"For the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King!" (Jeremiah 10:10; Revelation 1:8)
"They shall call on My name and I will hear them; I will say, "It is My people" and they shall say, "The Lord is my God!" (Zechariah 13:9)
"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength... " (Psalm 18:2)
"Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore, they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats; for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock in the house of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle. Out of Him came forth the corner, out of Him the nail, out of Him the battle bow, out of Him every oppressor together.
And they shall be as mighty [men], which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle, and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I AM the Lord their God and will hear them ... "and I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in His name," saith the Lord." (Zechariah 10:1-6)
For those who might not know, Zechariah is the grandson of the prophet Iddo and is quite young when the Word of the Lord first came unto him in the eighth month of the second year of Darius. Zachariah begins by saying, "The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore, say thou unto them, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; "turn ye unto Me," saith the Lord of hosts, "and I will turn unto you," saith the Lord of hosts." (Zachariah 1:1-4) Note that the message throughout Zachariah is consistent -- to not be as your fathers who subscribe to the traditions of men but rather to turn from our evil ways and to hearken unto Him -- the Word of the Lord.
Zachariah is not alone in his message from the Word of the Lord. Other prophets in the old testament offer similar insights into waiting upon the Lord, proving true His goodness, mercy and blessings that are given unto all they that wait for Him. The Word of the Lord gives similar instruction to prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, Haggai, Micah and Nahum. That is, the Lord hath spoken (and to this day still speaking) to His beloved church but the children have rebelled against Him. Isaiah puts it this way- "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward ... and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." (Isaiah 1:1-8)
But to the remnant -- those who keep His Word and do not deny His name, there is a way, truth and life wherein we shall hear His Word, and walk in it, casting aside the graven images and idols and those men who call themselves shepherds -- whose sole intent is on building the tent for their own gain, through what the prophet Jeremiah refers to as "the work of errors." (Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 51:8)
"For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a Word behind thee saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left -- ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it -- "Get thee hence." Then shall He give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal" (Isaiah 30:19-23)
In yet another place, Jeremiah writes, "When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors, in the time of their visitation they shall perish. [But] the portion of Jacob is not like them: for He is the former of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His name." (Jeremiah 10:13-16)
The good news is that we who believe have come to know the voice of the Lord. While "some trust in chariots, and some in horses: we will remember the name of the Lord our God." (Psalm 20:7) " ... and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." (Zechariah 9:10)
And because we have believed in the One Good Shepherd who voluntarily (willingly) laid down His life, shedding His own precious blood for His bride (the body of Christ church) -- as Zechariah states, "They shall call on My name and I will hear them; I will say, "It is My people" and they shall say, "The Lord is my God!" (Zechariah 13:9)
And because we know in whom we serve -- His name JESUS in this current dispensation of grace, we will also know those men who identify as shepherds who walk every one in the name of his god, because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
Thus, "we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever" because we have come face to face with the King of kings and Lord of lords, and now know that there is only one King and those that shall fear the Lord will see His goodness in the latter days. (Micah 4:5; Hosea 3:4-6)
"And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity." (Zephaniah 2:7)
Stand in the offering plate.
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