Week
of 13 Pentecost - B
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Podcast Download: Week of 13 Pentecost - B
Sunday
13 Pentecost - B
First Posted
August 30, 2009;
Podcast: Sunday 13 Pentecost - B
Proverbs 9:1-6 -- Invitation of wisdom;
Psalm 34:9-14 -- Fear the Lord;
Ephesians 5:15-20 -- Living in True Wisdom;
John 6:51-58 -- Living Bread of Heaven;
Proverbs Summary:
Wisdom is portrayed as the hostess of a great
feast. She has made the preparations, and has sent the invitation
to the surrounding people. She invites those who recognize that
they lack wisdom and sense, and desire to leave simpleness and
live and walk in insight, to come and receive the bread and wine
of Wisdom’s feast.
Psalm Summary:
The psalmist, David, the great shepherd-king of
Israel, had personally experienced the goodness, faithfulness and
deliverance of the Lord. He praises the Lord and he invites the
afflicted to hope and rejoice in the Lord, also. David offered his
testimony: when David was in danger from his enemies and facing
troubles, he called upon the Lord in faith, and the Lord heard and
answered, and delivered David from his troubles.
David testified that the Lord encamps around those who fear (have respect and awe for the power and authority) of the Lord. David testified that the desires of the “young lions,” their worldly ambitious, are never satisfied, but that those who trust in the Lord lack no good thing. Those who desire a long life of good things should refrain from evil and deceit and pursue goodness and peace, (according to God’s Word).
Paul (Saul of Tarsus), the first “modern,”
“post-resurrection” “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple and
apostle of Jesus Christ, was “discipling” the Christians at
Ephesus, in fulfillment of Jesus’ Great Commission” given to his
disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Paul was teaching the Christian
disciples to live according to “wisdom” (which is only in Jesus
Christ; see Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Christians, 1
Corinthians 1:17-29; 2:1-8), rather than according to the “folly”
of worldly people. Paul urged them to understand God’s will, and
to make the most of their time in this world for good, because the
times are evil.
Ephesians Summary:
Paul taught Christians to be filled with the
Holy Spirit and to share fellowship with other Christians in
praise and worship with the Lord, glorifying the Lord, rather than
indulging in the debauchery which worldly people consider
“celebration.”
John Summary:
Jesus declared that he is the true, “living
bread” which comes down from Heaven, and that those who partake of
that bread will live forever. Jesus’ flesh, sacrificed on the
Cross, has become that “living bread from Heaven.” The Jews took
exception to Jesus’ words, questioning how Jesus could give his
flesh to eat. Jesus replied that unless one receives Jesus’ flesh
and blood, one has no (true, spiritual) life within them.
Jesus declared that his flesh and blood were
more truly food and drink than physical bread and wine. Those who
partake of Jesus’ flesh and blood abide in Jesus and he in them,
in the same way that God the Father abides in Jesus and Jesus in
God his Father. As the (eternally) living God the Father sent
Jesus and Jesus has eternal life in God the Father, so those who
partake of Jesus’ flesh and blood have eternal life in Jesus.
Commentary:
True wisdom is divine wisdom, by which the
world was created and is sustained, not what the world falsely
considers “wisdom.” Divine wisdom is available to all who
recognize and acknowledge their need for true wisdom. It is
accessible in God’s Word, the Bible, and fulfilled, embodied and
illustrated in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14).
“The fear (respect and awe for the power and
authority) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the
knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10). Unless one
knows enough to fear the Lord and seek to know him and his will
personally, any other knowledge is worthless. One can even know a
lot “about” God, and still not know God personally; and that
personal knowledge and fellowship with God is only possible
through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
David testified that those who fear and seek
the Lord will lack no good, necessary thing. David took refuge in
the Lord and he experienced the Lord’s goodness, faithfulness and
power to deliver David from all danger and harm. I add my personal
experience and testimony to this truth. If you’d like to live a
long, good life, how does eternity in heavenly paradise sound?
Paul was teaching the Ephesian Christians to
live according to the wisdom of God. Christians are well-advised
to make the most of their time in this temporal Creation reading
and learning God's Word, learning to trust and obey him, and seeking
God’s will in order to please him. This lifetime is our only
opportunity to seek and come to know and have fellowship with God
(Acts 17:26-27), and Jesus Christ is the only way (Acts 4:12; John
14:6).
