JESUS IS A GOOD SHEPHERD- COMMITTED TO HIS PROMISES
1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Two Shepherds
4 This is what the LORD my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.
5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the LORD, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.
6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the LORD. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.
My dear, what you have just read is one of the most encouraging messages in the Bible. The Message that God is not through with you yet. Despite the troubles you are passing through, he will come through and fight for you.
You will recall that after the flood, the family of Noah was the one responsible for replenishing the earth. They became fruitful and multiplied. Out of the loins of Shem, one of the sons of Noah, God came up with a plan to make for Himself a people (Gen11:25-31; 12:1-3). And out of Terah, God got Abraham, Isaack and Jacob, and out of Jacob, who he renamed Israel He got the 12 tribes of Judah, whom He settled in Canaan, the land He promised Abraham that He will give to his descendants. Why did God do this? He wanted to have a people through which the world would learn from and come to know Him. God revealed Himself to them by His name. He said, "I AM that I AM. I am Jehovah God, there is no other God besides Me. You shall have no other gods besides me." And He went on faithfully protecting His people wherever they were (Zechariah 10:8-10).
The verses we have just read; Zechariah 11:1-7; are a promise to what He will do to those persecuting His people. He will deal harshly with anyone manhandling His people. God entered into a covenant relationship with the Jews, His chosen people. He told them, "......I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Leviticus 26:12). And He has been doing just that, protecting them, fighting for them, winning for them, prospering them and blessing them (Zechariah 11:4-7a). He met all their needs wherever they were, (Zek 10:9) and even brought them back and made them a nation again, to what we know today as the land of Israel. But then even being His people, in His hand for them He promises His grace on one hand for their obedience, and His wrath on the other for their iniquity.
His people in these days are His church, the Church that His son, Jesus Christ bought for Him with His blood (Rev 5:9-10). We share the same covenant Jehovah had with Abraham through the faith we have in Christ the Lord (Gal 3:7,13-14). He is ready to deliver us, if we believe and receive His promise of deliverance and act on it. Faith is a fact, but faith is an act!
Just as God raised up the Jew and prospered His people above all other people, He is promising the same to the Church. This is the Church that has responded by laying their lives before Him as living sacrifices. Those who have joined together with God in a covenant relationship wherein they hear and act in accordance with His directions, through His Holy Spirit, yielding their members as instruments of righteousness unto God, as led by the Spirit. For as those that are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. God never intended the Church to know any limits - even financial limits. We were ordained to be kings and priests to reign on the earth.
Accordingly, He will fight for you, it does not matter whether the enemy is resilient as a cedar, or and tough and strong as the oak. It does not matter whether the enemy is as multitude as the forest. His fiery sword will lay them to waste, and protect and feed you, so that you know He is your God Almighty! Amen.
YESU NI MCHUNGAJI MWEMA - HUTIMIZA AHADI
ZEK 11:1-7
1 Ifungue milango yako, Ee Lebanoni, Ili moto uiteketeze mierezi yako.
2 Piga yowe, msunobari, maana mwerezi umeanguka, Kwa sababu miti iliyo mizuri imeharibika; Pigeni yowe, enyi mialoni ya Bashani, Kwa maana msitu wenye nguvu umeangamia.
3 Sauti ya wachungaji, ya uchungu mwingi! Kwa maana utukufu wao umeharibika; Sauti ya ngurumo ya wana-simba! Kwa maana kiburi cha Yordani kimeharibika.
4 Bwana, Mungu wangu, alisema hivi, Lilishe kundi la machinjo,
5 ambalo wenye kundi hilo huwachinja, kisha hujiona kuwa hawana hatia; na hao wawauzao husema, Na ahimidiwe Bwana, kwa maana mimi ni tajiri; na wachungaji wao wenyewe hawawahurumii.
6 Maana mimi sitawahurumia tena wenyeji wa nchi hii, asema Bwana; bali, tazama, nitawatia, kila mmoja wao, mikononi mwa mwenzake, na mikononi mwa mfalme; nao wataipiga hiyo nchi, wala mimi sitawaokoa mikononi mwao.
7 Basi nikalilisha kundi la machinjo, kweli kondoo waliokuwa wanyonge kabisa.
Mpendwa, ujumbe uliousoma ni ujumbe wa kutia moyo sana. Kwamba Mungu hajakuacha wala hatakuacha. Bado atakupigania na kukushindia. Si kitu kwamba unapitia machungu na fadhaa nyingi, atakuja kukushindia na kukutoa huko.
