KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2018
Chapters: Zechariah 1-4
Message: The BRANCH of God
Hello My Friend,
I have to take a course in American history through the eyes of this new common core teaching that pretty much makes a mockery out of everything that God stands for. The ice age, the age of the earth, and climate change, yes, they blame everything catastrophic that happened on climate change. Yes, this is American history teaching this, which has nothing to do with history, if this is what I get now, I am not even looking forward to earth science. If they can do anything to discredit God and deny the fact that it was the flood that caused such a flux in the earths environment then they will do it, but God still rules, and He will show them one way or another that He is real and in control. The Book of Zechariah contains fourteen chapters and was written by Zechariah, it was written to the new generation of Jews who returned from Babylon. The timeline for these events took place around 520BC. The purpose of the book was to renew a spiritual commitment with God, and foretell of the coming of a second judgment when Christ (the BRANCH) returns. What we are to learn from the book is that God is in control of all affairs, His infinite love and care are in all who receive Christ, who is His BRANCH. “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.” – Zechariah 6:12-13.
Did you ever have a conversation with yourself, then answer yourself? This is kind of the scene when God when He talks with Jesus, who is the angel of the Lord, and Lord of hosts, and the Holy Spirit, both of them being God Himself also, yet He is distinguished as three different persons. While we with our own human minds cannot fathom the idea that God is omnipotent and be several people at one time, we must understand that He is God and can do as He pleases, be who He wants, and wherever He wants to be. Zechariah, prophet in Babylon, was sent by God back to Jerusalem to help Ezra rebuild the temple. One night Zechariah has a dream, a man riding on a red horse, bringing others on horses with him.
“I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.” – Zechariah 1:8-11,13-16.
“and they helped forward the affliction.” When I was praying this morning, the first thing I did was acknowledge Him for how much He loved me and only wanted the best for me, and even admitted that I was the cause of any of the needless affliction I caused upon myself. While God is in control of all things of the heavens, hell, and earth, He does not control man. God had one rule, “Obey Him.”, but man disobeyed, bringing the curse of death upon all of us. Man makes the decisions, man chooses what to believe, man chooses to go against God’s law, therefore man suffers in their own affliction. However, God is merciful in that He will give all a chance to choose Him. God has his angels all over the earth, we have no idea who they are because they look like you and I, they show us Jesus, watch over us, comfort us, test us to see if we know who Jesus is and are one of His.“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:2.
Since we are made in God’s image we have a natural tendency to become jealous when someone else tries to take what we have. God is so jealous over us that He will use any means necessary to get us out of danger from being corrupted any further. Just think about that, if we are saved, we belong to Him, He has given us eternal life through His Son. No, He does not want us to stop living, He wants us to follow His commands a live, if we stray away from Him, He will get jealous. His jealousy comes as a great concern over our well being, as much as He wants to let us do what we want, He knows not everything we do is good for us. As Zechariah continues dreaming he sees the angel walk over to another, telling him to speak to Zechariah.
“And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.” – Zechariah 2:3-5,10-12.
“and will be the glory in the midst of her.” How awesome will it be when we, as truly one nation under God, get to see the glory of Jesus right before our eyes? No pain, no sorrow, no death or sin, no walls, no sun or moon needed to give light as His Light will shine upon the earth. Praise God! We must understand that God places His faithful in the midst of heathens not for us to conform to them, but that we may conform them to Christ. And let me tell you, they are smack dab in the midst of the church. We are not to be of the world, just be the light that shines Christ into it. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” – I John 1:5-7.
We also must understand that we are not in a physical war here, it is a spiritual one in which Jesus and the devil are at odds with each other and it is our souls that are up for grabs. While Jesus promises eternal life, the devil sets out to destroy every soul that God creates. Through Zachariah, God shows us the opposition that Jesus faces with the devil, and while he is in his glory right now, there will come a time when He will overthrow Satan.
“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” – Zechariah 3:1-4,7-8.
“and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.” You see, the devil is right there next to us, ready to hinder us from doing what we are supposed to be doing for God, and more often than we care to admit he does hinder us quite often. When we get saved, Jesus removes those garments that were covered with sin, (Thank you, Jesus!) we are not to go back to our sinful ways and keep staining our new clothes,
“And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” – Zechariah 4:1-4,6,11,14.
“These are the two anointed ones,” There is some question as to who these two are, there is no doubt that one of them is Jesus, but some say that it is Jesus and the Holy Spirit while others say that they both are Jesus, in two different persons, Him being the King and High Priest. Either way, both represent Christ because He is the anointed BRANCH that anoints His people with His own blood the second they receive Him as their Saviour. Perhaps the most important aspect of being a Christian is having faith not only in God, but Christ too, it is not enough just to have faith in God, we must believe in Christ and all that He is, including that He is God in the flesh in order to be accepted of Him. We all live by faith, whether we would like to admit it or not, even the worst skeptic has to have some kind of faith that they will succeed in what they are doing. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” – II Corinthians 5:20-21.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” – Zechariah 1:3.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for making me a part of Your family, not by my own works or even obedience to Your commands am I saved, but solely by my faith and trust in the finished work of Your Son on the cross. Lord, You know the intentions of our hearts, as You allow the devil to bring circumstances and affliction to our lives. Lord, lead us and guide us, keep us in Your Word so we cannot be only hearers of it, but doers also. Remind us that we are not doing this for our salvation, but simply to honor You, thank You for all that You have done for us because we first turned to You, and to bring others to Him as well. In Your power and might I know that I can do all things, fill me with your grace, lead me with Your power, and let me keep my heart always trusting You by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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