Year 3, Day 262: Zechariah 3

This is such a neat chapter – and blessedly short!  I fear I have much to say on this chapter and if it were any longer I wouldn’t be able to say it all! 

Joshua the Priest

In the vision, Zechariah is shown Joshua – the high priest at the time of Zerubbabel – standing before the Lord.  This word “standing” is an interesting word.  It is a technical word for what the priests were called to be before God.  The word has an interesting mix between abiding with God and doing one’s expected duties before God.  So we shouldn’t think that Joshua is simply standing there as a defendant before a judge.  Joshua is abiding there.  He is working before the Lord.  He is going through what the Lord has asked Him to do. Abiding doesn’t always mean complete rest.  Abiding can simply mean going through the mundane simply because that is all God has asked us to do.

Satan the Accuser

Here we have one of the few mentions of Satan in the Bible – especially with regard to Satan being an active player in the story.  Satan has come before the Lord to accuse Joshua.  Let’s note a few things about this story.  First, Satan is in the presence of the Lord.  Granted, it doesn’t end well.  But Satan is in the presence of the Lord.  Second, he is there accusing Joshua of all of the wrong that he has done.  This ties beautifully back to the fall.  Satan’s fall occurred out of his jealousy for the love that God showed to us.  Satan hates us because we are loved by God.  Third, this shows us the truth of Satan.  Satan isn’t out in the world trying to gain us as followers.  Satan’s primary focus is in driving a wedge between us and God.  Satan isn’t in some grand popularity contest with God.  Satan is in the world trying to destroy our relationship with God.  That is his focus.

Satan’s Accusations

Let’s get something straight, though.  Satan’s accusations weren’t wrong.  Joshua was a human.  I have no doubt that he was filled with iniquity – just as I am and you are.  Satan wouldn’t need to lie about Joshua’s fallen nature; there would be plenty of evidence of sin in Joshua’s life.  In fact, if you read the words carefully you’ll also see that God acknowledges this fact.  Why would God speak to remove Joshua’s iniquity if he had none to begin with?  No, Satan’s accusations were spot on.  Joshua was a fallen person dressed in what tattered spirituality he could provide for himself.  I am no better.  None of us are any better.  We are all dressed in tattered spiritual rags for that is all the better that we can do for ourselves.

New Clothes

You see, God doesn’t argue for Joshua’s self-righteousness.  What God argues is for Joshua’s acquittal and forgiveness.  Joshua’s tattered spirituality is replaced by spiritual clothing of a divine nature.  It is God who clothes Joshua in righteousness.  It is God who acquits iniquity.  It is God who forgives.

This is the inherent conflict between Satan and God.  God loves.  Satan has been jealous of that love for as long as God has loved.  Satan can only see us for the horribly flawed beings we are.  God sees us for the image of Himself that He has created within us.  Satan can only stand there and accuse us of our flaws.  God forgives the flaws and helps us move beyond.  This is why the Lord rebukes Satan.  Satan is not rebuked because he is wrong; Satan is rebuked because he cannot move beyond accusation of wrongdoing.

As I typed that sentence, I was convicted.  How good am I at moving beyond accusation of wrongdoing?  I daresay that if I were to be compared to either God or Satan, I might fall too close to being like Satan the accuser more than I am being like God who forgives.

Spirituality

Having received new clothes – spirituality – at the hand of God Himself, Joshua is charged with keeping God’s ways.  Joshua is charged with being a spiritual leader.  Joshua is promised that so long as he lives up to this charge he shall not only rule but have access to the court of God.

This sets up what comes next.  For at the end of this chapter God speaks about “The Branch.”  God speaks of this branch as a single stone upon which the iniquity of humanity will be removed in a single day.  God speaks of this branch having the effect of causing people to invite their neighbors to come into relationship with God.

Here we see another finger pointing to the coming of Christ.  In a single day – the day Jesus was crucified – the iniquity of humanity was atoned.  After that day, His disciples began inviting their neighbors into a relationship with God.  Through the Holy Spirit they became so proficient at this task that they eventually began to invite the Gentiles – the whole world – into a relationship with God.

God is the one who loves first.  He is the one who forgives iniquity.  He is the one who clothes us in a spirituality that we cannot provide for ourselves.  He is the one who calls the world to His side and receives anyone who truly answers the calls.  He is great.

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Year 3, Day 261: Zechariah 2

The Surveyor

In Zechariah 2, we meet a surveyor.  We don’t really know from the text what the purpose of this surveyor is.  However, from the context we can take a small guess.  Of course surveyors measure land boundaries.  So it is likely that this surveyor has come to measure the present existence of God’s people – or even specifically Jerusalem itself.  Of course this blends in with the greater overarching message of this chapter.  As the people return from exile, the city will grow.  Who better to measure that growth than a surveyor!

God’s Promise

Then the Lord tells Zechariah through the messengers that Jerusalem will grow so large and the Lord Himself will be their protector.  They will be so large that instead of one big city they will feel like a collection of many villages together.  I can’t help but read this description and think about many of our modern cities – especially those with western influence.  All cities have neighborhoods and suburbs and districts.  All of our modern cities are essentially collections of villages without walls.

This got me thinking today.  How many modern cities have walls surrounding them for protection?  I can’t think of any.  We don’t build cities any more with the idea of protecting the whole city.  Our society is simply too massive.  Imagine the construction effort needed to put a wall around something like Atlanta, Washington DC, or even New York City!  In the ancient world, walls were an absolute necessity.  In our modern world, we wouldn’t know what to do with a city that had a wall around it.

