Category Archives: Salvation

Abundance, Bible, Calling, Counting, Friends, God's Will, Gospel, Judgment, Salvation, Scripture, Witnessing

A LITTLE MATH

ZECHARIAH 13:8

“‘And it will come about in all the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘that two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it.’”

I used to be pretty good at math. I kind of naturally got the concepts. So, when we were taught fractions, I understood it.  Fast forward to adulthood. Who would have ever thought I would use those numbers again? But they come up all the time. Just about every day there is something to measure or weigh or divide. Thanks Mrs. Barry, for all those things you poured into my head.

The Lord did not need to be taught math concepts. He is the Creator of all things. He uses numbers in describing the judgment that would befall Israel. Scholars disagree whether this prophecy shared by Zechariah applied to Israel’s fall under Rome or a judgment yet to come. Either way, it had to be hard to hear that only one third would remain.

APPLICATION

We find similar measurements in other parts of the Bible. Look in 2 Samuel 8:2. “And He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and a full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.”

How about in Ezekiel 5:12? “A third of you will die by plague or perish by famine among you, a third will fall by the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.” God has always measured judgment exactly.

Romans 11:5 tells us, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” God is always looking out for the remnant, those who will choose to follow Him. Unfortunately, the mass of people in this world will not. It is our job as believers to try to share with as many of them as we can.

While we are doing math, count the number of lost friends you have. How many are there? Now, how many of them are you going to share Jesus with this week? This year? Start counting the number of people you see come to Christ this year because of your friendship. God is counting every soul. We should too.

Father, help me be a better enumerator of souls that are won into your kingdom that are part of my circle of friends.

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Bible, Choices, Distractions, God's Will, Godliness, Obedience, Protection, Salvation, Scripture

DON’T EVEN SAY THEIR NAME

ZECHARIAH 13:2

“‘And it will come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of armies, ‘that I will eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.’” 

If I told you right now to not think about ice cream, what are you thinking about? Ice cream! You can’t help yourself. When a thought is planted in your mind, your mind just goes there. I have a friend who is an Illusionist. He is good at this. He will have you thinking he can read your mind, but all he is doing is planting thoughts in your head which lead right to what he wants you think. Pretty smooth.

The Lord, through Zechariah, is telling the people He does not even want the names of the false gods mentioned in the land. He is going to remove all mention of them to prevent the people from going towards them. Along with that, He is also going to remove all the false prophets who played into the craving of the people to “know their future.” The Lord is going to clean house.

APPLICATION

We have a practice in my ministry which we teach men who have an addiction to pornography or another unhealthy practice. We teach them to amputate this source. Just like a diseased or damaged arm or leg that has to be removed to protect the rest of the body, we have to amputate those things in our life that lead us astray. We can’t even give them a thought.

2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. That’s the idea here. We must destroy any concept of this wrong thinking. That may mean some radical changes in your life. It may mean giving up certain types of movies or television programs. It may mean eliminating some friends you hang out with. Remember – amputation is about saving yourself.

When I think back on my decisions after coming to Christ, I had to stop hanging with some of the crowd I had been running with. I knew where that would lead if I did not make some changes. Is there something in your life that you need to amputate? Don’t wait. It will not bring your closer to Christ. Just the opposite! Cut it away now!

Father, help me rid myself of any “idols” or “false prophets” who only want to drag me down.

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Abundance, Bible, Cleansing, Flowing, Forgiveness, Salvation, Scripture

FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATER

ZECHARIAH 13:1

“‘On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for defilement.’”

Have you ever seen a fountain that is fed by an underground stream or spring? The water flows constantly and is clean and sweet. I have a tendency to want to find the cutoff valve, but this water is ever flowing. The source comes from deep within the earth. It is a source of refreshment for whoever or whatever comes upon it.

The Lord is speaking here in verse 1 of chapter 13. He tells us there would be a fountain for the house of David and Jerusalem. This fountain would be a source for cleansing of sins. We know water was used in the Levitical law for cleansing of sins. Just read through Numbers 19 to see that. There are several ceremonial uses of water for cleansing. The difference here in Zechariah, however, is this cleansing is permanent.

