Bible League: Living His Word "What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'"Zerubbabel, the leader of the people of Judah, had a great task to perform. After he led the first exiles back from the Babylonian captivity, he was called by God to begin the re-building of the temple in Jerusalem. In the first two years the foundation of the temple was laid, but then work came to a standstill for 17 years because of the disruptive activity of the Samaritan people. Our verse for today is part of a prophetic message Zechariah received from an angel concerning the completion of Zerubbabel's temple project. The angel's message still speaks to us today. Like Zerubbabel, you may have been called by God to do something in the Kingdom of God and you may have gotten the project off the ground and up and running. Also like Zerubbabel, however, your own personal version of the Samaritan people may have placed a seemingly insurmountable mountain before you and things may have come to a screeching halt. The angel's message to you today is that the mighty mountain is really nothing at all. Before you, as before Zerubbabel, the mighty mountain will become nothing more than level ground. Although it looks insurmountable, impassible, and immoveable, God himself is with you, and He will help you to overcome. Go forth, continue the project, and complete the task, for the Lord will remove the obstacles, eliminate the difficulties, and overcome the opposition. What seemed impossible will become possible. The project won't succeed because of anyone's might or power, but because of the very Spirit of God (Zechariah 4:6). Further, the angel's message is that a day is coming when your task will be completed. Then, just as Zerubbabel placed the capstone on the temple, so you will place the finishing touches on the project. Your friends and fellow workers will celebrate with shouts of praise and worship. Because you looked to the Lord in your time of trouble, everything will be fulfilled and you will be blessed. If you have begun the task God has called you to do, then the message of His angel to you today is to look to Him and go forth and finish the task---for it can only be accomplished by you. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 50, 51, 52 Psalm 50 -- The Mighty One calls the earth from sunrise to sunset. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 51 -- David's Psalm of Repentance (2Sa 12) NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 52 -- David's Psalm Fleeing Saul (1Sa 21) NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 27:1-25 Acts 27 -- Paul Sails for Rome; Storm and Shipwreck NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs. You won't be able to say, ‘Here it is!' or ‘It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” Insight The Pharisees asked when God's kingdom would come, not knowing that it had already arrived. The kingdom of God is not like an earthly kingdom with geographical boundaries. Instead, it begins with the work of God's Spirit in people's lives and in relationships. Challenge Still today we must resist looking to institutions or programs for evidence of the progress of God's kingdom. Instead, we should look for what God is doing in people's hearts. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 2 Peter 1:4 Exceeding great and precious promises.If you would know experimentally the preciousness of the promises, and enjoy them in your own heart, meditate much upon them. There are promises which are like grapes in the wine-press: if you will tread them the juice will flow. Thinking over the hallowed words will often be the prelude to their fulfilment. While you are musing upon them, the boon which you are seeking will insensibly come to you. Many a Christian who has thirsted for the promise has found the favor which it ensured gently distilling into his soul even while he has been considering the divine record; and he has rejoiced that ever he was led to lay the promise near his heart. But besides meditating upon the promises, seek in thy soul to receive them as being the very words of God. Speak to thy soul thus, "If I were dealing with a man's promise, I should carefully consider the ability and the character of the man who had covenanted with me. So with the promise of God; my eye must not be so much fixed upon the greatness of the mercy--that may stagger me; as upon the greatness of the promiser--that will cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie, who speaks to thee. This word of his which thou art now considering is as true as his own existence. He is a God unchangeable. He has not altered the thing which has gone out of his mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor doth he lack any power; it is the God that made the heavens and the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can he fail in wisdom as to the time when he will bestow the favors, for he knoweth when it is best to give and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful, so wise, I will and must believe the promise." If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfilment. Daily Light on the Daily Path 2 Corinthians 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.Isaiah 40:5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." John 1:18,14 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. • And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father '? Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 1 Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory. Colossians 1:14,15 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. • He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 1 Corinthians 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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