Of course, much of this has to do with modern warfare.  When you can drop bombs and soldiers from the air, walls feel suddenly constraining rather than protective.  But the reality is that we as a human society have come to a place where walls are rather pointless with respect to cities.  I wonder.  As we have progressed with respect to cities so that we no live without the need of walls, can the same be said of our relationship with God?  Have we progressed so far as a society that we no longer see a need for God to be our “wall of protection” as He promises here in Zechariah 2?

Zechariah’s Vision of Nations

The rest of this chapter has a really neat conclusion to it.  Zechariah is told that the nations will be judged – of course.  That picks up the thread left off at the very end of chapter 1.  But as God’s people return to Him and as the nations are judged – specifically Babylon – God’s people are told to rejoice.  As God’s people rejoice over their own salvation, we also hear that the nations will join God’s people.

As with the prophetic utterances of chapter 1, I believe that these utterances of Zechariah here have three valid points of interpretation.  We do know that God’s people did return to God when Babylon was destroyed.  We also know that afterwards there was an innate curiosity in Judaism, which is why in the New Testament we have the term “God-fearer.”  These are Gentiles who are curious about Judaism and beginning to live according to God’s Law while not yet becoming full Jews.  This is the first interpretation, one that Zechariah would have begun to see in his lifetime.

However, then came Jesus.  Through the life and death of Jesus, the nations were truly joined up with God’s people.  Through Jesus, salvation was brought to the Gentiles.  Many Gentiles have come to being a part of the designation “My people.”  God has come and dwelled with His people in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  In Christ, we see a second layer of understanding in Zechariah’s words.  The nations can come and dwell with God and not become Jewish first.

But I believe there is a third layer of interpretation here.  When Christ returns, I believe we will see a full understanding of these words.  Then we shall truly see what God means when He will be our wall of protection.  Then we shall truly experience the concept of dwelling with God as God intends it to be in the future.  What a blessed day it will be!

Silence

As we close this chapter in Zechariah, I am struck by a simple verse.  Be silent before the Lord, for He has roused Himself from His dwelling.  I’m struck by this because lately I’ve been doing much soul-searching regarding my ability to listen to God and other people.  I’ve been doing much soul-searching regarding my ability to talk less and only speak when my words are necessary.  I find it interesting to hear that this is actually what God desires.  When God is moving in our midst, silence is needed so that we can actually hear what He is saying and doing among us.  Talking isn’t usually the answer.  Listening is.

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Year 3, Day 260: Zechariah 1

Zechariah – Background and History

Zechariah was a prophet who ministered among the people who were returning from exile.  Whereas Haggai encouraged the production of the temple, Zechariah focused on the repentance of the people.  He was born in Babylon and like Ezekiel and Jeremiah he was both a priest and a prophet.  Zechariah was a contemporary to Haggai and Zerubbabel.

It is often said that Zechariah is the most messianic, apocalyptic, and eschatological books of the Old Testament.  Many read the second coming of Christ into Zechariah as read the first coming of Christ into Isaiah.  Zechariah is quoted or alluded to no less than 41 times in the New Testament alone.  This is a book that shaped much of the pervading religious thought around Jesus and what the people around Him were anticipating with respect to the Messiah.

Zechariah’s Call

About the time that Haggai gave his second message, Zechariah receives his call to come and do the work of the Lord.  From the very beginning of this book we can feel the emphasis upon repentance.  Zechariah is quick to remind the people where they were before their exile under Babylon.

I love Zechariah’s description.  He is blunt and straightforward.  He reminds the people that their forefathers messed up.  God sent them the prophets.  They didn’t listen.  They went into exile because of their rebellion.  The short lesson is this: disobey God and you will get what the rebellious desire of your heart leads unto you.

But there is a longer lesson that this.  Zechariah is also quick to remind the people of a greater truth.  As they stand amidst a ruined Jerusalem and a ruined temple, Zechariah reminds them that the words of the Lord are still standing.  Everything that the Hebrew people desired in their rebellion is gone.  Their wealth, their pagan religion, their city – it is all gone and destroyed.  The only thing that remains is the word of God.

I hope you can see the profound nature of this line of thinking.  It is so easy to get caught up in the things of the world.  We want bigger and better homes.  We want more wealth and better opportunities for our kids.  We want grand buildings with all kinds of comforts.  But in the end, what is the only thing that lasts the test of time?  It is God’s Word.  We spend so much of our time chasing after things that in 80 years – much less a millennia or so – won’t even exist anymore!  Our hearts are indeed easily distracted.

Zechariah’s Vision of the Horses

Here Zechariah has a vision of a red horse rider who stands among the myrtle trees.  This passage and a passage in Zechariah 6 are the likely sources of inspiration for the famous passage of the four horseman of the Apocalypse we find in the book of Revelation.  Notice that as we find in Revelation, the horseman here is an agent of God.

The angel among the myrtle trees is standing beside his horse as though waiting for a report from the riders of the other horses.  As Zechariah meets him, this angel hears the report.  The nations of the world are at rest.  This is an interesting juxtaposition.  The world is at rest while the Hebrew people – God’s people! – are not at rest.

There are three possible understandings for this passage, and I believe all three are correct.  First, this describes the peace brought onto the known world by the military conquest of the Persian people under Darius.  Second, I believe this is a future hint towards the condition of the world under Caesar when the Messiah would first appear. The Roman armies in the time of Jesus had quite proficiently brought peace to the known world through their warfare.  Third, I believe this is also a comment looking forwards to the second coming of the Messiah.  There will be peace across the known world and like the peace of the first two interpretations of this passage I look for that peace to be manmade peace brought about through military conquest.

