July 14, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you who are men symbolic of things to come: I AM going to bring My servant, the Branch.” (Zechariah 3.8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

There is another message we may be able to draw from this single verse. Yes, we know that Joshua and those who are serving with him as the spiritual leaders of Israel are set in place by God. Their success in fulfilling God’s re-appointment is to “Listen to the Branch.” There is little question in my mind that the establishment of God’s theocracy is in mind as never before. Before this we know that David’s rise to the throne as God’s king was the beginning of that theocracy according to the Law. It is the position of the priests to provide spiritual guidance and wisdom to the “political” aspirations of the king and his court. Now, the turn is toward the Messianic Kingdom who ruler is the Son of God and Son of Man. What is intimated here is not that “man” cannot be trusted but that God’s man is preferred. Up to the point we are told of men, and women, who commit themselves to God by the Law. The effort to fulfill the call by following the Law alone is far more than challenging. It is impossible. Here we can hear the words of Jesus, “What is impossible with people is fully possible with God.” (Luke 18.27)

What is possible with God? The word is given to Joshua and his cohort: I AM putting My king in place. You do not have to bear the burden of political leadership. Maintain yourself in purity and in righteousness. Conduct the “good religion” as is prescribed in My Law to keep My feasts and My Word with purity and integrity would be the intention of God for Joshua and those who are working with him. Leave the leadership of the nation to the Messiah.

But what is interesting is that the kings of Israel after this would be those appointed by ruling nations. This would mean that foreign nations would define how Israel and her citizens would answer to their God, to one another and to the stranger. We actually hear this in Jesus’ teachings and in Paul’s descriptors of living faithfully in the world but no of it. You see this, right, as Jesus does not Himself take the position of King of Israel, King of the Jews. His role and purpose is to teach the people how to live in the world but not of it. Is this a way of looking at God as that true object of affection and attention? Is this not the way that we should be looking at how we would and should live? The word here to Joshua might be more aligned with: follow My lead as shepherds who are sheep and I will lead, guide and direct you. Can we do this today? May seem impossible but all things are possible with God…at the lead…Jesus…as the Head and the Holy Spirit…drawing us ever closer.

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.