Tag: Lord Almighty

13.r. “But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. “

Zachariah 10:3   “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle. From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.

Isaiah 56:9-10    The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.  “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”

Jeremiah 10:21    For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 50:6    “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.

Ezekiel 34:2   “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

Ezekiel 34:7-10    “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:  As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,  therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:  Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The shepherds pretend to be guides of the people.  They lead them astray.  They do not feed them with the Word of God.  They feed them idols.  They feed them lies.  They lead them on paths away from God.  We can look at the shepherds being the religious leaders or the civil government leaders.  Both will be held to account for how they led the people God had placed under their responsibility.  These shepherds do not speak the truth but rather speak what the people want to hear. How is a person to be able to recognize false teaching leaders?  How are people to know lies from the truth from the craftily worded teachings of their leaders?  Too often preaching has turned into nothing more than saying what makes people comfortable, being afraid they might offend someone.  Too often leaders say what people want to hear without giving a second thought about trying to fulfill what they promised.  Without knowledge, understanding, and wisdom through God’s Word and Holy Spirit leading there is no way to see how blind we are to things of God.  Complacency and neglect of God’s Word will always lead to confusion between right and wrong.  In this confusion, people are easily led astray.  in this confusion, people turn toward their shepherds/leaders and away from seeking Jesus Christ.  In this confusion, people believe in everything other than what God’s Word proclaims.  In this confusion, people place their hope and trust in worldly shepherds/leaders.  There is no substitute for God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.  There is no substitute that will fill the longing of our heart apart from God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.  There is no Substitute that can take away the confusion, worry, and fear apart from God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.  Do not look for answers to today’s problems, trials, and troubles apart from God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.

13.o.

Zachariah 8:18  The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”

2 Kings 25:3-4    On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.  Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night

Jeremiah 52:12-15    In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.  And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.  And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 41:1-3   In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah,  Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land.

Jeremiah 52:4    And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it.

The fasts recorded in vs. 19 were instituted by man in the remembrance of their sin and the curse of God that fell upon them.  They wanted to remember how they did not honor, glorify, or obey God, and because of this they angered God and were punished.  They did not want to repeat this again.  Here we read of God promising blessing.

Campbell Morgan said of these man-appointed fasts: “None of these things had been in the purpose of God for His people; they had resulted from their sins. The fasts, therefore, were the result of their sins. In jealousy and fury, the outcome of love, Jehovah would put away their sins, and so restore them to true prosperity. On that day, let them still remember and observe, only let the observance be a feast in celebration of God’s grace, instead of a fast in memory of their sin.”  We can get hung up on our past sins and forget the blessings of forgiveness.  Peter put it this way;  2Peter 1:3  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

13.n. “Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.”

Zachariah 7:8   And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry. “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

2 Kings 17:13-15    Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”  But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.  They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.

2 Chronicles 33:10   The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

Nehemiah 9:29     And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.

Proverbs 1:24-32     Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,  because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you,  when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.  Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.  Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,  would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,  therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.  For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Jeremiah 44:16     “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

Hebrews 12:25     See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

They refused to listen; they resisted the warners; they exhibited open contempt for them.  They willfully were ignorant and would not consider nor want to understand.  What level of contempt is it when a person sets their heart hard as stone so that their ears are deaf to the Word of God? Do you ever wonder if people consider the Word of God a burden?  Is this why they harden their heart to God?  Think about this.  The Word of God proclaims a righteous, pure, and holy Creator God.  It proclaims the fall of mankind.  It exposes the sinful nature of man.  It proclaims the separation between God and man due to this fallen sinful state. It proclaims God’s wrath, anger, and judgment. It proclaims God’s grace, mercy, and love toward mankind with promises of restoration, redemption, and salvation.  It proclaims blessings.  It is a guide and restraint to the sinful nature of our hearts.  It proclaims the wonders and mystery of God.  It proclaims the promises of God.  It proclaims warnings.  It yields hope, joy, peace, refuge, courage, power, kindness, forgiveness, and rest for those who have open hearts, minds, souls, and ears to hear, believe, obey, and trust in what God proclaims.  It also yields hardened hearts, minds, souls, and ears to those who defy, deny, and resist what God proclaims.  It promises eternity in heaven for those who believe.  It promises eternity in hell for those who do not believe.

Is it a burden to live for God?  Is it a burden to live holy, righteous, and pleasing to the God of all there is?  Is it a burden to live to honor, glorify, worship, magnify, and praise to God?  Is it a burden to live in loving kindness?  Is it a burden to live showing mercy and grace to others?  It is not a burden but a blessing to be loved by God and in a restored relationship with Him.  What is the alternative to our lives should we choose to deny and defy God?  Isn’t the true burden of life trying to live as though God does not exist?  Every day Creation screams out the existence of God and every day the heart of the deniers must harden more and try to make sense and purpose of this life.  Every day the burden of denial becomes heavier and heavier.  The denying soul will find that the burden of life brings no pleasure or satisfaction even though they search diligently for it in the things this world has to offer.  The Word of God is not a burden.  It is a wondrous blessing from God to His creation.

