Hosea 13:14, Zechariah 2:8

Watch on YouTube

Our reading today is from Hosea the prophet, chapter 13, verse 14 And God says,

O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave, I will be your destruction!
Pity is hidden from My eyes.” (Hosea 13:14)

There are times when snakes will climb up into tall trees and go way up into the nest of, let’s say, an eagle or some other bird, and they might start eating the eggs or the little chicks that are in that nest. And those tiny birds are just completely powerless from such a deadly predator. And that’s really kind of symbolic of how we are that when it comes to death by ourselves, we are completely powerless to do anything about death. We can’t hold it off. We can’t keep it away from us. In fact, it frightens us to such an extent that we don’t even like to look at it or think about it. We even pay people a lot of money to take care of it for us when it happens to one of our loved ones.

And that’s why the Bible often speaks about death in Scripture as an enemy of ours. It describes it as a prison. It describes it with words like being a sting. And Martin Luther said about it, even the nature, he says, even the pig squeals at the slaughter. So there’s something inside of all of us that just recoils at the concept and the idea of death. Because we’ve been made to be alive, our bodies want to live.

There’s also a type of eagle that’s called a brown snake eagle, a brown snake eagle, and it actually likes to eat snakes as a source for food. And if a poisonous snake were to go up into the nest of this eagle and attack one of the small eagles in the nest, this mother eagle, the brown snake eagle will not only take and kill the snake, but consume it and swallow it whole. A lot of ancient writers in the church used to use that type of a bird to depict what Jesus has done. He’s gone into death itself, and he’s taken death on, going into the grave, on Good Friday we know he was laid in the grave, cold, dead, in order to go in and destroy it. By allowing himself to be taken into death he has now destroyed death and consumed it. And he’s done all of this on your behalf and my behalf. He takes absolutely no pity on death and the devil. That’s why he says here. Pity is hidden from my eyes.

But thank God he has taken pity on you and me. Because through faith in him we have this wonderful power now over death because of what our Savior has done. He wants you to be able to live forever without fear of death in your future.

Note something here that death and the grave are not merely our enemies or the enemies of Christ’s church, but they’re also the enemies of Christ Himself. And he is the Lord of all life. And he’s more powerful than anything like a fallen angel the devil could ever do. And so to those who belong to Christ, the prophet Zechariah tells us from God. Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. (Zechariah 2:8) Isn’t that a great line? Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye, your gracious God says. Amen.

[This devotion is part of our series on The Apostles’ Creed, you can find all the videos in there series on our Apostles’ Creed Page. The devotions will be added as they are posted.]

Micah 5:2, Zechariah 9:9, Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12-13, Psalm 22, Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14

Watch on YouTube

I believe Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. What are the odds of this seemingly simple Bible prophecy coming true? Well, to talk about the odds, I imagine most of you are probably familiar with the lottery. Do you know what your odds are of winning the lottery? It’s 1 in 300,000,000. That number is expressed as three times ten to the eighth power. Eight is the number of zeroes that comes after the three.

If you want to visualize this number three times ten to the eighth power. Picture a football stadium. And if you were to fill that football stadium with golf balls, you would have about 300 million golf balls. So imagine marking one golf ball, dropping it in there, stirring them all up, and three times ten to the eighth power would be your odds of picking exactly that golf ball out of that stadium.

A mathematician by the name of Peter Stoner wanted to know the odds of biblical prophecy coming true. And so he and a team of mathematicians, together with some anthropologists based on population numbers from what we know about ancient civilization, wanted to calculate the odds of just eight biblical prophecies coming true. So they picked some things, like being born in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), riding into Jerusalem on a colt (Zechariah 9:9), being betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9) for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13), and being crucified (Psalm 22). They came up with one times ten to the 17th power, were the odds of those eight biblical prophecies coming true.

Let’s visualize that number one times ten to the 17th power. So we actually have to leave the football stadium behind to visualize this number. And we have to go to the state of Texas, the entire state of Texas, 268,000mi². We’re going to cover the state of Texas with golf balls 37ft deep. Take one golf ball, put a mark on it, drop it in and mix them all up, and one time ten to the 17th power your odds of picking that golf ball up. That’s just eight biblical prophecies.

So Peter Stoner and his team wanted to know, what does 16 biblical prophecies look like? The number is one times ten to the 45th power. To visualize this number, we have to leave the planet Earth behind. Go to the center of our solar system and start building a planet with golf balls. If you were to have enough golf balls to have 45 zeros in the number, you would have a planet with a radius that is 2.7 billion miles long in every direction. Your planet of golf balls would have swallowed up the sun, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and have gone just past the orbit of the planet Neptune. Mark one golf ball, drop it in, mix it up. And one times ten to the 45th power is your odds of drawing exactly that golf ball out.

What if we triple it? What if it’s just 48 biblical prophecies coming true. What are the odds of that? Well, the odds are one times ten to the 157th power. That is a number so big that if you were to use golf balls, you would fill the known universe with golf balls and then some. There are over 400 prophecies directly connected to Jesus, and many of which were already fulfilled in his life on earth.

But of all the amazing prophecies that come together in the life of Jesus, the most profound is just one. In Genesis three, when God says that the seed of a woman would come and crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). In Isaiah, when he would promise that the Virgin will give birth to a child and will give him the name Emmanuel, which means God with us (Isaiah 7:14). Just what are the odds of the infinite God who fills the whole universe, coming down to be born of a virgin, getting nailed to a cross and by his foot being struck on the cross that he would crush the serpent’s head. What are the odds of that? Amen.

