When God Appears - The One Year Heaven on Earth Devotional

Read: Zechariah 8

In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, “Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” Zechariah 8:23

IN WORD

The Bible makes it clear that God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34). He is “no respecter of persons” (KJV). Peter spoke those words when God called him to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile who, according to traditional Jewish opinion, was outside of the Kingdom of God. But God’s message to Peter was that the doors of the Kingdom were wide open to anyone who would believe and who would seek God on His terms. The blessings of God are global, not national.

God’s impartiality notwithstanding, He has demonstrated throughout Scripture that He is a God who chooses to reveal Himself in context. He chose an individual (Abraham) and then a people (Abraham’s descendants through grandson Jacob). Then He birthed the Messiah through that nation. The Messiah is the one who blew the doors of the Kingdom open. He’s the one who offers life to anyone and everyone who will receive it. Selectivity expands to inclusiveness during the course of salvation history. The seed of Abraham grew into a tree of life, and the fruit is there for all.

So what does Zechariah mean when he prophesies a day when the world will seek the God of the Jews? He means that we cannot enter His Kingdom without knowing a very Jewish Messiah who came in the context of one nation’s revelation of law, worship, and religious culture. It’s impossible to know God without knowing how God revealed Himself in Judaism and its Messiah. When He appears again, it will be clear: Everything in Hebrew history points to Him.

IN DEED

We who believe in Jesus have been grafted into this vehicle of revelation, this religious/ethnic culture that became the soil for our Messiah. Like Israel, we are priests to our world. As Israel was ordained to do, know how to point to Him. As one chosen by God, offer His blessings to everyone.

ADDITIONAL READING: Ephesians 2:11-18

God did entrust the descendants of Abraham with the first revelation of Himself.

C. S. LEWIS