#DailyDevotion The Temple of God is the Church
January 29th
Read Zech 8:1–23
Zec 8:2-3 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. (3) Thus says the LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain…7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, (8) and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”… 14For thus says the LORD of hosts: “As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the LORD of hosts, (15) so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. (16) These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; (17) do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD.”… 22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD. (23) Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'”
In the midst of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Lord God speaks of another time, a distant time. He looks to the future, to the last days and the last day. In these last days, many Jews and the those of the house of Israel have turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see this in Acts on the day of Pentecost the several decades that follow. And on top of that we see the fulfillment of verses 22 and 23 as the Word goes out, the gentiles, the pagans, the unbelievers, those of different languages and tongues, those who worship those which are not god or seek no god but themselves, they turn to those true Jews and true Israelites who follow Christ Jesus, the Lord. For indeed in the Lord Jesus Christ, God was with them.
And so we look both Jew and Gentile, both who are Christian , to fulfill God’s will in our lives. We look to the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the Father to will and work in our lives to do good. We speak the truth, render just judgments, and we make peace. We hate when evil is devised in our hearts and so we love no false oaths or many of the other things the Lord hates. We no longer need to fear the future because we have true fear of the Lord our God. This is his work in us.
The Lord Jesus has made us his temple and his Jerusalem. We are the living stones of his abode. He draws us, Jew and Gentile to be his holy Zion. He lives in the midst of us as he has promised, “Where two are three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you” and again, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus is with us because he is jealous for us. We are his treasured possession. He has called himself to be our God and we his holy people.
Lord Jesus Christ, as you have gathered us from the east and the west to be your holy people, so live and indwell us that we hate the things you hate and do the things you love. Amen.