“I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
~ Zechariah 8:8
Hi James and Ellen,
Can you name ten ways how God has been blessing you? Your grandmaa and grandpaa can name ten ways how God has blessed and is blessing them. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that before He created planet Earth, God had already chosen them to be His specially elected kids. Before He created and established planet Earth in His dynamic universe, God had already designed an individualized and customized unfolding existence plan for every single guy, gal and kid who He will ever have live on planet Earth. God’s personalized and flawless life track for you grandmaa and grandpaa would have them both born to a dad and ma who would both personally and intimately know God as their Father God. The Father God Who your grandpaa’s dad and ma knew had your grandpaa’s dad and ma have your grandpaa go for seven years to the Christian school that your grandpaa’s dad was behind helping to build, have your grandpaa always go to a Sunday school class in the church where your grandpaa’s dad and ma were members and have your grandpaa taught catechism by the pastor of or by an elder from the church where your grandpaa’s dad and ma were members. When your grandpaa graduated from high school, your grandpaa’s dad and ma assented to your grandpaa going to Dordt College. Dordt College is where your grandpaa met your grandmaa. The Father God Who your grandmaa’s dad and ma knew had your grandmaa’s dad and ma have your grandmaa always go to a Sunday school class in the church where your grandmaa’s dad and ma were members, have your grandmaa go to the Youth for Christ activities that took place in the church where your grandmaa’s dad and ma were members and have your grandmaa help each summer during the Vacation Bible school week that was sponsored by the church where your grandmaa’s dad and ma were members. When your grandmaa graduated from high school, your grandmaa’s ma along with the pastor of the church where your grandmaa’s ma was a member encouraged your grandmaa to go to Dordt College. Dordt College is where your grandmaa met your grandpaa. Your grandmaa was seventeen years old when she began classes at Dordt College in 1961. Your grandpaa was born April 19, 1942. Your grandmaa was born September 19, 1943. There are exactly nineteen months between when your grandpaa was born and when your grandmaa were born. God blesses His specially elected kids in inimitable ways.
God’s constantly unfolding universe has been choreographed by God to fit into it every single guy, gal or kid who has lived, is living and will live on planet Earth. One component of God’s continually unfolding plan that He completely composed before He created planet Earth was that He chose a people group of guys, gals and kids to become His specially chosen guys, gals and kids. These specially chosen guys, gals and kids would be the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, were given a new belief paradigm by God which God expected them to adopt to replace the belief paradigm that had the Israelite people group of guys and gals wasting their time worshipping inanimate gods that were handmade from wood, stone and metal. God did not just ask His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, to unquestionably obey the new belief paradigm that He had just given to them; God gave an emphatic stipulation to His specially chosen guys and gals that if they did not do what He expected them to do by obeying and following the new belief paradigm that He had just passed on to them via Moses, that He would have them taken away as their captive slaves by guys from an enemy nation. Until God separated Himself from His specially chosen guys and gals because of their refusal to listen to and do what He expected them to do, God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not know how good of a thing that they had to be God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Your grandpaa knows that God could without any problem at all have designed a plan which would have had His specially chosen guys and gals conform to His will but . . . the example of what happened to His specially chosen guys and gals is to teach His specially elected guys and gals to obey Him and to follow His will or . . .
It is about 2500 years ago. God for about seventy years had His specially chosen guys and gals take a time out because of their constant refusal to . . . God’s specially chosen guys and gals have learned a life lesson that has them now wanting to trust in God. Some of God’s specially chosen guys and gals have already been able to return to the city of Jerusalem. Zechariah wrote about this moment in Zechariah 8. Because God knew that His specially chosen guys and gals had learned the life lesson that He had been teaching them after He had them taken by guys from an enemy nation – which was Babylon, to Babylonia to live, God – as God the Spirit, passed on ten blessings to His specially chosen guys and gals. Zechariah begins each blessing with ‘the LORD Almighty came to me.’ The blessing that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals in verse 8 embodied His new personal relationship with them, “I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”” God told His specially chosen guys and gals that He was a jealous God who cared for them, that He wanted to live in His city – the city of Jerusalem, with them, that He wanted to see peace in His city – the city of Jerusalem, so that He could see kids playing again in the streets, that the happy occasions that once took place in His city – the city of Jerusalem, could happen again and . . . God blessed lives are invariably filled with the joy of God the Spirit’s presence. God will bless each guy, gals and kid who He has specially elected to know Him.
Zechariah 8 (441)