgment. The heel of God could either rest upon the servant or crush the head of the enemy. It was the vision of “the enemy” the Pharisees saw first blinding them to the vision of “the servant.”

This is the thread of the messianic promise may seem to be more like the “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive” quote which Sir Walter Scott penned in his poem “Marmion: The Field of Flodden.” It was a tangled web which had been woven by the many kings of Israel following David. David himself was captured in that web with his lust for Bathsheba. It was undone by the prophet Nathan who reminded him of the role of the true shepherd. It was undone but not nearly soon enough as the son born of that affair died. So, too, would the hopes and aspirations of the kings of Israel and those who embraced the out of proportion sense of the Messianic Promise. What was that “out of proportion sense”? It was that the Messiah was servant to them to do their bidding of eliminating the enemy in the land. What made it out of proportion was their failure to understand the servant’s heart which was for God and the people. They did not have it as well as they should. This disproportionate view is what caused them and their ancestors to suffer the discipline of God. He was not so much punishing them by allowing the enemy to come into their land, their cities, their homes and their temple and desecrate them all. Instead, He was disciplining them to give them an understanding that their decisions and objectives had negative consequences. In that light, they would see their decisions as wrong and out of line; or in this perspective, out of proportion. They could no longer believe in their own deception. Their falsehood was revealed by their being cast out and cast down. This is the same fate as the true enemy of God and humanity in his past (Lucifer exorcised from Heaven) and on that day when the “Son of Adam and Eve” would one day in the future crush the head of the Serpent, Satan.

What is beautiful in all of this for me is the promise which God makes for Himself and for the One whom He sends that they may dwell as one forever in this place on earth called Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple. It is beautiful because I believe it speaks to the very marriage tradition of the Middle East which is so often a part of Jesus’ teachings. We see the culmination of those teachings in the Revelation given to John the Beloved of Jesus. This great wedding of Heaven and Earth, God and humanity, so that they may dwell together forever in the perfection of faith, hope and love seems to be at the heart of it all. The Son is at the command of the Father. He awaits the time to go and claim His bride as His very own. Until He comes, the Bride is under the care of her father. It is tenuous at times, to be true. In the course of history, many things could happen which either blessed or distress the Bride-in-waiting. For Israel, the father figure would have been the king. The Bride was the people of God as the nation of Israel. Under the watch of the “Father” Israel rose and fell, found peace and unrest, blessing and poverty. Regardless, it would be the duty and responsibility of the Bride to keep herself for her husband who was to return. He would mete out justice upon those who were unjust to her. She herself would perhaps need to repent for her failures in waiting. It is a tangled web whose tendrils reach through time to this very day. But the day is coming when all things will be made right. Those who remain faithful, including those who are truly repentant, will be called together to join with the Heavenly Husband, the Messiah/Christ, and dwell in the place which He has prepared for them in His Father’s house. The enemies will be put down and under His foot. He will rule with truth, justice and mercy. The glory of God’s will be done shall be their life’s boundary. It will culminate in a honeymoon that will never end. There is hope. There is hope but only for those who trust in the Lord who says to our Lord “Sit at My right hand.”

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.