October 3, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“In one month, I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, ‘I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.’ Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.” (Zechariah 11.8-11)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

For those who have done theater, you understand the term “stage direction.” As the voice of these verses move back and forth through Zechariah, we can hear what God is saying and how Zechariah receives the direction to say it to the people. True prophets do not speak on their own but with the word of God inspired, God-breathed, by the Holy Spirit. Zechariah is “not himself” in these utterances and actions. Rather, he is the representation of God Himself as a form of incarnation of God’s Word. We are familiar with this concept from reading John’s prologue to the Gospel which he wrote nearly sixty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It may have come after the recording of “The Revelation Given to John by Jesus the Christ” which is the last book of the Bible as we have it today. In his gospel, he speaks of Jesus as “the word made flesh.” Jesus has said to His disciples, “If you have seen Me, then you have seen the Father and that is enough.” Jesus also said (John 5) “I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do.” It does not mean that Jesus does not have a mind of His own. It does mean that Jesus has the mind of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthian fellowship of faith, “What has the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him; rather we have put on the mind of Christ.” As we move by faith, we become the incarnation of God’s Word for another. By faith, and being faithful to it, then Christ in us is revealed. So it was for Zechariah in his faith and faithfulness that God in him was revealed. Not only God but the will of God which was being revealed as the Messiah to come. Do not be confused, Zechariah wasn’t acting and Zechariah wasn’t playing. He was being a living prophecy for Israel in its season of restoration, redemption and refocusing. He was taking his direction from God Himself.

Most biblical historians see the fulfillment of these passages in the destruction of the Temple by Rome in 70 A.D. That would mean approximately 600 years would exist from the time of the prophecy to the fulfillment of it. Zechariah’s ministry began during the restoration of Judah and the building of the Second Temple. Taking his words as the extension of his prophetic ministry, it would end with the destruction of that same Second Temple. (Remember the First Temple started by David and completed by Solomon was destroyed in 587 B.C. Given seventy years of exile in Babylon brings us to 517 B.C.) I mention this only to iterate the amount of time spent being a “reborn” people of God. This was no insignificant length of time. However, it took little time for the people of God who were being given a “second chance” to disaffect. This is a sad pattern of life. We saw it among the exiles, freed slaves, in Egypt in the days of Ramses and Moses. When the journey to the Promised Land got challenging, the people expressed their desire to return to slavery in Egypt. Regardless of the signs and wonders given to them by God through Moses (as God was doing in prophetic ways with Zechariah; as God did through all the prophets), the people had a difficult time being able to trust God. What does it take? What does it take for us?

Here the sequence of events just in these few verses. The span of time is said to be “one month,” twenty-eight days.

1. Three shepherds were eliminated. There is far too much debate as to who these “shepherds” were. Suffice it to say that three of the leaders of Judah and/or Jerusalem were taken out of power.
2. With the dismissal, by whatever means, the flock under their care and now under the purview of the “good shepherd” represented by Zechariah become restless and dissatisfied. I wonder if there is not some remembrance of the words between Samuel and God when the people asked for a king. It was Samuel who felt the brunt of “that flock” and their dissatisfaction with Samuel as judge over them. God rightly pointed out to Samuel that they were not dismissing him but that they were dismissing God. The sheep wanted to choose their own shepherd who would lead them in the way they wanted to go. I shared with a friend yesterday on something similar when she commented about lost diplomacy. I offered that “Modern diplomacy is ‘give me what I say I deserve or else I will give you what I think you deserve.’” This seems to have been the mindset of Israel in the days of Samuel. They wanted a “foreign” king or else there would be serious consequences for Samuel. They wanted a king they could rule and not a king who would rule. Makes you wonder about our November 2024 election, doesn’t it?
3. There is a declaration of “Then I will no longer be shepherd over you.” The consequence of that declaration (representative of God removing His favor just recently placed on them in restoration) resulted in serious consequences. What consequences? They would “turn on each other” and have an appetite for “devouring” one another. (We most certainly see that today figuratively if not literally: abortion, immigration, gender confusion, egoism, false worship, one world government and marxist ideals, etc.)
4. The breaking of the staff called “Favor” which then became the evidence to the oppressed that God was done. They could see what the oppressor refused to see. They were the ones now who must truly decide what to do. They were now sheep without a shepherd, good or bad.

And all of this in “one month.” Mighty ones of God, we have but “one month” now until our national election. Are we being turned out to pasture without a shepherd? Will we submit to leadership that surrenders to our will and whim? Will we rebuke and revoke the rights, privileges and opportunities granted to us by our forefathers as a republic, one nation under God? Will we step out and away from the covering of Favor which God has promised us and made sure through the blood of the Lamb and the cross? Will we continue to ignore the prophetic word of God which has been made flesh? These are tough times and there is but one month to go. What shall we do with this time that is given to us?

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.