Monthly Archives: September 2024

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Jesus Christ – Coming to Stay: A Look at Zechariah 14

 

‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ — Matthew 6:10

We recite this line every time we say the Lord’s Prayer. Do we understand what it means? We are asking … and declaring … that God’s kingdom is coming to earth, and that God’s will can override the will and ways of temporal earthly rulers. Just like it is in heaven. 

Yet you can’t have a kingdom without a king. So in praying for the ‘kingdom to come,’ we are also implicitly asking for the Lord to come, too. Finally, you have to have a capital headquarters for the king and kingdom. Without question, it can be only one place: Jerusalem, the City of David, the City of God, and the City of the Great King (Psalm 48:2; Matthew 5:35). 

Scripture is clear that God is coming to the earth. Psalm 96:13: ‘Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.’ God is going to judge the earth but not from His heavenly throne. He is coming down and judging Earth from Earth. See also Psalm 98:9. 

While God is a master delegator, using angels and anointed people to carry out His will, Scripture teaches that God is personally coming to earth to fight, win, judge, and reign. His coming is more than a courtesy call; He is coming to stay.

One potent passage of Scripture about the personal return of the Lord to earth is found in Zechariah 14. A parallel passage is Revelation 19, where the ‘coming of the Lord’ equates to ‘the coming of Christ.’ If you recall, in Zechariah 12, God would make Jerusalem a ‘cup of trembling’ to the surrounding nations and a ‘burdensome stone’ for all people. A humble city of stone at the fringe of the Persian empire during Zechariah’s day, he foresaw 2,500 years ago that the holy city would become an international obsession. Modern history has borne this out.

Zechariah 14 starts with the phrase: ‘Behold, the day of the LORD cometh’ (14:1). This special day represents the transition from the rule of man to the reign of God, culminating in the Lord’s coming to earth. Jerusalem will be the centrepiece.

‘For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle’ (14:2). Just as God put a hook in the jaw of Gog and brought him forth to his swift demise (Ezekiel 38:4), so the Lord will gather the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and it will be their undoing. The continuous and growing global antagonism –  and anti-Semitism – against modern Israel will turn into military action. It will be a bloodbath.

‘Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations,

as when he fought in the day of battle’ (14:3). This is a remarkable scenario: first, the Lord will gather the nations to attack Jerusalem, which they do; then, He personally comes down and fights against those nations. The Lord knows how to fight and win. During the Israelite conquests of Canaan under Joshua, the Lord promised to be with them, go before them, and fight on their behalf. On the day that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still at Gibeon and the moon over the valley of Ajalon, it says in Joshua 10:14: ‘And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.’ God promises to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (12:9).

  • Could it be that preceding the divine intervention in the battle for Jerusalem, the people of the city will receive the spirit of grace and supplications, look upon Him whom they pierced, and mourn for Him as their only son (12:10)? 
  • Could this be the time Jesus foretold that Jerusalem would not see Him again until it said ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Matthew 23:39)? 
  • Is this the time that ‘And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob’ (Romans 11:26; Isaiah 59:20)?

Then the most amazing things happen. After the Lord wins the battle for Jerusalem:

 

  • He makes a victory ascent on the Mount of Olives, just east of the Old City. Great topographical changes occur: the mountain splits in two (14:4)
  • From the Mount, living water flows westward to the Mediterranean and eastward to the Dead Sea (14:8). 
  • People will flee like in the aftermath of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, ’and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee’ (14:5).
  • It shall be a unique day, not the normal day and night cycle, for light will shine in the evening (14:6-7).

Then, the most important event happens. It is the answer to all our prayers, hopes, longing, and desires. ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever’ —Revelation 11:15. No more crime, corruption, royal commissions, heavy tax burden, abuse of power, unrighteous rule. The Lord’s prayer has been answered, because: 

And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one (14:9)

God the King and His kingdom have come … to stay.

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Who Pulled the Trigger?: The Real Meaning of the Sixth Commandment – Part Two

With the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on 13 July 2024 in mind, it caused questions: Who is really responsible for this? Was it only the shooter? Or were others involved? What does the sixth commandment mean when it says, ‘You Shall Not Murder?’

In Part One, we named three of the four issues that lead to murder.

Killer One – The Shooter: 

The person who wields the weapon is normally responsible for murder, but not always. The executioner is not the ultimate killer. The army of Rabbah Ammon killed Uriah the Hittite but David the king was rightly blamed for his murder.

Killer Two – Hateful Rhetoric: 

‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ — Proverbs 18:21. Hate in words can lead to harmful deeds.

Killer Three – Fallen Human Nature: 

Lust and greed lead to dangerous attitudes and actions.

To read Part One, click here: http://majdali.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-shooting-of-donald-trump-whos-to.html

In this article, we will discuss killer number four:

Killer Four – The Worst in the World – The Devil

The devil, also known as that old serpent, the great dragon, and Satan (Revelation 12:9). He is a textbook case of a rebel who lusted for power, lied his way through everything – and lying leads to lawlessness – and ended up being a murderer, thief, and destroyer (John 10:10). He is allergic to the truth, leery of life, and hostile to love. Lying is his mother tongue. 

Jesus says that the devil was a murderer from the very beginning (John 8:44). Thank God He is our  Good Shepherd, Who came to this planet to give life and give it more abundantly (John 10:10).

New Testament Perspective – Are We All Guilty of Murder? 

Exodus 20:13: The law of Moses is very clear. The sixth commandment says you shall not murder. This means the unethical, immoral, hardhearted ungodly taking of human life – whether premeditated or impulsive – without legal or moral justification. Can a person kill another person and not be guilty of murder? Yes but under minimal circumstances: Exceptions include self-defence in war or peace and applying capital punishment after due process of law (not everyone agrees with capital punishment).

As usual, Jesus goes further and deeper. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:21-23, He reminds the listener that if you are angry at your brother without justification, you are in danger of going to judgment. This means a trial at their local synagogue. And there is more: if you call your brother ‘Raca’ meaning an ‘empty-headed’ or ‘vain-fellow’ – in other words, you hatefully insult your brother – is in danger of going to the Great Council of Seventy, also known as the Sanhedrin. Then there is the ultimate: if you call your brother ‘a fool’ you are in danger of hellfire.

Some context, please: Paul called believers ‘O foolish Galatians’ (Galatians 3:1). Jesus called the two disciples on the Emmaus Road ‘fools’ because they were slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken (Luke 24:25). The Book of Proverbs uses the word ‘fool’ liberally. 

So what qualifies a person for hellfire by calling another person a ‘fool?’ 

It has to do with attitude. Jesus, Paul, and Proverbs address people that they love as ‘fools’ as a form of attention-getting and correction. The ‘fit for hell’ person uses it out of hatred and contempt. John makes this clear in his first epistle 1 John 3:15: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. In summary, we kill with our attitude, thoughts, words and eventually actions. From God’s perspective, all of these are part of murder.

Pathway to Murder: Covetousness, hatred, defamation, lying, and stealing can lead to murder in the heart. 

Hatred in the heart can lead to murder with the hand.

So in short, a person who covets, hates, slanders, lies, and steals, is potentially a murderer. However, if that same person learns to love, pray for and forgive enemies, they are a peacemaker who is known as a child of God (Matthew 5:9) who receives eternal life and is a source of life to all whom they meet.  

Remember 1 JOHN 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

To summarise, hate leads to murder and love begets life. You never start to live until you learn to love … God’s way.