goodness and beauty

On that day the LORD their God will save them,

as the flock of his people;

for like the jewels of a crown

they shall shine on his land.

For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!

Zechariah 6:16-17a

Here is a beautiful picture of God’s salvation! Zechariah describes the Lord rescuing His people as a shepherd saves his flock, then honoring them as precious jewels in a crown. These aren’t two different groups of people, but the same people viewed through the eyes of their Redeemer.

We are helpless sheep who need rescuing, yet God regards those He saves as precious treasures. This is the wonder of the gospel. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:11). We were not rescued because were were valuable. We are instead made valuable because we have been rescued! His gracious love and power gives us a worth and dignity we could never earn. We are now radiant trophies of His grace… made beautiful by the blood of the Lamb.

The prophet exclaimed: “How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty”! We too see that goodness and beauty in the splendor of our Redeemer. The cross reveals both to us: God’s goodness is saving undeserving sinners and His beauty in the selfless sacrifice of our King. On day the Shepherd Who laid down His life will display us, His redeemed people, like jewels reflecting the glory of His grace. Even now there are glimpses of such glory in the church, the Bride of Christ. We are jewels transformed by grace. We are treasured people reflecting Christ’s glory.

Ready

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  Luke 12:40

Am I ready

to see Jesus?

Am I ready

for His trumpet sound?

I want to

please Him

and to hear

His “well done”.

I believe

He is returning

His church, His Bride

to claim,

The world

in judgment burning;

Christians rescued

through His name.

Are we ready

to see Our Savior?

Will we rejoice

to see our Lord?

He will judge

thoughts and behavior

as is promised

in His Word.

So ready

to live forever.

So ready

to be free

from sin and sorrow

with our Savior!

Made to love Him

for eternity!

unopposable

As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Luke 11:53-54

The very best “experts” in Jewish law and custom tried to trip up Jesus. They went after Him tooth and nail with everything they had, relentlessly hoping to find fault with Him. And yet they could not succeed. They could not catch Jesus in a sin. They could not out debate Him either publicly or privately. This is significant. It should have given them pause. They should have realized that surviving their kind of scrutiny should have led them to believe what Jesus said and did.

Yet here they were claiming to hold true to God’s law while rejecting the One Who had given it. They claimed to believe the miraculous deliverance of the God of Exodus while rejecting the true Messiah come to deliver the world from sin. They were blinded by minutia and truly missed the Messiah and His miraculous message.

In an indirect way the failure of the opposition to find fault with Jesus is proof of His Person and purpose! He truly is the Son of God. He truly is the Son of Man. He truly came to seek and save the lost. He truly spoke as the Living Word of God. He could not be silenced or shut down. He is never successfully opposed. Their later murder of Him backfired as He offered Himself as the last sacrifice and then rose again to forever be our Savior!

Reasons to sing

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD.  Zechariah 2:10

This is a command to sing and rejoice again in Jerusalem. Why? The exiles had returned to rebuild the city and restore the temple. They came back to a sad situation and a lot of hard work. Eventually there was opposition to the rebuilding of homes, walls, and the temple. The people became discouraged. They grew weary. The work stopped.

God brought visions of hope and a call to repentance through the prophet Zechariah. By faith again the people would see the hard work for what it was: a daily form of worship welcoming God in their midst. He would work in their work. He would restore as they rebuilt. He would lead them to sing and rejoice while doing so. The reason for their joy was that God was with them and had promised to restore all that was hoped for again.

O God of restoration,

I sing to You and will look to You as You dwell in our midst through Your Holy Spirit right now. How I long for broken walls to be restored, for a home to arise from rubble, for fractured relationships to heal, and for Your worship to always stay at the center of every part of my life. You give me reasons to sing!

Amen

the best reason for joy

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20

Jesus reminded His followers that the most amazing experience was yet to come. Seventy-two were sent out into the villages of Israel to spread the good news, heal the sick, and cast out demons. They were joyful at their return over the reality that demons were subject to them in His name. Of course Jesus Himself had given them that authority. They had power over the enemy and nothing Satan could do to them would hurt them. They were right to find joy. But there was a greater truth in which to truly rejoice. 

Their names were written down in heaven. The present victory of the gospel was certainly something to delight in, but the future in the kingdom of heaven was immensely more wonderful. The greatest joy would be yet to come. There would be no more need for power over the devil and his deeds… for then all will be perfect. This is what Jesus came to bring and it is the culmination of the gospel.

Oh to see that bright day! I am ready to cross the Jordan if heaven is the Promised Land. I will fight the good fight until then! But I will rejoice that in Christ I am redeemed and that my name is written down in glory’s great book.

Survivor

Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,

yet they have not prevailed against me.

Psalm 129:2

This stanza was sung in a song recounting to some extent the history of suffering by Israel. The nation began with hardship. Even the promise of a nation to come that was given to Abram was hard and long and difficult. It turned Abram into a nomad of faith. The promise took three generations to even begin to sprout into the hope of a nation, passed down from Abraham, to Isaac, and then to Jacob who was renamed Israel and fathered twelve sons who became tribes to the nation.

God used hardship, suffering, and famine to eventually settle the fledgling nation that was an extended family in the land of Egypt. And within another few short generations the Israelites became enslaved, suffering under the harsh treatment of Egyptian taskmasters. A nation in its youth, forced into servitude, kept from freedom, yet loved by God Who saw it all. And He did not let their affliction prevail. 

God raised up a deliverer in Moses who led them out of bondage. After another generation suffered faithlessly, wandering in the desert wilderness, God led a faithful generation to the land that He had promised Abram so long ago. Their afflictions and sufferings did not prevail. Their afflictors and abusers were cut down. Delivered, set free, and blessed, God made them His own.

And so it is in Christ. Those once in bondage to sin, afflicted at birth with sin’s wasting work and in want of a Savior are set free by Christ our Deliverer. We simply trust and believe the gospel, submitting to His good rule in His kingdom. Our affliction will never prevail because Christ is for us!

Nation Shaker

For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.  Haggai 2:6

The Lord Who hung the stars in space,

Who sets the seas their watery bound,

Will rise in sovereign pow’r and grace

to shake all kingdoms to the ground.

Mountains tremble at His Word;

Oceans stir beneath his hand.

No throne can stand against the Lord;

No edict apart from His command.

Nations boast of wealth and might.

Their banners wave, their armies rise;

Yet human glory fades from sight.

Fleeing like clouds across the skies.

Heavens shake and earth gives way,

Mighty nations bow in fear;

Crowns and scepters crushed as clay

When God’s appointed hour is here!

Through this shaking stands a throne,

A kingdom time cannot destroy;

The Son lays claim to a world His own,

To fill His people with His joy.

Now let the trembling nations know,

Though earthly powers rise and fall;

The Lord commands the winds that blow,

And Christ shall reign — King over all!