18) An immovable rock for all the nations
Wednesday 15 December
Zechariah 12:1-10
‘I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.’
Zechariah 12:2
Yesterday, we read about the coming banquet where the nations will raise their glasses to the Messiah. Jesus Himself had told His disciples that He would only drink the wine with them again in His Kingdom.
Today, we read that certain events precede this: the opposition of the powers of darkness, which the nations use in their aversion to God and their aversion to Jerusalem. They would love to stop God’s Kingdom. Fortunately, that is not possible as we can read here in Zechariah.
We even read that the LORD Himself causes the hatred of Him and His people to reach an all-time low. The nations want and will lift Jerusalem like a burdensome stone, like a cup of spirits they cannot keep away from. God delivers them up to their delusion, to the intoxication in which they find themselves.
At the beginning of this year’s Hanukkah festival, the UN met again to decide on Jerusalem. With a gigantic majority of votes, it was once again decided that the Temple Mount is solely a Muslim holy place. Only a few countries voted against this resolution, and a few remained silent and abstained.
The days and years of Advent are therefore also days and years of darkness. This is also what Isaiah prophesies: Darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, before the Light will rise over Jerusalem.
Prayer:
We pray that the Lord will soon display His glory before the eyes of the world in the midst of Israel and Jerusalem. We pray that we may be watchful and that as Christians we will form a wall of prayer around Jerusalem.
