Zechariah 3 -- A Courtroom Scene

In this night vision, Zechariah saw Joshua, the current High Priest, standing in front of Christ, the Angel of the Lord.  “Joshua is the defendant, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, and Jesus Christ is the defense attorney,” my commentary said.   The nation’s low spiritual level was evident in Joshua’s clothing, which the Hebrew word translates as “excrement-covered”.  “The Jews became defiled while they were attempting to serve the Lord.  If their service was unclean in God’s sight, what must their deliberate sins have been like!” my commentary added.

Satan tried to accuse, but God cut him off with His grace.  My commentary also added:  “When Satan talks to us about God, he lies, but when he talks to God about us, he tells the truth.”

Despite Satan’s accusations here, God cleansed and forgave, taking away sin.  “Don’t get the erroneous idea that the Father yearns to punish us and the Son pleads with Him to change His mind, because that isn’t the picture at all.  The Father and the Son both love us and want the best for us, but God can’t ignore our sins and still be a holy God.”

What Satan forgot was that he “cannot accuse us, nor God condemn us, for sins for which Christ died!” my commentary said.

Joshua (representing Israel) was cleansed and restored, and that “always involves responsibility.  Joshua and his fellow priests weren’t put on probation; they were cleansed and restored to service.”

Father, thank You for cleansing me when I sin and for not disqualifying me for service, but restoring me to service.  You love for me is incredible!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 2 -- Jesus Talking About Us In The Old Testament!

Zechariah is given another night vision.  The Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ in pre-incarnate form, is seen measuring Jerusalem – surveying it as only the owner and authority over it could do.  He makes an announcement that one day Jerusalem would see such expansion that the walls would be unable to contain it.  Jesus would protect it Himself, and His glory would reside there.  This would be such an encouragement to those working to rebuild the city at that time, in spite of enemy attacks.

Jesus says something here that I dearly love:  “Whoever touches you hurts what is precious to Me.”  As children of God, we are dear to His heart, and He watches over us with a strong love!

His future entrance into the city is once again announced, and He also says that people from all nations will be His people, and that we will know that God has sent Him.  What a wonderful day when the whole world understands!

Father, my heart overflows as I realize that, here in the Old Testament, You and Your Son were thinking about me – that You already knew that I’d become Yours, and that I would be precious to You, despite my sins!  Thank You for such wonderful encouragement!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Zechariah 1 -- Supposed To Be About The Future, But Check Out The Past

My Bible's opening comments about Zechariah speak over and over about its references to the future -- even OUR future.  But something snagged my attention in chapter 1 -- the talk of ancestors:

"The Lord said, 'The Lord was very angry with your ancestors ... Don't be like your ancestors.  THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN OR PAY ATTENTION TO ME,' says The Lord.  'Your ancestors are dead...'"

But then in the next sentence I read, "I commanded my words and laws to my servants, the prophets, and they preached to your ancestors, WHO RETURNED TO ME."

It wasn't apparently the PREACHING but God's PUNISHMENT that returned them to Him.  Sometimes we can talk all we want, with little or no effect.  It's instead the living out of the consequences of sin that finally produce repentance.

Father God, help me and those I love to understand You are a just and holy God, and that You do produce consequences for our disobedience in Your LOVE for us so that we WILL return to You.  Let us not move away from You because of those consequences, but instead help us to move CLOSER to You as we SEE THE LOVE.

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Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

The Book of Ezra -- A Father's Day Challenge

I decided to read this entire book at one time -- my Father's Day worship while in Branson.  Loved many things I read:

"The Lord CAUSED Cyrus to ...."

"Then the family leaders ... got ready to go to Jerusalem -- everyone God had CAUSED to WANT to go to Jerusalem..."  

Say what you want, but The Lord God IS supreme and He DOES influence the affairs of men!

When Zerubbabel and his group arrived in Jerusalem, the city was gone.  Even the foundation of the Temple was gone.  They had to start from absolute scratch!  But God had CAUSED the king of Persia, Cyrus, to PAY for not only the trip, but the Temple reconstruction as well!

Yes, there WERE enemies of the rebuilding, and they wrote a letter back to King Xerxes, who reigned after Cyrus, wanting the construction stopped.  The letter may have had no effect, so later, they wrote another letter to the new king, Artaxerxes.  Their letter rehearsed the disobedience of the Jewish people to worldly authorities, and conveniently omitted the fact that Cyrus had ordered the rebuilding!  Not knowing the truth, Artaxerxes took the bait and stopped the rebuilding.

God CAUSED the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to tell the Israelites to restart the Temple construction.  The local governor, probably concerned about his job, wrote to the new king, Darius, informing him that the Jews were once again rebuilding the Temple.  He did, however, cover his bases and mentioned that the Jews claimed King Cyrus had ordered the work done.

King Darius decided that discretion was likely the better part of valor and responded by telling the local authorities to stay out of the way, except for paying the bills for the construction!  He also added a threat for good measure:  anyone attempting to CHANGE his decree would have a wooden beam pulled from their home (destroying it, of course) and the wooden beam was to be driven through the BODY of the conspirator!

Some sixty years passed in the middle of all this, and Ezra arrived in Jerusalem while Artaxerxes was still the ruler.  "Ezra received everything he asked for from the king, becuase THE LORD HIS GOD WAS HELPING HIM."  "Ezra had worked hard to know and obey the Teachings of The Lord and to teach his rules and commands to the Israelites."  Ezra descended directly from Aaron, the brother of Moses.

