Seek First the Kingdom of God

31 “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:31-33 ESV

Like many others, this command was delivered during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He was letting His Hebrew audience know that, with His arrival, things were about to change. Throughout His sermon, He emphasized the Mosaic Law to accentuate the kind of righteousness God demanded from His chosen people. He had already told them He had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” – Matthew 5:17-19 NLT

Jesus was communicating a new and improved version of righteousness based not on human effort but on the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. True citizens of God’s kingdom would live according to His laws willingly and obediently, and their desire to obey would emanate from the heart, not the head. He told the Samaritan woman, “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24 NLT).

Through the prophets, God had promised to provide His chosen people with new hearts so that they might worship Him in spirit and truth.

“And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.” – Ezekiel 11:19-20 NLT

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” – Ezekiel 26:26 NLT

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” – Jeremiah 31:33 NLT

This new covenant would require a new way of living made possible by a new source of power. The Holy Spirit would provide the life-transforming power that allowed disciples to obey God’s commands and live according to His will. Jesus had come to disrupt the status quo. Adherence to the law had never produced righteousness because that was an impossible task. The apostle Paul explained the built-in problem with trying to attain righteousness through law-keeping.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:20-22 NLT

Jesus explained that He was offering something new and better. The law could only expose sin, not eradicate it. But Jesus came to provide a permanent solution to mankind’s sin problem. And that solution was not a slightly improved version of the old one. Jesus made that point clear when He compared the new covenant with the old one.

“No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” – Luke 5:36-39 NLT

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus provided a glimpse into the new Kingdom He had come to establish. It would be radically different than the one the Jews expected the Messiah to bring. His kingdom would not be about palaces, power, armies, and the overthrow of Israel’s enemies. Jesus had not come to be the deliverer who would ride into Jerusalem on a white horse and vanquish the dreaded Romans. For centuries, the Israelites had longed and waited for the Messiah who would be the Warrior King and restore them to power and prominence. Even Jesus’ disciples held on to their long-held expectations that the Messiah would be a new-and-improved David who would put Israel back on the map politically and economically. In their minds, the Messiah’s arrival would usher in a new age of prosperity, power, and global dominance. That was clearly the expectation of the mother of James and John when she boldly asked Jesus, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Matthew 20:21 NLT).

When Jesus was later brought before Pilate, the Roman governor, He was asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33 NLT). His response was short and succinct.

“My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” – John 18:36 NLT

Yet, when Jesus was asked by a Pharisee, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” (Luke 17:20 NLT), Jesus gave a seemingly contradictory answer.

“The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” – Luke 17:20-21 NLT

How can the Kingdom not be an earthly kingdom and yet be present? If the Kingdom of God is already among us, what does that mean and how are we to “seek first” this Kingdom?

When Jesus delivered this command, the people of Israel were living in a time of great oppression, suffering under the iron fist of Rome. These descendants of Abram were powerless, king-less, and helpless to do anything about their circumstances. Their greatest concern was for their next meal. They were ruled by the tyranny of the urgent and had lost sight of their position as God’s chosen people. They had ceased to be Kingdom People and lived like all the other nations around them. They worried and fretted over material things. Their religious practices were done for the sake of men, not God. They were outwardly religious but inwardly spiritually bankrupt. They had failed to live as a set-apart people. Their ancestors had been plagued by sin and ruled by a spirit of rebelliousness and ended up in captivity. Even when they later returned to the land, they continued to struggle with a love affair with this world, refusing to live under God’s command and according to His rules. So by the time Jesus showed up on the scene, they were a weary and demoralized people.

They were spiritually and physically impoverished, constantly wondering if their sins were truly forgiven and whether they would be able to afford the next meal. They lived with constant guilt over their sinfulness and a gnawing frustration with their status as second-class citizens. They were starving to death both physically and spiritually. That is why one of the Beatitudes Jesus used to open His Sermon on the Mount was “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6 ESV).

The apostle Paul later expanded on this idea, providing much-needed clarification to Jesus’ words.

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. – Romans 14:17 NLT 

And that is exactly what Jesus told His audience that day.

“I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25 NLT

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” – Matthew 6:31-33 NLT

Paul described the Kingdom of God as “living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Jesus associated it with living righteously. Neither emphasized material wealth, earthly power, or physical needs. So, what did Jesus mean when He said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously” (Matthew 6:33 NLT)? The apostle Paul provides an answer to that question.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. – Colossians 3:1-4 NLT

Paul encouraged those he discipled to set their sights on the realities of heaven. He wanted them to understand that Jesus had returned to His Father’s side in glory and was destined to return. He wanted them to remember that the Father and the Son were orchestrating the grand redemptive plan that would usher in Christ’s future earthly Kingdom. This world was not to be their home or the focus of all their cares and concerns. When Paul commanded them to think about the things of heaven, he wasn’t suggesting that they become so heavenly minded they were no earthly good. He wasn’t encouraging a form of escapism. Paul was reminding them that the true Kingdom was yet to come.

Just prior to His death, Jesus informed His disciples what was going to take place when they arrived in Jerusalem.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. – Matthew 16:21 ESV

Upon hearing this news, Peter responded, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22 ESV). He couldn’t imagine such an unexpected and unpleasant outcome because it would crush all his hopes and dreams concerning Jesus’ Messiahship. Death was not part of the plan. But Jesus knew the Kingdom He came to bring was dependent upon His death and resurrection. His Heavenly Father had a plan for reconciling the world to Himself and it could only take place through the willing sacrifice of His one and only Son.

That is why Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23 ESV). Peter had lost sight of the goal. He had taken his eyes off the prize and focused his hopes and dreams on earthly things.

As painful as Jesus’ rebuke must have been, Peter learned a great deal from it. He would later encourage his own disciples to replace their cares and concerns with confidence in the power and plan of God.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. – 1 Peter 5:6-10 NLT

To seek first His kingdom is to keep our focus on what really matters: The return of Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. The apostle John describes this future-focused lifestyle this way:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever. – 1 John 2:15-17 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Feed My Sheep

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. – John 21:15-16 ESV

This command appears to have been given to Peter alone but it has far-reaching implications for every Christ-follower. Three times during their conversation, Jesus gave the remorseful Peter a slightly different version of the same command: “Feed my sheep.” The context of this encounter is critical to understanding the full significance of Jesus’ command and its universal application to all disciples.

From the moment Peter heard that Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter had been dreading this moment. When he peered into the empty tomb, he must have experienced a growing sense of irrepressible joy at the thought that Jesus was alive and he might see Him again. But his excitement was tempered by a nagging sense of guilt over his public denials of Jesus. On the night that Jesus was arrested, Peter and the other disciples celebrated Passover with Him. During the meal, Jesus announced that one of the 12 would betray Him and Peter boldly proclaimed, “I will lay down my life for you!” (John 13:37 ESV). But Jesus responded with an equally bold prediction of His own:

“Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.” – John 13:38 ESV

That same night, as Jesus was interrogated by the high priest and the members of Sanhedrin, Peter stood yards away and fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy.

The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”  – John 18:17 ESV

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” – John 18:25 ESV

One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.  – John 18:26-27 ESV

Three times Peter was questioned about his personal relationship with Jesus. Three different individuals asked him to confirm his identity as a disciple of Jesus, and he repeatedly denied having a relationship with Jesus. The man who boldly declared his willingness to die for Jesus vehemently denied knowing Him.

“A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” – Mark 14:71 NLT

Luke records what happened next.

At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly. – Luke 22:61-62 NLT

The scene recorded in John 21:15-16 takes place after Jesus’ resurrection. He has made numerous appearances to His disciples and is preparing to return to His Father’s side in heaven. On one of those occasions, Jesus suddenly appeared in a room where the disciples were gathered behind locked doors. Their joy was great and His message was simple:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” – John 20:21-23 ESV

The next day, Peter and six of his fellow disciples were at the Sea of Galilee. Peter. a former fisherman, decided to spend the day fishing and his companions joined him. They fished all day and into the night but caught nothing. This entire scene is reminiscent of one that occurred earlier in Peter’s relationship with Jesus. The location and some of the characters were the same. Peter and the sons of Zebedee (James and John) had spent all night fishing on the Sea of Galilee. As they cleaned their empty nets, Jesus appeared and said, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish” (Luke 5:4 ESV). The tired and disappointed fisherman responded, “Master,. we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again” (Luke 5:5 ESV). What happened next is important. 

And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. – Luke 5:6-11 ESV

Fast-forward to John 21:15-16. Jesus has risen from the dead and Peter has returned to fishing. As before, his efforts proved fruitless. There were fish in the sea but no fish in his nets. Then Jesus appeared and asked, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” (John 21:5 NLT). Jesus knew the answer to His own question but wanted Peter to disclose the futility of his efforts. When Peter responded, “No,” Jesus ordered them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. The result was eerily familiar for Peter.

So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. – John 21:6 NLT

What followed was a breakfast with their risen Lord and a conversation between Jesus and Peter. This was the disciple’s worst fear realized. He found himself alone with Jesus. The weight of his guilty conscience must have become unbearable, preventing him from fully experiencing the joy of being with Jesus. Every time Peter looked at Jesus’ face or caught a fleeting glimpse of the nail prints on His hands and feet, a sense of shame and self-loathing must have welled up within him. It is difficult to imagine just how tortured Peter must have felt each time he looked at his resurrected Master and friend.

Now, Jesus approached him one-on-one and broke the awkward silence by speaking first. What Jesus had to say to Peter speaks volumes. One might have expected Him to say something like, “I told you so” or “Well, what have you got to say for yourself?” But instead, Jesus asked Peter a series of three questions.

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” – John 21:15 ESV

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” – John 21:16 ESV

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” – John 21:17 ESV

Actually, it was one question asked three different times. That night in the garden, Peter’s inquisitors wanted him to confirm his relationship with Jesus, and three times he had denied having one. But now, Peter is being asked to publicly confess and confirm his love for Jesus. This time, the one asking the questions is the one Peter had denied.

Peter’s brash and impulsive nature had finally caught up with him. Over the years he had been with Jesus, he had made a habit of speaking his mind and trying to set himself apart from the rest of the disciples. He was naturally competitive and driven to do whatever it took to stand out from the crowd. All three of the Synoptic gospels record his pride-filled response when Jesus declared, “You will all fall away because of me this night” (Matthew 26:31 ESV). Peter had boldly proclaimed, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (John 26:33 ESV). He was declaring himself to be better than the rest. He was made of better stuff. But little did Peter know that his bold claim would be tested and he would fail miserably.

But at the heart of Jesus’ questions is the topic of love. The very first iteration of Jesus’ question compared Peter’s love with that of the other disciples. When Jesus asked, “Do you love me more than these?,” He was not asking if Peter’s love for the other disciples was greater than his love for Him. This question was designed to expose whether Peter still harbored feelings of superiority, and considered himself more committed to Jesus than his fellow disciples.

Peter had accused the rest of the disciples of lacking commitment. He predicted that they would all fall away at the first hint of trouble. But he was different. He would stay the course and remain by Jesus’ side through thick or thin, or so he thought.

But standing face to face with Jesus, all Peter could say was “Lord; you know that I love you” (John 21:15 ESV). No comparison. No competition. He was not willing to speak for or compare himself with the other disciples. All he could do was confirm his own love for his friend.

But Jesus was tying Peter’s love to obedience. Three times, in response to Peter’s declaration of love, Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” For Peter, this must have brought to mind Jesus’ earlier teachings.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” – John 14:15 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. – John 15:13-14 ESV

Jesus had called Peter to catch men, not fish (Luke 5:10). He expected Peter to follow through with his commitment to lay down his life for Him (John 13:37).  There was a subtle, yet important, point of clarification being made as Jesus discussed the nature of Peter’s love. He was not only asking if Peter’s love for Him was reciprocal but was it of the same quality or type. Was it simply phileō love – the love between two human beings or was it agapaō love – the selfless, sacrificial love expressed by God to men? Did Peter love Jesus as much as Jesus loved Him?

Jesus had laid down His life for Peter. He had personally demonstrated the very definition of love He had given to the disciples. Jesus had faithfully fulfilled His role as the Good Shepherd.

“The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” – John 10:11-12 ESV

By his actions that night in the courtyard, Peter had proven himself to be a hired hand. The wolf had come and he had fled. But now, Jesus was offering Peter an opportunity to prove his love. With each successive query, Jesus responded to Peter’s answer with a directive.

“Feed my lambs.” – John 21:15 ESV

“Tend my sheep.” – John 21:16 ESV

“Feed my sheep.” – John 21:17 ESV

In essence, Jesus was demanding that Peter prove his love for Him by loving those for whom He died. Jesus told the disciples, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16 ESV). Now, Jesus was turning the care and feeding of the flock over to Peter and his companions. If Peter wanted to prove his love for Jesus, he would have to love and care for those whom Jesus gave His life.

In His teaching on the Good Shepherd, Jesus stated, “he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:4 ESV).

In a sense, Jesus was giving Peter responsibility for shepherding and leading His flock. Peter and the other disciples would become under-shepherds, commissioned by the Good Shepherd to feed and tend His sheep. These men could express no greater love for Jesus than to care for His sheep. Jesus was leaving and He was going to turn over the care and protection of His flock to His disciples.

And Jesus revealed to Peter that his shepherding of the sheep would be costly. Peter too would end up laying down his life for the sheep. This impulsive, self-assertive man would one day find himself being led by others, like a sheep to slaughter. This somewhat poetic-sounding prophecy by Jesus was meant to reveal to Peter “by what kind of death he was to glorify God” (John 21:19 ESV).

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” – John 21:18 NLT

Peter’s life was going to be dramatically different from this point forward. He would no longer live the same self-willed, ego-driven life. He would live a long life, but one totally dedicated to the flock of Jesus Christ, and, one day, he would lay down his life for the sheep – just as Jesus did. According to the early church father, Eusebius, Peter was crucified in the mid-sixties A.D. during the purges of the Roman emperor, Nero.

But when Jesus had completed His one-on-one conversation with Peter, He ended it with the same words He had used when they first met: “Follow me.” But this time, Jesus wasn’t asking Peter to become His disciple. He was inviting Peter to follow His example of selfless, sacrificial love for the sheep. One day, when Peter fully followed Jesus’ example, he would follow Jesus to heaven.

“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” – John 14:3 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Let Your Light Shine

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:15-16 ESV

Some of Jesus’ first commands were given during His Sermon on the Mount in the early days of His earthly ministry. In His sermon, Jesus addressed a large crowd of Jews, including His disciples. His message was meant to shock and surprise His Hebrew audience, as He frequently referenced the Mosaic Law and demanded a form of righteousness that excelled that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). His words were difficult to understand and impossible to apply. His commands to exhibit a superior brand of righteousness were inconceivable to people who already found adherence to the 613 ordinances in the Mosaic Law an unachievable standard to keep. 

The Israelites in His audience knew they were the chosen people of God. In fact, they took great pride in their status as His set-apart people. Over the centuries, He had repeatedly pointed out the unique privilege they enjoyed as His covenant people.

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
    a light for the nations,
   to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.” – Isaiah 42:6-7 ESV

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” – Isaiah 49:6 ESV

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
    and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
    and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your rising. – Isaiah 60:1-3 ESV

The Jews, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, were to have been an example to the rest of the nations. They were to act as lights to the blind and to provide freedom to those living in captivity to sin. But they failed. Instead, they chose to live like the nations around them. Rather than influencing the world, they became infected by it. Instead of modeling godliness, they mirrored worldliness.

