Title The Three Blessings of the Soul
Contents
Zechariah (12) The three great blessings of the soul (Zechariah 3:9-10)
< Three great blessings of the soul >
After ‘the vision of Joshua the high priest’, which is the fourth of Zechariah’s eight visions, Jehovah God speaks difficult words to Joshua in verse 9 of the text. In those words, the ‘stone set before Joshua’ symbolizes the Messiah. There are many Bible verses that describe Christ as a stone or a rock. When we say that Christ is a ‘stone’, that ‘stone’ reminds us of the three blessings that the Lord will give us: ‘a solid foundation, a strong protection, and a strong promise’.
1. A solid foundation
When life is laid on the foundation of Christ, there will be ‘shaken’ but no ‘fall’. There was a French aviator and novelist named Saint-Exup ry. One day, his plane crashed in the snowy Andes Mountains. He barely survived and walked down the mountain for three days, but there was no sign of approval. It was so hard, cold and exhausting that I was about to die, but there was a big rock 10 meters ahead. he thought “Even if you die, if you die in the valley, you are dead! If I climb on that rock and die, my body will be found. So let the rest of the family get the insurance money!”
He climbed the rock with difficulty and sat down. Then my heart opened and my vision opened, and a mysterious courage arose. Then he changed his mind. “Let’s walk one more day!” In the end, I walked down one more day and lived. Who succeeds? The person who climbs on the rock of hurrah when it is difficult, imagines the future of blessing with ‘high vision and an open heart’ and says, “Let’s walk for one more day!” succeeds. If you take Christ, the rock of life, as the foundation of your strong life and go out praying every day, the stream of unhappiness will soon turn into a stream of happiness.
2. Reliable protection
The phrase “the stone has seven eyes” in verse 9 means that the Lord sees all circumstances. So, if you are standing right in front of God, rest assured. God sees all our circumstances and circumstances and is planning a new blessing. Of course, when faced with a difficult situation, God seems to have turned away from him at that time, but in reality, he did not turn away, but hid for a while to reveal God's desperate need. But even though we are hidden, God is still looking at us with the eyes of flame.
When my children were young, I used to play hide-and-seek behind a telephone pole or a car in order to teach the children the importance of ‘father’s hands’ to the children who occasionally stray from their father’s hands. Then the children leave their father's hand and then quickly turn around and look for him. At that time, even though it is hidden, it is not that we do not see it, but rather that we do not take our eyes off the child than other times, and then reappear to the children at an appropriate time so as not to cause extreme anxiety in the child's mind. Even though God seems to have hid for a while, God's protective gaze on us has never been withdrawn.
3. A strong promise
In the second half of verse 9, the phrase “to cut something on a stone” is reminiscent of the traces of the blood of the cross left on the body of Christ. In the trace of the blood of Christ, people invite each other under the vine and fig tree (verse 10). The expression “under the vine or fig tree” is a description of a state of grace and peace. In other words, it is a promise that if we go out relying on the cross of the Lord, all the barriers of our souls caused by sin will be broken down and the barriers of human relationships will also be broken down.
‘Love of God’ and ‘Love of neighbor’ move as one. The wall of human relationship implies the wall of relationship with God. In the end, if you want to restore human relationships, first look to the blood of the Lord, meditate on that blood that opened your relationship with God, and give thanks. As soon as the relationship with God prospers in this way, the relationship with humanity will also prosper. At that time, I want to invite the person who united me to a spiritual feast under the vine and fig tree. A being with such a heart is the happiest being even now, and a being with future blessings in store. Longing for such happiness and blessings.