Zechariah 14
Hang onto Hope!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, October 23.
Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the certainty that God will keep His promises, on time, every time. It is easy to lose sight of hope when looking at your stormy circumstances, so God invites you to keep your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-3). Then you can walk on the turbulent waters of whatever storm you are experiencing (Matthew 14:29-31). The returning remnant of Israel was discouraged so, like many of the prophets before him, Zechariah concluded his message with a word of hope in Zechariah 14:3-5, “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; … Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!”
In Acts 1:11, after the bodily ascension of the resurrected Lord, the two angels said to the disciples, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Jesus will descend in the same way He ascended – visibly, physically, and literally on the Mount of Olives, fulfilling not only the messianic prophecy of Zechariah, but invoking the entirety of his final chapter, including the future deliverance of Jerusalem. God will not only affect the surrounding geography of Jerusalem, but the cosmos itself. Justice will be fulfilled and there will no longer be a distinction between sacred and profane, for all things will be restored unto the Lord as holy. Today, we stand in the liminal space between Jesus’ ascension and His return.
Seize the moment and hang onto hope – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. … and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrew 10:23-25).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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