October 8, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“A prophecy from the word of the Lord concerning Israel is this- The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: ‘I AM going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.’” (Zechariah 12.1-2)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Before moving forward to the next prophetic image, I want to reflect upon one aspect of what may, or may not have been, in the bag of resources which was the property of the bad shepherd. Whether it had the tools of the good shepherd which were thus mishandled with misguided intentions or the bag itself had only the tools to satisfy his own lust for food and power, the bag was essentially empty because of the lack of purpose to honor God. It is the great emptiness which is the identifier of the bad shepherd that the good shepherd becomes the antithesis. As we look back upon those pivotal Passover moments in Jesus’ life at the end, we will find “emptiness” as critical and necessary to prove He was the good shepherd.

First, He breathed out His last breath saying “Father, into your Hands I commend [submit, surrender] My Spirit.” Jesus, who had been beaten, hit, whipped, scourged, pierced, splintered, nailed and crucified, was bleeding out on the cross. Quite literally, with every last ounce of blood, Jesus willed Himself to be emptied of all human life. In this He was the paschal Lamb who came to take away the sins of the world. It was not until He forced out every last breath exhaling even the Spirit of God within Him that He would be truly empty. Jesus obeying not His will but that of His Father, emptied Himself of all divine life. He who was fully man and fully God was now as the first Adam [and Eve] had been in the Garden before God breathed into him/them with His own spirit that caused the form made from the dust of the earth to become a living being. It is there we can get a sense of “the two becoming as One.” Ezekiel had a similar experience of this when God showed Him the valley of dry bones and asked “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel replied, “Surely Lord, You know!” With that Ezekiel was directed to order the four winds representing the fullness of God’s Spirit to pass over and through the valley. The result was a living, breathing army of Israel. These were not like the “The Mummy’s” soldiers made from the desert sands illustrating “from dust they can to dust they shall return.” No, for Ezekiel these were the real and sustainable deal which God had created from a bare bones existence. [God can most certainly do the same for us!]

Second, with the death of Jesus of Nazareth called the Christ of God, the cross had completed its purpose. With the crossbar which Jesus had carried from the Praetorium near the Temple to Golgotha set in place, He was crucified. Now in His death (confirmed by the piercing of His side into His lung and hurt out of which only water and pulse poured out), He was lowered with that same crossbar to the ground. In this we are able to see the “breaking of the staves” and the cross demolished as easily as was the Temple Veil which hid the Holy of Holies in the Temple in God’s lament. Jesus is removed from the crossbar and transported to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. What was left behind was an “empty” cross.

Third, upon the morning of the first day of the week, the women (regardless of name and number) found the stone rolled away from the tomb where Jesus had been placed, the graveclothes folded neatly and put in place signifying “It is finished, it is done” and that the tomb was empty as if there were no immediate signs death had ever been in that place. The words “It is finished, it is done” were uttered by Jesus on the cross before He breathed His last. Now the echo of those words remained at the empty tomb to signify the completed work of salvation for all those who would believe. The echo, too, of Ezekiel’s “Valley of Dry Bones” can be heard as only by the breath of God, the ruach, could transform empty lives into new and vital people. They would become a mighty army of God, a priesthood of all believers and a community of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who is Lord and Savior.

As we reflect back on chapter 11 and see the impact of “emptiness” which the bad shepherd brought upon Israel, Judea and Jerusalem we are able to see the antithesis in the Messianic revelation which the good shepherd provided. The emptiness becomes the very tools of the gospel. They will build up a kingdom upon the solid rock of faith which cannot be washed away, torn down nor defeated. It is the Church, the body of Christ of which Christ is the Head by which the body breathes, lives and has meaning and purpose. It represents the “cup” of restoration, reconciliation and revitalization which Jesus told James and John “they could not drink.” It is only His to drink from and pour out. It is how the blessing of God will be fulfilled, fulfilling and the fulfillment of the promise which had been made from the first with God’s claim “It is good and very good.” It is the cup of Jerusalem which leads us into Zechariah 12 and a new prophetic revelation. Let’s drink from it tomorrow.

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..