God looks down upon this condition at the report of the angelic messengers.  God makes a bold pronouncement that He is jealous for His people.  His people will be rebuilt.  His cities will overflow with abundance.  People will once more choose Jerusalem – that is, choose to dwell with God.

As with the report of peace, I believe this declaration would have the same three interpretations.  At the time of Darius, the city and the temple will be rebuilt.  A few centuries into the future around the time of Christ the temple will be enlarged and even among the Roman Empire there was great interest in Judaism among God-fearers.  But I believe the greatest fulfillment of this prophecy will come when Christ returns.  The world will fall into judgment and those who have chosen Christ will dwell with Him.

Zechariah’s Second Vision

Zechariah now looks up and sees four horns.  These four horns represent the people that scattered Judah.  The horn was often used as a symbolic reference to Gentile power.  Thus, many people believe these to be Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Persia – but while likely it is uncertain.

Then Zechariah sees four craftsmen.  Craftsmen were people who took natural resources and inflicted upon them their will.  In this case, the craftsmen come to follow the horns to inflict upon them God’s will.  The point of the vision is extremely subtle but powerful.  There is natural power in the world, but God can send agents to tame the natural power of mankind so that His will is done.

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Year 3, Day 259: Haggai 2

Haggai’s Second Message from the Lord

Chapter 2 begins with Haggai’s next message from the Lord.  This message is dated a month later than the prior message.  The work on rebuilding the temple is continuing, but the work is slow.

You might wonder why the work would be slow if so many people are dedicated to the effort.  Remember first of all that we are talking about the ancient world.  They didn’t have earth movers and cranes to lift heavy loads.  Everything had to be done by hand, by oxen, and at best with the knowledge of things like levers and fulcrums.

Also, remember that the Hebrew people had been exiled for several decades.  There were foreigners living on the land for at least 40 years.  They would not have had any respect for the temple area.  Therefore, not only did the people under Zerubabbel have to build a new temple, they had to clear what debris remained from the old temple and from the interlopers.

Furthermore, as we know from the book of Nehemiah, there was also armed resistance from the interlopers in the land and the surrounding non-Hebrew inhabitants.  The Hebrew people coming back to the land needed to defend themselves.  This need for defense will also slow down the repair effort.

This explains why the reconstruction effort was going slow.  There was much work to do and it was heavy and dangerous work.  This also explains the message that God sends here through Haggai.  God wants the people to know that He is with them.  He wants them to know that He will provide for them.  This message from Haggai is not a message of condemnation but of encouragement.

What is also true about this message from Haggai is that there is a promise.  God gives the Hebrew people a little vision to keep the morale high.  God says that there will come a day when the glory of God will fill the temple.  Their hard work will pay off. 

Haggai’s Third Message

A third time Haggai gives a message to the Lord.  This message focuses on ritual purity.  The verses begin with a legal question that is intended to get the people to focus on the past.  The truth is that the Hebrew people had spent time in captivity because of their past impurity.  Haggai doesn’t want the people to lose sight of this fact.

As Haggai then turns to the present, he makes sure that the people understand that their current surplus of harvest is very small.  The do not have much upon which to rely.  The reality is that until a few months ago the people had once more been in rebellion.  Haggai wants them to think seriously about this as well.  Turning their back on God didn’t work in the past generations.  Turning their back on God hadn’t worked very well for the current generation.  Now that they were repenting it is the right time to have them consider the genuineness of their repentance. 

What is important is that the people continue in their repentance.  God comes and tells them that so long as they continue in their repentance and humbleness with God that things will go well with them. 

Haggai’s Last Message

In Haggai’s last message, Zerubbabel receives a personal message.  We know historically that Zerubbabel was Jehoiachin’s grandson.  Jehoiachin was taken captive under Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon.  Yet in Jeremiah 22:24-25 we hear that before the fall God promises to tear of the signet ring off of His finger.  In other words, God is removing the kings of Judah from His presence.  Yet in this passage, we hear God re-establishing that promise in Zerubbabel.  God is a God of forgiveness and reinstatement to the genuinely penitent.

However, in the greater scope of what God is doing in the world this passage is about something far bigger.  God is not just reinstating the kings; God is reinstating the promise of the Messiah.  God is once more telling His people where to look for the Messiah.  Yes, God forgives individually.  But God is also saying that the individual rebellion of a people cannot counter the overarching work of God’s salvation.  His Messiah shall still come.  The world will be saved.  It starts once more with Zerubbabel.

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Year 3, Day 258: Haggai 1

Haggai - Background

Haggai is the second shortest book in the Old Testament – only Obadiah is shorter.  Haggai is often described as a series of four messages by a seemingly insignificant prophet whose ministry was apparently of a rather limited duration.  However, I believe there is something more to Haggai than this.  Size does not always determine worth.  Haggai is the prophet who ushers us into the study of the Hebrew people as they return to captivity.  Few prophets have packed as much spiritual common sense into their words as Haggai is able to do here. 

Also remember that much of Haggai’s style mimics the time in which he lived.  Resources were scarce, there was a job to do, and there often wasn’t time to do much else except defend the land from invaders and those who would seek to defeat the Hebrew return.  It is in that light that we find ourselves reading these words.

Haggai’s First Message

Haggai sends his words to those who are in charge of the rebuilding effort – and in effect to the whole group of refugees returning to the land.  The Persian king in charge, Darius, had allowed people to return to Jerusalem, but they had not yet rebuilt the temple.  They had taken time to build themselves homes but had not given consideration to God.

