King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Saturday, September 21, 2019
Chapters: Zechariah 5-9
Message: Abide In Me And I In You
Hello My Friend,
At the heart of every faithful Christian is not the religion they choose, it is the God they choose. Yes, there are many gods, man made gods to be exact, but there is only One Living God, and He is alive and well and gives life to all who believe in Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus is the BRANCH, He is also the vine that branches off of God, and without the Son, we cannot reach the Father. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” – John 15: 4-7.
“and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,” It really is not that difficult to understand, if God’s Word abides in us than we will abide by them, and He will in turn provide for, and protect us. Nothing in the Bible says that God will grant us everything we want for our obedience, but it does say that if we are we will be blessed. What is difficult is the execution because we often want to do things our own way, instead of God’s. As God continues to give Zechariah visions about what is to come when Christ returns, he gives him two more, one concerning a flying roll (book) and one of a woman in a basket.
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. Zec And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” – Zechariah 5:1-3,7-11.
“This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth:” The size of the flying roll was thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide, which was the size of the porch of the first temple built (I Kings 6:3). It is believed by Jewish writers that the roll came from there. The roll will be opened, and the curses written in the roll will be read, and judgment will be given by Jesus Himself (Revelation 20:11-13). “To build it an house in the land of Shinar:” This is the foretelling of the one world false religion in which all religion comes together and is led by the Antichrist himself. The Anti-christian church of Rome is called Babylon, and she is represented as the great whore (Revelation 17:1-5), the Antichrist being her love interest. The ephah, and the woman in it, are carried into the house built for her in the land of Shinar, which will be in hell. The two women represent the two kingdoms or powers of the Antichrist, civil and ecclesiastical, in which he will control until Christ returns. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” – Revelation 17:8,17.
We may not like the truth, we may not agree with how we live knowing the truth, but we must all agree that the Bible is true. There will come a time when the entire earth will be judged, the believers will be safe, the unbelievers will not. God gives Zechariah another vision, one with four chariots, and then commands him to take some of the people with him and have crowns made for Joshua, the high priest, and this would be a sign that another high priest would come.
“And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.” – Zechariah 6:1,4-5,10-14.
“These are the four spirits of the heavens,” The four spirits or the four angels of the heavens are sent by God to administer to the saints of God, the saved, born again believers of Jesus Christ, who minister the Gospel all over the world (Psalm 104:3). “And the crowns shall be to Helem,” You see, we will receive crowns for our faithfulness to Christ, then cast them right back at His feet because we will not need them in His Kingdom as He will be the only one to reign forever (II Timothy 4:8). “and he shall build the temple of the LORD:” Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” – John 2:19. He raised up or built the temple the second He resurrected out of the grave. The saved souls are God’s temple (I Corinthians 3:17). It is amazing what the flesh desires, and what one desires is far different from another, one gets satisfaction from substance, another gratification, another power, yet another pain. Can I tell you that all the desires of our flesh lead to pain eventually. Why? Because the flesh has the has only one desire, to satisfy itself. Even though God had sent the Jews to Babylon that did not mean they were to forsake the Law, God addresses this through Zechariah, not just to the Jews, but to all the people who called them His.
“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.” – Zechariah 7:5-7,9-11.
“did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” I use to be in this program where once a week you fast for twenty-four hours, and you drink only water. It was actually Christian based, but I stopped because I realized I was not doing it for God. Whenever we fast, eat, drink, whatever it is that we do with our physical bodies, it must be with God in mind. Why? It keeps us in check, reminds us that He is our provider, and takes our mind off of our own flesh for a while. There are times when fasting is necessary, it is not as though our prayers are not heard at other times, it is that we might use more time in prayer and doing God’s work rather than attend to the needs of our own flesh for a while. One day we will not have to worry about any of this, but until then we need to keep pressing toward that mark. Through Zechariah, God speaks of the glorious day when both Jew and Gentile will be united.
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.” – Zechariah 8:6-9,23.
“that the temple might be built.” When Jesus told the people that the temple would be destroyed and He would rebuild it in three days, the people thought He was insane, their reason being that it would be impossible for a building to be built in three days. Of course, Jesus was talking about Himself in that they would kill Him and three days later He would resurrect from the dead. But how easy is it to believe the wicked things of the world, and not the things of Jesus? So many Jews reject Him, and so many religions that do recognize Him have no clue who He truly is, and yet it was all written in the Old Testament as well. Jesus reveals more to Zechariah.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.” – Zechariah 9:9-11,14.
“and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” This prophecy was fulfilled the week that Jesus would be crucified, He arrived in Jerusalem as the King, people bowing and praising Him. Little did they realize that day that He truly is the King, not only in Jerusalem, but the entire earth. Yes, one day, the earth will be destroyed, but there is hope for the saved, a new earth, one with no more sin, sorrow, pain or any kind, and the only ones who will be there are those who are saved. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:1,6-8.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” – Zechariah 9:9.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for your mercy and grace, no matter how much I mess up it always abounds. When life gets overwhelming, my flesh gets weak, and it seems like temptation is all around me, without You I know I fall more than I care to admit, but with You I have the strength to escape any temptation. Lord, lead me and guide me, cover me with love and joy and Your grace, keep me accountable so my heart, soul, body, and mind do not become lustful over the things I desire. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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