Chapters 7 to 8 stand between the night visions in chapters 1 to 6, and the oracles in chapters 9 to 14. What is needed as the bridge between the grim past and the glorious future? What marks them as the People of God?
A. ENCOUNTER GOD WITH AUTHENTIC DEVOTION (chp. 7)
“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?’” (7:5)
He is not a religious routine to be maintained but a God to be obeyed and worshipped with authentic devotion that reorientates all of life.
B. ENCOUNTER GOD’S PASSIONATE DEVOTION (chp. 8)
“Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘I am exceedingly zealous for Zion, I am burning with jealousy for her.’” (8:2)
He is not against them but on fire over their well-being, passionately zealous for them, and fiercely devoted to them.
Conclusion
Encounter your God and so bear the marks of the true People of God.
Sunday Worship Songs at cefc.ch/sws
Next Week’s Topic: Zechariah 9
Next Week’s Speaker(s): Rev Dr Chua Chung Kai (BPJ), Rev Ivan Ho (WDL) & Rev Matthew Lo (East)