Haggai shows God’s irritation about this.  Certainly the people needed shelter.  God isn’t irritated that the people erected shelters for survival prior to rebuilding a place to worship Him.  God is irritated that they not only build shelters but nice homes!  It is likely that Haggai’s condemnation of creating “paneled homes” means that they had built some elaborate constructions.

Remember what it was that sent the Hebrew people into exile.  They had neglected the Lord and pursued the desires of their own hearts.  Is it not this same sin that rears its ugly head as soon as the refugees return to their homeland?  As soon as the people are free from their oppression are they not thinking of themselves and their own desires?

The message of verse 5 haunts me.  “You have sown much and reaped little.”  In other words, they have put in much effort bringing about what they desire without putting in much effort in producing the works that God desires.

Then we turn to the rest of verse 5.  “You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill.”  Haggai is declaring from the Lord that the people are more focused on their own satisfaction before looking to the Lord.  The Lord has provided for them, but they aren’t satisfied.  Rather than taking what the Lord has given to them and responding, they take what the Lord gives and want more.  This is a serious dynamic to understand, because it is largely what humanity is often about.

In fact, the Lord convicts the people about it.  He says, “You looked for much, and behold it came to little.”  I think that this is an incredible comment as it pertains to people who desire to follow the Lord.  We can so easily make such grand plans, but we fall short and often come to nothing.  It all has to do with our focus.  God causes us to prosper and instead of prospering in ways He desires our hearts turn to prospering in ways that we desire.  When that happens, we come to nothing.

The People Respond

It is rare to find such an immediate response to a prophetic message.  But here we hear that Zerrubabel and Joshua hear Haggai’s message and lead the people into repentance.  They fear the Lord.

Haggai gives them a response to their response.  God says that He is with them.  God causes them to renew their vigor and focus upon the house of the Lord.  The work begins in earnest.

I think we can really learn two lessons from this portion of text.  First of all, human beings are prone to mistakes.  We are going to occasionally have a flaw in perspective.  We will focus on the wrong things.  It is who we are; it will happen.  But this does not mean that God abandons us and leaves us to wallow in our sin.  He comes to us and gives us opportunities to respond.  God is a God of second chances.

The second lesson that I believe we can learn is that it is God who empowers us to be great.  It is God who reinvigorates the spirit of the people.  It is God who is at the core of our being.  We should be slow in forgetting this fact and quick to return to it when we do.

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Year 3, Day 257: Zephaniah 3

Judgment Upon Jerusalem

Zephaniah begins this last chapter in his book with a statement of judgment as he returns to Jerusalem.  Again we see the typical complaints.  The leaders are corrupt.  The people are oppressed.  The religious nature of God’s people has become profaned.

If we look at the leadership of the country, we see two analogies here.  First, the political leaders are compared to roaring lions.  The roaring lion is a symbol of the person who boasts about their great and even unchallengeable position.  The political leaders were proud and self-centered, boasting in arrogance of their own greatness.  There was no humbleness to be found among them.

If we look at the religious leaders, we hear that they are to be compared to evening wolves.  What do wolves do?  They hunt in packs.  They run around picking off the weak, the sick, and the young.  They divide the herd until some can be isolated and then devoured.  Such are the religious leaders of Zephaniah’s day.  The religious leaders had been called to unify, to bring people together, and to look out for the oppressed and the orphan.  Instead, the religious leaders looked out for the weak in the culture so that they could devour them and corrupt them.

This has created a corrupt religious culture that was no longer open to hearing God’s word.  They were no longer open to correction.  They would only respond to appeasement.  The people would only respond when they were encouraged and told that they were right.

As I have often done in my journey along the Minor Prophets I once more turn to look at modern society.  How many people do you know that are self-centered and really only interested in listening to themselves and to those who validate themselves?  Who knows, perhaps I am among them!  Human beings – not just in modern times – have always had a knack for finding those people who would agree with them.  The mature person isn’t one who thinks that those who agree with them are wise.  The mature person is the one who realizes that wisdom is something that lies outside of them and then has the strength to conform themselves to wisdom.  True maturity is one who looks to improve themselves rather than one who looks to surround themselves with people who already agree with them in every way.

Conversion out of the Nations

The ESV gives the middle section of text in Zephaniah 3 the title “Conversion of the Nations.”  I believe that is a bit incorrect.  This passage isn’t about the nations turning to God.  Rather, this passage is about the fact that there will be some among the nations who respond to the call to come to God.  Among all the nations there will be talk of God’s greatness and salvation.  Out of those nations will come the worshippers of God to bring offering to Him.

Of course, as Christians we believe the ultimate fulfillment of this text is in Christ.  Through Christ, God has brought the means of salvation to humanity.  The message of Christ is spreading throughout the globe.  Throughout the globe, people within every nation are turning to Jesus Christ.  Throughout the globe, people are turning to relationship with God.  Whole nations may not be turning, but certainly people within such nations are turning!

In the midst of this passage of return, take a look at what God says in verses 11-12.  Who will God remove?  Who will God install?  God says that He will remove the proudly exultant and the haughty.  In their place, God will leave the humble and the lowly.  God’s point here is clear.  If we want to be close to Him, it is about submission.  If we want to be close to Him, it is about removing the spotlight away from our lives.  If we want to be close to Him, it is about coming to Him.

Restoration of Fortune

One of the things that I absolutely love about the close of Zephaniah is its focus.  As you read through these concluding words, you hear words of restoration.  You hear words of peace and joy and love.  But what you also hear is a clear quality of focus.

