I don’t know about you, but I get so disappointed by “click bait” when searching for real news of what is interesting to me and might help me to know more so I can learn more.  What is clickbait, you ask?  It is content on the internet whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page to advertise something unrelated to the photo or headline that baited your attention to “hook” you.  Truth is lost as you click to find answers to what baited your hook.

God cannot and does not lie.  His Word tells it like it is.  He is Truth whether we choose to believe it or not.  God does not change.  His truth does not change.  God does what He told the prophets He would do—step by step, in detail.  God’s Word can be trusted from Genesis to Revelation.  The proof is in the reading; the validity to others is in the living, doing what He says.  Jesus was the Word made flesh who moved into the neighborhood of humanity to fulfill all that God said about who He is and what He wants from us.  He wants to save us.  God wants us to love Him back and grow in a relationship with Him, a connection that cannot be broken.

The breaking news is God sent His Son, Jesus to earth to save us.  Jesus came to teach the world the Truth about who God really is, overcoming the fake news reports by religious leaders down through the ages that twisted and manipulated the message of God to suit themselves.  Zechariah delivers the news of this Big Day coming straight from God’s voice to Zechariah’s ears, then delivered to His people.  Zechariah foretells how God’s “religious” will have Jesus put to death, a piercing sword into his body.  And oh, how those who realize Jesus was God in flesh, come to save them, will weep…

Zechariah 12, The Message

Home Again in Jerusalem

^1-2 War Bulletin:

God’s Message concerning Israel, God’s Decree—the very God who threw the skies into space, set earth on a firm foundation, and breathed his own life into men and women: “Watch for this: I’m about to turn Jerusalem into a cup of strong drink that will have the people who have set siege to Judah and Jerusalem staggering in a drunken stupor.

³ “On the Big Day, I’ll turn Jerusalem into a huge stone blocking the way for everyone. All who try to lift it will rupture themselves. All the pagan nations will come together and try to get rid of it.

^4-5 “On the Big Day”—this is God speaking—“I’ll throw all the war horses into a crazed panic, and their riders along with them. But I’ll keep my eye on Judah, watching out for her at the same time that I make the enemy horses go blind. The families of Judah will then realize, ‘Why, our leaders are strong and able through God-of-the-Angel-Armies, their personal God.’

⁶ “On the Big Day, I’ll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They’ll burn up everything and everyone in sight—people to the right, people to the left—while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home—home again in Jerusalem.

^7-8 “I, God, will begin by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David’s family and the leaders in Jerusalem won’t overshadow the ordinary people in Judah. On the Big Day, I’ll look after everyone who lives in Jerusalem so that the lowliest, weakest person will be as glorious as David and the family of David itself will be godlike, like the Angel of God leading the people.

⁹ “On the Big Day, I’ll make a clean sweep of all the godless nations that fought against Jerusalem.

^10-14 “Next I’ll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I’ll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They’ll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they’ll weep—oh, how they’ll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child. The lamentation in Jerusalem that day will be massive, as famous as the lamentation over Hadad-Rimmon on the fields of Megiddo:

    Everyone will weep and grieve,
        the land and everyone in it:
    The family of David off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Nathan off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Levi off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    The family of Shimei off by itself
        and their women off by themselves;
    And all the rest of the families off by themselves
        and their women off by themselves.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Interesting to note: “History shows that every nation that has ever tried to destroy the Jews has itself been destroyed. It will be no different when the nations collectively attack God’s chosen people.” –Warren Wiersbe

In delivering Israel from her enemies, God’s ultimate goal is more than their national preservation, for their spiritual restoration is uppermost in His heart. He wants to reveal Himself to them and establish the kind of relationship that was impossible in previous centuries because of their unbelief.

We cannot save ourselves from our sins.  Repentance isn’t something we work up ourselves; it’s a gift from God as we hear His Word and recognize His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25). God will pour out the Spirit upon Israel as we read earlier from the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28, 29), and the people will realize their sins and call out to God for forgiveness.

Only Jesus can save us!  The people will finally see their Messiah whom the nation pierced (Ps. 22:16; Is. 53:5; John 19:34, 37) and will put their faith in Him. Forgiveness comes to any believing sinner only through faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Because “…God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.” 2 Peter 3:9, MSG

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for your Word that never changes but is Truth that changes me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen