"Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.
Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon."
Zechariah 2:6-7
These verses are talking about the last days and the gathering to Jerusalem and some of the lost ten tribes coming out of the north. There are lots of interesting things here, but what strikes me today is the command to deliver ourselves. As is typical in much of the scriptures, here Zion is symbolic of the good and ideal, and Babylon symbolic of the worldly and evil. And God tells Zion to deliver herself... in a later verse he continues and says that he will come and dwell with the daughter of Zion. Overall, it reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13)... God doesn't want to pull the tares (bad) out of the field because he would harm the wheat (good) in the process. And this is interesting in that context, also similar to 2 Corinthians 6:17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." We have to learn to separate ourselves from the evil.
Don't get me wrong... I don't think that this means we stop talking to anyone who isn't an angel, or of our particular religion, or stop our children from playing with them. We are supposed to be out there as examples, and friends, and good influences. I don't really think it is mostly about people, although I am sure in some cases we do need to choose better friends if we are influenced to do bad things and make poor decisions when we are around them. I think it is mostly about removing ourselves from idols in our own lives... whatever gets between us and God. Are we influencing our surroundings to be better, or are they influencing us to be worse? Part of delivering ourselves might just be changing the direction of that influence if it is going in the wrong direction... choosing to stand up for God, rather than letting ourselves be pulled away from him. It isn't so much about our surroundings as about our foundation. The storms will come no matter what--the question is whether we will be destroyed in them or not. And if our foundation is in Christ, then we will be delivered, even in the midst of tare-filled Babylon. :)
Today, even if it isn't a physical separation at all, let's gather with the believers and flee from idols. Let's make sure that we are influencing others for good and not allowing ourselves to be influenced for evil. Let's strengthen our foundations, and with God's help, deliver ourselves.
Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon."
Zechariah 2:6-7
These verses are talking about the last days and the gathering to Jerusalem and some of the lost ten tribes coming out of the north. There are lots of interesting things here, but what strikes me today is the command to deliver ourselves. As is typical in much of the scriptures, here Zion is symbolic of the good and ideal, and Babylon symbolic of the worldly and evil. And God tells Zion to deliver herself... in a later verse he continues and says that he will come and dwell with the daughter of Zion. Overall, it reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13)... God doesn't want to pull the tares (bad) out of the field because he would harm the wheat (good) in the process. And this is interesting in that context, also similar to 2 Corinthians 6:17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." We have to learn to separate ourselves from the evil.
Don't get me wrong... I don't think that this means we stop talking to anyone who isn't an angel, or of our particular religion, or stop our children from playing with them. We are supposed to be out there as examples, and friends, and good influences. I don't really think it is mostly about people, although I am sure in some cases we do need to choose better friends if we are influenced to do bad things and make poor decisions when we are around them. I think it is mostly about removing ourselves from idols in our own lives... whatever gets between us and God. Are we influencing our surroundings to be better, or are they influencing us to be worse? Part of delivering ourselves might just be changing the direction of that influence if it is going in the wrong direction... choosing to stand up for God, rather than letting ourselves be pulled away from him. It isn't so much about our surroundings as about our foundation. The storms will come no matter what--the question is whether we will be destroyed in them or not. And if our foundation is in Christ, then we will be delivered, even in the midst of tare-filled Babylon. :)
Today, even if it isn't a physical separation at all, let's gather with the believers and flee from idols. Let's make sure that we are influencing others for good and not allowing ourselves to be influenced for evil. Let's strengthen our foundations, and with God's help, deliver ourselves.
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