Those who gathered to listen to Jesus’ words were primarily from the working class. They were peasants, farmers, shepherds, craftsmen, fishermen, homemakers, and widows. They were looked down on by their own religious leaders, who viewed them as irreligious law-breakers whose unrighteous behavior forestalled the Messiah’s coming. Yet, Jesus demanded more from them, not less. He reminded them of their status as God-ordained world influencers. Jesus didn’t say, “You should be the light of the world;” He said “You are!” (Matthew 5:14 ESV). But their radiance had dimmed because of their inability to live up to God’s exacting standards. Rather than demonstrating faith and obedience through their adherence to the Law, they treated God’s sacrificial system as a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card. They knew if they sinned, they could get forgiveness. But to make matters worse, the nation of Israel had a track record of apostasy and spiritual adultery that God found unforgivable.

“Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
    even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols!
The heavens are shocked at such a thing
    and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
    says the Lord.  – Jeremiah 2:11-12 NLT

So, when Jesus commanded them to let their lights shine, He knew was dropping a truth bomb on His unsuspecting audience that they would both convict and confuse them. He was demanding that they come out of their period of prolonged darkness and shine as lights in a sin-cloaked world. But He knew His words would be impossible to keep without divine help. They would be no more successful at keeping this command than they had been at obeying the 613 regulations found in the Mosaic Law.

The key to keeping all the commands found in the Sermon on the Mount would be the death and resurrection of Jesus. Only by belief in His substitutionary death on the cross and His miraculous restoration to life would they be able to “shine out for all to see” (Matthew 5:16 NLT). It would be His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection that provided the means for the Jews in His audience to become the lights they were meant to be.

The apostle John, who had a front-row seat to the Sermon on the Mount, later wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5 ESV).

Jesus was the light and He came to illuminate the darkness that pervaded the hearts of men, including the chosen people of God. But John goes on to say, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:12 ESV). Many of those who heard His message that day would refuse to believe His words or accept His offer of salvation through faith in Him alone. They would continue to try to earn God’s favor through rule-keeping and sacrifice. Yet, John points out that the alternative Jesus offered was far more preferable and profitable. 

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:12 ESV

The command to be lights shining in the darkness applies to all those who have placed their faith in Christ. Light penetrates and permeates. Light illuminates and eliminates the darkness. Just as physical light has a transformative nature, so does the Light of the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12 ESV).

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have had the darkness of their lives penetrated by the Light. They have been given the Spirit of God, resident within them, to enlighten and empower them to live in such a way that their lives make a difference. But to have an illuminating impact on the world requires that the Light have its full influence. The apostle John wrote: “The darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8 NLT). This is a statement of fact. The Light of Christ shines in the lives of those who call themselves His disciples, and they have the responsibility and capability to illuminate and eliminate the darkness that pervades the world.

As light increases and spreads, darkness diminishes and fades. Yet, it would be easy to look at the world and conclude that the darkness is winning. Evil appears to be increasing. But could the problem be that we, as children of light, have allowed the darkness to overtake the light in our own lives? Are our lamps too feeble? Is our faith too small? Is our light too weak to penetrate the darkness around us? 

Paul gives us words of encouragement. “The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light” (Romans 13:12 ESV). We must live with the realization that the light wins. The darkness loses. There is a movement of God going on that is transforming the world from darkness to light. We may not be able to see it. We may not feel it. But as soon as Jesus entered the world, the light of God penetrated the darkness and began to spread. We have a responsibility to make the light of Christ our highest priority. To do so, we must refuse to love the darkness more than the light. We must choose to live as children of the light, fanning the flame of faith through regular time in the Word, fellowship with other believers, and a reliance upon the Spirit of God for strength, wisdom, and exposure of any darkness that remains in our lives. The darkness in our lives should be diminishing with each passing day. The light – the righteousness and holiness of God – should be increasing.

Everywhere we go, our lives should provide light in the darkness. Our actions should be proof of the transforming power of God made available through Jesus Christ. When Jesus commissioned Paul to take His offer of salvation to the Gentiles, He said, “I am sending you to open their eyes so that they turn  from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:17-18 ESV).

So, not only is the light in our lives to be increasing, slowly and steadily eliminating the last vestiges of darkness; but it is to be emanating from us into the darkness surrounding us.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. – 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 ESV

We have the light of God within us, and that light should be increasing in intensity and influence. It should be shining through all the cracks and flaws in our lives, revealing the power of God at work within us. When people look at us, they will still see clay jars; flawed, cracked, and seemingly without value. But they should also see God’s light shining through us and out of us to all those around us.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. – 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT

We are simply receptacles of His glory. We are the conduits of His life-changing, darkness-diminishing light. As the children’s song says, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!” But we must never forget that our ability to illuminate others and eliminate darkness is not self-produced, but a by-product of walking in the light. So, let your light (the Light of Christ) shine.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Abide In Me

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:1-5 ESV

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” – John 15:8-10 ESV

The context of this command is essential for understanding its meaning. Jesus and His disciples have departed the upper room where they shared the Passover meal together. He is resolute in His determination to keep His providentially preordained rendezvous with the cross and death prepared for Him by His Heavenly Father. But the 11 remaining disciples are still trying to get their heads around all that Jesus has revealed to them. Even as they make their way into the night, He continues to expand their understanding and prepare them for what lies ahead.

This passage is part of Jesus’ ongoing farewell discourse and provides one of the most powerful descriptions of what it means to experience eternal life with God through the Son. Jesus borrows from the familiar imagery of the vineyard to create an extended metaphor designed to convey the non-negotiable dependency His followers must have on Him. As a result of His death, burial, and resurrection, these men will no longer be independently minded followers; they will be totally reliant reflections of God’s glory as expressed through His Son.

Over three years, these men had expressed their allegiance to Jesus by choosing to follow Him and sacrifice all else on behalf of Him. They had given up their careers, left their families, exposed themselves to ridicule, gone hungry, suffered life-threatening storms at sea, traveled countless miles, and listened to more lessons than they could even remember. They were dedicated men who loved Jesus greatly. On several occasions, they had even expressed their willingness to lay down their lives for Him. But Jesus knew that the key to their continued faithfulness and fruitfulness would be through His death and resurrection. The very thing they feared the most would be the one thing that would transform their lives and transcend all their expectations of greatness and glory.

So much of what Jesus has taught His disciples has escaped them, and His continued discussions regarding His death frightened and frustrated them. They couldn’t understand why He had to die. They couldn’t bear the thought that He was going to leave them. But Jesus had told them that His death would prove to be life-giving and fruit-bearing.

“Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” – John 12:23-26 NLT

Extending this earlier discussion of death, life, and fruitfulness, Jesus declares, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 ESV). This will be the last of His “I am” statements and, with it, Jesus conveys to His disciples that everything is about to change, including their relationship with Him.

The imagery of the vine would have been very familiar to the disciples, not just because they lived in an agrarian culture where vines were ubiquitous, but because the vine was a symbol of Israel’s relationship with God. Every time they passed by the temple in Jerusalem, they would have seen the golden vines that adorned its walls. But according to the prophets, the nation of Israel, planted by God to produce abundant fruit, ended up producing wild grapes.

Let me sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes. – Isaiah 5:1-2 ESV

And Isaiah made it painfully clear that this lovingly cultivated vine that produced less-than-quality fruit represented the people of God.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
    but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
    but behold, an outcry! – Isaiah 5:7 ESV

Now, Jesus was declaring Himself to be the vine. In doing so, He let His disciples know that He had replaced Israel as the sole source of fruitfulness. He would be the fulfillment of all that Israel should have been. His life would yield abundant fruit and bring glory to God.

Israel had failed to remain faithful and refused to keep their preferred status as God’s chosen people, choosing instead to worship false gods. The prophet Jeremiah declared to them God’s displeasure.

“But I was the one who planted you,
    choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best.
    How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?” – Jeremiah 2:21 NLT

With this final “I am” statement, Jesus lets His disciples know that He is the true vine. He has been faithful and fully obedient to the will of God, the vinedresser. He had been “planted” by God with a purpose in mind: to bear much fruit. And by sacrificing His life, He would fulfill that purpose by producing a “plentiful harvest of new lives” (John 12:24 NLT).

The most amazing aspect of Jesus’ fruit-bearing ministry is the vital role His disciples would play. They would become the branches through which His life-giving, fruit-bearing ministry would flow. But it would require constant abiding on their part. The key to their role in producing fruit would be their ongoing dependence upon the vine.

The Greek word for “abide” is menō and it means “to remain, tarry, not to depart, to be held, kept, continually.”It is the same word the apostle John used in describing a true disciple’s relationship with Jesus.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. – 1 John 2:4-6 ESV

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. – 1 John 2:28-29 ESV

John associates abiding with actions. There is a symbiotic relationship between the vine and the branch characterized by closeness and interdependence. Notice his emphasis on walking as Jesus walked and practicing righteousness just as Jesus did. Abiding can sometimes be confused with resting. But while rest can be a byproduct of abiding, it is not the primary goal. A branch “rests” in the vine in that it relies on the vine to produce the grapes it bears. It doesn't strain to be fruitful. It doesn't grow weary in the process of bearing fruit.

Jesus extended an invitation to follow Him that promised rest for the weary but in the context of work.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

He extends His invitation to those who are worn out from bearing the weight of trying to produce the fruit of righteousness on their own. They have exhausted themselves with their futile attempts to earn favor with God through self-effort. But notice that Jesus invites them into a shared work relationship characterized by the yoke. Jesus’ offer of salvation is not the promise of an extended vacation or a trouble-free life. The life of a disciple is characterized by effort and demonstrated by action. Jesus told His disciples to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). They had work to do and effort would be required. But He promised to be with them.

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20 NLT

Jesus utilizes the imagery of the vine and the branch to convey this shared work relationship between Him and the disciple. The goal is fruitfulness. But fruitfulness cannot take place without fruit-bearing. In other words, the vine is dependent upon the branches to make the fruit possible. Abiding is the process by which the branch becomes productive and beneficial.

It is important to remember that Jesus is addressing the 11 disciples who have chosen to remain with Him. They are walking with Him as He makes His way across the Kidron Valley from the city of Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane. These men represent all those who have placed their faith and hope in Jesus. But Jesus is revealing that the real key to their future fruitfulness and faithfulness will be the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. As a result of His coming death, resurrection, and ascension, they will find themselves the recipients of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He will permanently attach them to the vine, allowing them to play a vital role in the fruit-bearing plans of God.

The emphasis in this passage is on fruitfulness, not fruitlessness. It is on the vinedresser’s purpose to reap a harvest of fruit through the vine and its branches. Jesus was not threatening His disciples with a loss of salvation. He was simply conveying that their future relationship with Him would be all about fruit-bearing. To not bear fruit would be illogical and unacceptable. The very fact that He describes God as the vinedresser who “prunes” the branches so they can bear even more fruit reinforces His point.

He calls His disciples to remain or abide in Him.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4 NLT

This had immediate application, as the disciples faced the uncertainty of the circumstances surrounding them. Jesus knew that the next few hours were going to be trying and He was calling them to remain faithful and to continue believing in who He was. In a sense, they were about to be pruned, as God cut away all their preconceived notions regarding the Messiah. In just a matter of hours, all their lofty hopes and aspirations that Jesus would establish His Kingdom on earth would be shattered. But Jesus pleads with them to remain.

From the other gospel accounts, we know that the disciples would end up deserting Jesus. When the authorities came to arrest Jesus, they fled into the night. But there is a sense in which they remained. They stayed nearby. They stayed together. They maintained a faint flicker of hope as they faced an unknown and uncertain future.

But Jesus was assuring them that their days of fruitfulness were not over. He would still use them to do great things. But the primary lesson they were going to learn from it all was their total reliance upon Jesus for all things. Without Him, they could do nothing. They could produce no fruit apart from Him, and their lives after His return to heaven would be marked by complete dependence upon Him.

Even today, the disciple’s life is one of waiting, working, resting, cooperating, and relying on the “Vine” to produce the fruit that the “Vinedresser” longs to see.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Keep My Commandments

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.” – John 14:15-24 ESV

In His Great Commission, Jesus told His disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NLT). Their mission was to spread the good news regarding salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Their three-year stint under Jesus’ leadership and their witness of His death, resurrection, and ascension would make their propagation of this news believable and effective. However, an important and often overlooked aspect of Jesus’ marching orders for them was His command to teach these future disciples to obey all the commands He had given them. That would require their recollection of those commands and their faithful communication of them. But none of this would matter if they failed to demand the careful observance of Jesus’ commands.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus placed a high priority on obedience and He used Himself as an example. He repeatedly discussed His willingness to obey the will of His Heavenly Father.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” – John 15:9-10 NLT

“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” – John 5:30 NLT

“For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” – John 6:38 NLT

“I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” – John 12:49-50 NLT

“He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.” – John 8:29 BSB

Jesus was an obedient Son who willingly kept all of His Father’s commands. This is not just a reference to Jesus’ faithful adherence to the Mosaic Law, something no other man had been able to do. It has to do with His obedience to the specific will the Father had ordained Him to carry out. That is why Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 ESV). He found delight in doing the will of His Father.

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” – John 4:34 ESV

His Father’s will included carrying out the preordained plan He had been given as well as listening to and communicating the messages He had received.

“I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.  And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.” – John 12:49-50 BSB

Jesus stayed in constant communication with the Father, spending long periods alone with Him in prayer. But there was another aspect to the Father’s will for Jesus that involved the ultimate act of obedience. The prophet Isaiah describes it this way:

It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. – Isaiah 53:10 ESV

The apostle Paul used similar language when he utilizing Jesus’ humble obedience to the Father’s will as an example for all believers.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:5-8 ESV

The author of Hebrews quotes Jesus as saying to His Father, “Behold, I have come to do your will” (Hebrews 10:9 ESV) and then he elaborates on the significance of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Father’s will.

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:9-10 ESV

So, when Jesus commanded His disciples to teach future disciples to obey His commands, He was really demanding their observance of His Father’s will and expecting them to use His life as a model for their behavior. He obeyed and so should they. All He taught and said came directly from His Father, so their observance of and obedience to these commands was an act of submission to the Father’s will, not His own.

Obedience doesn’t make someone a disciple, it provides evidence the Holy Spirit has made them a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). He has indwelled them and reproduced His fruit through them (Galatians 5:22-23). The passion and the power to obey come from a source other than the self. This is in line with the message God delivered to the people of Israel, guaranteeing them a supernatural transformation of their wills and dispositions, so that they might obey Him.

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” – Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV

The capacity to keep the commandments of Christ comes from within and is the byproduct of the Spirit’s transformative power. So, when Jesus commands obedience, He is not demanding the impossible or expecting His disciples to live perfectly sinless lives; He is describing the natural outflow of a true disciple’s life. The apostle Peter put it this way:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. – 2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT

The disciples were to teach Christ’s commands so that everyone knew the codes of conduct He required. These commands were to be universal and applicable to all believers in every generation. No exemptions. No exceptions.

The kind of obedience the disciples were to teach was to be Christ-emulating and God-honoring. As John Piper put it, “the kind of obedience Jesus commands moves from the inside (where the value of Jesus is savored) to the outside (where the value of Jesus is shown)” (John, Piper, All That Jesus Commanded: Life According to the Gospels).

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encouraged His audience to use their actions as a form of worship to God.

“Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” – Matthew 5:16 NLT

Ultimately, the goal of obedience is not to earn favor with God but to bring Him glory by displaying our new natures and demonstrating our adoption into His family as His redeemed sons and daughters. As the Son of God, Jesus held a deep place in His heart for His Father. His greatest joy was to bring glory to His Father by carrying out His will. In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus told His Father, “I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4 NLT). After His death and resurrection, Jesus expected His disciples to carry on His ministry of reconciling a lost world to God, but He also expected them to glorify God by observing all that He commanded them to do.

Obedience. Faithfulness. Christ-likeness. Spirit-filled living. It all brings glory to the Father by emulating the life of the Son.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” – Matthew 16:24-26 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” – Luke 9:24-26 ESV

24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” – John 12:24-26 ESV

Jesus told His followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19 ESV). The phrase “make disciples” comes from the single Greek verb mathēteuō. which can also be translated as “to teach, instruct, or to disciple.” Jesus was not expecting His followers to literally “make” or manufacture disciples but to teach all who chose to accept His message of salvation. That is why Jesus went on to instruct His disciples to teach those individuals all the commands He had spoken in His earthly ministry.

The 12 men whom Jesus called were commonly referred to as His “disciples,” from a related Greek word, mathētēs, which is a noun and describes “a learner” or “pupil.” James, Andrew, Peter, John, and all the others had accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow Him.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. – Matthew 4:18-22 ESV

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. – Luke 5:27-28 ESV

At a word from Jesus, these men willingly abandoned their former lives and committed themselves to becoming His disciples or students. They each made the fateful decision to spend their lives learning from this itinerant Rabbi named Jesus. They knew little about Him or His ministry but were willing to walk away from their families, friends, and their primary means of livelihood just to hear what He had to say.

In one sense, a disciple is a follower, but for Jesus, following was not enough. He expected His disciples to learn and grow. During His earthly ministry, Jesus had hundreds, if not thousands, of followers. They were attracted by His miracles and enamored with His teachings. But as time went on, the lessons Jesus delivered became increasingly more complex and difficult to understand. As the time of His death drew closer, the more intense and seemingly obscure his teachings became. At one point, He told His followers, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:35, 38 ESV). The Jewish religious leaders in the crowd took exception with His claim to have come down from heaven, stating, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:42 ESV). They were following Him but were unreceptive to His teaching.

Discerning their unbelief, Jesus upped the ante and proclaimed, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51 ESV). This rather cryptic and confusing comment left the religious leaders further perplexed and put out. Jesus went on to talk about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, imagery that repulsed His critics and confused His disciples. One of the 12 responded, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60 ESV). But rather than rebuking His disciples, Jesus explained that His words were “spirit and life” (John 6:63 ESV). There were things they did not yet understand and their views of Him were clouded by false expectations and faulty concepts concerning His mission. They believed Him to be the Messiah but were confused by the nature of His ministry and messages. He was not acting like a Messiah. His ministry lacked the hallmarks of a revolutionary, Rome-conquering mission that would put the kingdom of Israel back on the map. Jesus knew that some of His “followers” were having second thoughts and said, “There are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:64 ESV). The 12 remained by His side, but “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66 ESV).

Following Jesus requires commitment. It entails a willingness to listen, learn, and grow even when the lessons make no sense or the circumstances surrounding His calling don’t turn out as expected. Jesus later used a parable to describe the fickle nature of those who follow Him but eventually turn away. He spoke of four different types of soil on which the “seed” of the gospel falls.

“The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” – Matthew 16:20-21 NLT

Failure to establish roots results in no nourishment. The seed sprouts but there are no nutrients to feed and foster growth. Roots imply commitment and a desire to grow. It is a picture of reliance upon the life-giving nature of Jesus’ message. He later told His disciples, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5 NLT).

Jesus went on to describe a second type of soil that initially appears to benefit from the sowing of the seed but produces no fruit.

“The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” – Matthew 16:22 NLT

Faithful-looking followers can end up being fickle and fruitless. Their initial enthusiasm for the gospel can wain as the distractions of life increase and Christ’s call to commitment becomes more difficult. But according to Jesus, true disciples produce fruit.

“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” – John 15:8 NLT

Jesus would later tell His 12 disciples, “I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name” (John 15:16 NLT). That is what it means to make disciples. The goal is fruitfulness and faithfulness, not simply a growing number of followers. Disciples are committed. Disciples continue to learn. Disciples keep abiding in Christ even when the going gets tough and the trials of life make it difficult to hold on.

Being a disciple of Christ is not easy. That is why Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). It requires sacrifice, self-denial, and the daily putting to death of the old self. Paul put it this way:

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 NLT

He told the disciples in the local church in Galatia that their lives should bear the fruit of the Spirit, but to do so they would need to recognize that their former sinful natures had been crucified with Christ on the cross.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. – Galatians 5:24 NLT

After Jesus' resurrection and ascension, the disciples would grow to understand that their decision to follow Jesus must be accompanied by a willingness to commit to die to self and live for Christ. But as they lived, they would face the very real possibility of dying on His behalf. This is something Jesus warned them about.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” – John 12:24-26 ESV

During His days on earth, Jesus repeatedly foreshadowed the days when His disciples would suffer as He did, facing ridicule and rejection but with the knowledge that their reward in heaven would be great.

“What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.” – Luke 6:22-23 NLT

Most of the Old Testament prophets delivered their messages to unrepentant audiences who not only refused to listen and learn but chose to kill the messenger. Yet these men carried out their assignments obediently and resolutely, even when facing the threat of martyrdom.

Discipleship requires commitment and a willingness to walk a path that is often unpleasant and unattractive to most people. It can be a lonely experience because few are willing to pass that way. There’s an old adage that states, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” But followers tend to give up or simply get out of Dodge when the going gets tough. When the heat gets turned up, they head for the exits.  Jesus described the path of discipleship as a “narrow way” that is rife with difficulties but that leads to life.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14 NLT

A more contemporary and equally familiar adage comes to mind: No pain, no gain. While there is a cost to discipleship, it is well worth any sacrifice we might have to make. Jesus made this point clear when He addressed a somewhat boastful pronouncement from Peter. The disciples had just witnessed Jesus’ interaction with a young man who wanted to know what he needed to do to gain eternal life. Jesus, knowing that the young man was wealthy, stated, “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21 NLT). Hearing Jesus’ words, “the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (Mark 10:22 NLT).

Perplexed by this exchange, Peter spoke up and self-righteously declared, “We’ve given up everything to follow you” (Mark 10:28 NLT). Peter had watched the wealthy young man let material possessions keep him from following Jesus and he wanted to remind the LORD that he had sold out to be a Christ follower. But while Jesus agreed, He gave Peter a powerful lesson in spiritual economics, proclaiming that Peter’s return on investment would be greater than he could ever imagine. Whatever he sacrificed in this life would be repaid in full in this life and in the life to come.

“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.” – Mark 10:29-30 NLT

Peter and the rest of the disciples were now part of a much larger family consisting of people from all walks of life who shared a mutual relationship with God as their Father. And, one day, they would all enjoy the ultimate reward of eternal life and unbroken fellowship with their Savior and their Heavenly Father.

Discipleship is costly but priceless in terms of its long-term benefits.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A New Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:34-40 ESV

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:31-35 ESV

Jesus issued many commands during His earthly ministry, so the question becomes, which of these commands was he referring to when He said, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:20 NLT). The other question is whether these commands were meant for non-believers. In the Matthew 28 passage, Jesus clearly commands His disciples to “make disciples of all the nations,” indicating that the gospel message was intended to be shared with those outside of the nation of Israel. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14 ESV). His substitutionary death was on behalf of all humanity, not just the Jews. Yes, He was their Messiah but He was also “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42 ESV).

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. – 1 John 4:13-14 ESV

Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples of all the nations but His commandments were to be taught to all those who placed their faith in Him as their Savior and Lord. So, it would appear that the commandments Jesus wanted to be taught were intended for His followers alone. They were for believers, not unbelievers. This view helps explain the rather perplexing language He used in His Sermon on the Mount.

Addressed to a predominantly Jewish audience, this lengthy message contained repeated references to the Mosaic Law and Jesus affirmed that He had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. He told them, “Not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18 ESV).

“Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:19-20 ESV

Then Jesus dropped a bombshell on His Hebrew audience, telling them, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 ESV). This idea must have stunned the crowd because they considered the scribes and Pharisees to be the spiritual superstars of Israel. They were the religious elite whose obedience to the Law was unquestionable and irreplicable. No one could live up to their standard of righteousness and, yet, Jesus was demanding that the average Jew do so if they hoped to enter the kingdom of heaven.

But Jesus wasn’t done. He went on to describe the old Mosaic Law in new terms.

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” – Matthew 5:21-22 NLT

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:27-28 NLT

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:43-45 NLT

Jesus was upping the ante but He wasn’t adding to the Law; He was simply explaining the depth of its meaning. The Law was never about a set of rules to be obeyed; it was about the lifestyle and habits of those whose hearts belong to God. Rules don’t produce righteousness. Adherence to a set of regulations can never make anyone right with God. This is something the apostle Paul, a former Pharisee himself, understood about the Law.

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:19-20 NLT

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. – Romans 8:3-4 NLT

So, when Jesus addressed His audience and explained the true meaning of the Law, He put the hope of righteousness out of reach for them. He set the requirements for entering the kingdom of heaven so high that it became unattainable. But Jesus wasn’t eliminating any hope of attaining a right standing with God; He was simply preparing to seek by a different means. Men cannot save themselves. Good works can’t produce righteousness. Obedience to the Law doesn’t earn anyone favor with God. That is why God told the rebellious people of Israel, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations” (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT).

The commands that Jesus expects His disciples to obey can only be kept through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples they would receive a “power from on high” (Luke 24:49). He spoke of the Holy Spirit whom He would send to empower, guide, and instruct them after His departure.

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” – John 14:15-17 NLT

Jesus knew that obedience to His commands would only be possible through faith in Him and with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus told His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:3435 ESV). What made this commandment “new” was its emphasis on a kind of love that replicated that of Jesus. It was to be a selfless, sacrificial, lay-it-all-in-the-line form of love that was only possible with the help of God’s Spirit. Jesus demanded that His followers love one another but He provided them with the means for doing so.

When the self-righteous, law-abiding Pharisees asked Jesus to name the most important of the 613 laws in the mitzvot or Mosaic Code, Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37 ESV). Then He added, “This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:38 ESV). This answer must have pleased the Pharisees because they believed they had faithfully kept that commandment. But Jesus added an addendum to His statement that quickly burst their bubble and deflated their pride.

“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:39-40 ESV

He knew the Pharisees were arrogant, self-promoting attention seekers who looked down their noses at anyone outside their elite clique of self-proclaimed law-keepers. Jesus considered the Pharisees to be corrupt, prideful, and selfish. They were more concerned with their own privilege and position than with helping others.

But Jesus demanded that His followers exhibit a selfless kind of love that emulated His love for them. Jesus declared Himself to be the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:15). The apostle John picked up on this theme when He wrote, “By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16 BSB). The apostle Paul echoed this same sentiment when writing to the believers in Ephesus.

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2 NLT

In his first epistle, John expanded on this life of love that Jesus commanded His disciples to live.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. – 1 John 4:9-12 NLT

This kind of love can be faked but never replicated. It can only be produced by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and, according to Jesus, it will be the primary evidence of true discipleship (John 13:35). Not only that but failure to love our brothers and sisters will negate any claim that we love God.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. – 1 John 4:20-21 NLT

This “new” commandment emphasized the importance of love in God’s kingdom. That is why Jesus said love for God and love for others were the two greatest commandments, upon which “the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based” (Matthew 22:40 NLT). As the Law clearly stated, love for God was non-negotiable.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV

But Jesus was demanding and commanding a second expression of love for God – that of loving all those who bear His name and share a common faith in His Son. It is that kind of love that will give evidence of the Spirit’s presence and proof of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Commands of Christ

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

This post begins a new series on the many commands Jesus gave His disciples and, by extension, His future followers during His earthly ministry. In the last conversation He had with His disciples before His ascension, He gave them the following instructions:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8 ESV

His disciples were still reeling from the events of the last 40 days. It had all begun with His crucifixion and death, followed three days later by the shocking and unbelievable news that He had risen from the dead. Some of His female followers were the first to discover the news of the empty tomb and report it the 11 disciples.

So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened. – Luke 24:9-12 NLT

It was Mary Magdalene who was privileged to have the first encounter with Jesus after His resurrection. It appears that she was the first of the women to reach the tomb and when she saw the massive stone had been rolled away, she looked into the tomb and saw two angels peering back at her. Seeing that the body of Jesus was missing, she cried out, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him (John 20:13 ESV). When she turned to leave, she encountered a man whom she believed to be the caretaker of the garden in which Jesus had been buried. When the man spoke her name, Mary immediately realized it was Jesus and wrapped her arms around Him with joy and relief. But Jesus interrupted their reunion with a command:

“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. – John 20:17-18 ESV

Over the next 40 days, Jesus made numerous appearances to His disciples, providing them with comfort and encouragement as they slowly reconciled the reality of His resurrection. They found it difficult to comprehend all that had happened, even though Jesus had warned them repeatedly.

From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. – Matthew 16:21 NLT

“The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” – Luke 9:22 NLT

“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” – Mark 9:31 NLT

Yet, Mark adds that none of the disciples were able to grasp the meaning of Jesus’ words.

They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant. – Mark 9:32 NLT

It would be forty days after His resurrection that Jesus met with His disciples on the Mount of Olives and enlightened them as to the meaning of all that had taken place.

“When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.” – Luke 24:44-48 NLT

Jesus gave them a crash course in Christology, opening their eyes to the meaning of Old Testament passages that pointed to His birth, life, death, and resurrection. He was the fulfillment of all that was written in the Law and the Prophets, the culmination of God’s promise of redemption and restoration for sinful mankind. And they were to tell the world all that they learned in that brief but enlightening information dump. But there was one more thing Jesus shared with them that fateful day. Not only were they to serve as eye-witnesses to His death and resurrection, but they were to ensure that His commands were disseminated and explained to all His future followers.

“Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” – Matthew 28:20 NLT

This portion of the Great Commission often gets overlooked or ignored. Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NLT) and baptize them is very familiar and, over the centuries, has been faithfully obeyed. But has the Church been as effective in teaching the commands of Christ? Better yet, has the Church taught and demanded obedience to the commands of Christ?

During His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke “as one who had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22 ESV). When He taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, the audience was “astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority” (Luke 4:32 ESV). When they witnessed Him heal a demon-possessed man “they were all amazed and said to one another, ‘What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!’” (Luke 4:36  ESV).

The four gospel accounts contain the authoritative and life-changing messages Jesus delivered during His earthly ministry. Jesus explained the source of His words when He said, “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say” (John 12:49-50 NLT). His words were not those of a man, but the divine decrees of Almighty God.

“My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.” – John 7:16-17 NLT

“The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.” – John 14:10 BSB

“…everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:15 BSB

“I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful.” – John 8:26 NLT

Jesus didn’t just communicate the word of God, He was the Word of God. As the apostle John points out in the opening lines of his gospel account, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 ESV). To clarify the identity of this “Word,” John expands on his description.

…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. – John 1:14-18 ESV

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and that truth came in the form of His messages and teachings. He displayed the grace of God as He communicated the loving mercy of God made available through His life and, ultimately, His death and resurrection.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:6-8 NLT

It’s interesting to note that Jesus didn’t just leave His disciples with the Good News to share, but He also commanded them to teach His commandments. And not just teach them but to expect their observance. Coming to faith in Christ and enjoying the benefits of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone must be followed by an understanding of His commands and a willingness to obey them. Jesus told His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:145 ESV). He went on to tell them, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21 ESV).

The apostle John later expanded on this profound statement from Jesus, providing insight into what it means to obey the commands God delivered through His Son.

…we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. – 1 John 2:3-6 NLT

So, when Jesus prepared to depart this earth and return to His Father’s side, He commanded His disciples to take what He had taught them and share it with all those who placed their hope and trust in Him. His teachings and commands were to be shared and explained. His words recorded in the gospels were to be taken to the four corners of the world and taught to His the future sheep of His growing flock.

Over the next week and months, the number of Jesus’ commands may surprise you. The variety and volume of His commands reflect the depth of His teachings and the expectations He has for our life transformation. His commands are not arbitrary or optional. They are not a form of self-effort designed to earn favor with the Father. They are the outward expression of the inward change that has taken place in our lives because of the sanctifying work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The apostle John described it this way.

But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. – 1 John 2:5-6 NLT

To do as Jesus commanded is to live as Jesus lived – in harmony with the Father’s will and as proof of His redemption of our lives.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Holy to the LORD

16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.

20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day. – Zechariah 14:16-21 ESV

In the closing verses of his book, Zechariah describes a coming day when Jesus the Messiah will reign on earth from His throne in Jerusalem. This will be in fulfillment of the promise God made to King David.

“Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.Your throne shall be established forever.’”– 2 Samuel 7:11-16 ESV

While this promise was partially fulfilled when David’s son Solomon inherited his throne and kingdom, Jesus, “the Son of David,” will establish the everlasting Davidic Kingdom. The apostle Paul declares, “In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line” (Romans 1:3 NLT). The gospel of Matthew records Jesus’ genealogy through His stepfather Joseph, tracing His roots all the way back to David, making Him a legally certified descendant of the great king. Luke also traces the genealogy of Jesus but does so through the line of Mary, ensuring that He is of the bloodline of David.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and made his shocking announcement about God’s plan for her, he reaffirmed the promise God made to David.

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” – Luke 1:31-33 ESV

Jesus will be “the King, the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 14:16 ESV) who will receive worship from all the nations that survive the great final battle. Zechariah recorded Yahweh’s earlier promise concerning this great day.

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing.” – Zechariah 8:20-22 NLT

This picture of worldwide peace and prosperity under Messiah’s reign was a common theme for Isaiah as well.

In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be the highest of all—
the most important place on earth.
It will be raised above the other hills,
and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.
People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;
his word will go out from Jerusalem.
The Lord will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore.– Isaiah 2:2-4 NLT

Your eyes will shine,
and your heart will thrill with joy,
for merchants from around the world will come to you.
They will bring you the wealth of many lands.
Vast caravans of camels will converge on you,
the camels of Midian and Ephah.
The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense
and will come worshiping the Lord.
The flocks of Kedar will be given to you,
and the rams of Nebaioth will be brought for my altars.
I will accept their offerings,
and I will make my Temple glorious.– Isaiah 60:5-7 NLT

Zechariah describes the Gentile nations taking part in the annual feasts of Israel, particularly the Feast of Booths. This news must have surprised Zechariah because observance of the feasts and festivals had always been reserved for the chosen people of God. The Feast of Booths was an annual commemoration of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites after their deliverance from Egypt. The details of this feast are provided in the Book of Leviticus.

“And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”– Leviticus 23:40-43 ESV

The Jews associated the Feast of Booths with the coming of Messiah and the establishment of His Kingdom. This is evident in Peter’s response to seeing Jesus in His transfigured form accompanied by Elijah and Moses. He believed this spectacular event to be a sign of the Kingdom’s coming, and responded, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Luke 9:33 NLT). The text states that Peter spoke without knowing what he was saying. He was completely unaware that his words were prophetic.

But the worship of Christ in His Millennial Kingdom will be voluntary and not coerced. The nations will choose to journey to Jerusalem to worship and seek His favor. But all those who refuse to honor Him as King and participate in the celebration of the Feast of Booths will suffer the consequences.

…the Lord will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go.  Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. – Zechariah 14:18-19 NLT

The psalmist wrote of this coming day when the nations will have to willingly pledge allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Now then, you kings, act wisely!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
Serve the Lord with reverent fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry,
and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—
for his anger flares up in an instant.
But what joy for all who take refuge in him!– Psalm 2:10-12 NLT

Drought, famine, and plagues symbolize the withholding of spiritual blessings. The nations of the earth depend upon rain for their crops to grow. When it is withheld, hunger, thirst, and death are the necessary consequences. For the Egyptians, rain was less of a necessity because of the abundant water supplied by the Nile. So, their punishment would be plagues that destroyed their crops and polluted their water supply, just as God had done in the days of Moses and the exodus.

Failure to worship the Messiah will be costly in those days. But these punishments will have a purpose; they are intended to produce a hunger and thirst for the things of God. The prophet Isaiah records the LORD’s plea for all who thirst to come to Him.

“Is anyone thirsty?
    Come and drink—
    even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
    it’s all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
    Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
    You will enjoy the finest food.

“Come to me with your ears wide open.
    Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
    I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
See how I used him to display my power among the peoples.
    I made him a leader among the nations.
You also will command nations you do not know,
    and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.” – Isaiah 55:1-5 NLT

This invitation to come and eat was issued by Jesus Himself on the final day of the Feast of Booths. John records it in his gospel account.

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand.…On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” – John 7:1-2, 37-38 ESV

The withholding of rain and the sending of plagues will be intended to produce hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus spoke of this in His Sermon on the Mount.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – Matthew 5:6 ESV

Jesus would later proclaim, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:34 BSB). In His Millennial Kingdom, He will remain the source of all sustenance but everyone will have to decide to seek Him. In the Book of Revelation, John records the incredible benefits of honoring Jesus as King and Lord.

“They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
    they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
For the Lamb on the throne
    will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
    And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” – Revelation 7:16-17 NLT

The closing verses of the Book of Zechariah declare that Christ’s Millennial Kingdom will be marked by holiness. Everything and everyone will be set apart for God’s glory, from the bells on the horse’s bridle to the pots used for cooking in the Temple. The holiness of the Messiah will permeate every aspect of life, transforming all that was once considered common into that which is consecrated for God. At one time, the priests had been responsible for differentiating between the common and the holy.

“They will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, what is ceremonially clean and unclean.” – Ezekiel 44:23 NLT

In the Millennial Kingdom, that aspect of their role will no longer be necessary. The presence of the Messiah will eliminate the need for differentiation. As a final emphasis on the transformative nature of Christ’s coming Kingdom, Yahweh states that no Canaanites will be “in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day” (Zechariah 14:21 ESV). The Hebrew word translated “traders” is kᵊnaʿănî and while it can refer to a “merchant,” it is most commonly translated as “Canaanite.” The Canaanites were perennial enemies of Israel and came to represent all that was wicked and reprehensible to Yahweh. It became an all-inclusive term used to speak of the enemies of God. So, when God states that no Canaanite will enter the house of the LORD of Hosts on that day, it may simply mean that no unclean or unrepentant person

“No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.” – Ezekiel 44:9 BSB

But there may be more to this statement than meets the eye. It makes even more sense to consider that this verse is a promise that no foreigner will ever enter the Temple to desecrate and destroy it again. Never again will “Canaanites” like the Babylonians or Romans invade the city of Jerusalem and profane God’s holiness with their presence. The Messiah will preserve and protect the holiness of His Father and the sanctity of His house.

As Zechariah completed his book and considered the unfinished work of completing the Temple, he must have been encouraged by all he had seen and heard. Yahweh was in control and had a plan that was far greater than anything Zechariah could have ever imagined. The future of Israel was secure because Israel’s God was sovereign. The days ahead would be difficult but the Yahweh would be with them and had His best in store for them.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The LORD Our God Reigns

12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

13 And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.” – Zechariah 14:12-15 ESV

Verse 3 states, “The LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3 ESV). Verse 12 picks up the description of this battle, providing graphic but difficult-to-understand details of the assault on Jerusalem and its outcome. This will be a literal battle between men and the heavenly forces led by the returned Messiah. It will involve weapons of conventional warfare but will also include supernatural displays of the Messiah’s power in the form of devastating plagues that melt the skin from men’s bones and cause their eyes and tongues to disintegrate. Some have conjectured that this is a description of the use of chemical or nuclear weapons, but the text attributes it to “the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples” (Zechariah 14:12 ESV).

This future battle will involve both human and heavenly forces, making it more than a contest between men. This epic conflict will pit the armies of this world, led by the Antichrist, against the forces of God Almighty under the leadership of His Son the Messiah. The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of this future event, providing ample evidence that it will be a battle between the forces of good and evil. In his vision, Ezekiel records the words of God addressing a confederation of armies aligned against Jerusalem and His chosen people.

“After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them.You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.” – Ezekiel 38:8-9 ESV

The people of Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, and Put form an alliance and muster their armies under the leadership of Gog, the prince who rules over the nations. As so many others have attempted to do over the centuries, this coalition of nations will attempt to destroy the people of God and their holy city of Jerusalem.

“You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations.” – Ezekiel 38:9-11 ESV

At this point in history, the Israelites will be living in peace and prosperity, having been gathered from the far corners of the world by the LORD. But Yahweh will sovereignly ordain this final assault by the enemies of Israel, ordering them to advance so that He might display His glory and vindicate His holiness through their destruction.

“On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.” – Ezekiel 38:14-16 ESV

Using contemporary terminology that would resonate with people living in an ancient culture, Yahweh describes a conventional war featuring antiquated weaponry and soldiers fighting on horseback. But the weapons Yahweh brings to bear are anything but traditional or conventional.

“On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother.With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur.” – Ezekiel 38:19-22 ESV

Yahweh provided Zechariah with further details of the divine and extraordinary battle plan He will use to defeat the enemy forces.

“And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.…This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.” – Zechariah 14:12, 15 ESV

The outcome of this conflict will never be in question. The enemy forces will stand no chance against the Messiah and the Heavenly Host. But the apostle John provides further insight into the timing and devastating nature of this conflict, describing it as taking place at the end of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. After Messiah’s 1,000-year-long reign comes to an end, Satan will be released from hell where he will be confined duration of Christ’s earthly reign. God will allow him to wage one final rebellion.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. – Revelation 20:7-10 ESV

Satan will be defeated. The armies of this world will prove powerless against the God Almighty. The vain human attempt to thwart the will of God and supplant His right to rule over His creation will come to an abrupt and final end. God states that, because of this overwhelming victory, everyone will acknowledge Him as LORD.

“I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 38:23 ESV

As if to emphasize the certainty of the battle’s outcome, chapter 39 of Ezekiel contains a replay of God’s rousing victory over His enemies.

“I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 39:3-6 ESV

Centuries after Ezekiel penned these words, the apostle John wrote something eerily similar.

“Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh of kings, generals, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great.” – Revelation 19:17-19 ESV

From the days of Judah’s fall to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and Jerusalem’s conquest by the Romans in 70 A.D., the people of God have endured wave after wave of conflict and subjugation at the hands of their enemies. Even today, Israel remains surrounded by those who seek their extermination. But God has plans for His people. He has made promises concerning their future that He is bound and determined to fulfill because He is the covenant-keeping God. The enemies remain and their Satan-inspired obsession with Israel’s destruction is little more than wishful thinking. They will never accomplish their objective. Satan will never prevent God from fulfilling His covenant promises and restoring His covenant people to their rightful place at His side in His eternal Kingdom.

The psalmist provides a rather sarcastic take on nations’ futile efforts to upend the plans of Yahweh. They are wasting their time. Their dream of throwing off the yoke of God’s rule will never come to pass. Satan’s quest to dethrone God Almighty and take His place was never going to happen. It is

Why are the nations so angry?
    Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
    the rulers plot together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.
“Let us break their chains,” they cry,
    “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
    The Lord scoffs at them.
Then in anger he rebukes them,
    terrifying them with his fierce fury.
For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne
    in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.” – Psalm 2:1-6 ESV

The day is coming when all mankind will learn that God alone is King and His Kingdom is unconquerable and everlasting. This irrefutable truth should leave Zechariah, the people of Judah, and the people of God of all ages shouting, “Praise the LORD! For the LORD our God, the Almighty, reigns” (Revelation 19:6 NLT) – yesterday, today, and forever.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Trust Me

1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

10 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. 11 And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. – Zechariah 14:1-11 ESV

The events described in this closing chapter of Zechariah’s book must have thrilled and shocked the prophet as he heard them for the first time. He had no reference point for considering their timing or their staggering implications. As he stood among the other returned exiled and took in the sights of Jerusalem, it would have been difficult for him to imagine what he was hearing. The city was still in ruins, the Temple was only partially completed, and there were no walls to protect anyone who dared to reside in the former capital of Judah.

The reminders of Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians were everywhere. Zechariah could see the broken-down walls and the burned remnants of civic buildings, palaces, and private homes. Charred timbers protruded from the rubble like discarded matches. Plants and vines grew among the debris and the darkened windows of the abandoned buildings stared by like the lifeless eyes of a corpse. The entire city had been transformed into a dystopian landscape that bore little resemblance to the once-majestic city of David and the place where the wise and wealthy King Solomon reigned.

Zechariah has had to wrestle with God’s pronouncement of yet another siege of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2). But he has also heard that “the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah” and “destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:7 ESV). Yahweh has promised to “pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace” (Zechariah 12:10 ESV) and “to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1 ESV). But the prophet must have found himself drowning in the flood of divine revelation as he tried to take it all in. His mind would have reeled with questions and concerns about the LORD’s timing and intentions for these events. What would prompt the Almighty to allow another siege of the city Zechariah was desperately trying to rebuild? Why would the LORD permit the enemies of Judah to gain the upper hand and seek their destruction again? Hadn’t He just promised to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness?

Christians living on this side of the cross are intimately familiar with the stories of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection. They can read these prophecies and recognize the thinly veiled references to Jesus. Hidden within the poetic and apocalyptic language are signs and symbols that portray the first and second advents of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.

But Zechariah knew nothing of these things. He was ignorant of Jesus the son of Mary being born in a lowly stable in the backwater town of Bethlehem. He had no concept of God taking on human form and living and ministering among the people of Israel for three years. He had no way of knowing about Jesus’ rejection by the Jewish people and His crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. While Yahweh had given hints about some of these things, Zechariah was incapable of connecting the dots because he lived on the wrong side of the cross. Like all the other Old Testament prophets, he was simply a conduit through which Yahweh disseminated the news of His sovereign and providential plan of salvation for the world.

That is why this closing chapter must have left Zechariah reeling and confused. He couldn’t understand all he was hearing and recording. He knew Yahweh was speaking of future events but had no way of knowing when or how they would happen. So, the news of Jerusalem’s fall and plunder would not have been good news to Zechariah.

“Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.” – Zechariah 14:1-2 NLT

Even as he inscribed these words onto parchment, Zechariah must have wanted to scream, “But why?!” Was more devastation really necessary? Did the people of Judah deserve to endure more suffering and subjugation at the hands of their enemies?

