Oct 1, 2022
2CHRONICLES 26-27:
King
Joash didn’t end so well, did he?! He ordered the murder of
Jehoiadah’s son Zechariah. Time and time again Judah’s kings needed
to learn not to be proud, and that certainly happened to Joash’s
son Amaziah, who was assassinated like his father.
Jesus mentioned a Zechariah in Matthew 23 who was “murdered between the temple and the altar.” I previously was mistaken in saying in the intro to 2Chronicles 26 that Joash murdered the son of Jehoida. The Zechariah that Joash murdered was the son of Jehoida, but the one Jesus mentioned is Zechariah “the son of Berekiah, the grandson of Iddo,” who was the prophet who wrote the book of Zechariah. (Zech. 1:1) So evidently two men named Zechariah were killed in the temple about 300 years apart. Incidentally, the name Zechariah means ‘Yahweh has remembered’.
ECCLESIASTES 3:
Chapter 2 ended with a significant conclusion
or two:
Ecc. 2:24 NLT So I decided
there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find
satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from
the hand of God.
25
For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from
him?
26 God gives wisdom,
knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes
wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please
him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
MATTHEW 16:24—17:
Yesterday we heard the words that remind me of
Jim Elliot’s words. He was one of five martyrs who was killed when
they were trying to make initial contact with the Waodani tribe.
Jim Elliot wrote in one of his notebooks, “He is no fool who gives
what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” We’ll start
by re-reading those words of Jesus at the end of chapter 16, so
that we get a good transition to chapter 17.
NLT Translation
notes:
16:27 NLT
For [I,] the Son of Man will come with [my//his] angels in the
glory of [my//his] Father and will judge all people according to
their deeds.//GNT For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory
of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one
according to his deeds.]
28 I assure you that there are some here who will not die until
they have seen [me, the victorious Son of Man, coming to rule as
king.//the Son of Man come as King.]”
Mat. 17:20 “[You don’t believe fully in me.//You don’t have enough
faith,]” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had
[belief/faith] even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to
this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move.
Nothing would be impossible.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.