The Coming King

Zechariah 9:9

(9) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Anyone who has ever been to church on Palm Sunday should recognize this passage. As Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem He rode on a donkey's colt. What are the chances of this happening by accident? I'd say that they were pretty slim.

Of course, one might make the argument that this happened because He wanted to fulfill the prophecy. In other words, the situation was contrived so that it would happen that way. But how was it even possible for it to happen that way? How was it sufficient to simply say that "the Lord has need of it" when the owner of the colt asked what the disciples were doing? I would maintain that it was God's providence in guiding the whole thing.

This is the God who is in heaven. This is the God who created everything and who rules over all things. The God who can make prophecy come true hundreds of years after it was recorded. That is the God I want to worship.

What We Do

Zechariah 7:5-6

(5) "Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

(6) And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

This reminds me of a passage in the New Testament as well:

1 Corinthians 10:27-31

(27) If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

(28) But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience--

(29) I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience?

(30) If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

(31) So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

The context of the New Testament passage is a bit different because it is talking about matters of conscience. However, the point is that whatever we do it is to be for the glory of God. That should be the overriding focus of our lives.

This passage in Zechariah really condemns those who were not living with proper motives. It's easy to take care of the externals. Going to church each week is pretty easy if you get into the habit. Tithing is not difficult if you change your attitude a little bit. However, doing these things for God is a lot harder.

I think of this with my diet and exercise. I fought a long battle with gluttony and laziness. Yet through it all it was easy to get caught up in doing it for myself. God would get the credit for helping me, but I really was just glad to be losing weight and getting more fit. I still struggle with that.

Ultimately our fasts should be for God's glory. We may reap benefits from them, but they need to be God-centered. I take fasting to go beyond just food as well. It could be abstaining from anything good in the pursuit of Someone better.

Who do you fast for?

Creating the Temple

Zechariah 6:12

(12) And say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.

This passage should take us back to Jeremiah. Whenever we see "Branch" mentioned we should think of the coming Messiah as predicted by the prophets and as fulfilled in Christ. Zechariah is giving us a prophecy of the coming Messiah and what He will do.

So what I wonder is whether this has to do with a literal temple that is coming, or if this refers to the temple at the very end where everyone will come and worship. I have a hard time seeing how the future temple relates to Israel as they are understood in the Old Testament sense. Instead, I see it as a place of worship for everyone who is in Christ.

I don't have any particularly profound applications or truths to apply from my reading today, so all you get are these musings. I'd be interested to read thoughts on this around the blogosphere.

Clean Garments

Zechariah 3:1-5

(1) Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

(2) And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"

(3) Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.

(4) And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."

(5) And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by.

This passage is just pregnant with meaning for us who are on this side of the cross. The next time you read through the Old Testament and you feel like you're really slogging through Leviticus, I hope that this passage helps you to see the point. Joshua's garments had excrement on them. This would make the high priest unable to offer sacrifices.

Similarly, we naturally stand before God this way. We cannot clean ourselves up. I think of how my 2 year-old tries to clean himself. All he does is smear peanut butter around his face. It takes mom or dad with a wet washcloth to get him really clean.

That is how God's grace works in our lives. There is nothing we can do on our own. Yet God in His grace chose to clothe us with clean garments. Now we can stand before Him. If you are in Christ have you considered this? If you are not in Christ, please consider your attempts to clean up your own life. Are you perfect yet? If not, there is still work left to do and only Christ can do it.

Reverence

Zechariah 2:13

(13) Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

This verse comes at the end of a vision about the Lord's judgment. The vision shows just how powerful He is and what He is able to do. This verse is a logical consequence of seeing the Lord's power.

How are you doing with this command? As for me, I could improve on this. I am great at doing, but not so much at being silent. The closest I come is when I go running in the mornings. Even then my mind wanders to trivial things like today's football game or some other matter.

The Lord has indeed roused Himself from His holy dwelling. He became a man, lived a perfect life, and died as an atonement for our sin. That should certainly lead to praise and to holy living, but it should also lead to quiet reverence at His majesty, amen?

He is Faithful

Zechariah 1:6

(6) But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us."

The Lord is faithful. Chris Tomlin (among others) sings a great song about this. The chorus goes like this:

Forever You are faithful,
Forever You are strong,
Forever You are with us,
Forever...Forever

Isn't that beautiful? Whenever I hear that song I am of course reminded of God's covenant faithfulness. I'm reminded of how He has brought me through so many self-inflicted storms. I'm reminded of the work He has done in my life and it fills my heart with praise.

However, this verse touches on another side of God's faithfulness that we may not usually consider. He is not just a grandfather in the sky who winks at iniquity. He is also faithful to do what He says He will do to those who disobey Him. Israel learned about this the hard way.

The good news for us is that we are on the other side of the cross. God has taken out all of His just wrath on His Son if we will accept this gift. Otherwise, He is going to remember our iniquity and it won't be pretty.