Shout and be glad

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES AND FULFILLMENTS CONCERNING CHRIST

SHOUT AND BE GLAD

Zech 2:10-13

10 "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD. 11 "Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling."

NIV

We should be shouting for joy and being glad for he has come and he is living among us. Although he came to Zion, to Jerusalem, to the Children of Israel, we are among the many nations who are joined with the LORD and have become his people. Jesus did not come just for the children of Israel, but for the whole world, all the nations. We see this in the fulfilment scriptures.

John 1:14

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

NIV

This verse in John might give us the impression that he did come only for the people in Israel, as that is who he came into the world through their genetic line. Jesus dwelled among the people of Israel, but we also know, as John continues, that God so love the whole world that he sent Jesus to die for all so whosoever believes in him should no perish, but have everlasting life. We are the “whosoever”. But God has not stopped there. He will come again, this time in the fullness of his triune personage to dwell among his people.

Rev 21:3

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

NIV

The new creation will be an even better paradise then the first creation. While the Garden of Eden was a wonderful paradise and Adam and Eve had all they would ever need for their lives, there was still among them the tempter, the seducer, the old serpent who wooed them into a falsehood. Jesus has defeated him for good and before the new creation is completed, he will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur and tormented day and night for all eternity. In the new creation there will be no tempter, only God and his people. We will have a perfectly blissful, eternal life in the presence of our God. Once again we will live in a paradise where every need is right there for us. There will be no good work for us to do, for Christ did all the work for us. In fact even in this life, the only good work we can do, is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Sure, we do things for other people, or rather Jesus does them through us, or however some would want to think we do these things. But the point is within our own humanity we cannot do good things. Paul makes that clear in his discourse about wanting to do that which is good, but doing that which is not good. He wants to do good, but does not. He does not want to do that which is bad, but he does, in a paraphrased way. How is it we think we can do what is good, when a great spiritual giant life Paul has such a struggle with it. But that is still only here in the temporal world. One day all that struggle will be over, we who are in Christ Jesus will be taken up to meet our Lord in the air. After some time, however long that is, this world and the heavens will be no more and a whole new creation will exist. The rules of its order will be much different than the current rules of order of this universe and our current world. It is all spelled out for us in the revelation that was given to John so we might know what our eternal life will be like in the new creation. Yet we have already begun living our eternal life in this creation, as we have been born again. We are already eternal beings who God lives among. He has made his dwelling place within us. We have been,  and are being made into the temple of God. We are living stones built, and being built to house the living God. Although it is true God the Father seats in heaven and God the Son seats there at his right hand, God the Spirit is dwelling with us this very moment. He is within us, guiding us. He is also a deposit as a guarantee of our continued eternal life in the new paradise of God. Jesus promised us that he was going to prepare a place for us and that if he goes he will return to take us to the place where he is, that we might be there also. The Spirit bears witness within us to that promise. God is living with us right now. Should that not give us reason to be glad? Rejoice my soul, shout for joy my spirit, the Lord is here! He has brought us grace and truth. Rejoice and again I say, Rejoice! Shout and be glad!