And where is this focus?  It is upon the Lord, of course!  It is the Lord who takes away our judgments against us.  He clears away our enemies.  He is in our midst.  It is on account of Him that we shall not fear our enemies.  He saves us.  He rejoices over us!  {Yeah, like we deserve that…}  He quiets us with His love.  He sings over us.  He gathers us so that we no longer suffer reproach.  He deals with the oppressors.  He tends the lame and gathers the outcast.  He changes shame into praise.  He brings us in.  He restores our fortune.

I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear those words today.  It is so difficult to live under my own strength.  It is so easy to only see my failure.  It is so easy to be swallowed up in the oppressiveness of the future vision.  I need to hear that it is about Him and His work, not mine.  He is in control.  He is mighty.  He is powerful.  The world rests in His hands, not mine.  Thanks be to God!

How great is that!  We don’t deserve any of it, yet that is His promise to us.  May His name be praised for all that He does!

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Year 3, Day 256: Zephaniah 2

Despair or Repair

After reading a dark chapter like Zephaniah 1, a person can’t help but feel despair.  With such wrath, anger, violence, and judgment coming from the Lord, who can hope to stand?  Who can possibly hope for a better day?  If we are all so sinful, what’s the point?  If nations always fall, what’s the point?  If we are not careful, we turn to despair fairly quickly.

As we open up Zephaniah 2 we see that despair is the natural consequence of prophetic words, but it isn’t the desired consequence.  Read that statement again, because it is really that important.  We as human beings always have a moment of despair when confronted with bad, grim, or even evil news.  We despair naturally.  I personally think that this is the reason that we struggle with depression so much in our modern world.  As our world shrinks, it is so much easier to be flooded with all the negative news of the world.  Since we despair easily as people, we writhe in depression.

But in the opening verses of Zephaniah 2 we see that there is a different desired outcome of prophecy.  Zephaniah doesn’t want people to be overcome with despair and depression.  He wants them to be driven to humble repentance.  He wants to confront them with reality so that upon gazing into the mirror they might genuinely turn to God.  It is humbleness and repentance that is the prophet’s goal – not despair!

Here we see another truth about humanity.  The only time we genuinely do look in the mirror is when confronted with truth.  When life is going well, we look into the mirror and see the future we envision.  When life is going well, we look into the mirror and see the glory of the mountaintop experiences.  It is when we stumble in life that we look into the mirror and see what is really going on.  It is when we are confronted with evil, pain, or seriousness that we actually pause and see in the mirror the reality that we should have seen all along.  Left in our natural state, the only time we focus on a true picture of reality is when we are confronted with it.

Judgment upon Philistia

After pausing to remind the Hebrew people that humble repentance is the goal of his words, Zephaniah turns to give warnings to the surrounding lands.  As we have seen throughout this whole year, this is a very common practice among the prophetic books.  The first such victim – often the first such victim – is Philistia and the Canaanites.

The Philistines and Canaanites are often the first because they shared the land with the Hebrew people.  Remember that the Hebrew people were told by God under Joshua to drive them out of the land forever.  The Hebrew people didn’t.  As a result, the Canaanites intermingled with the Hebrew people and taught them to worship false gods and live under bad practices.  The Hebrew people fell from God’s grace and the prophets were sent to try and reclaim them.  Because the fall of the Hebrew people is so intimately tied to the Canaanites, many prophetic books begin their condemnations of foreign lands with them.

Notice what God says about the land.  Yes, the Philistines and the Canaanites will come to destruction.  But their land will finally be taken from them and given to the Hebrew people.  The Hebrew people will eventually turn that land into pasture where their animals will graze upon it.  It takes Assyrian, Babylonian, and eventually Persian conquest in order to produce such a result.  But eventually God will bring about what God had originally desired almost a millennium prior to the Persian domination.

Moab and Ammon

Here we see another condemnation against the ancient enemies of God and His people.  Remember that Moab was also one of the greatest influences with respect to the corruption of the Hebrew religious society.  As for Ammon, well, Ammon was always looking with greedy eyes upon the land controlled by the Hebrew people.  They were always raiding the land, fighting border squabbles, and seeking to gain what land they could when a foreign power came to conquer a part of the Hebrew people.

God turns to Moab and Ammon and tells them that they will be utterly destroyed.  They are indeed.  Where are the Moabites and the Ammonites today?  They have been fully assimilated into other cultures that dominated over them.  They are like Sodom and Gomorrah – utterly destroyed.  Such is the price that is paid when we stand against God.

Assyria

This may be one of the more profound prophecies of destruction found in Zephaniah.  Normally prophetic utterances take lifetimes to come about.  This is just how God’s hand works.  God sends a prophet to warn and then He sits back and watches to see if the people listen and repent or if they prove their human sinfulness and need judgment.  But not so with Assyria.  They have reached the end of their rope.  God has sent other prophets long ago – remember the story of Jonah?  Assyria has proven their character and the time for judgment has come.

Yesterday I mentioned that the book of Zephaniah was probably written around 622 BC.  We know that Assyria falls to an alliance between the Babylonians and the Medes in 612 BC.  An Assyrian remnant was again destroyed in 609 BC.  God’s judgment came swift after Zephaniah spoke about Assyria.

What was Assyria’s main fault?  They exalted in themselves.  They believed that they were the greatest and there was none like them.  If this isn’t a warning against the human propensity for pride I don’t know what is!

