Sunday, February 19, 2017
Zechariah 8:23
Sunday, February 19, 2017 |
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
For further study - Zechariah 8:13-23
Zechariah, along with Haggai and Malachi, were the three prophets who had a ministry of foretelling the future, actually pre-writing history, about 2,500 years ago after the Babylonian Captivity.
You might remember that all of prophecy has either a short-term fulfillment and/or a long-term fulfillment. By that I mean that prophecy given by the ancient Jewish prophets would be fulfilled in the near future as compared to a last days prophecy that will be fulfilled near the time of the Second Coming of Christ.
This is the case with Zechariah, his prophetic ministry was effective in his day as he exhorted the Jews who had returned from the Babylonian Captivity to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
However, as in the case of our devotional reading for today, Zechariah was writing about a time yet future. This would be a time during his Kingdom period of 1,000 years, which indeed is yet future.
The Lord reveals to Zechariah that the Jews will be scattered among the heathen, the nations of this world, for a period of time. This has been the case since the Jews were scattered to the four corners of the earth, verse 13, because of their disobedience to the Lord.
This scattering of the Jews happened in 70AD. Verses 15-19 reveal to us that the Lord will gather these Jews back into Jerusalem, and Israel, for the purpose of becoming their Messiah. The Lord will be their God, and the Jews, His people.
In these verses, verses 15-19, the Lord reveals to the Jews how they will then live. By the way, we Christians might well benefit from the message to the Jews for daily living as we appropriate these instructions for our daily living as well, verses 16-17. This is prophecy made very practical.
Verses 20-23 tell us of the time when Jesus rules and reigns from His Temple in Jerusalem, Zechariah 6:12-13, and what will happen among the nations of the world at that time. People will actually search out Jews and go with them, because they will have heard that God is with them, verse 23.
Of course the Jews will lead these from among the nations, up to Jerusalem, where Jesus will be ruling and reigning from the Temple. Jerusalem has always been and always will be the center of the earth, Ezekiel 5:5.
God has a plan for the Jews in the future, He is not finished with His chosen people. The Church, Christians, have not replaced the "people of His plan", the Jewish people.
Everything that is happening among the Jewish people today is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank You, Lord, for Your Word that reveals Your plan for the future and the people of the future.