Zechariah: Fountain of Sin Opened

Zechariah: Fountain of Sin Opened

After being in Babylon for seventy years, the Jews had returned to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the worship of God in the new temple they had built. Jehovah sent His final three Old Testament prophets to finish delivering that covenant, and then for the next 400+ years He was silent. The last three books of the Old Testament are filled with great truths.zechariah prophet

Zechariah, the longest of these books, ends with many references to the coming of Jesus. He speaks of Gethsemane and that night when evil men would strike the Shepherd and the sheep, the apostles, would be scattered. “Awake, O sword against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zech. 13:7; Mark 14:27).

He speaks of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10). They pierced our Savior’s hands, feet and side, but the coming of the Spirit caused their cries of “Crucify Him, crucify Him” to be turned to tears of mourning on Pentecost. Their cries became petitions reflecting their grief at what they had done. They cried out, “Men and brethren what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?

Some remarkable truths are revealed in chapter thirteen. “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (v. 1). They killed His Son, and His response was to open a fountain of blood to wash their sins away! Our God is One who longs for all men to come to repentance.

Look at the next verse.  “It shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts…that I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.” In one brief sentence God shows that demon possession would come to an end when He opened the fountain for sin. There is no need for exorcists in our day because demon possession came to an end.

God was about to end the Old Testament prophets. When Malachi wrote his book, God would become silent and there would no longer be prophets. When the fountain opened for sin, New Testament prophets would come again, but there would be an end to these prophets. When they had finished their work, God would again become silent. “I will cause the prophets to depart from the land.”  The opening of the fountain brought new prophets, but the end of their work was foretold. The faith has now been revealed once and for all (Jude 3). When God had given all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), He stopped sending prophets. We have all the truth in the book they left for us.

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Forsake Not Wisdom

Forsake Not Wisdom

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”(Proverbs 4:5-7 KJV)forsake not wisdom

Four things stand out to me in these verses. For one thing, we see the importance of gaining godly wisdom – it is the “principal” thing. Also, we see the ultimate goal of wisdom is to gain understanding – the ability to discern right from wrong, good from evil, and the godly from the ungodly. As well, we see the spiritual protection provided by wisdom – it will metaphorically guard or watch over us. The thing that perhaps stands out the most, though, to me is the warnings against forgetting or forsaking wisdom. Solomon wrote those words by inspiration and at one point in his life he embodied wisdom – he was world-famous for his godly wisdom – but something happened, and his heart was turned away from God and folly was the result! He turned his back on wisdom and paid a heavy price for it!

Let us learn positively from the inspired writings of Solomon, but also let us learn the lessons regarding the decline of wisdom, from the life of Solomon.

Read Matthew 6:33; Hebrews 5:14; 1 Kings 3:1-15; 12:1-8

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3 Prophets No More

3 Prophets No More

Those seventy years in Babylonian captivity had ended, and the Jews were returning to the land God promised to give to them in the days of Abraham. There were only three final books of the Old Testament to be revealed. What had God not told them which He needed to tell them? What truth had He not yet revealed? After these three prophets—Haggai, Zephaniah and Malachi—penned their messages, God quit sending anymore messengers. For the next 400+ years, the Jews would be without prophets living among them. God had finished that part of His work among them and had given them all they needed in the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament.prophet message

There is so much to be learned by studying these final three books. He had only these three men to give them all that was missing from His message to His chosen people. What did He have to say?

Look at the book of Malachi. This short book of four chapters concludes His message to His chosen people until He sent New Testament prophets to them. The first half of the book begins by reminding them that He had loved them more than any people on the earth, but they had failed to respond to that love. They were worshiping God but bringing sacrifices to Him that were far from those which He demanded. They were bringing sick animals, crippled animals, which were unfit for human consumption to offer to Him. Their priests had failed to lead them in the ways of God, and He told them that He would rub the animal dung from those animals in their faces. They were literally robbing God of what was His by such sacrifices and their refusal to tithe.

In the last half of the book, God delivers His final message showing that, after the close of the Old Testament, “Someone Will Come.” Before that Someone came, He would send His messenger to prepare the way for Him when He came. “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant” (Mal. 3:1).

That messenger was John the Baptist. Malachi described the work of John. He would “…turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…” (Mal. 4:6). These exact words were quoted by the angel, Gabriel, when he told John’s father that his son was to be the messenger, the forerunner of Jesus.

We will look more at these final books next week, but let me urge you to pay special attention to God’s final command to Israel. It was the last command He would give before the four hundred years of silence. “Remember the law of Moses, My servant.” It is vital that we know and do His will!

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“You Don’t Mess Around with…”

“You Don’t Mess Around with…”

April 1st, 1972 is probably not a date that you would remember well, but on that day, Jim Croce released his song, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.” The song tells the story of a pool hustler named Jim who hustled one too many people and ultimately received his comeuppance. In the chorus, Croce sings, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Jim.” It is this comical list of things that made the song famous. It rose to number eight on the billboards. Are there some things that you “don’t mess around with” in relationship to God?jim mess

Don’t mess around with faith in God! Psalm 14:1 declares, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Why is that? The Psalmist says in the rest of the verse, “They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” Their motives are focused on evil, and therefore they don’t believe. Belief in God interferes with their plans.

Don’t mess around with God’s Son! Hebrews 1:2 says, God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” That means that there is only one way to the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Salvation comes through no other (Acts 4:12).

Don’t mess around with obedience! One may believe in God, accept Jesus as God’s Son, but then neglect to obey God’s word. Jesus only saves those who obey Him. Hebrews 5:9 says, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

There are many things that a person may do in this life, but don’t mess around with these.

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Joyful Shouting to the Lord

Joyful Shouting to the Lord

“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (Psa. 100:1-2). These are strange words when one considers all the trials David faced. They began at the slaying of Goliath, continued for years as a fugitive from the jealous wrath of King Saul and then the rebellion lead by his son after he became king. Joyful shouts? Serving with gladness? Singing in His presence? How can one possibly find joy and gladness in the midst of all of this adversity?

Yet David did. Look at the thoughts which follow the opening words of this psalm. As you think about them, make application as to how you can find true joy in the midst of all that has happened to us in the midst of dealing with the threat of covid.

True joy comes from exalting Lord as God. “Know that the Lord, He is God.” While we may have become disheartened over the months because we have had little control in most aspects of our lives, one eternal truth has not changed. Our Father is greater than any trial we face. How do we face our Goliaths? A shepherd boy stood before a man almost twice his size and proclaimed, “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts….This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand….For the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands” (1 Sam. 17:45-47). Knowing that God is in charge will always result in our victory, and our response will be the coming into His presence with joyful singing.

True joy comes from realizing He has made us. Continue reading that psalm. “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” Whenever we think that our happiness and fulfilment come from our dealing with adversity, we are doomed to failure. He is the Creator, and we are the created ones. We are not in charge and looking inward will never bring happiness and fulfilment. David destroyed the giant but not from his own skills as a warrior. Those who were warriors in that day cowered in fear of the battle. David knew that the Creator was the One who fought against his enemy. The result is joyful praise and thanksgiving.

True joy comes from coming before God and praising Him. Look carefully at David’s words. We must make joyful noise to the Lord; come before His presence with singing; enter into His gates with thanksgiving; enter into His courts with praise; be thankful and bless His name. Covid has robbed us of assembling over the past several months, and we have been robbed of coming into His presence and His courts and finding the joy which comes from singing and praising His name as we once did.

We must not let Satan rob us of true joy!

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