Call to Commitment

Something unusual is happening

When I make my two weekly radio programs, I always have unbelievers in mind, who might be listening, and I direct some words to them. However, I have been preoccupied, because I have done little personal, direct evangelism lately. One day, I went to the Lord in prayer, asking that He would give me more opportunity to share the gospel. The next day, I heard the door bell ring and, opening the door, six people and two TV cameras were before me. Without going into the whole story, I’ll just say that for two hours I was able to share Christ freely with them in our house. I didn’t have to look for a way to introduce the subject, because they began to ask me about Bible texts on the walls and also about the peace that they felt here. It was an opportunity without precedent for me.

As I told this experience to our youngest son, Mike, who is co-pastor of a church in Minnesota, he said that the same thing is happening to him. People come to him with questions and, if it is necessary to break away, they ask him about when they can continue the conversation. Mike also said that he has never seen anything like this.

Afterwards, Steve, our son who is a pilot for a fly-in school district in a remote area of Alaska (no roads or highways),  wrote us: “Been having some real good talks with people at work. I think a lot of people are getting sick of the way they are living and are looking for reality.” This thing seems to be happening everywhere and I think that it might have to do with a harvest before Christ returns.

"The Lord will be king over all the earth"  (Zechariah 14:9)

How long will it be before the Lord returns to earth to set up His kingdom? Could it happen in this 21st Century? I think, it could easily happen in this century. Could it be twenty years from now? It is not out of the question. Ten years? That's also possible. I can tell you that it will not be earlier than 2022. It cannot take place for at least seven years. Now, look back seven years to 2008; seens like yesterday, doesn't it. It's time to start looking forward to the greatest time that this earth has ever experienced.  Let's get a perspective by taking a look at Zechariah's millenial prophecy. The coming of the Lord draws near! 

Verses 6-15  Steps towards perfection

The first description that Zechariah gives after the Battle of Armageddon is somewhat difficult to understand. Actually, the Scripture, both Old Testament and New, refers several times to this period, so we will just let the Scriptures speak. Isaiah, among several prophets, also informs us of this phenomenon: “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem” (Is.24:23). Jesus Himself said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light” (Mt.24:29). Could this be the time of the Judgment of the Nations? The words that Jesus had to say about that judgment are similar to those of Zechariah: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another…” (Mt. 25:31,32).

A few comments on Zechariah 12:1-8   

The verb forms stretches out and lays in present tense, signify that the Lord is always involved in His creation (v.1). The universe continues to stretch out and all things continue to be renewed. The prophecy of Zechariah, chapter 12 is a heavy weight, the burden of the Lord against the enemies of Israel. 

Many times in Scripture we have the expression, “God remembered” His people and in this case, the same thing is expressed in this way, “I will keep My eyes open” (v.4). This means that the time has come to take action to help the Jews, who are in a situation that is impossible for them. He will show aggressive, sovereign might against the force of the Gentile nations and every individual in its army. By the numbers that they have, they ought to be confident, but God is able to insert Himself into their state of mind, so that panic comes upon them and their battle training turns into insane behavior.

Read the news from February 15, 2015: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged European Jews to move to Israel after a Jewish man was killed in an attack outside Copenhagen's main synagogue. ‘Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,’ Netanyahu said in a statement, repeating a similar call made after attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris last month that killed 17 people, including four Jews. ‘Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again... Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews,’ Netanyahu said in the statement. The Israeli prime minister said his government was to adopt a $45 million (39.5 million euro) plan ‘to encourage the absorption of immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.  To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.’” Then read your Bible: “And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their hearts, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are our strength in the Lord of hosts … (v.5) they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell and sit securely in their own place, in Jerusalem.” (v.6) It is as I once heard an old preacher say, “Reading the newspaper these days is like reading the Bible.” The government of Israel, with all the world against them, continue to build housing in the city of Jerusalem.

  

I need to ask you again that you keep the Bible open and alongside, so that you can read each verse as it is mentioned throughout this article. That is how a Bible study works…

So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages…

That magnificent price at which I was valued by them!  Zechariah 11:12-13

Verses 1-6  The allegory of the trees

Lebanon is a country situated to the north of Israel, from the Mediterranean Sea and extending inland to a mountainous region, where some of the peaks are covered with snow almost year around. Fires always threatened its countryside and the same danger exists today. In olden times, Lebanon had great forests of cedars and, to this day, the cedar is the national symbol of the nation.  To build his temple, Solomon brought cedars from Lebanon and Ezra also used its cedars to build the second temple (Ezra 3:7). The name Lebanon means white.                                                               

According to all the commentators that I have, what Zechariah has placed before us in these first three verses is an allegory. In Chapter 10, he prophesied of the Second Coming of the Messiah, in which the houses of Judah and Joseph “will be as though I had not rejected them” (10:6). In Chapter 11, he returns to the First Coming, when the Messiah was rejected and the allegory describes the results of that rejection. The doors of Lebanon to the north could not stop the Roman invasion into Israel by Titus in 70 A.D and the doors of the temple in Jerusalem did not prevail, when the Romans arrived at the city (v.1). The cedars of Lebanon symbolize the temple, constructed with cedar inside, and outside it shone white, on the mount, from white marble

There are two interesting incidents concerning these doors:  Josephus relates how, “at the Passover, the eastern gate of the inner temple, being of brass and very firm, and with difficulty shut at eventide by twenty men; moreover with bars strengthened with iron, and having very deep bolts, which went down into the threshold, itself of one stone, was seen at six o’clock at night to open of its own accord. The guards of the temple running told it to the officer, and he, going up, with difficulty closed it. This the uninstructed thought a very favorable sign, that God opened to them the gate of all goods.” Rabbi Johanan ben Zaccai rebuked them, and said, “O temple, why dost thou affright thyself? I know of thee that thy end is to be destroyed, and of this Zechariah prophesied, ‘Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire devour thy cedars.’” Note that Josephus said that this supernatural event occurred at the Passover and a tradition marked it 40 years before the destruction of the temple… when Christ was crucified.

After 50 years of ministry I am seeing something very special happen among God’s people… and it even is seen among pagans. It seems that the movement is worldwide. At the same time, the evangelical church is advancing rapidly towards apostasy, deceived by the spirit of ecumenicalism that includes Islam, false prophets and “pastors”, who refuse to preach the whole counsel of God, and a pragmatism that insists that any work is of God, if it is successful.  In Bucharest I met a Frenchman, ministering in apologetics, traveling and protesting against the movements and people that Satan has raised up to divert Christians from the true way. We really need these kinds of Protestants in this 21^st Century. May God bless each courageous person, who is not distracted by popularity!

On the other hand, there are people full of longings to come ever closer to God. I’ve been among some in Romania. In any worthwhile event, as in a gospel camp, there have to be those who are dedicated to serve, and in this case, I am thinking of our camp cook. She was always busy, preparing food for those who had come from many parts to enjoy fellowship, prayer and to study the Word. In spite of her work, she was in all the meetings (three a day, two hours each), and she also blessed the campers with her singing.  

Chapter 9

Verse 1-8  Israel protected

Zechariah does not mention the date, in which he wrote the ninth chapter, but the experts believe that it was between 480 and 470 B.C., forty years after he had written chapters 7 and 8. It is not only a prophecy, but a burden; it is a burden of wrath against Hadrach, a city near Damascus in Syria (v.1). As the Lord rested, when judgment was carried out against Babylon in chapter 6:8, so the Lord will rest from this burden, when it comes to Damascus.

This prophecy is very interesting (v.2-4). Because of the prophecies of Daniel, the Jewish people knew about Greece and Alexander the Great before he existed. They knew that the empire, under which they were subject, would be conquered (Dan.8:20-21). Daniel had a dream, when Babylon still governed the world in the year 551 B.C., before the Persians had conquered it. Two hundred years after this prophecy of Zechariah, Alexander came against Damascus, where Darius, the Persian, had great treasures and illustrious people, and conquered it. Afterwards, 150 miles to the north, he defeated Hamath, before he invaded the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, which received much diabolical influence, according to Ezekiel 28.

Tyre considered itself invincible, because it was situated on an island and, even though Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian, was able to destroy the city on the mainland, he couldn’t arrive at the island, even though he tried for 13 years. No other enemy was able to reach it, but Alexander did, because he had a mandate from God, which was the prophecy that we are studying. He utilized the ruins that Nebuchadnezzar had left to build a causeway in the sea, which reached the island (334-332 B.C.).

  

Prophecies of the Millennium should fill our lives with anticipation and longing. They are marvelous promises! The Lord will use His hosts to attract the world’s inhabitants to Jerusalem (v.20). Everyone will have a desire to please Him and that will be a pleasure for them. Among the cities they will call to one another to go to seek God. Can you hear the emotion in their voices when they cry, as children shouting to the neighboring friends to go to some spectacular exhibition?

An expository study of Zechariah 8:10-23

Preparing to receive blessing