APPLICATION

We are washed by a fountain also – a fountain of blood from Emanuel’s veins. Christ died and shed His divine blood for the remission of our sins. We don’t have to ceremonially wash in water to remove our sins from us. We observe baptism with water to show outwardly what has occurred inwardly.

The priests had to repeat their ceremonial cleansing with water for themselves and the people. Our cleansing is one and done. When accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are cleansed from all our sins – past, present and future. We are free from the penalty and power of sin in our lives. The fountain we run to is Jesus. His forgiveness is ever flowing. It never ceases.

I am so thankful for the assurance of that fountain of forgiveness in my life. I am so glad I don’t have to go back every day for a new cleansing. Now, I do ask for forgiveness for sins I commit because I want to walk in holiness with Him. But those sins are already under the blood. I just have to acknowledge them to Him. His forgiveness is always there. Have you come to Him lately?

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emanuel’s vein. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

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Bible, Blessing, Forgiveness, Grace, Salvation, Scripture

POURED OUT GRACE

ZECHARIAH 12:10

“‘And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.’”

Oh wow! I can so remember the day I got saved. I have shared my salvation experience before, but this verse reminded me of that day. I truly felt the grace of God poured over me that day. There have been times since then when I felt waves of grace flow over me when I needed it most. Every time that happens, it points me more and more to Jesus.

Reread today’s verse with Jesus on the cross on your mind. Isn’t that exactly what God did that day for Jerusalem? He poured out His grace on them. They did pierce Him. And those who followed Jesus and received this free grace mourned for Him. Zechariah even uses the words “an only son.” Zechariah is pointing the nation to their future Messiah.

APPLICATION

I want you to reflect on your salvation today (if you are not a believer, I’ll get to you in a minute, but keep reading). Do you remember the depth of your longing for cleansing? Do you remember how damaged you were in your sins? That flood of grace that poured over you that day is still flowing. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;”

I think of that old hymn, “Grace, Grace, God’s grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.” It goes on to say, “Grace that is greater than all our sin.” The waves of grace that are poured over you can wash away any and all sin in your life. That should lead you to praise Him today.

Now, if you have been reading this and do not know that grace, turn to Him now. Confess your sins. Admit you are a sinner in need of a Savior. Confess your belief in Jesus as God’s only Son and receive this overflowing grace into your life. Walk in victory, knowing you are now a child of the King. Praise God!

O Father, Your grace is sufficient and great. It is more than adequate to meet my deepest need.

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Abiding, Advocate, Battles, Bible, Defense, Enemies, God's Will, Protection, Provision, Rescue, Salvation, Scripture

THE HAND OF GOD

ZECHARIAH 12:5

“‘Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strong support for us through the LORD of armies, their God.”’”

There are times in our lives when the only way to explain something is to say, “God did that.” I have shared many times about my disease, Amyloidosis, and my two stem cell transplants (2010 and 2020). The only way to explain my healing is God’s hand was in it. He gave the doctors wisdom. He used the treatment to give me a “remission” from this disease for a while. I know He was the one who did that. There is no doubt.

I love this verse today in Zechariah. The “clans of Judah” refers to all the tribes. They all will realize on that day when Jerusalem is defended against their enemies that it was God’s hand and not theirs that did it. The “LORD of armies” did it, not their army. And by coming together and depending on Him, they will be successful.

APPLICATION

Guess what? Nothing’s changed. Isaiah 26:12 is a favorite verse of my boss. In the NIV it says, “LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us.” Isn’t that exactly what Zechariah is saying in verse 5 above. If we are honest, we will admit very quickly that anything that is good in us is just Jesus. I know that is true for me.

Yet, God continues to work in and through us to accomplish His will. As the writer of Hebrews closes his letter in Hebrews 13:20-21, he says, “20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, 21  equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

One day, when I reach heaven, I will find out just what the Lord saw in us that moved Him to redeem us. We are His creation, the work of His hands. I get that. But our flesh is so corrupt and wicked outside of Christ. Only by Him working in us can we be made into a useable vessel, fit for His kingdom work. Praise Him!

Father, I know it is You Who works in and through me. I praise You for finding me worthy to be used by You.

