Title: The One Who Refreshes God
Contents
Zechariah (18) A person who refreshes God (Zechariah 6:1-8)
< 3 Definitions of God >
The last eighth vision of Zechariah in the text describes what kind of God God is. What kind of God is God? First, God enters the ‘invincible God’. The four chariots in the text symbolize angels, and imagine the majesty of a red horse, a black horse, a white horse, and a tall and strong horse that pulled them (verses 1-3). Who will oppose the chariot of God? There is nothing in this world that can stand against God. Why is a person strong when he is weak? Because that's when you completely depend on God. If you completely depend on God, your soul becomes an invincible soul.
Second, God is the ‘God of judgment’. In the text, the black and white horses went to the northern land, the old horses went to the land of their husbands, and the strong horses roamed the earth according to God’s command (verses 6-7). This vision symbolizes that there is no escape from God's judgment. However, since the universality of judgment means the universality of grace, there is no place in this world that is not covered by God's protection.
Third, God is the ‘God of hope’. In the text, the red horse symbolizes war, the black horse symbolizes death, the white horse symbolizes judgment, and the speckled and healthy horse symbolizes disease and famine. God judges by using such terrible tools. As such, God's judgment is terrifying, but for sincere believers, the day of judgment is not a day to fear, but rather a day of hope. On that day of judgment, God's heart will be refreshed (verse 8), and at the same time, the hearts of the saints will also be refreshed.
< A person who refreshes God >
How can we cool the heart of God? Let's think about two things.
1. Love each other
Just as a parent's heart is happy when brothers and sisters are friendly, God's heart is refreshed when they love each other. 'Self-pride' makes God's heart stuffy, and 'love of neighbor' cools God's heart. The opposite of love is pride. What a believer must strive to seek is love, and what a saint must strive to avoid is pride.
Love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 10:13). Even if you do not know theology, doctrine, and the Word well, if you keep the commandment of love well, you will know the law better than anyone else. Also, love is the first requirement and sign of discipleship that the Lord spoke of (John 13:35). One early document described the fervent love of the early church like this. “The members of the Early Church loved each other so much that they were always ready to lay down their lives for each other.” When there is such love, God's heart is refreshed.
2. Worship sincerely
What is worship? ‘Brilliant praise and worship’ is not the reality of true worship. Gorgeous religious practices sometimes obscure the spiritual eyes, making it impossible to see God. The reality of true worship is to obey God's will. If human greed intervenes in worship, the purity of worship decreases. Worship is not a means to move God's heart and obtain blessings, but to deny oneself before God and submit to one's will and thoughts.
Worship is not to release one's feelings and reveal one's wishes, but to make them fully aware that they are not the center of the world. When we focus on ourselves, God's heart becomes stuffy, and when we focus on God, God's heart becomes refreshing. If you instrumentalize God, you will be judged rather than blessed. Don't instrumentalize God, but make yourself an instrument of God to serve God's will in your life.
Conservative Christianity's greatest weakness is that it excludes other religions too much. Of course, evangelism is an important task, but the self-righteous and exclusive attitude that we will not love unless we are evangelized is never the heart of the Lord. Self-righteousness and solitude are different things. If necessary, we must transcend religious barriers and share love. Jesus said, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). People are ‘objects of love’ before ‘objects of evangelism’.
‘Love, forgiveness, and service’ in daily life refreshes God’s heart more than ‘glamorous praise and worship’ offered at church. When we realize that fact, the Korean church will emerge from its current stagnation and take a new position as the hope of this society. God is still looking for true worshipers who walk the way of Jesus. Refresh God's heart by walking on the path of a true worshiper that sublimates 'worship at church' into 'worship with life'.