Zechariah would have been thrilled to hear that “the Lord will go out to fight against those nations” (Zechariah 14:3 NLT), but the mention of plundering, looting, raping, and enslavement would have made his stomach turn and his skin crawl.

As a prophet of Yahweh, Zechariah was privileged to hear directly from the LORD but was not endowed with the capacity to see into the future or discern the meaning of the words he recorded. Proof of his faithfulness as a prophet came in the form of his obedience to listen and repeat what he had been told. He was commanded to express God’s words, not explain them. He had been commissioned to communicate, not elucidate.

The fact that this book exists proves that Zechariah did as he was told. He wrote down what he heard whether he understood it or not. He faithfully recorded Yahweh’s words, even though he couldn’t fully grasp their significance or timing. But in doing so, Zechariah and the people of Judah received a reminder of their God’s power, providence, sovereignty, and everlasting love for them. Their very existence as a people had been Yahweh’s doing. He had orchestrated their return to Judah from exile. He had ordained the repopulating of Jerusalem, the construction of the Temple, and the rebuilding of the walls. But had far more in store for them than they could understand or appreciate. His plans for them reached far into the future and beyond their wildest imaginations.

Yahweh had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, providing the people of Judah with an assurance of His love and His promise to restore them.

“In that day,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” – Isaiah 31:1 NLT

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
    With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel.
    You will again be happy
    and dance merrily with your tambourines.
Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria
    and eat from your own gardens there.
The day will come when watchmen will shout
    from the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem
    to worship the Lord our God.’” – Jeremiah 31:3-6 NLT

This promise didn’t come with a timeline. Yahweh didn’t articulate a date or guarantee that Jeremiah’s audience would live to see the fulfillment of these events. But they were expected to believe and hope. Yahweh wanted them to trust His words and rest in the assurance of His sovereignty and power to preserve, protect, and provide for them – now and into the future.

In this closing chapter of Zechariah, Yahweh describes a scene of epic proportions, featuring the advent of the LORD and His arrival on the Mount of Olives. This second coming of the Messiah would be nothing like His first arrival when He came in the form of an innocent, helpless baby. This time, Messiah will come to earth as a conquering King. This passage brings to mind the words of Luke recorded in the Book of Acts. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He had a last conversation with His disciples. They were still dealing with the surprising nature of His resurrection and its implications. As they stood with Jesus on the Mount of Olives, one of them asked, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” (Acts 1:6 NLT). This unnamed disciple (most likely Peter), wanted to know if the resurrection was the sign they had been waiting for. Was it time for Jesus to establish His earthly kingdom and overthrow the Romans?

But Jesus simply responded, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know” (Acts 1:7 NLT). Jesus had already told His disciples, “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows” (Matthew 24:36 NLT). Much to the disciple’s surprise, Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t going to bring an end to Roman rule, it was going to inaugurate the Church Age. Just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT).

Having issued this commission to His followers, Jesus “was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him” (Acts 1:9 NLT). And as the disciples strained to catch one last glimpse of their LORD and Savior, the angels told them, “Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” (Acts 1:11 NLT).

Zechariah recorded the event describing what the angels had in mind.

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. – Zechariah 14:4 NLT

The Book of Revelation provides a more detailed description of Jesus’ return to the Mount of Olives.

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. – Revelation 19:11-16 NLT

John describes the armies of heaven accompanying Jesus to earth. Zechariah records that “the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him” (Zechariah 14:5 NLT). In his vision, John describes an epic battle that will take place as Jesus and His heavenly host take on the Antichrist and his followers.

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies. – Revelation 19:19-21 NLT

But Zechariah only records the effects of Jesus’ victory.

And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD—his name alone will be worshiped. – Zechariah 14:9 NLT

Compressed within verses 6-9 is an expansive overview of the end times. It includes the establishment of Jesus’ earthly Kingdom where He will rule and reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years. But it also foreshadows the arrival of the New Jerusalem and the beginning of the eternal state.

On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light. On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem. – Zechariah 14:6-8 NLT

The apostle John provides a more detailed explanation of what Zechariah describes.

I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. – Revelation 21:22-27 NLT

Yahweh has a plan that is comprehensive in nature and is unfolding right on schedule. Neither Zechariah nor John fully understood the scope of God’s plan but both were expected to believe in it and rest on the certainty of it.

“Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, you transgressors,
   remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have purposed, and I will do it.” – Isaiah 46:8-11 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Water for Purification and Revitalization

1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

2 “And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’ 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
    I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,
    two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
    and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
    and refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” – Zechariah 13:1-9 ESV

Chapter 13 is a continuation of the previous chapter, expanding further on the events associated with the future state of Israel and the world. With the Messiah’s unexpected return and His victory over their enemies, the people of God respond with penitence and remorse over their previous rejection of Him. But what follows is another unexpected response from the one “whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10 ESV). Rather than judgment, the Messiah offers them cleansing from their sins.

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” – Zechariah 13:1 ESV

This water of purification will flow from the Temple itself, a scene witnessed by the prophet Ezekiel and recorded in the book that bears his name.

In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. – Ezekiel 47:1-2 NLT

In his book, the prophet Ezekiel described how the Israelites had rejected God and turned to other sources of self-satisfaction and sustenance. Rather than worship Him alone, they violated His commandment (Exodus 20:3-5) and committed spiritual adultery.

“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me — the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” – Jeremiah 2:13 NLT

God had offered to be the sole source of their spiritual and physical needs. He had promised to bless them greatly if they would only remain faithful to Him. But they had chosen to give their affections to false gods who proved to be incapable of providing life and purification from sin.

“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
    that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols,
    only to become worthless themselves.” – Jeremiah 2:5 NLT

“Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
    even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols!” – Jeremiah 2:11 NLT

Their apostasy left them impure and in need of cleansing. Water for purification was a central part of the sacrificial system provided by God. Even the priests had to be cleansed before they could minister in God’s house on behalf of the people.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them.” – Numbers 8:5-7 ESV

The water of purification was a strange concoction ordained by God and detailed in the Book of Numbers. The Israelites were to take a red heifer without defect and burn it on the altar along with cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn. The ashes were to be gathered and kept in a clean place for later use in a ceremony of purification.

“For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.” – Numbers 19:17-19 ESV

The uncleanness referred to in these verses had to do with anyone who came into contact with a dead body.

“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.” – Numbers 19:11-13 ESV

The water of purification was used to cleanse the contaminated and unclean individual, allowing them to be restored to fellowship with God and their faith community.

In the Zechariah passage, Yahweh speaks of a future day when He will not only cleanse His people with living water but He will also purge the land of idolatry and false prophets. He will remove the distractions that led to their rebellion and rejection of His Son. Even those who attempt to present themselves as prophets of God will be exposed as frauds and suffer the consequences. In that future day, there will be no need for prophets because God’s word will have been fulfilled completely. The Messiah will have returned and established His Millennial Kingdom. In this 1000-year-long period in which Christ will rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem, righteousness and justice will be the law of the land. The Son of David, Jesus Himself, will reign over the world and serve in the roles of King, Prophet, and Priest. Anyone else who claims to speak on God's behalf will be deemed a liar and dealt with appropriately.

In the closing verses of this chapter, Yahweh focuses His attention on someone He refers to as “my shepherd…the man who stands next to me” (Zechariah 13:7 ESV). There are some who believe this to be a reference to Jesus the Messiah, but the context seems to make this conclusion untenable. Yahweh goes on to give the command, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones” (Zechariah 13:7 ESV). This verse seems to tie back to chapter 11 where Yahweh delivered an unflattering assessment of the worthless shepherd.

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.” – Zechariah 11:15-16 NLT

This false and unreliable shepherd would suffer serious repercussions for His failure to feed and care for God’s flock.

“What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd
    who abandons the flock!
The sword will cut his arm
    and pierce his right eye.
His arm will become useless,
    and his right eye completely blind.” – Zechariah 11:17 NLT

In the Zechariah 13 passage, Yahweh’s description of this individual as “My shepherd” would seem to indicate a partnership between the two of them.  He describes this shepherd as being by His side, inferring a sense of intimacy. But God often referred to His relationship with godless leaders with the same kind of language. God repeatedly referred to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, as “my servant” (Jeremiah 27:6; 43:10). He also said of Cyrus, the king of Persia, “He is my shepherd” (Isaiah 44:38 NLT). So, the use of this intimate language does not necessarily suggest that this individual has a close relationship with Yahweh or functions as a willing or obedient servant. Both Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus were simply unwilling instruments whom God used to accomplish His will.

God even considered the religious and civil leaders of Israel as His shepherds, even though they proved to be rebellious and unfaithful.

“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.” – Ezekiel 34:7-10 NLT

God allowed these men to serve according to His divine purposes. He placed them in positions of authority and gave them responsibility for caring for His chosen people, but they abused their power. The same thing will happen in the end times when God allows the Antichrist to ascend to power over the entire world. This “shepherd” will rule over all humanity, including the Jewish people living during that day. He will win them over by making a treaty with them and allowing them to rebuild the Temple, but then He will turn against them and mercilessly persecute them, even putting many to death. This seems to be the shepherd Yahweh has in mind in the Zechariah passage.

God describes the immense suffering of His people at the hands of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation.

“In the whole land, declares the Lord,
    two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
    and one third shall be left alive.
And I will put this third into the fire,
    and refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
    and I will answer them.” – Zechariah 13:8-9 ESV

During this future period of intense persecution, many Jews and Christians will be martyred for their faith. In his vision of the end times, the apostle John was allowed to see this host of martyred saints standing before the altar of the Almighty in heaven.

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” – Revelation 6:9-10 NLT

The Antichrist will be given “power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them” and authority over every tribe, people, language and nation” (Revelation 13:7 NLT).

But God will have the last word. This “shepherd” who turns on the flock of God will pay dearly for his actions. Jesus Christ will return to earth again and deal a death blow to the Antichrist and Satan, casting them into hell along with all those who refuse to honor God and His chosen Servant.

But there’s a New Testament passage that reveals a hidden aspect to the words of God found in Zechariah 13. In his gospel account, Matthew records the following statement that Jesus addressed to His disciples just prior to His death. 

“Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,

‘God will strike the Shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” – Matthew 26:31-32 NLT

Here, Jesus uses the very same passage found in Zechariah to describe His own death as God’s Shepherd. But He will die for a completely different reason. His suffering will result in life and redemption. His sacrifice will produce atonement and forgiveness for sins. Jesus, the Good Shepherd will be struck down but only to rise again and make possible eternal life to all those who place their faith in Him. As Jesus told the woman at the well, His death would provide life and access to living water.

“…those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” – John 4:14 NLT

When the Good Shepherd returns to rescue God’s sheep and restore them His fold, He will usher in the eternal state where God’s people will live with Him in the New Jerusalem. Featured prominently in this coming Kingdom is the river of the water of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. – Revelation 22:1-3 NLT

The Zechariah passage ends with the statement, “I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (Zechariah 13:9 ESV), and Revelation 21:3 states, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

God’s grand plan of redemption will be complete and all His promises fulfilled.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God’s Impeccable Plan for His Impertinent People

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.” – Zechariah 12:10-14 ESV

On that day, the great day of God’s redemption, His covenant people who originally rejected Jesus at His first coming will recognize Him as their Messiah and Savior. In these closing verses of chapter 12, the Messiah Himself speaks words of comfort to those who formerly refused His offer of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. He promises to shower them with “a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10 ESV). 

Instead of meting out wrath and judgment for their treatment of Him, the Messiah will graciously provide them with victory over their enemies and forgiveness for their sins. But their recognition of Jesus as their Messiah will produce in them a spirit of remorse and regret over their past treatment of Him. The prophet Isaiah wrote of this day when the Israelites’ conviction over their corporate culpability will produce a spirit of confession in them.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53:5-6 ESV

At the sight of their merciful Messiah, the people of Israel will feel the full weight of their guilt and the unbelievable joy that comes with knowing that He has mercifully refused to give them what they deserve: Judgment and condemnation. Instead, the one they crucified will choose to shower them with grace, an amazing gift they did not deserve. Not long after Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension, the apostle Peter preached a sermon to a gathering of Jews in Jerusalem. At the cost of offending his audience, Peter accused them of their complicity in Jesus’ death while providing proof of His claims to be the Messiah.

“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.” – Acts 2:22-24 NLT

“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.” – Acts 2:32-33 NLT

“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” – Acts 2:36 NLT

When Jesus returns a second time and conquers the rebellious nations of the world, His own people, the Jews, will finally see Him for who He really is. This sudden recognition of His identity will produce in them an odd blend of sorrow mixed with joy.

Peter’s sermon to the Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost produced a similar reaction. His words “pierced their hearts” and they responded, “Brothers, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37 NLT). Peter’s reply was simple and succinct.

“Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” – Acts 2:38-40 NLT

Mourning is featured prominently in the Isaiah passage because it conveys the idea of repentance for past actions. The text contains five uses of the words “mourn” or “mourning,” emphasizing the impact the recognition of their guilt has had on them.

Centuries earlier, when Solomon dedicated the newly constructed Temple, God responded to his prayer with the following promise:

“…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

The Zechariah passage foreshadows the coming day when God’s people will do just that. They will see the Messiah with their own eyes and understand for the first time the gravity of their rejection of Him. But their sorrow will produce prayers of repentance and pleas for mercy, and Jesus, their Messiah, will forgive and restore them. In his vision of the end times, the apostle John was given a glimpse of this future day.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
    And everyone will see him—
    even those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the world
    will mourn for him.
Yes! Amen! – Revelation 1:5-7 NLT

This future speech delivered by the recently returned Messiah speaks of Jesus’ past death in very specific terms. He describes Himself as “him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10 ESV). Written centuries before Jesus’ first coming, this passage contains powerful evidence of the Scripture’s divine authorship. The apostle John chronicled Jesus’ death in graphic detail, providing a reference to the piercing of His side by a spear.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.) These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the one they pierced.” – John 19:32;37 NLT

But long before John witnessed the death of Jesus, the psalmist wrote a stunningly accurate depiction of the crucifixion as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls;
    fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in!
Like lions they open their jaws against me,
    roaring and tearing into their prey.
My life is poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax,
    melting within me.
My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
    My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
    You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
    an evil gang closes in on me.
    They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
    My enemies stare at me and gloat.
They divide my garments among themselves
    and throw dice for my clothing. – Psalm 22:12-18 NLT

God’s plan for the redemption of Israel and the renovation of His world has been in place for a long time. Over the centuries, he has revealed aspects of that plan to His prophets, disclosing the nature of Israel’s rebellion and His ultimate solution for restoring them to their covenant relationship with Him. God is faithful. His plan is perfect. His timing is impeccable. And His Son’s future return when He will make all things right is right on schedule.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

On that Day…

1 The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’

6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 “And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” – Zechariah 12:1-9 ESV

Zechariah receives yet another oracle from Yahweh, providing further insights into the future day of Israel’s redemption and restoration. Yahweh introduces Himself as the Creator God “who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit” (Zechariah 12:1 NLT). This reference to His creation of the universe is meant to remind Zechariah and the people of Judah that His power to re-create them is beyond measure. But His description of their future transformation is couched in very negative terms. It begins with the description of another siege against the city of Jerusalem. While few in Zechariah’s audience had been alive when the first siege of Jerusalem occurred, they would have heard the graphic stories of its devastating impact.

