7-25-19 Today in the Word

Zechariah: Return to the Lord
JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM’S ENEMIES
Thursday, July 25, 2019 | Zechariah 12:6–9

Anne Rice, a well-known author and an atheist, wrote a series of books about the life of Christ. In the first, entitled Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, she includes an author’s note which explains how and why she had been drawn back to God. She wanted to understand a historical mystery: the survival of the Jewish people. “It set in motion the idea that there may, in fact, be God” she explains. “And when that happened there grew in me for whatever reason an immense desire to return to the banquet table.”
The book of Zechariah reveals the solution to this mystery. The survival of the Jewish people can only be explained by divine intervention. What has proven to be true repeatedly in the past will be definitively demonstrated at the end of time. When the world comes against Jerusalem, God will be her defender. The images of a firepot in a woodpile and a flaming torch touched to dried sheaves of grain (v. 6) describe the actions a marauding enemy or invading army might take. But those who attempt to harm Jerusalem will destroy themselves instead. The city will remain intact and unmoved while those who hoped to overthrow her will face ruin on every side.
God will protect the most vulnerable first. The “dwellings” of Judah are tents located outside the city walls. God will not overlook the feeblest (literally: those who stumble or totter) among them when He delivers the city (v. 8). The strong will not have an advantage over the weak. No one will be more valuable than another when God delivers Jerusalem. Nobody will be left behind to fend for themselves.
APPLY THE WORD
Thank God for His protection and provision in your life. He holds your past, present, and future. The survival of the Jewish people is evidence that the God of the Bible exists. Jerusalem’s hope is the church’s hope because Israel’s Messiah is our Savior. Our destiny is bound together, as we will see more clearly in tomorrow’s study.

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