“This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord: “This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves. “On that day,” says the Lord, “I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, their God.’ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure. “The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them! For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo. “All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan, the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei. Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives.”
ZECHARIAH 12:1-14 NLT
In a world that wants to be told it’s always making the right choice and that everything will work out magically in the end, we have an example of how God works. He too wants to comfort us when we see the wages of our sin mounting, but he does not do it in the way we would think. For Israel, he makes a solemn oath that he will fight for their benefit, even while he dishes out the consequences of their behavior. While he allows them to suffer, he does not lord it over them or kick them while their down. He will defend them while they are vulnerable. He will empower them while they are weak. He will fight off the vultures of physical and spiritual forces that seek ill will against them. Even in their evil towards him, he will never forget his love for them. This is a picture of who we have fighting for us, and it is a picture of we should seek to be in character and practice. Consequences must come and righteousness must win out but grace and tenderheartedness must abound.
JOSH McGARY. COM 