Those who learn to trust and obey Jesus receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Unless we are re-born spiritually in this lifetime we won’t be able to spend eternity in the “Promised Land” of God’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.
God has always intended to create an eternal
kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. We have
all been created as eternal beings (John 5:28-29) in a temporal
Creation. In order for us to have the freedom to choose whether to
trust and obey God or not, he designed Creation to allow the
possibility of sin (disobedience of God’s Word). We have been
given the freedom to learn, by trial and error, that God’s will is
good, acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
Jesus has been “built into” the very structure
of this Creation (John 1:1-5, 14). God’s Word declares that we
have all sinned (disobeyed God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John
1:8-10), and that the penalty for sin is (eternal) death (Romans
6:23). Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness and
eternal salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of
Salvation, sidebar, top right, home).
Jesus came into this world in human flesh to
become the only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of
our sins. In the Old Testament the patriarchs sacrificed animals
for the forgiveness of sin, and the blood of the sacrifice
cleansed God’s people from sin. The covenant with God was
established and maintained by the sacrificial feast. The ultimate
example was the Passover, in which the people of Israel sacrificed
a perfect, unblemished lamb, and marked their doors with its blood
to be “passed over” by the angel of death on the eve of their
release from bondage to sin and death in Egypt.
Jesus is the New Lamb of Passover, sacrificed
for us so that the angel of death will “pass over” our sins, and
so we will be freed from bondage to sin and death in the “Egypt”
of this world, and led through the spiritual wilderness into the
eternal “Promised Land.” Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross became the
“bread and wine” of the New Covenant meal. His flesh provides the
“living bread” which gives us eternal life, and his blood marks us
to be spared by the angel of eternal death.
In the Old Testament times, drinking the blood
of the sacrifice was forbidden by God’s Word, because it was
believed that drinking it conferred the spirit, the life-force, of
the animal. On the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, Jesus
celebrated Passover with his disciples, and instituted a new,
spiritual, feast, the Lord’s Supper; Holy Communion; the
Eucharist. Jesus himself became the Lamb of Passover, and his
flesh and blood became the bread and wine of the feast. The Lord
wants us to partake of and be filled with the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of God; the Spirit of Jesus (Romans 8:9). Jesus has become
the host of the feast of divine wisdom!
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Monday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 31, 2009;
Podcast: Monday 13 Pentecost - B
Psalm 34:15-22 -- The Redeemer;
Summary:
The Lord looks with favor upon those who do
what is right in his judgment according to his Word. When they cry
to the Lord he hears (and answers them; 1 John 5:15; see
Conditions for Answered Prayer, sidebar top right). The Lord
opposes evildoers and removes them even from remembrance. “When
the righteous cry for help, the Lord delivers them out of all
their troubles” (Psalm 34:17). The Lord is with those who are
heartbroken and crushed in spirit, to save and restore them.
The righteous will have many troubles (in this
world) but the Lord will deliver them from all. “He keeps all his
bones; not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:20). “Evil shall slay
the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned”
(Psalm 34:21). “The Lord will redeem the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned” (Psalm
34:22).
Commentary:
The righteous are those who trust and obey
God’s Word, in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, the “living Word,”
fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3,
14). Jesus is the ultimate, perfect example of righteousness, who
trusted and obeyed God’s Word to the point of death on the Cross.
God’s Word prophesied by the Psalmist (David, the shepherd-king of
Israel), that he would keep all the bones of the righteous
unbroken, was fulfilled in Jesus on the Cross (Psalm 34:20;
compare John 19:36).
David was the man after God’s own heart, who
would do all God’s will (Acts 13:22; Psalm 89:20), but David
wasn’t perfectly obedient; he committed a terrible sin with
Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-12:23). David repented and confessed his
sin, trusting in the Lord’s mercy.
David learned to live in trust and obedience to
God’s Word, and he experienced God’s power and faithfulness to
deliver David from trouble, and to forgive him when David failed,
as David sincerely repented and confessed his sin. David’s
relationship with the Lord foreshadowed the relationship Jesus
came to bring us through the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit.
No human is able to keep all God’s Word all the
time. Sin is disobedience of God’s Word, and all of us have sinned
and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John
1:8-10). If we trust and obey Jesus he will give us his indwelling
Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34; John 14:15-17), who makes it possible
for us to know, desire and do God’s Word, and gives forgiveness
and salvation from eternal condemnation, not because we are
worthy, but for the sake of Jesus’ righteousness (see God’s Plan
of Salvation, sidebar, top right, home). The Holy Spirit is the
seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2
Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
The Lord blesses those who trust and obey him,
and opposes those who defy and oppose the Lord and his servants.
Those who oppose God’s Word and God’s people are condemning
themselves to eternal destruction “Matthew 25:31-46; 2
Thessalonians 1:5-10). This lifetime is our opportunity to learn
that God’s will is good and our very best interest. All who trust
and obey the Lord will come to experience and know the Lord’s
power and faithfulness to deliver us from trouble, and to redeem
our life even from physical death. I and all truly “born-again”
(John 3:3, 5-8) Christian disciples testify to that truth.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Tuesday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted September 1, 2009;
Podcast: Tuesday 13 Pentecost - B
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 -- Renewing the Covenant;
Summary:
Israel had entered and taken hold of the
Promised Land, subduing it and driving out the Canaanites
according to God’s Word. Now Joshua assembled Israel at Shechem to
renew the covenant which their forefathers had ratified at Mt.
Sinai. Joshua reviewed the history of God’s call to Abraham to
possess the Promised Land and become a great nation of God’s
people, reminding them how the Lord had delivered them from those
who opposed them along the way.
Joshua told the people of Israel to fear (have
proper awe and respect for the power and authority of) the Lord
and commit themselves to serve sincerely and faithfully. They were
to renounce and remove the idols which they had once served, and
serve the Lord. Joshua asked them to choose decisively whether to
serve the Lord or not, and Joshua declared that he and his
household would serve the Lord.
Commentary:
We need to hear that call to recommitment
today. We need to review the great things the Lord has done to
bring us into this “Promised Land” as a Church and as a Nation. We
need to decide whether to serve the Lord or to serve ourselves and
the “idols” of wealth, power, status, career, home, family, and
material possessions. Have we been serving the Lord with
sincerity, faithfulness and single-mindedness of purpose, or have
we been trying to serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24)?
The Lord gave Israel possession of the Promised
Land on the condition that Israel would trust and obey the Lord.
When Israel served the Lord the Lord blessed and prospered Israel;
God drove the pagans out of the land so that Israel could occupy
and possess it. But, repeatedly, when Israel turned from sincere,
faithful obedience and trust in the Lord, the Lord lifted his
favor and protection from them and Israel became prey to their
enemies, and the Lord didn’t restore them until they sought God’s
help and recommitted themselves to serve him.
This text should be a warning to us,
particularly in America and in the Church. Do we think we retain
God’s favor and blessing while ignoring and disobeying his Word,
and while serving “idols?” Do we think our present status, power
and wealth are our own accomplishment, and perhaps even a sign of
God’s approval? Has God’s presence and favor departed and we
haven’t even noticed?
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Wednesday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted September 2, 2009;
Podcast: Wednesday 13 Pentecost - B
Ephesians 5:21-31 -- Christian Households;
Summary:
Christians are to be submissive to one another
in reverence for Jesus. Husbands are the spiritual head of their
household as Christ is the Savior and head of the Church. Wives
should submit to their husbands just as the members of the Church
are to submit themselves to Christ. Husbands are to love their
wives as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed his life for her,
cleansing and sanctifying her by Christian baptism, the spiritual
washing of water with God’s Word. The Lord intends for the Church
to be holy, without any blemish (at the Day of Judgment).
Husbands are to love their wives as they love
themselves. As Christ nourishes and cares for the Church as
members of his body, we nourish and protect our own flesh, and our
wives are members of our own flesh, in accordance with God’s Word
(Genesis 2:24).
Commentary:
In the World, people rise to power and success
by dominating others. Jesus set a different example. He is the
rightful eternal king, but he submitted himself to God’s will and
worldly authority even to human injustice and death on the Cross.
When people join the Church they bring with them worldly attitudes
and behavior. Is the Church making disciples of Jesus Christ,
teaching them to submit to God’s Word in Scripture and in the
teaching and example of Jesus Christ? Are Church members willing
to be disciples of Jesus Christ?
As we submit in obedient trust to Jesus Christ,
Jesus gives us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John
14:15-17), who gives us spiritual eternal life and guides and
empowers us to do Christ’s mission Christ’s way. The Lord does not
give his Holy Spirit to those who don’t submit to him. We cannot
accomplish his mission in our own human ability and strength. When
the Church is working the way the Lord intends, each member is
cooperating with each other through the bond of the Holy Spirit,
so that we are working as one body guided and empowered by Christ,
not as groups of individual empires we’ve laid claim to for
ourselves.
