Haggai 1:1-2:23, Zec 1:1-3:30

“Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. ⁵ And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’ Zec 2:4-5

Jerusalem and the people of God after the horrors of exile, begin to hear words of hope.

Hope it seems of a wonderful future for the city of God. A city which cannot have walls due to the multitude that are found within it. This incredible hope surely speaks of a future location. A future hope of an incredible multitude:

¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” Rev 5:13

A multitude that is gathered, is able to praise because of the lamb (Jesus) that had been slain. A multiude waiting for a new city. A remarkable city:

²³The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. Rev 21:23

The hope of a wonderful city, soaked by the rays of the glory of God.

Surely, we too should join the chorus of that great multitude:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

Ezra 1:1-4:23

It appears that it was just as hard, if not harder, to get a development application (DA) back in Ezra’s day as it is today.

Israel’s history is rarely smooth sailing. But through it all God remains faithful and the people know that God is good.

11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :
“He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

Please pray for myself and our church family that we would see God’s faithfulness and love in Jesus – and that we would know deep in our hearts that God is good and his love for us endures forever.

Daniel 11 – 12

I was so tempted to skip today’s blog because I had no idea what to write. I think I have been realising over the last few months, just how much of the bible I don’t understand, but its been pretty great to mull over it and think through how do these chapters point to Jesus? What do they tell us about God?

SO… today’s chapters… What I found pretty interesting was 12:2 -3. These verses point forward to the day Jesus returns. God’s people will receive what they have been waiting for; salvation and restoration to what they (we) were created for… relationship with God! Just to put it out there, I know people have lots of different ideas on this topic (the end of days) but truly all that matters is the fulfillment of all God’s promises and plans. His plan was for people to be in restored relationship with him and given a new heart and new life, a life that would be transformed and set apart for him.

What will happen in the end? “Many  will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked.” Those who are God’s will be purified and transformed but those who are wicked by rejecting God and his grace, will continue to be wicked.

Verse 12 reminded me of Hebrews – “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of 1,335 days.” Now this was written in the Old Testament and may have been for those who persevere waiting for Jesus to come and bring salvation BUT we should also be encouraged and challenged to be people who persevere through all our days (or til Jesus returns!), not just when we feel good or when things are going well.

Pretty similar to what we’ve been reading in Hebrews, hey?

Daniel 8-10

It’s comforting to read Daniel’s admission in 8:27 that the vision, even after the explanation, was “beyond understanding”! How true!

I think it’s better to focus on what is clear – how good is Daniel’s prayer of confession in chapter 9?! What a great understanding he has of his people’s sin and his God’s righteousness. He knows that God’s judgment on Israel was completely deserved and yet because he knows God is merciful he appeals to him to show that mercy again. And how gracious of God to answer Daniel’s prayer “as soon as you began to pray” (9:23).

As we’ve learnt in Hebrews, through the mediation of Jesus our great High Priest, our merciful and gracious God is always ready and willing to hear and answer our prayers.

Dan 5:1-7:28

As Daniel had visions of the future and the rise of powerful kingdoms, there would be one more powerful, who would establish a forever kingdom.

Daniel 7:13-14 ¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

As human rulers put Christ on trial and condemned him to death, it would not be over for this king, but it would be the start of the forever kingdom.

Mark 14:61-62 again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”  ⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Isa 65:1-66:24

¹⁹ “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans ^[d] and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD -on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. ²¹ And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

Jerusalem with its temple was to be God’s earthly dwelling place, a place where God had set his name, a place of restoration and even a source of blessing to the nations 66:20.

But one day a new mission arrived the effect of Jesus the messiah’s death and resurrection meant a new way to worship God had come. Now the Lord’s glory would be proclaimed as they go out from Jerusalem.

Rather than staying in Jerusalem waiting for nations to come, Jesus says:

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 60-64

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

12 After all this, O LORD, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

Do you realise how great it is that JESUS put on flesh and blood and died and rose?

I don’t think I do.

Isaiah 57 – 59

‘ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the Lord’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

The Sabbath was there to remind the people of the rest that is only found in a perfect relationship with God. A rest that was broken in the fall and was only to be restored by God’s righteous servant who “…will justify many and he will bear their iniquities…”

It is through Jesus that we can look forward to perfect rest in heaven, when we have a restored  relationship with God. Today, I am REALLY looking forward to that rest, to be away from sin, pain, suffering and the brokenness of this world but for now, I am trusting God and seeking to find my joy in him. Praying that that may also be the case for you…