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Year 3, Day 255: Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah – Background and History

Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC) and this book was likely written around 622 BC.  Remember that Josiah was the last great reforming king.  Josiah was the last king in Judah to fight against the worship of false gods.  Under Josiah the temple practices were restored (at least at the public level) and the people were called to accountability.  Of course, we know that after Josiah died that the country fell back into turmoil on account of their worldly practices.

With respect to theme and purpose, the expression “The Day of the Lord” occurs more frequently in Zephaniah than in any other book of the Bible.  This implies that judgment is a dominant theme within Zephaniah.  However, as a part of this greater focus on the Day of the Lord Zephaniah also focuses on the salvation of a faithful remnant.

Judgment

As promised in my introduction, we don’t have to go too far in Zephaniah before we get to a passage about judgment.  Zephaniah warns the Hebrew people that judgment is not far off.  The day is coming swiftly when God will oppose the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Again, we look at what it is that God finds so offensive.  Here again we see the increase of idolatry as one of God’s primary concerns.  However, let’s make sure that we look closely at the idolatry about which God speaks.

If we look closely at verses 4-6 we see that God is upset about Ba’al worship (Canaanite religion) and the worship of Milcom (Ammonite religion).  Certainly there is worship of foreign gods.  But if we look at verse 5 we see that the truly grievous error is that the priests who are worshipping Ba’al and Milcom also claim to be worshipping God.  We have priests who are coming and worshipping God and then turning and worshipping Ba’al and Milcom and likely a host of other foreign deities.  It isn’t that people are worshipping other gods as much as it is that people who claim to be loyal to God are worshipping other gods!

Let’s talk about why this is important.  From a modern western mindset, this probably sounds preposterous.  After all, we are a people who understand the worship of a single God.  But most of the ancient world – save the Hebrew people – was polytheistic.  They were accustomed to the worship of multiple gods.  Each family would have a few personal gods that they revered.  Each town would have their own town gods.  Each nation would have gods over the whole nation.  So an individual might find themselves worshipping even as many as a dozen gods based on their self, family, town, and nation.  So clearly we see the Hebrew people adopting the practices of the ancient world in their polytheism.  Yes, God has an issue with that.

However, I can’t help but wonder if we are any better.  Sure, we only have one “official” God.  Officially, we only go to one church building and only kneel before a single symbol: the cross of Christ.  But is that really all we worship in life?  Is the cross really the only thing to which our heart bows in reverence?  Like those ancient priests who made a public display of worshipping God and then worshiped all their other family gods in secret, what do we worship in secret?  Have we unhealthy love for things other than God?  Are we any less polytheistic in our practice?

The Day of the Lord

Zephaniah proclaimed that a day of judgment was coming.  We know it did in 586 BC.  However, keep in mind that this Day of Judgment came between 23-38 years after Zephaniah gave this proclamation.  God’s timing is certainly different than ours.  Imagine how much scorn Zephaniah received as he proclaimed a day of coming judgment that he himself may not have even lived to see!  I can only imagine the people who convinced themselves that because Zephaniah’s predictions didn’t come immediately true that Zephaniah’s words were empty and flat.  How many people must have heard Zephaniah, looked around, and concluded, “The Lord will do no good nor evil” as we hear in verse 12!  We must remember that God works on a different scale than humans have the ability to measure except in hindsight.

As for the Day of the Lord, let us look upon Zephaniah’s description of such a day.  Look at the vocabulary used: bitter, crying aloud, wrath, distress, anguish, ruin, destruction, darkness, gloom, clouds, battle, walk like the blind, pour out blood, fire, jealousy, consummation, and a full and sudden end.  Those are some fairly serious words.  Again, knowing what happens to Jerusalem under the Babylonians we know that all of these words are accurate.

Judgment is serious business in God’s eyes.  The people brought this judgment upon themselves by focusing on the desires of their own heart and not upon the ways of God.  Of course I look at the span of history and see this pattern again and again.  Faithful slide into unfaithful.  Judgment comes.  A remnant is born.  Eventually the fruit of that faithful remnant falls into rebellion away from God and the cycle repeats.  I believe it is something to be aware.  I believe it is something to mourn.

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Year 3, Day 254: Habakkuk 3

Habakkuk’s Submission

Habakkuk 3 reports a prayer that was given to God after Habakkuk heard the reply of the Lord.  What I love about the prayer is that it shows that not only has Habakkuk heard God, but he has submitted to God.  The complaints are gone.  The confusion is gone.  Habakkuk has accepted what the Lord is doing and how the Lord is doing it.

Look at what it is that Habakkuk is saying.  After acknowledging that he has heard the report, Habakkuk asks the Lord in the midst of the years to revive it.  He knows that the Lord has asked him to be patient and accept that the work of the Lord is most likely going to be seen after Habakkuk’s death.  Habakkuk isn’t going to be around to see the fall of the Babylonians and their judgment.  But it will happen.  Habakkuk is submitted to this truth and accepting of it.

Habakkuk also reminds us and God that mercy is desired in the midst of wrath.  It is proper for the Hebrew people to go into their time of judgment.  But the time of judgment cannot be the focus or the end goal.  The judgment sets up a greater demonstration of God’s love.  The Hebrew people deserved to be smote out of the earth completely.  But this will not happen because God is merciful.

Praise to God

Verses 3-15 give us a glimpse into Habakkuk’s praise of God.  Before I get into the praise, I want to pause and note that praise is the outcome.  Habakkuk went to the Lord with confusion.  God spoke and gave him a message that brought about more questions.  So Habakkuk went a second time with confusion to God.  God spoke again and gave Habakkuk a message that was probably a little hard to swallow: God would take care of things in His own time.  Habakkuk could have gotten angry with God at this point, but he doesn’t.  Habakkuk embraces the message of God and gives Him praise.  Genuine submission is not being obedient when you get replies that you like.  Genuine submission is a submission when the message is favorable and unfavorable.