12.l. “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Zachariah 7:1  In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”

Isaiah 58:1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Romans 14:17-18   For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:31   So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 5:15    and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Colossians 3:23    Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

The Law of Moses only commanded one fast day, on the Day of Atonement. In addition to this day, during the exile, the Jewish people instituted four more fasts to remember key dates in the tragic defeat of their nation.  These additional fasts were not commanded by God, but instituted by man. Yet because they were traditionally practiced for so long (at least 70 years), they developed an authority of their own.  God’s word through Zechariah rebuked the people of God for what their fasting had become – indulgent pity-parties instead of a time to genuinely seek God. Their lives were not right when they did eat and drink – that they did for themselves, not for the LORD. A few days of fasting every year could not make up for the rest of the year lived for self.   Because their hearts were not right with God, their rituals were not right before God. Everyday obedience would make their times of fasting meaningful, but their neglect of everyday obedience made their fasting hypocritical.  Instead of actively performing and pretending, God wants us to focus on active obedience and an active walk with Him. Think about this; these additional fasts were established by man to remember what had happened to them when they were disobedient to God and they became a man-made way of getting right before God.  They established special days where they would piously observe fasting and yet the rest of the time they lived for self.  This is not obedience but rather ritual.  A heart for God will be a heart for God every day, every moment, and in every fiber of the fabric of their soul, not just on special days.

12.j. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind”

Zachariah 6:15 and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Isaiah 58:10-14    if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.  “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;  then you shall take delight in the LORD

Romans 16:26    but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

2 Peter 1:5-10    For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Do you ever wonder if you are giving you all to Jesus Christ?  Are you being obedient?  Are you desiring and seeking Him with all your heart, mind, and soul?  Are your ears hungering to hear His Word?  Are you totally surrendered to go where He says? Do what He asks? Is your life more about honoring self or Jesus? Are you more concerned about striving for self-gain than Jesus’s honor, glory, and kingdom?  Are you listening and obedient?  Are you diligent in obedience??????

We lose sight and focus when our lives are lived in compromise with the world and what it has to offer.  Are we to expect God will bless us and our country when we neglect full surrender and humble honor and glory to Jesus Christ?  Are we to expect God will bless us when we intentionally choose to be complacent in service to Him and being satisfied and content with what this world has to offer?  Being diligent means there is a conscious choice to being zealous, dedicated, committed, driven, persistent, untiring, attentive, and tireless in our want to be obedient to Jesus Christ.  The world will tell us that a casual nod toward things of God is enough.  The world will tell us that is all we need to do to be in favor of God?  God’s Word says to be faithful, serve Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, obedient, trusting, relying upon and in full surrendered to Him.  Does this at all sound like something that can be taken lightly or that being lukewarm toward God is fulling His rightful honor, glory, worship, and praise? We are not going to be blessed as a person or a nation when our hearts and minds are being consumed by what this world has to offer.  Take a close look at the state of the world and our nation right now.  Fear, division, uncertainty, anxiousness, worry, hatred…… are the norm.  God is not God of these things, Satan is.  It seems as though he has captured the hearts and minds of millions of people and very few are seeing it for what it is, an attack on faith, trust, and reliance in Jesus Christ.  Do you think for one second that all of this just happens apart from the hand of God allowing it?  God is allowing those with eyes to see and ears to hear demonic influences being spewed out through leaders and media outlets.  When you see that which is wrong being applauded as being right, know that Satan is behind it and God is allowing it.

12.i. “Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures”

Zachariah 5:1 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”

Job 20:26     Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.

James 5:2-3     Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.  Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

The curse of God is on all who live falsely toward God and who lay up treasures for their own gain and pleasure.  Do you ever wonder what a false life toward God would look like?  “They serve God with their mouth but not with their heart, mind, and soul.”  The work of their hands is for their own good, their own satisfaction, their own pleasure, their own gain.  This world is full of things that make us think that our lives and our purpose in life is about what we own, what we do, and what we accomplish in our won strength and wisdom.  Oh, we might give glancing words of thanks to God but in our heart, we say, “look what I have accomplished”.  Our life is not to be about us and for our own glory and honor.  It is and should be for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.  All that we are and the talents we have been given are to bring honor and glory to Him, Him alone.  What is the end for all of those things we worked for, for ourselves – destruction?  They will be burnt up like twigs thrown into a fire.  They will end in a puff of smoke and our life will end without purpose, without, meaning, without heavenly satisfaction, without eternity in heaven. Thinking we can fight off sinful desires of self-satisfaction, self-worth, self-glory, and honor apart from God’s word and complete surrender to deny self and honor, glorify, follow, obey and trust Him are lies of our sinful nature and Satan.  Feed on His Word.  Surrender all to Him for His glory and honor. Seek to listen.  Desire to hear. Be willing to obey.

