The Minor Prophets Speak to Today
(Christian Take Heed For Your Nationalism)
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Zechariah's vision continues when he looks and sees four horns - not musical instruments but animal horns. When he asks, the angel of the Lord explains the horns. “These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Note they represent nations that God Himself used to scatter his people. The horns represent the fulfillment of prophecies spoken to his children. In each case his children did not repent but continued in the manners, customs, ways, and beliefs which God warned against .
Then the Lord shows Zechariah four blacksmiths. Apparently these blacksmiths were moving toward the four horns because Zechariah asks, "What are these men coming to do?"
This time the angel answers, "These four horns—these nations—scattered and humbled Judah. Now these blacksmiths have come to terrify those nations and throw them down and destroy them.”
We know God punished these nations for their arrogance and failure to acknowledge him.
Now, you may have noticed that the angel names only Judah in this response leaving out Israel and Jerusalem, but we know that whether the nations moved primarily against Israel, Judah, or Jerusalem they in every case humbled Judah and scattered some or all of Judah's inhabitants.
Perhaps the angel and the Lord knew that God's children, then and now, are prone to say, "That doesn't apply to me. That doesn't apply to us." Perhaps this emphasis on Judah, whom God never called a Prostitute and among whom there was always a faithful remnant, served and continues to serve to wake us up from that narcotic argument.
The clear lesson, that those who oppose God's children will be destroyed, was written as a warning to us upon whom grace has come.
Plenty of nations today oppose the Christ-Followers in their midst. Some oppose all Christ-Followers everywhere. Also, most nations stand in disobedience to God's will and the reasons he grants nationhood. This too represents opposition to God. As much as we do not like it, as individuals and churches, all unfaithfulness equals opposition to God.
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Note they represent nations that God Himself used to scatter his people. The horns represent the fulfillment of prophecies spoken to his children. In each case his children did not repent but continued in the manners, customs, ways, and beliefs which God warned against .
Then the Lord shows Zechariah four blacksmiths. Apparently these blacksmiths were moving toward the four horns because Zechariah asks, "What are these men coming to do?"
This time the angel answers, "These four horns—these nations—scattered and humbled Judah. Now these blacksmiths have come to terrify those nations and throw them down and destroy them.”
We know God punished these nations for their arrogance and failure to acknowledge him.
Now, you may have noticed that the angel names only Judah in this response leaving out Israel and Jerusalem, but we know that whether the nations moved primarily against Israel, Judah, or Jerusalem they in every case humbled Judah and scattered some or all of Judah's inhabitants.
Perhaps the angel and the Lord knew that God's children, then and now, are prone to say, "That doesn't apply to me. That doesn't apply to us." Perhaps this emphasis on Judah, whom God never called a Prostitute and among whom there was always a faithful remnant, served and continues to serve to wake us up from that narcotic argument.
The clear lesson, that those who oppose God's children will be destroyed, was written as a warning to us upon whom grace has come.
Plenty of nations today oppose the Christ-Followers in their midst. Some oppose all Christ-Followers everywhere. Also, most nations stand in disobedience to God's will and the reasons he grants nationhood. This too represents opposition to God. As much as we do not like it, as individuals and churches, all unfaithfulness equals opposition to God.
“What are these men coming to do?”
"Destroy the nations?"
That is too simple an explanation. God's blacksmiths perform three tasks. Who knows how many hammer blows each task may take.
First, the assigned blacksmith will terrify the nation. Its people and eventually the very government itself will tremble in fear. They will become faint of heart, despair will fill the void. Faith in a good outcome will ebb away. At this point you may expect God to send biblical style prophets. His grace will present yet another opportunity to turn to God and repent in action, words, and mindset.
Second, the assigned blacksmith will overthrow that nation. The national entity will lose it power and place on the international stage. They will be humbled at the feet of their enemies and neutered. The moment for repentance becomes a fleeting second.
Finally, third, the nation will be destroyed. Their cities shrink or, like Nineveh and Babylon, disappear into the desert, plowed into farm land, or overgrown by the flora and fauna of their place on the planet. The nation becomes a memory and in many cases the memory becomes faint, a myth, and then lost.
Christian Take Heed For Your Nationalism
The blacksmith's hammer can easily shatter the horn of your nation.
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USA, Russia, ISIS, Egypt
-beware-
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