Israel and Judaism at the time of Jesus’ first
coming had become dominated by leaders who were pursuing their own
interests, rather than the will of God. They regarded their
position as a career, not as a ministry of service to God. They
weren’t submissive to God’s Word or God’s Son. They weren’t really
concerned about the spiritual condition of their members (Matthew
27:3-5). All they cared about was the approval of men; the public
perception that they were righteous; their status as leaders in
the community (Matthew 23:1-36).
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Thursday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted September 3, 2009;
Podcast: Thursday 13 Pentecost - B
John 6:60-69 -- Words of Eternal Life;
Summary:
Jesus had just told the crowd that Jesus’ flesh
and blood was the true bread from heaven, and that those who
partook of that flesh and blood would live forever. Many of his
disciples found this teaching hard to accept. Jesus knew their
unwillingness to accept his word, and said that if they found this
concept hard to accept, how would they accept his ascension into
heaven?
Jesus told them that it is the Spirit who gives (eternal) life; the flesh is not eternal. Jesus had told them spiritual truth needed for spiritual, eternal life. Jesus knew that some of his disciples would not accept his teaching in faith. Jesus had known from the beginning those who would not believe and those who would betray him. Jesus declared that no one can come to faith in Jesus unless God the Father makes it possible.
Many of his followers stopped following Jesus
because of this. Jesus asked his disciples if they would also fall
away. Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life; and we have believed and have come to know
that you are the Holy One (Messiah) of God.”
Commentary:
Jesus’ teachings are sometimes hard to listen
to, usually because they show us our own shortcomings. But Jesus
tells us the hard truths so that we can make the changes we need
in order to find true eternal life. We either respond by not
following and listening any more, or we accept Jesus’ correction
and make the changes we need to make in order to receive and
experience real life.
Jesus’ flesh and blood offered to the world as
the bread of heaven and eternal life suggested the context of a
sacrificial meal, which would have been very familiar to his
hearers. Jesus’ disciples didn’t want to think about Jesus being
sacrificed (Mark 8:31-33). It wasn’t pleasant for them to hear,
but it was God’s plan, from the very beginning of Creation (John
1:1-5, 14). It was necessary to accomplish God’s eternal purpose.
Paul, the first “modern,” “post-resurrection,”
“born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple and apostle (messenger; of
the Gospel) of Jesus Christ told Timothy, whom Paul “discipled,”
in fulfillment of the Great Commission which Jesus gave to his
disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), to preach Jesus’ words, “in season
and out of season” (i.e. whether popular or not; 2 Timothy 4:2).
Paul warned that the time was coming when people would not
tolerate sound teaching, but would get teachers who would teach
them what was pleasant to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4). That time has
come!
The Lord wants us to trust and obey him so that
he can show us that he is teaching truth and so that we can grow
in obedient faith. Those who follow Jesus in obedient trust come
to know with certainty that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed
Savior and eternal king. It’s not true that we can’t know the
truth about eternity until we die. Only those who are perishing
eternally don’t know where they will spend eternity, because they
haven’t believed Jesus’ words.
Those who are being saved from eternal
destruction have the assurance of eternal life and fellowship with
the Lord within themselves, by the gift of the indwelling Holy
Spirit, which only Jesus gives, (John 1:31-34) only to his
disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy
Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has
eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b,
11, 15-16).
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Friday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted September 4, 2009;
Podcast: Friday 13 Pentecost - B
Galatians 3:16-22 -- The Purpose of the Law;
Summary:
Paul was asserting that salvation (from God’s
eternal condemnation and our destruction) is by faith (obedient
trust) rather than by works (keeping) of the Law. He pointed out
that the promises God gave to Abraham (“Abram;” Genesis 12:1-8;
17:1-21) came four hundred and thirty years before the giving of
the Law (to Moses at Mt. Sinai; Exodus 19:1-20:20). The giving of
the Law did not annul the covenant of God with Abraham. If the
promise to Abraham were by law, then it would not be a promise
(which Abraham received by faith in God’s Word).
Why then did God give Moses the Law? The Law
was given because of human sinfulness, to restrain sin until the
one should come to whom the promise had been made. God’s promise
was to be fulfilled through a particular descendant (Jesus
Christ). The promise was to Abraham through his descendant
(singular; literally “seed;” not “seeds).
