SILENCE OF THE CHURCH

Thus saith the Lord of hosts…
… I am returned unto Zion,
and will dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem; and Jerusalem
shall be called a city of truth,
and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts the holy mountain.
From Zechariah 8:1-8


The prophecy of Zechariah is very complex, yet very clear as the prophet dealt with the restored Jewish remnant which returned after seventy years of captivity. Jehovah God is reminding Israel of His never-changing purpose to bless them in the Kingdom. The book of Zechariah is prophetic, Messianic in vision, but God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, has this same message for the Church—His promise of blessing in the Kingdom to come.

You’re probably saying to me—but will it ever happen? And my answer to you is an emphatic “Yes!” Matthew 24:27 says, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

After Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead, His promise before He ascended to the Father was that he would “come again.” That promise has not changed. I know, things are getting progressively worse, and sometimes it looks hopeless for us. Life deals us some harsh blows and we wonder, where is God in all of this?

Zechariah had a vision, not only concerning Israel, but of the streets of Birmingham. Not only of Birmingham, but of the streets in every city, every nation on Planet Earth. He saw neighborhoods of hungry and homeless people, murders, and suicides. These are not just random occurrences. They happen every day. And we ask WHY? We wonder WHEN will it all end and WHEN will there be peace on this earth? WHEN will we stop looking into the face of our dead children? WHEN will we no longer have to bolt our doors at night and have a peaceful rest?

Times have become perilous, especially now that the church, in its apostate state, has chosen to be silent; the Word of God is snubbed and disregarded; the preacher and his calling are disrespected; and sometimes the message is diluted. Ronald Reagan once said, “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.” There is no better time to appropriate this theme. We have empowered evil by becoming afraid. Instead of getting a backbone, we have become complacent and uninterested.

We have made ourselves a participant in the apostasy (the falling away from Truth).

We have become SILENT.

But take heart, you who love and serve the Lord! This eighth chapter of Zechariah is full of promise. Read it all! You have to love the verse that says, men and women and boys and girls will be in the streets. God, in his Sovereignty, surely knew and Zechariah surely had a vision of what the streets of Birmingham would be like in the year 2014. But there is coming a day when boys and girls will play in the streets with no danger lurking from any dark alley. Old men and old women will not worry about having their wallets or handbags snatched. There will be no killing, no hungry children. We have that promise from the prophet Zechariah.

When Jesus said He would come again, He meant it. He knew what we would have to endure on this sinful, godless earth, and when He left this earth for heaven, He said “I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there ye shall be also.” But He also said, “I will not leave you comfortless.” He gave us the Holy Spirit that day at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit, who indwells us, who teaches us all things, and who will be with us until we are at last with Jesus. Imagine what it would have been like if Jesus had left us alone. But He didn’t.

Through eyes of faith, I see you; I see the pain on your face. This world’s system has dealt you a blow. This world’s system has dealt me a blow, and without the Lord Jesus Christ in my life, I shudder to think where I might be. There was a time in my life when I was looking up through the bottom. I thought the whole world had abandoned me, left me to go it alone. My expectations ran high, and the world let me down. People let me down. I had to come to myself like the prodigal son and know that my hope is not in this world system; my hope is not in this world’s things; my hope is not in the people in my life—

Songwriter, Edward Mote wrote, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on JESUS’ NAME!” Hallelujah. When I came to that conclusion, He made a new person out of me.

Psalm 40:2 says, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.”

It could not have been said better! Only He can do that.

John the Revelator foresaw the things in store for us, and on Patmos he wrote about it and encouraged us with it. It should be on our lips night and day—the things God has prepared for us. Revelation 21:1 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now, if we stopped there and went no further, we can know that we have something incredible waiting for us. But that’s not all. He goes on to tell us all the “new things” we will have:

New People (verses 3-8)
A New Capitol (the New Jerusalem verses 9-21)
A New Temple (verse 22)
New Light (the Lamb is the light! verse 23)

 There will be: no more deceptions, no more murders, no more rich getting richer at the expense of the poor, no more homelessness, no more bullying, no more suicides, no more days of desolation, poverty, ruin, no more hunger. And no more tears and heartache, which is the end result of all the above.

Listen to Revelation 7:17: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them …” That’s from God’s hand to your mouth! God will feed you! “and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters …” He’s going to quench your eternal thirst! “ … and shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

But all of this has a pre-requisite as far as your future is concerned. “Ye must be born again.” Have you been born again? I pray that you have.

Blessings,
Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Luke AME Church

Havana, AL
Author of The Anchor Holds, Victor’s Story
http://www.thatgracemayabound.blogspot.com/ ©2012
That Grace May Abound Ministries International ©2014