September 27, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely, I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before.” (Zechariah 10.8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The last two reflections I have shared concerning the final verses of Zechariah, chapter 10, have been about God’s promise to restore, reconcile and renew the nation of Israel. There is a great deal of controversy in the Middle East today. It is a continuance of controversy which has existed for millennia and exacerbated by the decision in 1948 to make Israel an official “state.” The creation of this “state” of Israel and formally recognized by the United Nations in 1949 did not resolve a greater issue. The ruling body of Israel, the Knesset, passed a law in 2018, to amend the understanding of the existence of Israel as a “nation-state.” To dive into this interesting and challenging dialogue would only further demonstrate the angst which exists in the Middle East (and in some parts globally) concerning the presence of Israel as a sovereign entity. There are differences between a “nation” and a “state.” This debate would help provide an understanding of the underlying and overarching conflict which is coming to a head in the modern age. For our understanding of Zechariah 10.8 as it applies to Israel (as a nation in its past), I would draw your attention to a very important word presence in 10.8. It is the word promise.

The nation of Israel did not exist until the promise of God was realized by the generations of descendants of Abraham. The first promise was made by God to Abraham (at that time his name was Abram.) We hear that promise in Genesis 12.2-3, “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you I will curse. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The very “birth of a nation” is the extension and introduction of the Messianic Community. Here is the purpose and function of the people of Israel: all people on earth will be blessed through you. For a moment, let’s parallel that purpose and function with one which Jesus gave to the founders of a “New Israel”: Go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; further, teach them all I have commanded you. (Matthew 28.19-20a) And while we may have a picture in mind of a geographic place for the “nation/state” of Israel because that is how we understand our sense of being a country, as in The United States of America, is there not something more and more deeply at play within the “promise” of God? A further look into the promise which God made with Abram, who in recognition of his faithfulness to the call of God became known as Abraham as Sarai was then known as Sarah, the territory which was to be the domain of Abraham’s descendants was far greater than the confines given to the current state of Israel. Truth be told, the Muslim declaration of “from the river to the sea” is more aptly the geographic expanse promised by God to Abraham and his descendants who are known today as Israel. From the Mediterranean Sea to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as the east is from the west is the “promised land” of Israel. From the Negev (the Nile, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea) to the mountains of Turkey and nations which now exist as the boundary of the Fertile Crescent to the north is the “promised land” of Israel. Will this promise actually be realized at any time in the Modern Age? That is a conversation which belongs to the realm of God who is faithful to His word. That is a conversation based on an understanding of “state.” A “state” is an association of people characterized by formal institutions of government, including laws, permanent territorial boundaries, and sovereignty. In literal understanding of God’s word to Abram in the Ur of the Chaldees, the promise was never to be a “state.” It was never about politics and legal rule. Those are human confines which developed for the purpose of individual survival as a “nation.” What God promised Abram was that his descendants would be “a great nation.” A nation is a group of people with a common language, history, culture, and usually a geographic territory. As mentioned previously by the authority of the Knesset, which has no global determination, Israel declared itself (not unanimously so) to be a “nation-state.” A nation-state combines both concepts, implying that the nation and the state coincide in a geographic region. In this fashion, Israel would resemble the status of other nations. But, does it really?

I would urge us, mighty ones of God, to consider carefully the “promise” and the political reality of the world as it exists today. What God was calling together through Abraham, what Jesus was commissioning with His disciples and what is happening in the political drama of most every nation, state and nation-state on the face of the earth exist in a tension which must be understood. I have heard it said a number of times in application to America from the Christian perspective in this manner “We should not be so desirous of becoming a Christian nation as we should understand our hope is to be a nation of Christians.” This is the truth that can fuel our resolve to be disciples of Christ and disciplers of disciples of Christ. What I see in God’s promise to Abraham as recorded in Genesis and spoken to Zechariah in 10.8 is this: It is not about a land but a people. It is not about geography but theology. It is not about ruling but serving. It is not about being ruled or being served but being faithful to the will of God. In the end, it is God’s Word which speaks last and then forever. His Word to which I allude is none other than Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and the Messianic-Savior of the world (the people) and not the earth (the globe). In truth, Revelation speaks to us of Christ’s work now in Heaven. He is fashioning a new Heaven, a New Earth, a New Jerusalem, a New Temple for the renewed people on earth. Who is missioning to those people? That would be us as disciples of Christ who are discipling disciples of Christ. We do so because we understand the promise is to be God’s people everywhere. [Be on the alert… we are not one nation under God as much as we are called to be one people under God wherever we are. So, I do not see MAGA as the proposed “Make America Great Again.” Instead, I see MAGA as “Make America God’s Again.”]

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.