The Law is not contrary to the promises of God.
But the Law cannot give (spiritual) life, and righteousness cannot
be achieved by keeping the Law. “But the Scripture consigned all
things to sin, that what was promised to faith (obedient trust) in
Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (trust and obey;
Galatians 3:22).
Commentary:
God has intentionally designed this Creation
from the very beginning with the purpose of creating an eternal
kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. This
Creation has been designed to allow us the freedom to choose
whether to trust and obey God or not, and to allow us to learn by
trial and error.
God’s Word declares that sin is disobedience of
God’s Word (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10; Ephesians 5:6), and the
penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). God’s Word has
intentionally consigned all to sin “so that what was promised to
faith in Jesus Christ might be given (as a free gift) to those who
believe” (who trust and obey Jesus; Galatians 3:22; Ephesians
2:8-9).
Jesus Christ has always been God’s one and only
eternal plan for our forgiveness and salvation (Acts 4:12; John
14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right, home) from
the beginning of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14).
The Law does not give spiritual life; it
condemns us to spiritual death, because we are unable to keep the
Law perfectly. Sacrifices were constantly required for the
forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law; the
fulfillment of God’s promises in his Word.
Jesus is the exemplification of human life
lived in perfect obedience to God’s Word. Jesus is the only
sacrifice acceptable to God, once for all time and all people, for
the forgiveness of our sins, and Jesus is the only one who gives
the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples
who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
It is the indwelling Holy Spirit which frees us
from the Law, provided that we live in obedient trust in the Holy
Spirit (Romans 8:1-11). It is by the indwelling Holy Spirit that
we have the righteousness of Christ through faith (obedient trust)
in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in
Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians
1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek
and come to know God (Acts 17:26-27), which is only possible
through Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and to learn to live in obedient
trust in Jesus Christ through the gift of his indwelling Holy
Spirit.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Saturday 13 Pentecost - B
First Posted September 5, 2009;
Podcast: Saturday 13 Pentecost - B
Zechariah 7:4-10 -- What God Requires;
Summary:
At the end of the seventy-year exile of Judah,
the remnant of Israel, in Babylon (from 587-517; Jeremiah 25:11),
the Judeans had been allowed to return to the Promised Land and
were rebuilding the Temple. In the month of Chislev (mid-November
to mid-December) of 518 B.C.,* the people of Bethel had sent
delegates to the priests and prophets of the house of the Lord (at
Jerusalem) asking whether they should continue to keep the fasts
mourning the burning of the Temple and the assassination of
Gedaliah, events of the fall of Jerusalem and Judah to the
Chaldeans (Babylonians).
The Word of the Lord came to Zechariah, and he replied, asking the people if it had been for the Lord that they had kept these fasts for seventy years? When the people feast it is they who enjoy and benefit. When Jerusalem and Judah were prosperous didn’t the prophets of the Lord proclaim the same word (for example Micah 6:8)?
The Lord declared through Zechariah that the
Lord is not interested in religious ritual; the Lord desires his
people to uphold justice and to practice kindness and mercy. We
are not to oppress the widow, the fatherless, aliens or the poor,
and are not to plan evil against others.
Commentary:
Fasting and other religious rituals have the
appearance of piety, but that is not what the Lord desires.
Fasting has the appearance of self-sacrifice, but the
self-sacrifice God desires from us is obedient trust in his Word.
Those who truly want to serve the Lord should learn and apply
God’s Word in their daily lives.
The reason that Judah fell and was exiled to
Babylon was that the people had not heeded the words of the
prophets of the Lord, calling them to repent and return to
obedient trust in God’s Word. Because of Judah’s disobedience, the
Lord lifted his favor and protection from them and allowed them to
experience defeat and exile.
We need to examine ourselves honestly and
consider whether we are truly serving the Lord, or substituting
religious ritual for obedient trust in God’s Word. Are we seeking
the truth of God’s Word, or are we trying to manipulate God’s
favor for our benefit? Do we think our present prosperity is our
own accomplishment and not God’s providence and blessing? Do we
acknowledge that God is our provider and protector or do we
believe and rely on our government for that? Do we think we can
continue to disobey God’s Word and ignore his prophets, and not
experience the withdrawal of God’s favor and protection?
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by
Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Zechariah 7:1n, p. 1152, New
York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