During the Babylonian invasion of Judah, there were actually two sieges, ten years apart. The first was in 597 B.C. and resulted in the city’s capture and the deportation of around 10,000 of its occupants. Ten years later, Nebuchadnezzar ordered a second siege because of the continued rebellion of its puppet king. The city endured great deprivation during the siege, and the Temple of Solomon was burned to the ground. Long before it happened, Yahweh provided Jeremiah the prophet with a graphic depiction of Jerusalem’s fall.

“I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there. I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.’

“As these men watch you, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought. Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies here in Topheth, the garbage dump, until there is no more room for them. This is what I will do to this place and its people, says the Lord. I will cause this city to become defiled like Topheth. Yes, all the houses in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah’s kings, will become like Topheth—all the houses where you burned incense on the rooftops to your star gods, and where liquid offerings were poured out to your idols.’” – Jeremiah 19:8-13 NLT

So, Yahweh’s mention of another siege would have stunned Zechariah and his fellow Judahites. They were still trying to rebuild the Temple and the thought of the city falling yet again would have been unfathomable. Yet, Yahweh softens the blow of this bad news with an important disclosure.

“I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.” – Zechariah 12:2-3 NLT

While the news of another siege was shocking, Yahweh described a completely different outcome that was meant to provide encouragement to His beleaguered people. Six different times, Yahweh uses the phrase, “On that day” to let them know that this event lies in the distant future. It will feature a battle of epic proportions that will mirror the fall of Jerusalem but without the deaths and destruction. On that day, Jerusalem will be like a rock that cannot be moved. Its walls will not fall. Its enemies will be deprived of victory. In fact, the nations that come against Jerusalem will end up drinking the cup of God’s wrath. This will be a radical departure from the days when God poured out His wrath on the people of Israel.

“Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!
    You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury.
You have drunk the cup of terror,
    tipping out its last drops.
Not one of your children is left alive
    to take your hand and guide you.
These two calamities have fallen on you:
    desolation and destruction, famine and war.
And who is left to sympathize with you?
    Who is left to comfort you?
For your children have fainted and lie in the streets,
    helpless as antelopes caught in a net.
The Lord has poured out his fury;
    God has rebuked them.” – Isaiah 51:17-20 NLT

In that same passage, Yahweh goes on to predict the same future day that Zechariah is hearing about.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord,
    your God and Defender, says:
“See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands.
    You will drink no more of my fury.
Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors,
    those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust
    and walk on your backs.’” – Jeremiah 51:22-23 NLT

On that day, the attackers will discover that Yahweh the God of Israel is too powerful to overcome. He will fight on Israel’s behalf and miraculously thwart their armies and negate the impact of their weapons. They will be powerless before Yahweh Sabaoth, the LORD of Hosts. The future residents of Jerusalem and the citizens of Judah will respond to this miraculous event with wonder, recognizing Yahweh’s hand in it all. They will express their amazement with words that acknowledge Yahweh’s deliverance.

“The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.” – Zechariah 12:5 ESV

The resilience of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the remarkable nature of their defiant stance against their enemies will light a fire in the rest of the nation. They will respond with God-empowered zeal that turns them into an unstoppable force.

“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure.” – Zechariah 12:6 NLT

Yahweh announces that victory over the enemies of Israel will first take place outside the walls of Jerusalem. As the city remains under siege, the clans of Judah will rout the combined forces of their adversaries and completely destroy them. The city will be saved because the enemy is eradicated. This order of events is important because it lets the people of Judah know that the city itself is not the focus of Yahweh’s love and attention. Yahweh makes it clear that He will “give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah” (Zechariah 12:7 ESV). Yahweh’s love extends to all His people, not just those who live in Jerusalem or those who belong to David’s line. In fact, Yahweh describes a day when all will stand as equals before Him.

“On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the LORD who goes before them!” – Zechariah 12:8 NLT

They will all “be like God” because they will be embued with His power and fight in His name, just as King David had done. They will share the same attribute that David had: A heart for God that expressed itself in faithful obedience (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). What is being described here is the fulfillment of the promise that Yahweh made to Ezekiel.

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” –  Ezekiel 36:26-27 NLT

With this oracle, Yahweh announces that the future of Israel will feature continued opposition and warfare. The rebuilding and repopulation of Jerusalem would not eliminate all threats of future difficulty. Reconstructing the city’s walls would not eliminate the threat of future enemy attacks. Completing the Temple would not innoculate the people from further rebellion and apostasy. This was not about a city, a building, or even a nation. It was about Yahweh and His chosen people. In 70 A.D., the city would fall again and the Temple that Zechariah helped to build would be destroyed. To this date, there is no Temple in Jerusalem. But the day will come when Yahweh orchestrates its reconstruction one last time. The prophet Daniel was given a vision of this end times event.

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times.” – Daniel 9:24-25 NLT

After the Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), the seven-year-long period known as the Tribulation will begin. The first half of this future era features the rise of a charismatic leader who will rule over a global empire. He will negotiate a peace treaty with the people of Israel, giving them permission to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. But midway through the seven years of the Tribulation, He will turn on them, ordering an end to all sacrifices and demanding that they worship him alone. He will also desecrate the Temple by erecting an idol of himself in the Holy of Holies. This will usher in the last half of the seven years, commonly referred to as the Great Tribulation. Jerusalem and the Jews will come under constant opposition from the Antichrist and his forces. Tens of thousands will suffer martyrdom at his hands.

But Zechariah is told of a day when God will “destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:9 NLT). Antichrist and his global empire will fall to the King of kings and LORD of lords, an event described by John in the Book of Revelation.

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.” – Revelation 19:12-16 NLT

John goes on to describe the outcome of this epic conflict.

I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies. – Revelation 19:19-21 NLT

On that day, Yahweh will fulfill the promises He has made by sending His Son to complete the mission He began with His incarnation. The King will return to right all wrongs, put an end to sin and death, restore righteousness, and establish His earthly Kingdom. It will be a day reserved for praise, joy, and celebration.

“Praise the Lord!
    Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.
His judgments are true and just.
    He has punished the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality.
    He has avenged the murder of his servants.” – Revelation 19:1-2 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Long-Awaited Shepherd

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!” – Zechariah 11:7-14 ESV

This passage is particularly difficult to understand because it appears that Zechariah begins to speak in the first person as if he were acting out the prophecy in real life. Yet there is no indication that he was given such a directive from the LORD. It makes more sense to see the first-person narrative as the words of God Himself, speaking on behalf of His Son, the Messiah. Yahweh sent the Messiah to serve as His undershepherd, acting on His orders and in His place. During His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed His allegiance to and reliance upon His Heavenly Father.

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.” – John 5:19-20 NLT

He declared His unity with Yahweh when He boldly claimed, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 BSB). He later explained His earthly ministry as a byproduct of His intimate relationship with His Father.

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.” – John 14:10-11 BSB

Jesus, operating on behalf of His Father, “became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders” (Zechariah 11:7 ESV). The psalmist joyfully proclaimed Israel’s status as Yahweh’s precious possession, describing them as the sheep of His pasture.

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. – Psalm 100:3 ESV

Jesus came to shepherd His Father’s sheep, a responsibility He understood and fully embraced.

…the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” – John 10:2-4 NLT

Yahweh (the gatekeeper) had opened the way for His Son to come to earth in human form. In His incarnation, Jesus became the shepherd of the sheep, calling the people of Israel to return to the fold of their Father. As the shepherd of Yahweh’s flock, Jesus took His role seriously, knowing that His job would require His own death to protect and preserve all those who belonged to His Heavenly Father.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15 NLT

In this same discourse, Jesus boldly condemns the other shepherd-leaders of Israel, declaring them to be nothing more than thieves and robbers (John 10:1) whose sole purpose “is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NLT). This thinly veiled reference to the priests, kings, and false prophets of Israel paints these pseudo-shepherds in a negative light, portraying them as hired hands who care nothing for the sheep under their care (John 10:13).

Jesus reserved some of His harshest criticism for Israel's spiritual leaders. On one occasion, He got into a heated debate with “the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees” (John 8:3 NLT). These self-righteous religious leaders took exception with Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and declared themselves to be the true children of Yahweh. But Jesus responded in starkly offensive terms.

“If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!” – John 8:42-45 NLT

Jesus’ strained relationship with the religious and political leaders of His day provides a backdrop to the statements found in Zechariah 11. The shepherd of the flock was “doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders” (Zechariah 11:7 ESV). Luke records that the time came when the religious leaders of Israel ran out of patience with Jesus and determined to take Him out.

“The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus…” – Luke 22:2 NLT

The Zechariah passage describes Yahweh’s shepherd as bearing two staffs. One is called nōʿam, a Hebrew word that translates as “beauty” or “favor.” The other staff is called ḥēḇel, another Hebrew word that is often translated as “bonds” and is closely associated with “sorrows” and “travails.” The shepherd’s staff was his most prized possession, the tool of His trade that allowed Him to carry out His duties faithfully.

The prophet Isaiah predicted the coming Messiah would be “despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). Jesus shared with His disciples the unwelcome news of His fate, telling them, “the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:22 NLT). Yet, the apostle Peter declared the remarkable contrast that Jesus was “rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight” (1 Peter 2:4 BSB).

In performing His roles as the Good Shepherd, Jesus wielded the favor of His Heavenly Father but He bore the burden of His rejection by those He came to save. Carrying the “tools of His trade,” the Shepherd carried out His earthly ministry and, while doing so, exposed the worthlessness of “the three shepherds” (Zechariah 11:8 ESV). While some scholars have speculated that this is a reference to the three roles of prophet, priest, and king, a more likely explanation can be found in Jesus’ relationship with the Sadducees, Scribes, and Pharisees. Throughout His 3-year-long ministry, Jesus had repeated run-ins with these men.

The Sadducees were a wealthy, elite group of priests who served in the temple. They were committed to the Torah but rejected other scriptures and the belief in resurrection, life after death, and prophecy. They were politically involved with the Roman leaders and focused on rituals associated with the Temple. The Sadducees disappeared around 70 A.D. after the destruction of the Second Temple.

The Scribes were considered experts in Jewish law who provided interpretation and illumination of the hundreds of codified requirements the people of Israel lived under. They also copied scrolls for use in synagogues. They were well-versed in the law and the prophets, but their lives didn't match what they said. They were often in conflict with Jesus, who claimed authority over the law.

The Pharisees were a conservative group of middle-class people who taught in synagogues. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife and taught that individuals would receive appropriate rewards and punishments. They were known for their strict adherence to behavior prescriptions based on their interpretation of the Torah.

The Shepherd claims to have “destroyed the three shepherds” (Zechariah 11:8 ESV). The Hebrew word is kāḥaḏ and it carries the idea of cutting off or hiding. With Jesus’ coming, these three religious sects lost most of their power and authority over the people. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders convened a special meeting to discuss His rising popularity and their waning influence.

Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”– John 11:47-48 NLT

Jesus’s ministry of miracles and teaching “obscured” the previous role these men had played. The people became less enamored with and dependent upon the religious leaders and found Jesus to be more inspiring and authoritative.

…the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. – Matthew 7:28-29 NLT

But despite their amazement with Jesus’ teaching, the sheep refused to follow Him. This led the Shepherd to declare, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!” (Zechariah 11:9 NLT). Verse 10 indicates that the staff called “Favor” also symbolized Yahweh’s favor with the people as expressed in the covenant He had made with them. The Shepherd broke the staff in two, symbolizing the annulment of God’s covenant with mankind. In the covenant He made with Abraham, God had promised to bless the nations through him.

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-23 ESV

The plan had been to use Abraham’s descendants to fulfill that promise, but they had failed to remain faithful. Yet, God had always determined to send His Son as the true Israel. He would be the faithful, sinless Son who kept all His Father’s commands and carried out His will perfectly. It would be through Jesus the Messiah that the promises to Abraham would be fulfilled.

In a profound example of prophetic accuracy, verses 12-13 predict the betrayal of Jesus at the hands of Judas.

“If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.” – Zechariah 11:12-13 ESV

The gospels record the fulfillment of this prophecy with shocking detail.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. – Matthew 26:14-16 NLT

When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” – Matthew 27:3-4 NLT

Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.

The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.” After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. – Matthew 27:5-7 NLT

In verse 14, the tertiary meaning of the second staff is revealed. It symbolizes the bond between Israel and Judah. From this point forward, the tribes will no longer enjoy a brotherhood or unity that binds them together. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the nation of Israel was destined to become a disunified and disconnected nation, enduring centuries of isolation and subjugation at the hands of their enemies.

This prophecy ends on a negative note, as God predicts the coming of a “foolish shepherd” who will persecute the people of Israel. This future world leader is none other than the Antichrist who will come to power during the Great Tribulation. This false Messiah will win over the people of God by allowing them to rebuild the Temple and restore the sacrificial system. But he will ultimately turn against them and martyr them for their faith in Yahweh.

But verse 17 predicts the fate of this foolish shepherd.

“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!” – Zechariah 11:17 ESV

God will prevail. His Son, the Great Shepherd, will return and destroy the Antichrist. The flock of Israel will be saved and the covenant promises will be fulfilled.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Band News and Good News

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
3 The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of the lions,
    for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.” – Zechariah 11:1-6 ESV

In these verses, Yahweh seems to be warning His people that they are doomed to repeat the sins of their forefathers. Despite their recent return to the land and their ongoing efforts to rebuild the Temple, they will continue to display the same proclivity for apostasy and idolatry. Yahweh wants to bless them and fully intends to restore their fortunes but He knows that their long-term future is bleak because of their hearts are far from Him. 

All of the future hope He has outlined for them will come with the arrival of the Messiah at the end of the age. Until then, Israel's prospects will include continued apostasy, no king, constant oppression from outside forces, and a longing for a return to their former days of glory. Under Zechariah’s leadership, the people of Judah would complete the construction of the new Temple, but its presence would do little to transform their hearts or alter their behavior.

The Temple was finished in 516 B.C. and then refurbished and expanded by Herod the Great about 18 B.C. This “second” Temple was still standing when Jesus began His earthly ministry. But the Romans destroyed that beautiful structure nearly 90 years later. Jesus predicted this devastating event when discussing the beauty of Herod’s renovated Temple with His disciples.

As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.”

Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!” – Mark 13:1-2 NLT

The disciples were obviously disturbed by what Jesus said but He had far more to say about the matter that would leave them disheartened and confused. First, He warned them not to be fooled by the appearance of false Messiahs, offering deliverance from the wars, famines, and earthquakes that would come. But His premonitions concerning their own fate must have hit the hardest.

“You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. For the Good News must first be preached to all nations.” – Mark 13:9-10 NLT

The future would be difficult and feature a disintegration of the social fabric.

“A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” – Mark 13:12-13 NLT

Jesus’ next words must have left His disciples staggering in disbelief. He described a period of great tribulation and turmoil – like nothing the world has ever seen.

“For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.” – Mark 13:19-20 NLT

However, the disciples failed to understand that many of these things would not occur until long after they were gone. After His ascension, they would suffer persecution, being arrested, tried, beaten, and even martyred for their proclamation of the Good News. But they would not live to see the full extent of the prophecy He outlined.

