{"id":136,"date":"2020-04-01T13:35:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/tuesday-reflection-march-31-2020-a-time-of-salvation-a-time-of-hope\/"},"modified":"2020-04-01T13:35:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:35:52","slug":"tuesday-reflection-march-31-2020-a-time-of-salvation-a-time-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"watchword","link":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/tuesday-reflection-march-31-2020-a-time-of-salvation-a-time-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Reflection – March 31, 2020 A Time of Salvation, A Time of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday Reflection – March 31, 2020<\/strong>A Time of Salvation, A Time of Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

The prophet Zechariah offered hope to his people by emphasizing that God had not abandoned them but was very much at work through all that was happening. They had returned from Babylonian captivity, had rebuilt the temple, re-established themselves in their homeland and now through the reorganization of the temple system, were being encouraged to become again through spiritual cleansing, God people among whom God resided. Through this renewal of the covenant relationship with God, Judah would remain the people of the promised Messiah and the hope for the salvation of the world. Today\u2019s Watchword is part of Zachariah\u2019s prophecy for the future of God\u2019s people.\u00a0Those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord.<\/em>\u00a0Zechariah 6: 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

At the time of this prophecy the second temple had already been rebuilt by those who returned from exile. This prophecy then was not about the physical temple but the spiritual temple. All that God\u2019s people had done and would accomplish would be done \u2018not by might, not by power but by my spirit\u2019 saith the Lord. Zech 4:6. While captive in Babylon the Jews suffered from despair. In their thinking, even as they had been ripped from their land, so had they lost their place as God\u2019s people through whom the world would be redeemed. \u2018How can we sing the Lord\u2019s song in a strange land\u2019 they moaned. Job\u2019s story was their story. The righteous suffered in the same manner as the unrighteous. They did not lose hope however as while in Babylon they worshipped and lived in expectation that God would one day return them to the promised land where they would be able to continue the work He had chosen them for.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

Yesterday I noticed that the each time I turned on the television the first words I heard was \u2018COVID 19\u2019. It was a sober reminder that we are in a serious crisis. How are we reacting? I have heard many depicting this as God\u2019s wrath on a sinful society. I would not say they are wrong or right. I do not know God\u2019s mind. What I know is that God is merciful and kind and is working everything for our good. I found hope in the report from Italy yesterday of the 101 years old man, born during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919 which killed 30 to 50 million people worldwide, who was released from hospital having survived COVID 19. In the midst of life\u2019s greatest despair, there is always a ray of hope. Even as Israel looked to the time when they would be re-established and the covenant renewed, we too should look to God for healing, relief and restoration.\u00a0Today\u2019s watchword offers that hope. Israel was now living in a time of renewal. They had survived and returned. The Covenant was being reestablished and they now knew that they needed to do their part by living into this relationship. The exile had awakened them to God\u2019s offer of salvation which they embraced in earnest. This now opened the door for the Messiah to come and through His coming, the salvation of the entire world. Hope had been restored. Today we who were far off, we who were not God\u2019s people, are now able to draw near to the throne of grace through Christ. Indeed, you and I are being built up in the spiritual temple of our God. As I pray for the world and the church during this pandemic, my prayer is that like Israel in Babylon, we will look forward to healing and restoration, and we may see this not as a time of judgment or punishment, but as an opportunity for salvation, to draw nearer to God who offers us hope and who alone is able to save us through Christ Jesus. I close with Heb 10: 23\u00a0Let us hold fast the confession of\u00a0our\u00a0hope without wavering, for He who promised\u00a0is\u00a0faithful.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Amen.\u00a0
Bevon White\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The prophet Zechariah offered hope to his people by emphasizing that God had not abandoned them but was very much at work through all that was happening. 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