I've been walking thru the Tanakh these past months, and I was in Ezra, and noticed that both the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were clearly mentioned by name in that Book, and decided to bolt ahead, and take hold of Haggai's prophecy and Zechariah's prophecy.
in Haggai, these three words impacted me:
[b]"Consider your ways"[/b]
and then in Zechariah, I read these three precious bits of Scripture:
[b]"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I dwell in your midst, declares the LORD."[/b]
that's Zechariah 2 and verse 10,I see Messiah all over that verse and then in the next verse, this is where my heart absolutely leapt:
[b]"And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people".[/b]
now as a Jew, who follows Messiah Jesus, a great cause of personal joy is that God was never going to leave the "nations" without the Blessed Choice, or "Branch" to become chidren of Abraham, ingrafted Vines via the Last Pascal Lamb, the Blood of Messiah Jesus. To me, personally that is joy inexpressible, such joy tempered by the fact that latter religious institutions, polluted by the wicked machinations of the destroyer, stirred the dark hearts of men, to kill, persecute and harrass so many of my fellow Jews for over 1600 years. Just terrible, so much so, that if you even mention the Beautiful Name; Jesus, to a Jew, they close up. Not because of conviction of sin, or hardness of heart, (maybe some, but this is not unique to Jews alone) but because of so much blood on the hands of men, who would scream, "kill a Jew for Jesus!", or forced inquistions, etc etc.
Forgive me for wandering, because the third bit of Scripture in Zechariah I read is this:
"Hear Now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant, [b]the Branch".[/b]
thats Zechariah 3 and verse 8, and as many of you know "the Branch" is a term for Messiah, and translated into Hebrew is "Neser" (Nazarene?) and here's where it goes on, that just lit my soul, God is so good, and His Word is so powerful and rich:
"For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, (or facets) I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, [b]and I will remove the inquity of this land in a single day."[/b]
That is so powerful and beautiful, because we know what that Day was, is, and will be.
Any young believer, I encourage with all my heart and soul to begin each day feasting on the Word, even if its just for 15 minutes, half an hour, it will always be of profit, to your soul, and set a Foundation for your day.
Devotional Scripture reading has been of great comfort to me, even admidst the storms of this life.
neil |