Jesus was speaking of His second coming, the future day when He would return to complete God’s plan for the redemption of Israel and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

“Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” – Mark 13:26-27 NLT

But what does all this have to do with Zechariah 10:1-4? Everything. In these verses, the prophet delivers Yahweh’s message concerning the destruction of the Temple. Zechariah must have found these words difficult to write down because He was still trying to finish the construction of the Temple. It would have been highly demotivating and demoralizing to hear that their work would be in vain. He had no idea that 576 years would pass before the Romans destroyed the Temple.

While Yahweh used poetic language to describe the future fate of the Temple, His message would have been clear to Zechariah. Verse one describes the Temple in a rather strange way but one that Zechariah and the people of Judah would have understood.

Open your doors, O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars! – Zechariah 11:1 ESV

When Solomon prepared to build the original Temple, he procured wood for its construction from the forests of Lebanon. He sent a message to the King of Tyre requesting all the lumber necessary to complete his plans for God’s house.

“Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” – 1 Kings 5:6 ESV

The text goes on to reveal that Hiram honored Solomon’s request and provided all the timber necessary for the Temple project.

So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired. – 1 Kings 5:10 ESV

Wood featured prominently in the design of the Temple.

So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. – 1 Kings 6:14-18 ESV

Because of the sheer quantity of lumber from Lebanon used in the Temple’s construction, According to the Talmud, God’s house was affectionately nicknamed, “Lebanon.” When Solomon finished his palace, he called it “the House of the Forest of Lebanon” (1 Kings 7:2 ESV).

So, verse 1 contains a thinly veiled reference to the destruction of the Temple. But Yahweh describes other “glorious trees” like cypress and oak that will also face destruction.

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled! – Zechariah 11:2 ESV

Some scholars believe these are references to the people of Israel but, given the context, it makes more sense to see this as a further description of the Temple’s ultimate destruction. All the wood used to frame and decorate the Temple would be burned in the fire started by the Roman soldiers. For the second time, the glorious House of God was destroyed by the enemies of Israel. As a result of this devastation, the priests (shepherds) wail as they witness the destruction of their place of the LORD’s house and their place of employment.

The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined! – Zechariah 11:3 ESV

But it would seem that these verses foreshadow something far greater than the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In the rest of the chapter, Yahweh expands the scope of His prophecy, describing a much greater devastation than that which took place in the 1st Century A.D. Once again, He provides a stark vision of the future that must have disturbed Zechariah but came without explanation or interpretation. Like Jesus’ disciples, the prophet had no way of knowing when these things might occur. But Yahweh gives a command that provides a vital clue to understanding what He is talking about.

“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.” – Zechariah 11:4 ESV

This can be taken as a reference to Zechariah but it also has future implications. In chapter 10, Yahweh described the arrival of a new shepherd who would care for His forsaken flock.

“…the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has arrived
    to look after Judah, his flock.
He will make them strong and glorious,
    like a proud warhorse in battle.” – Zechariah 10:3 ESV

That shepherd would be the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who came to lay down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). God intended to send His Son as the ultimate Shepherd who would lovingly care for His neglected and mistreated flock.

“So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused. I will judge between one animal of the flock and another. And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them.” – Ezekiel 34:23-24 NLT

Matthew records that when Jesus came He saw the people of Israel with the eyes of a shepherd.

He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. – Matthew 9:36 BSB

But John records, “He came to his own people, and even they rejected him” (John 1:11 NLT). Jesus came to be the Great Shepherd, but the sheep of Israel refused to hear His voice. In fact, according to the apostle Peter, they played a significant role in His death.

“This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!” – Acts3:13-15 NLT

In some sense, verses 4-6 of Zechariah 11 refer to God’s prophet. He was the “shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter” (Zechariah 11:4 ESV). But, in this, he served as a type of foreshadowing of the greater shepherd to come. The author of Hebrews describes Jesus as “the great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20 NLT). Jesus came to serve as the one true Shepherd, but His own flock refused to listen to His voice or accept His offer of care and compassion. But one day, Jesus will return again to gather up the scattered flock of God and restore them to His Father’s fold.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.” – John 10:14-16 NLT

But long before that event takes place, there will be a period of prolonged suffering and separation for the unfaithful flock of God. That is what God describes for His prophet Zechariah.

“For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.” – Zechariah 11:6 ESV

For Zechariah, those events lay in the distant future and he would not live to see them. But God was revealing the details of Israel’s destiny and assuring His prophet that there was a complete and fully reliable plan in place for their future well-being.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Sheep In Need of a Shepherd

1 Ask rain from the Lord
    in the season of the spring rain,
from the Lord who makes the storm clouds,
    and he will give them showers of rain,
    to everyone the vegetation in the field.
2 For the household gods utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
    and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
4 From him shall come the cornerstone,
    from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
    from him every ruler—all of them together.
5 They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
    and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
    their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

8 “I will whistle for them and gather them in,
    for I have redeemed them,
    and they shall be as many as they were before.
9 Though I scattered them among the nations,
    yet in far countries they shall remember me,
    and with their children they shall live and return.
10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
    and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    till there is no room for them.
11 He shall pass through the sea of troubles
    and strike down the waves of the sea,
    and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
    and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12 I will make them strong in the Lord,
    and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord. – Zechariah 10:1-12 ESV

Chapter 9 prophesied the coming of the King who would reunite Israel and Judah under His rule and re-establish the Jewish people as Yahweh’s treasured possession. This prophecy was partially fulfilled during the kingship of Judas Maccabeus, a Jewish priest who led a rebellion against  Antiochus IV,  king of the Seleucid Empire. In 164 B.C., Judas Macabeus and his ragtag army of insurrectionists regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple. Despite his successful retaking of Jerusalem, Judas Macabeus ruled for just three years and was succeeded by his son Jonathan. Their dynasty was short-lived and remained under Seleucid control the entire time. While peace was made with the Seleucids, the Jews never enjoyed the prominence and power described in chapter 9. That is reserved for the time of the Messiah’s coming when He will return and set up His earthly Kingdom.

Chapter 10 picks up the prophecy by focusing on the people of Israel and their relationship with Yahweh in the coming Kingdom of His Son. Because Christ’s Kingdom will be an earthly one, life will go on as usual. Crops will need to be planted and cared for. Rain will be necessary for proper plant growth. So, the future people of Israel will do as they have always done and ask Yahweh to send rain at the proper time so their crops will thrive. This verse also served as a much-needed reminder to Zechariah and his fellow Judahites that God was sovereign over all things, including the storm clouds. He was the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17) who “sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matthew 5:35 NLT). And the same God who provides rain in season can shower His covenant people with spiritual blessings beyond their wildest imaginations. All of this is in keeping with the promise from God that Moses delivered to the people of Israel in the wilderness.

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

“Your towns and your fields
    will be blessed.
Your children and your crops
    will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks
    will be blessed.
Your fruit baskets and breadboards
    will be blessed.
Wherever you go and whatever you do,
    you will be blessed.” – Deuteronomy 28:1-6 NLT

Verse 2 brings the focus back to the remnant of God’s people living in the land of Judah during the time of Zechariah. God alludes to the fact that, despite His gracious provision of their return to Judah, they remained idolatrous. During their lengthy stay in Babylonian captivity, they had compromised their convictions and embraced the false gods of their captors. Many who returned to Judah with Zerubbabel likely brought their household idols along. Not only that, they returned with a predilection for the occult, including sorcery, magic, and fortune-telling. But Yahweh leaves little doubt about His opinion on the matter.

“Household gods give worthless advice,
    fortune-tellers predict only lies,
and interpreters of dreams pronounce
    falsehoods that give no comfort.” – Zechariah 10:2 NLT

The prophet Habakkuk recorded a similar assessment from God concerning the futility of idolatry.

“What good is an idol carved by man,
    or a cast image that deceives you?
How foolish to trust in your own creation—
    a god that can’t even talk!
What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols,
    ‘Wake up and save us!’
To speechless stone images you say,
    ‘Rise up and teach us!’
    Can an idol tell you what to do?
They may be overlaid with gold and silver,
    but they are lifeless inside.” – Habakkuk 2:18-19 NLT

It was idolatry and spiritual infidelity that had led to Judah’s fall in the first place. Their destruction at the hands of the Babylonians had been due to their unfaithfulness to Yahweh. False prophets had dared to provide them with false hope. Impious priests had turned a blind eye to their spiritual adultery. Self-centered kings had sold their souls to false gods and made alliances with pagan nations in an attempt to protect and prolong their reigns. As a result, the people had become like shepherdless sheep.

“So my people are wandering like lost sheep;
    they are attacked because they have no shepherd.” – Zechariah 10:2 NLT

Idols are an unreliable source of guidance because they are non-existent. They are the figments of men’s imaginations. Those who attempt to lead based on input from a lifeless idol will be unreliable shepherds. Their leadership will be damaging and detrimental to the flock that Yahweh has placed under their care, and He had strong words for these sheep-destroying shepherds.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.” – Ezekiel 34:2-6 NLT

“My people have been lost sheep.
    Their shepherds have led them astray
    and turned them loose in the mountains.
They have lost their way
    and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.” – Jeremiah 50:6 NLT

“Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number.” – Jeremiah 23:2-3 NLT

But in that same passage in Jeremiah 23, God goes on to promise to rectify the problem created by these uncaring and disobedient shepherds.

“For the time is coming,”
    says the Lord,
“when I will raise up a righteous descendant
    from King David’s line.
He will be a King who rules with wisdom.
    He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
And this will be his name:
    ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’
In that day Judah will be saved,
    and Israel will live in safety.” – Jeremiah 23:5-6 NLT

This prophecy ties back into chapter 9. Despite the lack of godly leadership and the ongoing problem of shepherdless sheep, Yahweh has plans to step in and resolve the issue.

“My anger burns against your shepherds,
    and I will punish these leaders.
For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has arrived
    to look after Judah, his flock.
He will make them strong and glorious,
    like a proud warhorse in battle.” – Zechariah 10:3 NLT

God would send His Son to serve as the consummate Shepherd who would willingly lay down His life for the sheep of God’s fold.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” – John 10:11-14 NLT

But there is a time when God will send the Good Shepherd again. He will return to earth to seek out and restore the lost sheep of Israel.

“I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord.” – Ezekiel 34:11-15 NLT

And God makes it clear that this regathering of His lost sheep will be the work of the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20-21).

“I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among my people. I, the Lord, have spoken!” – Ezekiel 34:23-24 NLT

Under the leadership of this future Son of David, the people of Israel will prosper as never before. The lost sheep will be restored and transformed into mighty warriors. Their relationship with Yahweh will be restored and it will be as if they never strayed at all. The Great Shepherd will call His sheep and they will respond (John 10:27). Their days of apostasy and spiritual infidelity will be over because Yahweh will remove their propensity for unfaithfulness by transforming their disposition through the power of His Spirit.

”I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.” – Ezekiel 36:23-27 NLT

Yahweh wanted Zechariah to know that Israel’s best days were ahead of them. Despite the circumstances surrounding them, they could rest assured that His plans for them were “plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

How Great Is His Goodness

14 Then the LORD will appear over them,
    and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the LORD God will sound the trumpet
    and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts will protect them,
    and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
    and be full like a bowl,
    drenched like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day the LORD their God will save them,
    as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
    they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
    Grain shall make the young men flourish,
    and new wine the young women. – Zechariah 9:14-17 ESV

In verses 12-13, Yahweh invites all His people who remain dispersed around the world to return to the land of promise. The remnant who had left Babylon and made the long journey to Judah with Zerubbabel were just a fraction of the Israelites still scattered in distant lands. This divine invitation was extended to any and all Jews to come to their ancestral homeland.

“Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.
For I have bent Judah as my bow;
    I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
    against your sons, O Greece,
    and wield you like a warrior's sword.” – Zechariah 9:12-132 ESV

When the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel in 732 B.C., many Israelites fled to neighboring countries seeking safety. When Israel feel in 720 B.C., many of these refugees chose to remain in their adopted homelands rather than return to Israel. When the capital city of Samaria fell, many Israelites were taken as captives to Assyria, never to return to Israel. The same thing happened to the southern kingdom of Judah nearly 120 years later when the Babylonians invaded their land and destroyed the capital city of Jerusalem. When the first wave of Babylonian soldiers arrived in Judah, many of its citizens fled for their lives. Those who remained were forced to witness the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Tens of thousands of them were forced to make the long march to Babylon as captives. Almost 70 years after their arrival in the land, a small portion of them returned to Judah to rebuild the Temple and the city and its walls. 

While Yahweh’s message is addressed to Zechariah and intended for his fellow Judahites, this section of verses speaks of a future generation of Israelites who will return to the land long after Zechariah and his contemporaries are gone. He describes a future day when Judah and Israel (Ephraim) will be reunited under Yahweh’s sovereign leadership. The LORD will lead them in battle against their enemies. 

“The LORD will appear above his people;
    his arrows will fly like lightning!
The Sovereign Lord will sound the ram’s horn
    and attack like a whirlwind from the southern desert.” – Zechariah 9:14 NLT

The LORD’s sudden appearance will usher in an epic battle between the reunified Israelite kingdom and their enemies. Verse 13 describes Israel’s future enemy as Greece, but this is more likely a reference to the Gentile nations as a whole. This prophecy was partially fulfilled in the second century B.C.  when the Jews rose up against their Greek/Syrian oppressors. The Greeks had conquered much of the known world under the leadership of Alexander the Great but with his death in 323 B.C., his vast empire was divided between four of his top commanders. Eventually, Judah came under the heavy-handed rule of the Seleucids, founded by Seleucus, one of Alexander’s generals. In 175 B.C., Antiochus IV assumed leadership of the Seleucid Empire and began to persecute the Jews, outlawing many of their religious practices and demanding the worship of the Greek god, Zeus. In an attempt to humiliate the Jews and their God, Antiochus ordered the sacrifice of a pig in the Temple. This desecration of the house of God led to the Maccabean Revolt.

In one of his many visions, the prophet Daniel was given a glimpse into the future where he saw these horrible events unfolding.

“After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” – Daniel 9:26-27 NLT

But what Daniel saw was only partially fulfilled with the Macabbean Revolt. Jesus alluded to this fact when He delivered His Olivette Discourse near the end of His life.

“The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.” – Matthew 24:15-22 NLT

Jesus spoke these words long after the Macabbean Revolt, indicating that Daniel’s message was not yet fulfilled. There would be another desecration of the Temple sometime in the distant future. In Revelation 13, the apostle John describes the vision he received of the end times events associated with Jesus’ second coming. In his vision he saw the false prophet set up an idol of the Antichrist and demand that all people bow down and worship it.

He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die. – Revelation 13:14-15 NLT

These strange-sounding, supernatural events will occur near the end of the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist will rule over all the earth, empowered by Satan himself. The false prophet will serve as Antichrist's right-hand man, performing great signs and miracles, and ordering the worship of Antichrist instead of the one true God. But at the end of this period, the LORD will appear. John was also provided with a vision of that epic moment.

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. – Revelation 19:11-16 NLT

John was allowed to see the second coming of Jesus Christ as He returned to earth to deliver judgment upon the Antichrist and all his followers. In his vision, John saw “the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army” (Revelation 19:19 NLT). In an earlier vision, John saw Satan, the Antichrist, and his false prophet use demonic forces to instigate a glogal insurrection against God.

And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the LORD on that great judgment day of God the Almighty. – Revelation 16:13-14 NLT

Revelation 19 describes how these coalition forces fared against the LORD.

