Given A Place Among Them (Zechariah 3:7)

 


Saturday, October 12, 2024


Psalms 99; 100

Zechariah 3:1-4:7

Philemon 15-25


Observance: Elizabeth Fry, prison reformer, England (d. 1845)


Given A Place Among Them (Zechariah 3:7)


This must have been quite a night for young Zechariah: these visions are coming thick and fast. God opened the evening with the vision of the horsemen, reassuring him the love God has for the people. Now God is starting to get more specific – well, as specific as apocalyptic literature can get – and Jesus is beginning to become clearer and clearer.


Joshua is the name of the current high priest, and his clothes are filthy. This is no way to be dressed before the Lord of creation! But, just as God gave Adam and Eve clothes of animal skin, and this high priest clean clothes of religious office, God has taken away our filthiness and dressed us in the pure linen of the saints. God did not have to do this for us. But (have we got the message yet?) God’s love for us burns so bright that he will stop at nothing to redeem us.


The servant of the Lord Almighty, the Branch, came and removed the sin of the land in a single day. One, single, dark, glorious, terrifying, wonderful day, Christ hung on the cross and bore the sins of the world. Before the day was done, he cried out “It is finished!” and Satan, already cast out of heaven, was buried. We had been laid on the fire, and the first flames had begun to touch us, but Christ snatched us out and brought us into the peace and rest of the Lord.


“In that day”, declares the Lord Almighty, “each of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and fig tree”, conjuring up a tableau of peace, security and contentment. Christ has won, for us, the peace, security and contentment of heaven. Which of our neighbours will we invite to sit down here with us today?


Christ Jesus, may I never lose my sense of wonder and love at what you did for me on the cross. Send a neighbour my way today, to invite into the peace, security and contentment of your presence.

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