So what praise does Habakkuk give to the Lord?  Much of it has to do with God’s omnipotence.  He is bright.  He is radiant.  The objects in the heavens that create light obey Him.  The parts of Habakkuk’s prayer that speak to light are meant to cause us to relate images of the coming of light with God.  When God comes into our life, we are enlightened.  That was Habakkuk’s experience and it should be ours as well.  Just as we can see better when the sun crests over the eastern horizon, so we can know life better when God comes and shines into our life.

Habakkuk also speaks about praise that is regarding more dark matters.  God can split the earth.  Plague and pestilence can go before and behind God.  The earth quakes and writhes in His presence.  This gives us a great understanding of balance.  It is easy to focus on the greatness of God as we saw earlier in the comparison to God and light.  But God is not only the God of love and truth.  Any true God of love and truth also has to be a God of judgment against evil and hatred.  Any God who is capable of protecting truth and love must also have the power and might to cause the world to tremble.  Being in awe of God’s love and mercy also means being in awe of God’s power and wrath.

Habakkuk’s Internalization

I love Habakkuk 3:16.  It’s not a powerful verse in form or poetry.  It’s not a powerful verse in that a person immediately grasps the potency of the words.  But it is a powerful verse in that it is the true response to God.  Having come from the presence of God and hearing His reply, Habakkuk is now keenly aware of his humanity.  His body trembles at the greatness of God.  He is aware of the rottenness at the very core of his existence.  I love this keen expression of his humanity as he comes into the presence of the Lord.

I also love his continued submission.  What does Habakkuk learn when he comes into the presence of God?  He learns to wait.  He learns patience.  He learns to bend his understanding to God’s will.  Verse 16 may not have the power of great poetry of deep theology.  But it has what we all need: human submission.

Habakkuk’s Stance

As I concluded this chapter, I couldn’t help but remember Joshua’s challenge to the Hebrew people in Joshua 24:15.  “Choose this day,” Joshua says.  Here as this book concludes we get an opportunity to actually hear Habakkuk choose.

Habakkuk tells us that even if there isn’t fruit on the vine or animal in the stall, he will still give praise to the Lord.  Habakkuk’s praise of God is not to be connected with his prosperity.  That’s an incredible statement with which we can end this book.  God is his strength, not his prosperity.  God is his might, not his national pride.  It is in God that he rejoices.

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Year 3, Day 253: Habakkuk 2

Habakkuk’s Conclusion

In the opening verse to chapter 2 we actually have the concluding thought to Habakkuk’s second complaint to God.  Here Habakkuk says that he will stand as a watchman and see what the Lord has to say in response to his complaint.  Some have taken this statement to be an arrogant statement where Habakkuk has positioned himself in opposition to God.  I do not see it this way.  Rather, I see this as a position of humbleness.  Habakkuk recognizes that he has put up a complaint for God to hear and now he is humbling himself and waiting for a response.  In fact, I believe it actually demonstrates that Habakkuk assumes the Lord will respond.  He is waiting – watching even! – for a response.  One does not post a watch for something that one assumes will never come.

Furthermore, notice that Habakkuk’s complaint is not an opportunity for him to lose faith.  Yes, Habakkuk has issues with the world.  Yes, Habakkuk is confused as to why God desires to work through the godless Babylonians.  But that does not cause Habakkuk to lose faith.  It causes Habakkuk to realize his own shortfalls and therefore his need to wait upon the Lord.

God’s Second Reply

God begins his reply with a reminder to Habakkuk that there is a time and a place for everything.  God knows all that Habakkuk has said, and He will deal with it.  God reminds Habakkuk that patience is absolutely necessary.  When we think about this comment from the perspective of history, this is especially profound.  You see, most of the people living in Habakkuk’s day would live to see Jerusalem fall to the Babylonians.  But the majority of them would not live to see the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra.  When God says to be patient, He is asking Habakkuk to have a patience that extends beyond his lifetime.  When you think about it, that’s a very profound request.  I applaud Habakkuk for being able to hear it, realize it, and understand it.

God reminds Habakkuk of an incredible quote: the righteous shall live by faith.  In contrast, the Babylonians are arrogant (puffed up).  They are not upright.  They are drunkards.  They are never at rest – implying many things but the most important of which is that they never take time to listen to God!  They are greedy.  They trust in the pledges of other men rather than turning to God.  They will use any means for personal gain.  They are violent.  Yes, the righteous shall live by faith.  God tells Habakkuk that He is well aware that the Babylonians are nowhere near close to being righteous.

As a result of their unrighteousness, God promises that the Babylonians will be consumed by their debtors.  He says that those they have plundered will plunder them.  God promises that they will be consumed by the remnants of the peoples that they could not destroy in all of their power.  Again we see God reassuring Habakkuk that He has the situation under control.  Habakkuk may not live to see the day, but that doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t have the situation under control.

Knowledge Of The Lord Will Fill The Earth:

The Lord promises that He Himself will be the avenger of the Hebrew people and the other nations that the Babylonians have consumed.  The cup for the Babylonians is in the right hand of God the Almighty.  They shall surely not avoid drinking it.  Who can ever hope to avoid the judgment that comes from the Lord? 