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies. – Revelation 19:19-21 NLT

This would appear to be the same event Yahweh describes in His message to Zechariah.

“On that day the LORD their God will rescue his people,
    just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.
They will sparkle in his land
    like jewels in a crown.
How wonderful and beautiful they will be!
    The young men will thrive on abundant grain,
    and the young women will flourish on new wine.” – Zechariah 9:16-17 NLT

The great battle described in Revelation 19 will be followed by the millennial reign of Christ – a thousand years during which He will rule over all the earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem. His Kingdom will be worldwide and marked by righteousness, peace, and truth. John was given a vision of this marvelous scene as well.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. – Revelation 20:4 NLT

All those martyred during the Great Tribulation will be resurrected and allowed to rule alongside Christ in His earthly Kingdom. Believing Jews and Gentiles will live side-by-side in the city of Jerusalem benefiting from the righteous rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

But the ultimate fulfillment of God’s message to Zechariah takes place when God makes all things new. Christ’s reign earthly Kingdom will last a thousand years and then be followed by God’s recreation of the heavens and earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. – Revelation 21:1-2 NLT

God will come to dwell on earth in the New Jerusalem, reigning alongside His Son.

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” – Revelation 21:3-4 NLT

In this earthly paradise, the new Eden, God will come to live among His people, including both Jews and Gentiles. It will be a time of great rejoicing because all the walls of separation will have been removed. Evil and sin will have been eradicated and the ungodly will have been removed.

I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. – Revelation 21:22-27 NLT

It’s no wonder that Yahweh ends His message with the rather bold self-assessment, “how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!” (Zechariah 9:17 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Good News of Great Joy

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.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
    I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
    against your sons, O Greece,
    and wield you like a warrior's sword. – Zechariah 9:9-13 ESV

Any Christian who reads these verses will likely recall gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. All four gospel accounts describe Jesus entering the city mounted on the foal of a donkey, but only Matthew and John quote Zechariah 9:9, inferring that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy concerning Israel’s future king.

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
    sitting on a donkey's colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. – John 12:12-16 ESV

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” – Matthew 21:1-5 ESV

In both passages, Jesus is shown to be the one who orchestrates the details of His grand entrance into the city. He gives His disciples detailed instructions for finding and procuring the donkey and its foal because He had the Zechariah 9 passage in mind. Jesus was intentionally fulfilling the declaration His Father made to Zechariah nearly 500 years earlier. But this was not a case of play-acting on Jesus’ part. The gospels make it clear that the donkey and its foal had been pre-ordained for their part in the prophecy’s fulfillment. Luke records that Jesus sent two of His men to a specific village where they would find the two animals. While donkeys were ubiquitous in Judean villages, Jesus added the important distinction, “You will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat” (Luke 19:30 ESV).  

Jesus was not sending them to find any donkey or foal. He knew the village and the location of the two animals that were preordained for use in His dramatic, prophecy-fulfilling entrance into Jerusalem. Jesus even knew that the disciples would be questioned for their apparent purloining of the beasts and told them to respond, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately” (Mark 11:3 ESV).

The disciples must have found Jesus’ instructions to be a bit odd. John points out that they “didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy” (John 12:16 NLT). Even as faithful Jews, they didn’t have the Scriptural knowledge to associate Jesus’ actions with the prophecy in Zechariah. But John adds, “After Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him” (John 12:16 NLT).

For Christians, reading prophetic passages like those found in Zechariah 9 provides a sense of validation and evidence for Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. Yet, for the disciples, the events unfolding around them did not meet their Messianic expectations. They believed Jesus was the Messiah but few of His actions seemed to fit their vision for how this future King of Israel would make His appearance. They were looking for a conquering king who would appear on the scene and radically restore the fortunes of the people of Israel. Their understanding of Old Testament prophecy painted the image of a descendant of David riding into Jerusalem on a white horse and prepared to lead an insurrection against the occupying forces of Rome.

But Jesus had spent most of His ministry years teaching, performing miracles, debating with the Jewish religious leaders, and telling obscure, difficult-to-understand parables concerning His kingdom. Yet the disciples kept wondering when that kingdom would actually come. Even after His death and resurrection, they questioned whether He was getting ready to fulfill His Messianic responsibilities.

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” – Acts 1:6 NLT

Jesus understood their curiosity and their eager hope that His resurrection was the sign they had been looking for, but He simply answered, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.” (Acts 1:7 NLT).

With all this in mind, it’s easy to understand how Zechariah might have had reservations about the prophecy God had given him. He would have been familiar with the prophecies of men like Zephaniah who, more than three centuries earlier, had declared the following words of encouragement from the lips of Yahweh.

“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.” – Zephaniah 3:14-15 ESV

Zechariah would have been well-versed with the writings of Isaiah.

For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen! – Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

While living in Babylon, Zechariah would have been exposed to the writings of Daniel, a fellow exile who, a century earlier, had served in the Babylonian court and as a prophet of Yahweh. It was Daniel who was given a vision of Israel’s coming king and recorded it for posterity.

As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. – Daniel 7:13-14 NLT

Zechariah would also have been exposed to the writings of Jeremiah, another fellow prophet whose ministry preceded his by at least a century.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” – Jeremiah 23:5-6 ESV

So, when Yahweh told Zechariah, “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” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV), he would not have been surprised. But it’s likely he was slow to understand or comprehend the full scope of Yahweh’s words. As Zechariah stood in the still-dilapidated surroundings of Jerusalem, it must have been difficult for him to believe what he was hearing. The walls of the city remained little more than rubble. The houses were uninhabitable and the Temple was unfinished. The enemies of Israel were numerous and their opposition to the rebuilding efforts was relentless. And to top it all off, the Persians remained firmly in control of the entire region.

But almost as if to assuage Zechariah’s doubts, Yahweh provides the following description of what He will accomplish through the coming king.

“I will remove the battle chariots from Israel
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.” – Zechariah 9:10 NLT

Little did Zechariah know that these verses formed two bookends that covered the foretold the first and second comings of the Messiah. Verse 9 predicts Jesus in His first advent, entering Jerusalem at the end of His earthly ministry to serve as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). But verse 10 prophecies Jesus’ second advent when He returns to earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). In His first coming, Jesus was the humble servant who willingly laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:15). He came to die for the sins of men, sacrificing His life in their place and offering His righteousness in exchange for their guilt. In His second advent, Jesus will return as the victorious King and deal a death blow to both sin and death. He will conquer the rebellious nations of the earth and render judgment against the unrighteous. 

Sandwiched in-between these two verses lies the entire Church Age. From the moment of Jesus’ ascension to His eventual return, the Church will be the focus of God’s ministry. It is not that He will take His eyes off of Israel or replace them with the Church, but that the growth and spread of the bride of Christ will be His primary concern. But as verse 10 makes clear, God will one day finish what He began with Israel. He will keep every promise He has made to His covenant people, including their restoration as a nation and the revitalization of their relationship with Him.

There was so much about this prophecy that Zechariah did not understand. But Yahweh was giving His faithful prophet a glimpse of His future plans for the people of Israel. Like the shepherds who received the angelic announcement concerning the birth of Jesus, Zechariah was the recipient of Yahweh’s good news of great joy.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” – Luke 2:8-14 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God of the Impossible

1 The oracle of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach
    and Damascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
    and on all the tribes of Israel,
2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
    Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built herself a rampart
    and heaped up silver like dust,
    and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
    and strike down her power on the sea,
    and she shall be devoured by fire.

5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
    Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod,
    and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
7 I will take away its blood from its mouth,
    and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
    it shall be like a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
    so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again march over them,
    for now I see with my own eyes. – Zechariah 9:1-8 ESV 

Yahweh now delivers an oracle to Zechariah. The Hebrew word translated as “oracle” is maśśā', which means “to lift up” or “to bear up.” Figuratively, it could refer to a pronouncement or prophecy that had a “burden” or “weight” associated with it. In this case, Yahweh is predicting the coming destruction of Israel’s many enemies. At the same time, He is announcing the coming of Israel’s long-awaited King and Messiah. The first eight verses paint a bleak and inescapable future for the nations that have stood opposed to Israel’s well-being for centuries. Zechariah is informed that each of these pagan nations will suffer the consequences for their treatment of God’s chosen people.

Yahweh lists a variety of cities surrounding Jerusalem, from Damascus in the north to Ashkelon in the south. He begins His list in the north in the region known as Hadrach, but He focuses His oracle on the city of Damascus. From there, Yahweh moves south, listing the names of additional doomed cities as He makes His way to Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza. This north-to-south route is significant because it mirrors the path the Assyrians and Babylonians took when they conquered Israel and Judah. Earlier prophets had predicted the coming destruction of the northern and southern kingdoms by these two nations, a fate ordained by God for His people’s continued rebellion against Him.

“But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
From the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over kings and princes.
He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.” – Isaiah 41:25 NLT

“Yes,” the Lord said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land. Listen! I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem. I, the Lord, have spoken!

“They will set their thrones
at the gates of the city.
They will attack its walls
and all the other towns of Judah.
I will pronounce judgment
on my people for all their evil—
for deserting me and burning incense to other gods.
Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands!” – Jeremiah 1:14-16 NLT

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon against Tyre. He is king of kings and brings his horses, chariots, charioteers, and great army. First he will destroy your mainland villages. Then he will attack you by building a siege wall, constructing a ramp, and raising a roof of shields against you.He will pound your walls with battering rams and demolish your towers with sledgehammers. The hooves of his horses will choke the city with dust, and the noise of the charioteers and chariot wheels will shake your walls as they storm through your broken gates. His horsemen will trample through every street in the city. They will butcher your people, and your strong pillars will topple.” – Ezekiel 7:7-11 NLT

Yahweh is announcing His intention to take the same path of destruction to mete out judgment upon the enemies of His people. He will begin in the north with Damascus and work His way down the coast to the land of the Philistines.

This prophecy was partially fulfilled in 333 B.C. when Alexander the Great passed through the region on his way to Egypt. He focused his attention on the coastal cities, destroying all ports used by the Achaemenid Empire but leaving the Jews relatively undisturbed. Alexander’s march to the south left many of these same cities destroyed but they would eventually rise from the ashes and continue their mistreatment of the people of Israel. What Yahweh has in store for them will be far more destructive and permanent than anything they suffered at the hands of the Greeks.

The English Standard Version translates verse 1 as “the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel.” While it is obvious that the all-knowing, all-seeing Yahweh is always watching over the affairs of men, most translators render this verse differently.

…the eyes of humanity, including all the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD. – NLT

…the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the LORD. – BSB

…for the eyes of mankind, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the LORD. – NASB

This human-based perspective is important because it indicates that all will know and understand that this future judgment is the work of Yahweh. Everyone will comprehend the divine nature of the destruction. This won’t be the work of some world super-power, it will be the hand of Adonai, the LORD of Hosts.

…the Lord will strip away Tyre’s possessions
and hurl its fortifications into the sea,
and it will be burned to the ground.– Zechariah 9:4 NLT 

The city of Ashkelon will see Tyre fall
and will be filled with fear.
Gaza will shake with terror,
as will Ekron, for their hopes will be dashed.
Gaza’s king will be killed,
and Ashkelon will be deserted.– Zechariah 9:4 NLT

These powerful, wealthy, and influential cities will suffer fear, humiliation, and elimination at the hands of Israel’s God. Their wealth will do them no good. Their armies will be impotent and unable to defend them. The once-great Philistine empire that had plagued the people of Israel for centuries would fall, never to rise again. The oracle even predicts the conversion of any Philistines who manage to make it out alive.

Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God
    and become like a clan in Judah.
The Philistines of Ekron will join my people,
    as the ancient Jebusites once did. – Zechariah 9:7 NLT

The content of this oracle must have been difficult for Zechariah to get his head around. It was good news but it all sounded so far-fetched and impossible. It didn’t get any more believable when God claimed, “I will guard my Temple and protect it from invading armies. I am watching closely to ensure that no more foreign oppressors overrun my people’s land” (Zechariah 9:8 NLT).

God was telling Zechariah incredible news regarding Israel's future. Not only will Israel be restored, Jerusalem rebuilt, and the Temple completed, but the people of Israel will prosper, filling the land, and serving Him faithfully. Things were going to be radically different. Instead of punishing His people as He had done in the past, God was going to bless them abundantly and restore them to favor. This news had to be difficult for Zechariah to comprehend as he looked around at a partially completed foundation on the Temple, the broken-down walls, and the demoralized remnant who struggled to fulfill the task God had given them due to the scope of the project and the presence of opposition. Yet, Yahweh had assured Zechariah that He was the God of the impossible.

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." – Zechariah 8:6 NLT

It's as if God said, "I know this doesn't look so good right now, but don't judge Me based on what you see." Yahweh wanted Zechariah to focus on His promises, not the pressing problems that seemed to never go away. 

Yahweh knew that Zechariah and the beleaguered people of Judah were struggling to keep the faith. They were growing weary and questioning whether all their hard work would be worth it. So, God pointed them to the future. He predicted a brighter tomorrow that was beyond their powers of comprehension. But He had proven Himself faithful in the past and could be trusted to fulfill His plans for the future.

Yet, God’s people have always struggled with doubt and the inability to take God at His word. Even today, those who claim to believe in an all-powerful, promise-keeping God, find themselves wondering where He is and what He is doing. They take a look at their current circumstances and make sweeping judgments regarding everything from God's faithfulness and presence to His love and power. When things don't go well, God’s people automatically assume that He is either angry or oblivious to their needs. He is upset and punishing them. He is out of touch and ignorant of them. Their prayers don't get answered, so they conclude He does not hear or does not care.

In time, their view of life begins to influence their view of God. In a sense, Yahweh tells Zechariah, "I know this all seems impossible to you right now. After all, there's just a handful of you and the job is far from complete. BUT THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU!"

The point of it all was that God could do the impossible. He knew what was going on and was well aware of the situation taking place in Jerusalem. He had a full grasp of the facts regarding the status of the Temple, the presence of opposition, the size of the workforce, and the condition of their hearts. Which explains the depth and detail of His message to Zechariah.

He told Zechariah, "Be strong and finish the task!" (Zechariah 8:9 NLT) and “Don't be afraid. Be strong, and get on with rebuilding the Temple" (Zechariah 8:13 NLT). It wasn't about their strength and ability to get things done, it was about their faith and trust in a God who could do ANYTHING. They just needed to do what He had called them to do and leave the rest up to Him. God had returned them to the promised land, provided a royal edict to secure their work, and secured the funds to pay for the entire restoration project. He had done His part but they had failed to complete theirs. It was far too easy for them to look at their relative lack of success and the overwhelming size of the task and become disillusioned.

The same thing can be true of us. We get overwhelmed by circumstances and begin to feel we are in over our heads. We start to wonder if God is with us at all. But whenever we think it's all up to us, we miss the point. Nothing is impossible for God. There is nothing He can't handle. There is nothing we face that is outside of His sovereign control and divine will. Like Zechariah and the people of Judah, we must constantly remind ourselves that nothing is impossible for God. That's the message we need to hear. There is nothing that He can't do. There is not a single circumstance that is out of His ability or power to handle. And not only that, but nothing is impossible for God. That's the message of the Bible. It is all about God, not us. It is about His power, His will, His promises, His faithfulness, His salvation, His Kingdom, and His ability to finish what He has begun and restore what is broken. Nothing is impossible for Him.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.