Zechariah 1
A Call to Return to the LORD
1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo: 2 "The LORD was very angry with your forefathers. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. 4 Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. 5 Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? "Then they repented and said, 'The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.'"
The Man Among the Myrtle Trees 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo. 8 During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9 I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are."
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth."
11 And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace."
12 Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" 13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
14 Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.'
16 "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty.
17 "Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.' "
Four Horns and Four Craftsmen 18 Then I looked up—and there before me were four horns! 19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem." 20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people."
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 4:7-15
7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
January 24, 2008
Absolute Needs
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READ: John 4:7-15
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:19 About this cover From our first breath until our last, we have few truly essential needs. Without oxygen, we would perish in minutes. We must have food and water. Our bodies, when exhausted, require rest. And in harsh weather, we must seek shelter. So, while we are needy creatures, our basic needs are few.
When it comes to our wants, however, there seems to be no limit. Indeed, the entire advertising industry is devoted to expanding our “needs.”
But what about those basic needs we overlook? What about our need for the Bread of Life and the living water of God’s truth? What about our need for spiritual fellowship that gives strength, hope, peace, and comfort? The vague dissatisfaction so many people experience is really spiritual malnutrition and thirst.
Jesus told a Samaritan woman about water that would become “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). He had what she truly needed—what Peter later called “the words of eternal life” (6:68).
Have we been ignoring the words of Jesus: “Man shall not live by bread alone”? (Luke 4:4). Have we been failing to nourish our souls while pursuing our wants? “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). —Vernon C Grounds
I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord,No tender voice like Thine can peace afford;I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee!O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. —Hawks
Just as our body needs daily food, so does our spirit.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 24, 2008
God’s Overpowering PurposeLISTEN: READ:
I have appeared to you for this purpose . . . —Acts 26:16 About this cover The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was not a passing emotional experience, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him. And Paul stated, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). Our Lord said to Paul, in effect, "Your whole life is to be overpowered or subdued by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine." And the Lord also says to us, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go . . ." (John 15:16).
When we are born again, if we are spiritual at all, we have visions of what Jesus wants us to be. It is important that I learn not to be "disobedient to the heavenly vision"Ðnot to doubt that it can be attained. It is not enough to give mental assent to the fact that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in my life. I must have the foundation of a personal relationship with Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim. He was brought into a vivid, personal, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ.Acts 26:16 is tremendously compelling ". . . to make you a minister and a witness . . . ." There would be nothing there without a personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else. "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Game of the King - #5489 Thursday, January 24, 2008
My brief visit to Israel some years ago is one of the richest memories of my life. One of those memories took place in this dark, damp, cobblestone basement of a church on the Via Dolorosa. That area was part of the governor's headquarters in Jesus' day. It's called the Praetoriam or the "pavement" in the Bible. As I stood there, I realized I was standing on the very stones where my Savior was humiliated in front of a howling mob and by some brutal Roman soldiers. Our guide showed us some markings that were scratched into the stones by Roman soldiers at that time. The guide explained that those markings made a crude playing board for this cruel game the soldiers played. They called it "The Game of the King." They may have played it with Jesus. It's still being played today.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Game of the King."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in Matthew 27:27. "Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetoriam and gathered the whole company of soldiers around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and they knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. 'Hail, king of the Jews!' they said. They spit on Him and took the staff and they struck Him on the head again and again. After they had mocked Him, they took off the robe and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him."
Our Jerusalem guide told us that the Roman soldier who won this game got to pick one of the prisoners to be "the king" who then they abused verbally and physically. In this case, it was the King of Kings - the One who made them! The proper symbols of royalty were there: there was a robe, a crown, a scepter. And their words were right: "King of the Jews." But it was all a mockery.
Now your reaction is probably much like mine, "Man, that's ugly. That's so perverted." And it is. But the worst part is that some of us may be playing an updated, more polite version of the "Game of the King" even today.
Could it be that you say all the right words about Jesus, you're going to the right meetings, carrying all the right symbols - a Bible, Christian literature, church involvement - but, in many ways, it's a mockery? Those soldiers called Jesus "king," but they had no intention of being His subjects, of doing what He said. Maybe, in some ways, like you.
Look at your romantic life, for example. Your words may say, "Jesus is Lord," but who's really running your romantic relationship? Or what about your business? Is it run Jesus' way or your way? If we were to listen to a recording of how you talk at home, would they show that Jesus is King of your family relationships or are you? The words and activities may say that Jesus is King, but who really controls how you use your money, what you decide to listen to, or to watch? What about your sexual fantasies? Does what comes out of your mouth much of the time sound like a subject of King Jesus? Look at who's really running things, in the things that really matter to you.
It's not the words that decide it. If you're saying Christ is Lord but ignoring Him much of the time, you may be playing a religious version of the "Game of the King." And it is a shameful game. And everyone who plays this game loses. Listen to the King's sobering question from Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?'"