Furthermore, this is a reminder to those of us who feel oppressed from time to time.  Which one of us has God appointed to bring His wrath?  Does not the Lord say that vengeance is His?  We need to be patient and allow God to be our vindication rather than taking matters into our own hands.  It is the glory of the Lord that will fill the earth, not my own personal glory.

The thrust of truly obedient living can actually be found in the last verse of this chapter.  “The Lord is Holy in His temple and the earth should be silent before Him.”  It is God who fills us.  It is God who is in charge.  It is God who is in dominion of the place in which we reside.  We can make no idols superior to our Creator.  Who among us can give life to anything, much less create something out of nothing?

Since God is completely and fully in charge, He is making an absolute point to Habakkuk.  It is not as though God is uninterested in helping the Hebrew people.  Rather it is God who is letting the people of the earth reveal their true character through their actions so that He can honestly judge them.  It is God who created us and thus stands in judgment over us.  We cannot stand in judgment over the “gods” just because we think that we have created them.

In this sense we see God coming full circle to where He began.  The righteous will live by faith.  God is allowing us to demonstrate our character through our deeds.  Habakkuk has wondered how it is that God can tolerate and even work through the Babylonians.  God replies that He alone is sovereign.  God is simply giving the Babylonians rope because he wants them to see for themselves that with enough rope the Babylonians will just end up hanging themselves.  That is the course of human nature.  Success brings reliance upon ourselves.  Reliance upon ourselves brings ignorance of God.  Ignorance of God brings about hardship, woe, and a culture that is in need of God’s corrective hand.

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Year 3, Day 252: Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk – Background

Habakkuk is one of my favorite minor prophets.  Habakkuk’s primary question is how God can use an ungodly nation like the Babylonians as a tool of His righteous judgment.  This is one of the reasons why I love Habakkuk.  It is a book that not only talks truth about God but also truth about character and real life problems.  How many times have I wondered how it is that so much ungodliness can exist in the world and why God doesn’t do something about it!

The book of Habakkuk is a book that was likely in the closing years of the 7^th century, perhaps even between 610-600 BC.  This would mean that Habakkuk wrote this book either at the end of Josiah’s reign or during the years of Jehoiakim in Judah.  In either case, it is a book that is written as the Hebrew people come out of a time of reformation and head back into a time of lawlessness.

The First Exchange

Habakkuk comes before God and questions Him.  This is an important point.  Here in the example of Habakkuk we see that it is possible to come before God with complaints – even in one’s anger – and not sin.  However, we need to learn something about this example.  What we don’t see Habakkuk do is to lift up a complaint against God.  Rather, what we see Habakkuk do is lift up his experience and declare to God that he doesn’t understand God’s presence.  Habakkuk sees injustice all around him, he sees the Law being paralyzed, and he can’t help but wonder where God is in all of this.  Habakkuk isn’t attacking God’s character; he is confessing his own inability to understand.

God’s response is forthcoming.  God tells Habakkuk that He is doing something about it.  The reality is that God’s timeline doesn’t match up with the timeline of the world.  Habakkuk wants justice now because he sees injustice now.  God is bringing justice on a grand scale and allowing the people to work themselves into a position of letting their behavior truly deserve what is coming their way.

In the answer, though, we get a very honest declaration of truth from God’s behalf.  Do you what God says in addition to the fact that God is bringing the Babylonians?  God tells Habakkuk that He is doing something that even Habakkuk wouldn’t believe it even if God did tell him.  Here is a truth as to why we have such difficulty seeing God at work in the world.  We wouldn’t be able to comprehend much of what God is doing even if we did have a clear sign of God’s hand at work!

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

Habakkuk hears what God is saying, but God’s words don’t make a ton of sense to him.  After all, he knows the Babylonians.  He knows that they aren’t exactly God-fearers themselves.  He can’t quite understand how it is that a pure God would even want to work with the Babylonians.  How is it that God can choose a vile people to come against God’s holy ones?

Here is Habakkuk’s main set of issues against the Babylonians.  They are slavers – hence the line about dragging people around with hooks.  They are so successful that they praise the things of their own making rather than giving glory to God.  The Babylonians seem to be a people who think they are bigger than life.

This is a huge issue for Habakkuk.  Habakkuk sees all around him that success often brings about less praise for God.  Rather than pausing to give praise to God, the successful begin to see their success as the fruit of their own labor.  Habakkuk cannot understand how it is that God can take a people who refuse to give Him any glory and still continue to work through them.

Isn’t this just like a human way of thinking?  We think we are better than other people and we wonder how it is that God can work through those who are less than us.  The reality is that we are all fallen and none of us should know what it feels like to have God work through us.  However, God is gracious and merciful.  He works through us in spite of our sinfulness and our rebellion.

Finally, Habakkuk asks God when it is that the Babylonian domination will end.  Habakkuk is unsure that God will be able to stop the Babylonians once He lets them loose upon the world.  Perhaps he wants to make sure that the Babylonians won’t receive too much power since they are so resistant to give glory to God.

Whatever the reason, we see Habakkuk struggling to keep up with what God is doing in the world.  Haven’t we all been there before?  Isn’t the reality that we all struggle to keep up with God?  When we don’t understand God, don’t we lean on our own understanding?

I can’t fault Habakkuk too much here.  Well, I can.  He’s in the wrong in that he’s leaning on his own understanding.  But I guess I should say that I can understand him.  And I can’t convict him from doing anything I haven’t likewise done myself.  When I am unclear about what God is doing, rather than wait upon the Lord so often I strive forward on my own understanding.  Things usually go poorly from that point on.

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