When God Ran / Phillips, Craig and Dean
Almighty God, the great I am
Immovable rock, omnipotent, powerful, awesome Lord
Victorious warrior, commanding King of Kings
Mighty conqueror, and the only time -
the only time I ever saw Him run
The day I left home I knew I’d broken His heart
And I wondered then if things could ever be the same
Then one night I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road ahead I could see
It was the only time – it was the only time I ever saw Him run
And then He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said,
“Son do you know I still love you?”
He caught me by surprise as He brought me to my knees
When God ran – I saw Him run to me
I was so ashamed, all alone and so far away
But now I know He’s been waiting for this day
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Zechariah 2:
A Man With a Measuring Line
1 Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 I asked, "Where are you going?"
He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is."
3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: "Run, tell that young man, 'Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,' declares the LORD, 'and I will be its glory within.'
6 "Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north," declares the LORD, "for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven," declares the LORD.
7 "Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!" 8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye- 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.
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."
My Understanding: This passage of scripture begins with Zechariah seeing a man with a measuring line in his hand. The man was going to measure Jerusalem.
I wanted to understand the meaning of the “measuring line,” so I looked it up:
“The usual meaning is simply line, rope or cord, in Isaiah 28:10,13, but the line was used for measurement, as is evident from such passages as 1 Kings 7:23; Job 38:5; Jeremiah 31:39. Whether the line for measuring had a definite length or not we have no means of knowing. In Isaiah 44:13 it refers to the line used by the carpenter in marking the timber on which he is working, and in Zechariah 1:16 it refers to the builder's line. Figuratively: It signifies destruction, or a portion of something marked off by line for destruction, as in 2 Kings 21:13; or for judgment, as in Isaiah 28:17.” http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T5884
In the passage, an angel told the angel who was speaking to Zechariah to run to him and tell him that Jerusalem would be a city without walls, that God would be a wall of fire around it, and that He would be its glory within. I believe that Israel, Zion and Jerusalem are all to be applied today to the church, because we are now under the New Covenant, so God’s people now are those who are in Christ Jesus, thus Zion is the church, Jerusalem is the heavenly Jerusalem and Israel is spiritual Israel (all true believers in Jesus Christ). So, today, this is a promise to the church of revival and of a harvest of souls (the expansion).
My Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary said:
“The measuring line is a symbol of preparation for rebuilding and restoring Jerusalem and the temple… The measuring of the city would be the first step toward the restoration of the city and the realization of the promised blessing… The measuring was done with expansion in view.”
Again, I believe Jerusalem is in a spiritual sense now, that the “city” is the City of God or the City on a Hill, which again is the church, and we know that the temple is now the church, i.e. the Holy Spirit of God no longer dwells in buildings built by man and we no longer worship God on a particular mountain but we worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and so the hearts of true believers are now God’s dwelling place. So, to measure the city would be to examine the church (individual people’s lives) and its condition (spiritually) and size (how many true believers). And, involved in this “measuring” is often divine discipline and correction, i.e. God is judging his people. So, this judgment of God on His people (the church) is preparation for rebuilding (revival) and restoration of the church, spiritually speaking, back into a right relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the first step toward this revival and restoration of our relationship with God. And, the blessing and expansion that is promised, I believe, has to do with the spiritual revival of the church and the outgrowth of that revival in a harvest of souls – people who will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
My commentary says that “The measuring was done with expansion in view… The promise is given that Jerusalem will become so large and prosperous that it will expand beyond its walls. Indeed, it will overflow so much that it will be as though it had no walls.” I believe, again, that this is a promise of revival of the people of God (the church) and it is a promise of a harvest of souls. There will be such an overflow, like the fish that Peter caught in his net, that it will be as though it had no walls. What came to mind here is that the church is presently divided by race, by social status, by denomination, etc., but God never intended there to be a Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc. church, but that we, as the Body of Christ should be all one church (one Body) and that the only division would be by location, such as the church in a particular city or the church that met in someone’s home, but still all the same church. So, the walls that now divide us will come down in this revival.
That brings a new meaning to this passage from Ezekiel 38:
“'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”
We know that the Beast of Revelation will go after the saints of God. So, to invade a land of unwalled villages could very well be a reference to this city (the church) without walls because it is revived. The city is a place that has been resettled. I see this in a spiritual sense in that the church (most of it) today in the USA, in particular, is a very divided church and definitely has walls and is in great need of revival, so when the church is revived, it is, in essence, resettled in its right relationship with Almighty God and all the walls of adultery, idolatry, divisions in the church, etc. will come down. When people get their hearts right with God, they get honest and all the pretenses (walls) that were there before are now gone. This is the city that the Beast (Gog) truly wants to come after – the City on a Hill, i.e. the church (the Body of Christ).