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Abuse, Bible, Confrontation, Enemies, Harm, Humiliation, Insults, Mockery, Ransom, Salvation, Scripture

WHAT AN INSULT!

ZECHARIAH 11:12

“And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages.”

Have you ever been truly insulted? It is not a good feeling. It’s embarrassing and humiliating. If it is done in front of others, that insult is magnified. That probably happened to me the last time while I was working with a fellow who disliked me because of my ministry. He called me a rather nasty name right in the middle of a staff meeting.

In today’s verse, we find Zechariah writing about his proposed wages from those he asked it – thirty shekels of silver. What you may not know is the standard price for a good servant was twice that. This price of thirty was what was paid for a servant that had been gored by an ox (see Exodus 21:32) and was therefore damaged goods. But you must remember that Zechariah was acting on behalf of Jehovah. The people were spurning God, not just Zechariah.

APPLICATION

Before Christ, we were all guilty of spurning God. We figuratively spit in His face and refused the gift He offered us in His Son, Jesus Christ. But after we become believers, we see the value of the gift. We offer all we have to be one with Him. I am reminded of Matthew 13:45-46. “45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it.’”

What price can you place on your gift of salvation? If we don’t offer Him everything, we are insulting the God of creation. We are saying we don’t value His gift to us. He laid down His life in the form of Jesus. He shed divine blood for us. He suffered and bled for all mankind. Why would we not give Him everything?

I can’t think of a single thing right now in my life that I place above that. I couldn’t have always said that. In the past I took my salvation for granted. I made it look cheap. Not now! I see its value in my life. Can you say the same? Is it worth everything to you? Lay it all down at His feet and watch what He does with it. I won’t spoil the surprise!

O Lord, my God, You are so good to me. I praise You for paying the ultimate price for my salvation.

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Advocate, Bible, Deliverance, Forgiveness, Grace, Restoration, Salvation, Scripture

FORGIVEN

ZECHARIAH 10:6

“And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have had compassion on them; and they will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.”

“It’s all good, bro. No sweat!” Have you ever been told that before? You have done something that was not good, but the person who you offended said that to you. They forgave you. They were willing to go on and forget the whole thing. You probably had more regrets about the incident than they did. That’s a pretty good feeling to know you had been forgiven.

The Lord is reminding the people of Israel that He had forgiven them. I just love those words He said here in today’s verse – “they will be as though I had not rejected them.” In other words, He had received them back from their rebellion. They were welcomed back into His eternal grace. Then He gives a promise – “and I will answer them.” Wow! That’s our God.

APPLICATION

I can’t help but think about Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” He forgives. He restores. He sets us back into position as His children. Just what does that mean? He treats us as if we had never sinned. He chooses to forget those sins. They are under the blood.

Do you understand that? Christ’s blood, shed for you, has the power to “blind” God from seeing those past sins. Now, He isn’t really blinded, but those sins are placed out of His sight. God does that. Isn’t that amazing. Don’t you wish people could do the same? We can’t forgive anything, can we?

I want to encourage you to forgive. Forgive that neighbor that you allow to get on your last nerve. Forgive that person who cut you off in traffic. Forgive the wayward child who has returned home. And forgive yourself for things you have done (this may be the hardest forgiveness of all). God forgives!

God, my Father, You are a forgiving, gracious God who loves me beyond description. I praise You.

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Abundance, Bible, Blessing, Goodness, Money, Promises, Salvation, Scripture

DOUBLE BLESSING

ZECHARIAH 9:12

“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners who have the hope; this very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.”

Given the chance, I would love to double my money anytime. I would swap $10 for $20 all day long. Wouldn’t you? I have never been given that opportunity though. I have thought of playing the lottery but decided not to. Putting my hopes in a lottery doesn’t make a lot of sense. I will let the Lord double my blessings instead.

I just love this verse today in Zechariah. It reminds me of another book of the Bible. In the book of Job, he is restored double what he had lost AFTER he had gone through the test of suffering. Job 42:10 tells us, “The LORD also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had.” When you get to heaven, ask Job if his suffering was worth it. I bet I know his answer.

