In That Day - We Will Be Like The Angel Of The Lord

The Minor Prophets Speak To Today

In That Day: We Will Be Like The Angel of The Lord Who Goes Before Us

Zechariah 12:7-9 NLT

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7 “The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them! 9 For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:7-9

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God Will Knock The Proud Off Their Pedestal:

We humans find all kinds of ways to think ourselves better than other people.

We are better than the Muslims - lie.

We are better than the athiests - lie.

We are better than the fallen Christians - lie.

We are better than Adam and Eve - lie.

You (not I) are called to be better than Jesus example - double lie.

In our estimation and the estimation of many other people, Jews, Gentiles, and Muslims, the people of Jerusalem are more blessed than everyone else. They are due more honor than God's other children. They are at the heart of history and God's fulfillment of prophecy.

If nothing else, God makes clear in this prophecy that does show partiality among people. All stand before him in equal status. All are honored equally. Place, use by God, history, genetics, nothing elevates one man over another. Nothing gives one group more honor than another.

When God intervens to save Isreal, he is going to let the people outside of Jerusalem act first to ignite his plan so that he can demonstrate that before him and before men, no greater honor should be accorded to Jerusalem above God's other children.

God will knock all forms of pride off their pedestal.

We Will Have Something Better Than Honor:

But, aside from straightening out the issue of impartiality in all things including honor among the Children of God, God has another important message in this prophecy.

"And the royal descendants will be like God, 

like the angel of the Lord who goes before them!"

The Angel of the Lord is the human form that God took in order to walk among men. The Angel of the Lord refers to Jesus Christ. The Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament are the same person. The same manifestation of God.

But don't forget that the royal people in the New Testament, among Jews and Gentile believers, are all those who are born again, adopted into God's family as his own royal inheritors. Peter calls the early church believers, Jew and Gentile, a royal priesthood. A joining together of the royal line and the priestly line into one.

We are the Royals who will be like the Angel of the Lord who goes before us. We will be like Jesus.

What an incredible statement. And it is repeated in the New Testament:

 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see 

and reflect the glory of the Lord. 

And the Lord—who is the Spirit—

makes us more and more like him as 

we are changed into his glorious image.

2 Corinthians 3:18

In 1 Corinthians 15 the meaning of being like Jesus in his heavenly body is fleshed out into a glorius picture. We indeed will be transformed to be like our Christ!

Photo Credits:
sunrise by Sean MacEntee, some rights reserved @ flickr.com