John 12:12-14, Zechariah 9:9

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Donkeys throughout the world bear a distinguishing mark on their backs. It’s a darker part of their fur that runs along their entire spinal cord and also across their shoulders. Some would say that it’s even looks to be the shape of a cross that’s on their back. In fact, it’s not just on their fur, but it’s claim that you can shave off their fur and you’ll find that that dark symbol is even on their skin itself. For this reason, many Christians have wondered if there is perhaps a connection between this symbol on donkeys back to the story of Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We hear a little bit of that story from John Chapter 12.

The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Taking palm branches, they went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. (John 12:12-14 EHV)

On Palm Sunday, we hear that Jesus entered into Jerusalem with these crowds surrounding him, shouting his praises, calling him king as he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. And you might wonder, why did he choose the donkey? Perhaps one of the reasons is that even back in King David and King Solomon’s time, it was common to have a royal mule or a royal donkey upon which the king would ride. And perhaps there’s a connection there for even Jesus.

Maybe even more so. It’s important for us to consider the words of Zachariah in his ninth chapter as he speaks about this event hundreds of years before it took place.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 EHV)

Zachariah tells us some key details about this king. That he comes to bring salvation. But that he is also humble, riding on the back of a donkey. Perhaps Jesus chose a donkey to show his own humility in the way in which he would truly be those people’s king. No, he didn’t ride in to Jerusalem on a magnificent steed, on a big, strong horse, but a lowly donkey, perhaps to show the way in which it would go to the cross for them. Then it wasn’t through great power and might that he would overthrow the Roman government to establish his new rule. But it’s through his own suffering and death on a cross that he’d win for them eternal salvation. That he buy these people back for himself, redeemed them from all of their sins to guarantee them everlasting life.

That symbol on a donkey’s back certainly reminds us of Christ as it is in the shape of a cross. Let’s not overlook though the significance of the cross itself as a reminder to us that Jesus came into Jerusalem not simply to ride into Jerusalem in great triumph and power, but in loneliness and humility. As he went to the cross for you and for me to make full satisfaction for our sins, make us his very own dear children. Amen.

Zechariah 13:9

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

This time a year my family taps maple trees to collect the sap. Just last weekend I already cooked down about 30 gallons of sap. You may not realize, but it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. You’ve got to cook it down, we put it over a fire and and boil off those 39 gallons. Until you get that pure gold: maple syrup.

That idea of concentrating something or refining something is an illustration that God uses in application to us. In Zechariah chapter 13. God says

I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “This is my people.” And they will say, “The Lord is my God.” (Zechariah 13:9)

God here speaking of his people, says that he is going to refine them. Put them through a fire. That doesn’t sound very pleasant. That God would refine us with fire. God uses hardships and difficulties to carry out that work in our lives. So we like that sap sitting over the fire simmering away. The water is just boiling off.

God wants to refine you. There’s maybe some imperfections, some impurities, that he needs to cook off. He does it because he loves you. Notice what our verse says, it says this is my people. God has laid claim to you and said You are mine. And he purchased you with the blood of Jesus his Son. So there can be no question that God loves you. And because he loves you he wants to refine you. So when those difficulties come you can be assured that God is still loving you.

They are unpleasant. They hurt. The fires hot. But if you can see in your mind, if you can believe in your heart that God is acting in love for you, you will be able to persevere. You will be able to push on until the trial is over. And God has made you who he wants you to be. Then at the end you may cry out like the people: the Lord is my God.

May the love of God comfort you in the midst of your struggles and assure you that he will work all things for your good until you’re finally with him in heaven. To him be the glory now and forever. Amen.

Watch on YouTube

It has been said of Jesus that his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is beyond odds, beyond chance. A college professor once decided to sit down and figure out what are the odds of someone fulfilling just 8 prophecies in their life. He said that the estimated odds for that were 1 in 10^28. He gave this illustration.

That an example of that would be to imagine to take the entire state of Texas and fill it two feet deep with silver dollars. Take one of those silver dollars and mark a big black X on it and then toss it out into the many miles of coins, blindfold someone and then send them out into all those coins and tell them to pick up the one with the X on the very first try.

That is an illustration of the odds of one person fulfilling just 8 prophecies spoken about them in their lifetime. Jesus fulfilled over three hundred prophecies.

It is beyond chance that Jesus is the Christ the Messiah that the Old Testament scriptures foretold. One of those prophecies is from Zechariah 9:9 that says this:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

We see Jesus fulfill all of this as he rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, on that donkey. As he is greeted by the shouts of the crowd Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We see very clearly that Jesus is the one whom the Lord has sent the very son of David who is foretold our Savior, our Messiah.

Thanks be to God that he has recorded for us all these prophecies that Jesus has fulfilled to assure us that he is our Savior. Amen.

During this Lenten season we’ve been talking about unexpected prophets of the passion. Individuals that speak the truth of God’s Way of salvation even though most of them were unaware. Today we consider Pilate.

Pilate despised the Jews for what they made him do. He knew Jesus was innocent, he knew he shouldn’t be executed, but they forced his hand.

And so, very much so out of spite for the Jews, Pilate has a sign made to hang above Jesus head while he’s hanging from the cross. Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. The Jewish leaders bristle at this. “Don’t write King of the Jews, but that he claimed to be King of the Jews.” However, Pilate responds to them “what I have written, I have written.”

So the sign stood for all to see above Jesus head as he’s dying on the cross “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.” Even though the Jews themselves did not believe it, Pilate certainly did not believe it, yet the truth stood, that this was the Messiah the one long foretold in the Jewish Scriptures, one that Zechariah had spoken of in his ninth chapter when he said

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

Just a few days prior Jesus had entered into Jerusalem with the crowds welcoming him with palm branches and with their songs of praise hailing him as their king. And now he still remained their king, very much so, carrying out his plan of salvation that had been foretold of the Messiah.

Yes we see it is true Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews, the Messiah long foretold, our Savior as well. Amen.

Watch on YouTube