APPLICATION

For us to receive those blessings from God, we must come to Him. Our verse says “return to the stronghold.” What is that? Or better yet, who is that? It is the Lord God Almighty. When we return there, He gives us hope. He promises to bless us abundantly. I recall Jesus saying in John 10:10 “‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.’”

Now when the Lord says we will have life abundantly, He means a lot. Our life in Him will be beyond measure. Am I saying we are going to be rich beyond our wildest dreams? Certainly not! Jesus will bless you in ways which you can’t measure by human terms. You can’t put them in a bank. But you’ll know you have the blessings.

Blessings come from the Father through the Son to us, the same path which our salvation comes. That is the greatest blessing of God – salvation. I would not even call this a double blessing. It is beyond description. Let’s just call it what Jesus did – abundant! Have you received it? If not, make today the day that you receive God’s double blessing He has promised.

My cup surely runneth over. I cannot contain all the blessings from You, O Lord.

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Accused, Bible, Blood, Conviction, Freedom, Redemption, Salvation, Scripture

SET FREE

ZECHARIAH 9:11

“As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”

I have never been in jail or prison. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have my freedom of movement taken away. I cannot imagine being locked in a cell for months or years. I have visited a lot of prisons in my ministry. I have seen the loss of life in the eyes of the inmates. I went to bring hope to them in Christ. Some received – others didn’t. We all have that choice.

The Lord continues His discourse and in today’s verse proclaims freedom for the captives. He says, “I have set your prisoners free.” But notice how that is done. In the phrase right before that He says, “because of the blood of My covenant with you.” Only the blood could set them free. This truth continues to us today.

APPLICATION

How long were you enslaved before you were set free? Well Carl, I was never a slave to anything. I haven’t been put in jail or prison. Oh, that is not true. We are told we are either slaves to sin or slaves to obedience. We have been told that sin enslaves us. We are most definitely slaves to sin before salvation. We are doomed with an eternal sentence with no hope of parole.

But thanks be to God, He sent His Son to break those chains of bondage. Isaiah 61:1 says it most clearly. “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD anointed me to bring good news to the humble; He has sent me to bind up the broken- hearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners;” This has been described as Jesus’ job description.

The chains that once bound me to the yoke of slavery have been snapped by the blood of Christ. The moment I said “yes” to Him, the chains fell off. I have power over sin. Sin does not control me. As long as I continue to abide in Him, His Spirit will lead me away from the lure of sin and into His warm embrace. Are you free today? I pray you are. If you aren’t, come to Him today.

The power of Your Son’s blood has set me free, Lord. Thank You for loving me so much.

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Bible, Messiah, Prophesy, Salvation, Scripture

PROPHECY FULFILLED

ZECHARIAH 9:9

“Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

“I just love it when a plan comes together.” This is the famous quote of John “Hannibal” Smith in the TV series of the 1980s. This action-adventure series came to people’s rescue time and time again. You knew what was going to happen every show. The bad guys would get caught and end up in prison. The good guys (The A-Team) would leave as heroes.

Why is the world would I use that illustration for today’s verse, which just happens to be one of the most famous Messianic prophecies in Scripture? Because God’s plan came together. Here in Zechariah, it is prophesied that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. Their King, their source of salvation would come in humbly. Even the Talmud (the central text of Rabbinic Judaism) refers to the Messiah riding an ass (donkey).

APPLICATION

Hallelujahs rang out in Jerusalem when they saw Jesus arrive. Matthew 21:6-7 says, “6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on the cloaks.” Can you just picture the people? They knew the prophecy of Zechariah. They were ecstatic – for a little while.

They didn’t get the full picture. The donkey represented the Jewish people. The foal represented the Gentiles. Jesus was sending a message that all would receive salvation through Him. He was the source of salvation for all mankind. This was not about an earthly kingdom. This was not about freedom from Rome. This was much bigger than that.

Do you get it? Jesus arrived humbly as THE KING of glory. He came to rescue you, me and everyone else from a certain destruction. He didn’t enter Jerusalem with an army. He didn’t need that. His power was enough to vanquish all sin. The cries of “Hallelujah” would quickly change to “Crucify Him.’ What are you shouting today? I hope it is “Hallelujah to the King of kings.”

I shout hallelujah to Your name, O Lord. You are my one and only King Jesus.

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