That Day

Malachi 4:1-2

(1) "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

(2) But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

This is at the end of the English Old Testament. The Hebrew Old Testament actually ended with Chronicles, but this is still a high note for us to end on. Here we see that there is judgment coming, but that there is a way out of it. I take the "sun of righteousness" to refer to Christ.

Whose name do you fear? Your boss? Your spouse? Your parents? It is of course good to treat folks with respect. Ultimately we need to fear the name of the Lord. Is that where your focus is? If not, what is stopping you?

Building Sandcastles

Malachi 1:4
(4) If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'"

When I read this I think of my daughter building a sandcastle a little too close to the ocean. She can get all kinds of sand piled up. Yet nothing will stand against the waves when they come in. No matter how hard she tries the ocean always wins.

It's the same way when we fight against God. He is always going to win in the end. We may build up what He wants to be torn down and in the end He will tear it down. The verses before this passage talk about how God loved Jacob, but He hated Esau. This does not refer to emotions in the sense we would usually take for "love" and "hate," but refers to preference.

This is a reminder to me of what an incredible privilege it is to be a chosen child of God. If you are His, rejoice in that fact. As we come off the time for national Thanksgiving, this is something for which we all should be particularly thankful.

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.