King Artaxerxes had tasked Ezra with this:  "Ezra, you are sent by the king ... to ask HOW Judah and Jerusalem are OBEYING the Law of your God, which you are carrying with you."  He was also given silver and gold from the king for use in the Temple for sacrifices.  He also was given orders for the local governor to provide daily financial support to the Temple, saying, "We do not want God to be angry with the king and his sons."  Surprisingly, he also told Ezra, "Whoever does NOT OBEY the law of your God or of the king MUST BE PUNISHED."

When Ezra arrived, he sent his representatives to survey the spiritual obedience of the Jewish people, and he didn't receive a good report.  "When I heard this, I angrily tore my robe and coat, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down in shock."  How many of us have ever reacted like that to spiritual conditions around us?  At the evening prayer, still wearing his shame, he fell on his knees and prayed, "My God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our sins are so many.  They are higher than our heads ... What has happened to us is our own fault.  WE have done these evil things, and our guilt is great.  But You, our God, have punished us LESS than we deserve..."

Seeing this, the men of Israel decided that Ezra was right.  They HAD sinned by marrying outside of their Jewish ancestry.  And they set about divorcing the women they'd married and starting over with God. 

Father, sometimes a hard reset is needed.  And this would have been a hard one.  Thank You for showing us when we are failing to follow Your law and Your will for our lives.  Help us to decide to make those hard resets and get back on track with You.  Thank You for Your kindness, Your forgiveness, and Your mercy and grace!

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Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nehemiah 11-13 Happy, Happy, (Not) Happy

I'm trying to get my arms around this, because something isn't quite right.  They were thrilled that they now had Jerusalem protected by walls.  They had a great worship service to commemorate it, but then they had to throw lots to see who would "volunteer" to stay IN Jerusalem and the rest were going back to their own lands!  Sounds like it wasn't the place to live after all!  But it says, "The people offered many sacrifices that day and were HAPPY because God had given them great joy.  The women and children were HAPPY.  The sound of HAPPINESS in Jerusalem could be heard far away."  But they didn't want to live there??

Nehemiah returned to Babylon to report to the king, then finally returned after a period of time.  Ezra had read from the Word of God that people from Ammon and Moab were never to be allowed in the meeting to worship because of their treachery as the Israelites were moving from Egypt to the Promised Land.  Yet when Nehemiah returned he discovered that the high priest had allowed Tobiah, who was an Ammonite, to use a storeroom IN THE TEMPLE!  He quickly remedied that.

The happy people, though, had also begun to allow foreign merchants to enter the city on the Sabbath, and they were AGAIN purchasing from them ON THE SABBATH.  Nehemiah had to correct that as well!  Also, Israelites were intermarrying with Gentiles again.  Nehemiah sounds like he'd about had enough, because he wrote, "I argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them, and pulled out their hair.  I forced them to make a promise to God..."  I don't know just how productive those activities were.  I was facing something similar last night, but thankfully didn't feel God leading me to go QUITE that far with my son.  I think it would have been very counterproductive.

Father, give me Your Godly wisdom and discernment.  Show me the way to insure cooperation and behavior that is pleasing to You.   Most of all, don't let me through any action of my own cause others to doubt that I am Yours.

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Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nehemiah 10 -- Would WE Have Done It?

The Jewish people with Nehemiah all gathered together and took an oath.  It says that it was tied to a curse in case they broke it, but the curse wasn't listed with the oath.

They swore not to let their children marry non-Jews.  They swore not to purchase any items on the Sabbath or on any holy days.  They swore not to plant their fields in crops every seventh year. 

They swore to give an 1/8 oz of silver to the Temple every year and drew lots to determine when each family would haul wood to the Temple each year for burning the offerings. 

They swore to bring the first bushel of every crop, every fruit and vegetable; the first measure of every year's pressing of olive oil, and the first young born of each animal as well.

They also agreed to forgive any debts they were owed by others every seven years.

Would we have done that?  How hard would it have been to take that gallon of olive oil they'd worked so hard to harvest and press?  That treasured first little calf?  And in that sixth and seventh year, would we be hesitant to lend, knowing we might not get it back?  And how tempting might it be to run to the market to get something rather than do without on Saturday?

And about that wood-- might we try to trade out with someone else several times so that we conveniently wouldn't end up being inconvenienced by having to labor at the church?

Father, they were putting feet to their promises.  Help me to do the same, not fudging, not figuring ways around, not hesitating to help.  You are definitely worth it!

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Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nehemiah 9 -- Closest During Chastening

The people had just gone through the Day of Atonement where was to remove their sin.  They should have then been celebrating, but as Ezra continued to read God’s Word, it hit them just how gracious and merciful God had been with them.  They began to confess the sins of their ancestors and their own sins.  They realized how much they didn’t deserve to be back in the Promised Land.

My commentary said, “How could these people turn their backs on God after all He had done for them?  They did not truly LOVE Him.  Their obedience was only an outward form; it didn’t come from their hearts.  In their hearts, they were still living in Egypt and wanting to return there.  They did not have a living faith in God but were willing to receive His help and enjoy His gifts.”

They saw all of this during these 6-hour preaching-and-prayer meetings they were having each day.  They saw that 70 years in Babylon had been for their own good, and that God’s chastening showed His love.  My commentary added, “God’s chastening is as much an evidence of His love as is His bountiful supply of our needs.  We should be grateful that God loves us too much to allow us to become spoiled children.  The Father is never as close to us as when He is chastening us.”

Father, thank You for Your love – a love so great that You refuse to leave me as I am in my sin.  Instead, You work to help me see my sin, admit it, and turn my heart back to You.  Thank You for never stopping loving me, even when I’m at my most unlovable.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford