Zechariah 8:23 This is
what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from
different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one
Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that
God is with you.’” NLT
They have come from the far
country and the near lands. They come because they have heard, in the famous paraphrase
of Eugene Peterson, that ‘God is in the neighborhood.’
Is Zechariah painting a
beautiful picture in which the number 10 represents ‘all’ peoples gathered around,
tugging on the sleeve of One Jew, the Messiah? A prophetic prequel to John’s
vision of the great multitude in Revelation 7:9? (Another picture you can meditate
to fall asleep on a restless night.)
Or is this a picture of whom all
God’s children are to be? Magnets for their neighbors who desperately hold on
to your sleeve because they see from the way you live your life that God has
found you, and they want to walk with you and your God.
If you are searching for God
this Advent season, clutch the sleeve of one Jew and walk along to Bethlehem.
No comments:
Post a Comment