Kama ni msomaji wa Biblia, utakumbuka kuwa baada ya gharika, Nuhu na ukoo wake walipewa jukumu la kuzaa na kuijaza nchi. Waliambiwa, "Nanyi zaeni, mkaongezeke; zaeni sana katika nchi mkaongezeke ndani yake." Nao walizaa sana na kuongezeka. Na toka kiunoni mwa Shemu, mmoja wa watoto wa Nuhu, Mungu akaja na mpango mkakati wa kujifanyia taifa lake mwenyewe (Mwa 11:25-31; 12:1-3). Na toka kwa Tera, akajipatia Ibrahim, Isaka na Yakobo, ambayo baadaye alimwita Israel na kutoka kwake, akajipatia makabila 12 ya Wayahudi, ambayo akawaketisha Kanaani, nchi aliyomwahidi Ibrahim kuwa angewapa uzao wake.
Kwa nini Mungu aliyafanya haya?
Mungu aliyafanya haya yote ili ajipatie taifa ambalo ulimwengu wote kupitia taifa hilo watajifunza kwao na kumjua. Alijitambulisha kwao kwa jina lake, alisema; "Mimi Niko ambaye Niko. Hakuna Mungu mwingine ila mimi, na hamtakuwa na miungu mingine ila Mimi" Na kwa uaminifu aliwatunza watu wake popote walipokuwa, wala hakuwaacha haya walipokuwa nchi za mbali (Zek 10:8-10).
Katika Zek 11:1-7, Mungu anatoa ahadi ya kuwashughulikia wawatesao watu wake. Hatakuwa na huruma nao, atawaharibu.
Mungu aliingia katika mahusiano ya kiagano na Wana wa Israel, taifa alilojichagulia mwenyewe. Alisema; "Nami nitakwenda kati yenu, nami nitakuwa Mungu wenu,nanyi mtakuwa watu wangu". Na kwa uaminifu mkubwa amekuwa akiwafanyia hayo bila kukoma, japo ni watu wenye shingo ngumu. Amekuwa akiwalinda, akiwatunza, akiwapigania, akiwaneemesha na kuwabarikia (Zek 11:4-7a), akiwapa kila wanachohitaji (Zek10:9), hata kuwarejesha tena katika nchi yao, toka pembe nne za dunia walikotawanywa, nchi ambayo sasa tunaiita, Israel.
Ila katika uaminifu ule ule kwa Neno lake, japo ni watu wake aliwaongoza kwa fimbo mbili, mkononi mwake, Neema kwa wanaotenda mema na Kifungo kwa watenda mabaya.
Watu wake Mungu wakati huu ni Kanisa lake, Kanisa ambalo mwanawe Yesu Kristo alimnunulia kwa damu yake mwenyewe pale msalabani (Ufu 5:9-10). Sisi basi katika hilo tunarithi ahadi zitokazo na agano ambalo Mungu aliingia na Ibrahim, na tunaingizwa humo kwa Imani tuliyonayo kwa Yesu Kristo.(Gal 3:7,13-14).
Yeye Mungu wakati wote yuko tayari kutuokoa kwa kutuingiza katika ufalme wake, pale tunapomwamini na kupokea ahadi ya ukombozi, na kuiishi sawasawa na anavyotaka. Kwani Imani ni hakika, lakini ili iwe inaishi lazima ufanye tendo la imani la kupokea.
Kama vile alivyomwinua Israel, na kumneemesha na kumtajirisha zaidi ya mataifa mengi ndivyo anavyoliahidi kanisa kulitendea. Lakini kanisa hili ni lile ambalo limejitoa lenyewe kwa Mungu kama dhabihu iliyo hai, na viungo vyao kuwa silaha za haki, wakiyafisha matendo ya mwili kwa Roho, kwa kuwa wote wanaoongozwa na Roho wa Mungu, hao ndio wana wa Mungu.
Katika mpango wake Mungu hakupanga kanisa lake likwame kwa chochote kila - hata katika masuala ya fedha, kitu kinachotusumbua sana hata kuingia katika hatari ya kuikosa mbingu.
Tumefanywa ufalme na makuhani wa Mungu wetu, na kumiliki juu ya nchi. Mungu anataka hilo litimie kwa kuwa ana uwezo wa kulitimiza. Na Kama kuna ugumu wa kulizuia hilo, atatupigania bila kujali adui ni imara kama mwerezi au ana nguvu kama mualoni. Hajali kama adui amefunga kama msitu, atatupitisha kwa upanga wake wa moto ulao, ila tu, tuwe watu wake. Atatulinda na kutulisha ili tujue kuwa Yeye ni Bwana Mungu wetu. Amen
