October 16, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child. They will grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” (Zechariah 12.10)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Do we remember the story of the Moses and the confrontation with Ramses? It is a story of life and death- literally. Ramses’ father, seeing how the number of people called under the name of Israel was increasing, ordered that the first born of all the Hebrews were to be drowned. Their number was so great that it was proving to be an economic disaster to maintain them. But maintain them he had to do because they were the workers who would advance the projects of Pharaoh. He was the Pharaoh who had forgotten the name of Joseph. Moses’ mother put him in a basket and floated him to where Pharaoh’s daughter was. She took the baby as her own and raised him to be a prince of Egypt. The day came, however, when Moses saw the injustice put upon the Hebrews by the Egyptian taskmasters. He lashed out at one of them and killed him. For this he was banished into the wilderness from which he would return years later. After having an encounter with God in the burning bush, Moses accepts the call to lead the nation of Israel out of bondage and back to the land promised to them as God had declared to Abraham. Ramses, who was now Pharaoh upon the death of his father, would refuse to let them go. Finally, after ten plagues upon the land of Egypt and her people, the Hebrews were sent out. The plague which broke the Pharaoh’s back was when the first born of all of Egypt were killed upon the decree of God. It would seem that history would repeat itself in a manner of speaking. It was the “death of the firstborn males” which provided justice and effected the release of Israel from Egypt. In that regard, Moses was seen as a savior by the people.

It is against this backdrop of history that we can hear this word from God to Zechariah recorded in verse 10 of chapter 12. It is possible that this oracle was given in the season of Passover when the story of Israel’s deliverance was remembered in the Seder Feast. From the death of the firstborn of Israel in the story of Moses’ birth and deliverance by water to the death of the firstborn of Egypt and the deliverance of Israel out of Egyptian bondage by the Spirit of God, the angst of grief over the loss of a firstborn son was felt. It was no light thing which had happened in that forty years of Moses’ and Israel’s life. It would not be the last time there would be the loss of a firstborn son in the history of Israel. The firstborn son of David and Bathsheba would also die. Their story represents the call of justice as well with the “sacrifice” of that son. The “sacrifice,” however, was the one David made as he grasped the depravity of his own sin against God and the people of the nation of Israel with his affair and ordering the murder of her husband. David grieved mightily. The history of such things was significant for the nation of Israel. They felt it and feared it happening again. We might be able to imagine why the thought of such a death would have been inconceivable to the Jews as they considered the coming of Messiah. Inconceivable or not, Messiah came as the man Jesus of Nazareth. The cycle of “firstborn” of Abraham, Zechariah and Elisabeth and then Mary is another thread woven into the fabric of the salvation story of Egypt. In Christ, it becomes our story as well, as Christians are called the “first fruits” consecrated by the blood of the Lamb of God who came to take away the sting of death for the sins of the world. He, too, was sacrificed on the cross for the sake of all who would believe. There is much to experience as we read “They will grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

Mighty ones of God, we dare not be so cavalier about the gift of our salvation. There is a “life and death” history in our own story of how we have been saved. We know the what which God believed for in us. We know the why, the how, the when and the where of the gospel. We also know the same in our own lives which brought us up out of the water to become the adopted children of the Lord our God. It is that same God who poured out His Spirit upon all those who would believe in the life, death and resurrection of His firstborn and only begotten Son as Jesus had asked Him to do. Are we vitally and keenly aware of our thread in the tapestry of the story of God’s great love for His people? Do we call to mind the angst of it? Does it define our sense of celebration in the gift we have received to eternal life with God who has restored us from the grave and given us new life? There is “that Day” which is coming when the fullness of that story begun so long ago will be revealed. Some will see it and rejoice. Many will not accept it at all. Their response will be as it was in Egypt all those years ago for those who lost their firstborn- weeping, wailing, cursing in the shadows of death. Mighty ones, don’t be one of that number. Let us be committed to bring this story and revelation to many so that they will not be one of that number as well.

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.