When the church goes through revival and they get back in a right relationship with God, then they once again experience the presence of Almighty God among them and they know his protection and guidance (spiritually) against the forces of evil. The manifestation (the Holy Spirit) of the Lord’s glory will return to them in empowerment, and I believe we will see many, many miracles when this takes place. The greatest miracle of all, though, is the miracle of God’s grace in delivering us from bondage to, the control of, and the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God. A life truly liberated from the control of sin is the greatest miracle of all!
The reference to Babylon can certainly be a reference to a physical place, but in this context, I see Babylon as a symbol of the world and worldly influences, including it is a symbol of human governments that are worldly and evil. The exiles that had not yet returned from Babylon were exhorted to do so at this time. I believe that spiritually speaking this is in reference to those who are still holding on to the world, to worldly methods, philosophies and to allegiance to a government, and they have not returned to God Almighty and to Jesus Christ with 100% commitment to serve God only. So, the exhortation is to forsake the world, to forsake worldly allegiances, and to return to the Lord Jesus with wholehearted devotion and obedience. We are to “flee” and “escape” from her. The urgency of the plea is a sign that some imminent judgment was coming to Babylon.
Revelation 18:4-5: "Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.”
God promises that he will judge the nations that he used to judge his people, because those who touch his people – the true church – touch the apple of God’s eye. The apple of your eye is someone you hold dear to your heart above all others. My commentary said that the “apple” of the eye is the pupil of the eye, so I looked it up:
Pupil – “the dark circular opening at the center of the iris in the eye, where light enters the eye; a young student, taught at school or by a private teacher; follower or student of somebody - a student who learns from a mentor or other person who is skilled, knowledgeable, or experienced” (Encarta).
That is interesting. I had never thought of the “apple of God’s eye” that way before. The “apple” is where the light enters the eye, and Jesus is the light that enters through the darkness. So, Jesus is truly the “apple” of God’s eye. We, as his followers and as his students who have received that light, then, are also the “apple of God’s eye,” i.e. we have a special place in God’s heart that is reserved for no other. This is for spiritual Israel only. God will discipline us because he loves us and because he is jealous for us that we follow Him only, yet when he accomplishes his purpose in judgment on his people (His Bride), he will judge those instruments of judgment (the nations who struck the “apple of his eye”).
First God warns us of coming judgment, he calls us to repent and to turn to him, and when we do not turn, then he sends his divine discipline and correction (judgment) upon us to refine us and to revive us so that he can restore us to a right relationship with him. This is the first step toward our restoration back to a right relationship with God. Then, he judges those nations he used to judge us, and then we have the promise of Jesus’ return and of his millennial reign on the earth for 1000 years. Jesus is coming again and he will live among us. In that day when God judges the earth, many nations will join God’s people in making Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. And, I believe that a remnant of Jews will believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and that they will be rejoined with God in a right relationship with him, as well.
The passage ends with “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” I believe this is a warning that God is getting ready to judge the world and to be still before God means to stand in awe, in reverence, and respect of God by ceasing to live our lives for ourselves. It means to humble ourselves before Almighty God in reverent submission, too. It is a quieting of our minds, souls and emotions before God to hear from him and to do what He says because the day of his judgment is near.
This song recognizes the awesomeness of God and of who God is, yet it states that in all of God’s glory and his awesomeness, it was the only time that the writer ever saw God run. In this passage of scripture, another angel tells the angel who was speaking to Zechariah to “Run” and tell Zechariah what God was going to do, and it is implied that Zechariah would, in turn, “run” and tell the people. So, this running had a sense of urgency to it. And, God is presently “running” to his people via his messengers (his servants), via His Word, via dreams and visions, etc. in order to get the message out that time is short and that his children need to return to Him with all their hearts and to come out from the world so that she does not share in her sins and thus receive the judgment God has for the nations. So, in reality, the world today has never seen God “run” in this way because the world has never gone through what is coming with the Great Tribulation prophesied about in scripture.
God is not only running to us by warning us of what is coming and by calling us to repentance, but he will run to us, as well, via his divine correction and discipline if that is what it takes to bring us back to Him before it is too late. God loves us so much that he will exercise “tough love” in order to revive his church and in order for the gospel to be spread throughout the world and for there to be an outpouring of His Holy Spirit and the salvation of many lives for eternity before he judges the earth in such a way that many, many people die. God is merciful, and in his mercy and in his desire that all should come to repentance, he will “run” to us via judgment in order to make us his Holy Bride ready to meet Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment