24 November 2010
Psalm 119.145-176; Zech 12.1-10; Eph 1.1-14; Luke 19.1-10

Yesterday we read of the breaking of the covenant and the rejection of Israel, but the covenant of God is an everlasting covenant and here we see that there will come a time when God restores His people. In that day the nation will be a judgment against the other nations and will be a staggering pot, a heavy stone, a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. The salvation of the Lord will begin with Judah and will stretch from there to all the nation. It will be a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem look on the one they have pierced (Jesus on the cross) and will weep bitterly over Him, they will know what they have done and will come to Him. This eschatological vision was partially fulfilled on Pentecost but awaits its greater fulfillment in the end.

As Jesus continues to journey to Jerusalem and His date with destiny, He makes time for an unlikely person. Out of the crowd of onlookers Jesus chooses the man in the tree, the man we know from song as the wee little man. He may have been short in stature but he would have loomed large in his professional role. He would have been hated by all but particularly by his fellow Jews as one who was collaborating with the enemy in the exaction of the Roman taxation. He would have essentially been the contractor for the area who bid the job and then made his money by overcharging the tax and pocketing what he collected above the bid. They resented the tax as it represented foreign domination and they further resented any Jew who participated in the system. Jesus, however, saw something in Zaccheus that was different and chose him out of the crowd for honor. We see what Jesus saw, the man was prepared to repent and receive salvation.

This passage from Ephesians is one of the most beautiful in the Bible. It compares to the Song of Solomon in many ways, Paul recounting the fair beauty of the Lord. Paul piles up superlatives and lavish praise on the Lord and the Lord’s anointed in a way that should cause us to be embarrassed by our own poverty of praise in prayer. As I have said many times, our theology (knowledge about God) should lead us only one place doxology (praise). Our knowledge should never puff us up with pride, it should cause us to rapturously declare the wonder of God. This is a man who knows what salvation looks like and feels like and never loses his appreciation for what was done for him, no matter what he might do in response. We need never lose that exultation of the hour I first believed in order to know how amazing is grace.

I long for your salvation, O LORD,
and your law is my delight.
Let my soul live and praise you,
and let your rules help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.