 

12.h. “Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude.”

Zachariah 4:1  Zechariah 4:1   Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. “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!’” Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?” Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?” He replied, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I said. So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

2 Chronicles 14:11    And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”

Zachariah was given a vision/prophecy to encourage Zerubbabel who was in charge of rebuilding the temple.  The temple was in complete ruin and had been torn down some 70 plus years ago. Money was short, supplies were short, and the commitment of the people was lacking.  The task given to Zerubbabel was more than what would seem possible.  The words of encouragement to him; “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty”,  “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.” and “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple, his hands will also complete it.”

We would do well to learn from these words of encouragement.  It is not by our own efforts, strength, and power will the mountain high and seemingly undoable tasks for God be accomplished in our lives.  It is not the work of our hands, but by and through the power and might of Lord Almighty.  How many times do we become defeated in what the Lord would have us do?  How many times does the rubble of our lives defeat our calling to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, obey, and trust Jesus Christ?  Isn’t it when we are thinking the work being done and accomplished are by our efforts, our hands, our strength, our might, our wisdom, and somehow our glory?  There is no task/work given to us by God that His power and might can not complete.  When our eyes are focused on Him, when we find our strength in Him,  and when we surrender all to Him is when we will accomplish that which seems impossible.

12.g. “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

Zachariah 3:1  Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by. The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here. “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Joshua the High Priest had a place of high standing – next to the Angel of the LORD and protected against Satanic attack. Still, this place of high privilege was not based on Joshua’s own goodness or merit; he himself was rescued as a branch plucked from the fire. This is even more boldly stated in that Joshua stood clothed in filthy garments. Satan had a lot to accuse Joshua of, but Joshua had an even greater advocate in the Angel of the LORD.

“So it is with the child of God. What is he at the best? Till he is taken up to heaven, he is nothing but a branch plucked out of the fire. It is his daily moan that he is a sinner, but Christ accepts him as he is: and he shuts the devil’s mouth by telling him, ‘Thou sayest this man is black – of course, he is: what did I think he was but that? He is a branch plucked out of the fire. I plucked him out of it. He was burning when he was in it: he is black now he is out of it. He was what I knew he would be; he is not what I mean to make him, but he is what I knew he would be. I have chosen him as a brand plucked out of the fire. What hast thou to say to that?’ Do observe that this plea did not require a single word to be added to it from Joshua.”  “Such is the divine economy, that God makes much of fragments and castaways. What others regard as unworthy of their heed is dear and priceless to the great Lover of souls.”  As Joshua the High Priest stood in the presence of the LORD, Satan accused him on seemingly solid grounds – Joshua was guilty of standing before God in filthy garments. Nevertheless, the LORD fixed the problem by cleansing Joshua, taking away the filthy garments and the iniquity they represented.  Joshua not only enjoyed having his iniquity removed, he also was given righteousness – clothed with righteous robes. The thought of being clothed by God in righteousness runs from Genesis and to Revelation.

12.e. “He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

Zechariah 2:10   “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Leviticus 26:12   And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

Ezekiel 37:27    My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Zephaniah 3:17   The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

John 1:14     And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Revelation 21:3    And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Some would say that they think God does not exist or that if He does, He is absent and not active in His creation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He knows the cattle on a thousand hills and every hair on our head.  A bird does not fall from the sky without Him knowing.  He knows our thoughts and actions.  He knew of our birth before time began.  He knows our beginning and ending.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.   He has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell those who listened and acted (repented, turned away from their sinful nature, and trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse their crimson sinful heart to white as snow) on salvation through Jesus Christ.  Upon this act of faith, the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and is forever there to guide,  convict, encourage, and lead, the believer in what humble service to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.  This indwelling of the Spirit of God is a foretaste of what is to come, God dwelling with mankind.  The words to “I can only imagine”

I can only imagine what it will be like

When I walk, by your side

I can only imagine what my eyes will see

When you face is before me

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Surrounded by You glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus

Or in awe of You be still

Will I stand in your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day comes

When I find myself standing in the Son

I can only imagine when all I would do is forever

Forever worship You

I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for You, Jesus

Or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine hey ya ah

Surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for You, Jesus

Or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in Your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine when all I will do

Is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine