September 19, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders.
[For] The Lord Almighty will care for His flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.” (Zechariah 10.3)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Jesus often said some “hard” words which even His disciples found difficult to swallow. We have to remember that Jesus came into a world, even to the world of Israel from north to south, that had been led down confusing paths of what righteousness actually was. False teachers and prophets were known entities like wolves in sheep clothing. There were no shepherds for wolves. And the call to those who claimed to be shepherds was with a word and a voice of accountability which said “The people are without shepherds.” It didn’t mean the people were wolves but that the shepherds were. The nature of “those” shepherds was characterized by “steal, kill and destroy.” Wait! Didn’t Jesus teach that those were the intents and characteristics of “the enemy.” (John 10.10) I suppose that is why so many in the Jewish leadership of that day were against Jesus. He was a mirror which spoke of the reflection they saw in it. They were not reflecting His image but the one of their own making. Tough words and bitter pills to swallow. Another one of those hard lessons was “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.‘” (Matthew 10.34-36) Wait again! I thought Jesus taught “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5.9) Didn’t He tell the disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives you peace do I give you peace.” (John 14.27) Are you asking yourselves, “Which is it, Jesus? Are you or are you not about peace?”

Of course, Jesus is all about peace- authentic peace and authentic shepherding. Jesus certainly was not in the world as an enemy to “steal, kill and destroy.” Jesus came into the world to illuminate, demonstrate and objectify “the way, the truth and the life” by which the people of God may have hope in this world as they will in the next. For the people in Israel in the days of Zechariah and for centuries preceding, hope was a rare commodity. They had put their hope in men (and some women) who said they were from God and of God but operated under their own agendas. The evidence became clear with the consequences the entire nation suffered on their behalf. True hope comes only from God and it comes with a price. This is what Jesus was drawing attention to and what would draw all people to Him. The difference was the kind of shepherd who lived in the land of Israel. (It works for any place where God’s sheep, the people of His hand, are found!) The true shepherd recognizes the sheep are not their own. The true shepherd seizes upon the opportunity to live into the person they were called to be by God. On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He celebrated Passover with some of His followers which included both the circle of disciples and those who served at the table. There were no private words uttered there. Everyone in the room heard what Jesus said as He prayed, “Father, it is My desire that these You have given me shall be with Me shall remain with Me and bear witness to My glory which You yourself have given me.” Jesus, who said “I AM the good shepherd; all others who claim to be shepherds will attempt to enter the sheepfold in another way beside the door of the sheep which I AM.” (John 10.10) The true shepherd instills peace which gives hope. The false shepherd disrupts the peace and steals hope. This is what had happened (and continues to happen in today’s world and in this nation) in Israel and her people regardless of the nations in which they were found at the time. The unjust shepherd was being put on warning. This is what we hear in Zechariah 10.3.

Notice here that a significant point is made by God to Zechariah and through Zechariah to the nation and people of Israel. God says that He, and He alone, will take care of the people of Judah who are His flock. Not only will He care for them but He will make of them a people who shall be likened to a proud horse in battle. He does not say He will make them battle horses. Rather, He will make of them to be as those fit for battle and who stand out among the rest. Dr. David Jeremiah spoke of Paul’s descriptor of “full armor” in reference to Isaiah 59.17 “For He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak.” Dr. Jeremiah spoke of protecting the heart and mind with the word and spirit of God. It is far more than this to allude to the armament which a soldier bears for battle. What is being presented is the true vision of the priesthood following the example of the Messiah for whom the people hoped. It is a real image we, as mighty ones of God, ought to embrace for ourselves. We are engaged in a battle for truth and for hope. We fight in a world that promotes defeat and hopelessness. We are, as the followers for whom Jesus prayed, witnesses to the glory of God manifested in Jesus. This same Jesus had prayed already for God to invest His, Jesus Christ, Spirit into all believers. They were to be clothed not only in the spirit of armament but the glory of God from within. When Jesus prayed that those whom God had given to Him would remain in His glory, it was for the purpose of being in the light in the darkness of the world. He was speaking to a specific people for a general purpose. God revealed the same to Zechariah calling for Judah to be a specific people for a general purpose. He was not separating Judah out and expecting all people to be like them. He was empowering Judah to engage the world with the truth and hope of true shepherding, true stewardship and true community. They faithfulness to the cause and the task would lead others in right worship; in spirit and in truth. This is what was being restored. Peter would call it “the priesthood of all believers.“

Mighty ones of God, those who believe in Jesus as the Christ and who profess Him and Him alone as Lord and Savior as the only “way, truth and life” which lead to eternal life with God in Heaven, we are called into that same priesthood. We are called to be fitted as those same priests ready for battle against the forces of evil which wage war against the heart, mind and soul of the world’s population. We must be ready to stand in the gap as those “proud battle horses” which God declared Judah would be. Capture that vision for yourself and recognize the hopes of others which are “riding” on you desiring victory not for just themselves but for others. This is the mark of true shepherds. The flock is not their own but they care for them as if they were. Their greatest concern is for the flock which God has given to them. For us it is family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, cohorts, community members and leaders and yes…. even our enemies. The day will come when the truth of who they have chosen to be will be revealed. The flock will be separated into “sheep and goats (those sheep who have taken on the nature of goats)” just as the harvesters in the field will gather in the wheat and the tares and separate them. This is not that season, mighty ones of God. This is not the season of harvesting. It is the season of sowing the seeds of the gospel by preaching the word with our voices, our bodies and our spirit bound to accomplish that which has been given to us. What has been given to us? It is not peace as the world gives but as Christ alone gives. His peace is what produces true hope that shall endure forever.

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 in order that others 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 so we would know we are Your people and 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.