By Mary Vee
Zechariah 9-11
From Zechariah's Journal
My name is Zechariah. I am a prophet, which means God trusts me to give His message to His people.
The Almighty has given me this message to share with His people.
I'll share with you the portions that talk about the coming Messiah.
The Lord has promised a coming Messiah for a time. I am excited, but don't know that He will come in my lifetime or not. Although there are words from the Lord that tell of the coming Messiah, I'm not sure when.
The Almighty said, "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
"He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
"I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit....even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
"Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime. It is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone. The idols speak deceit, diviners see visions that lie. They tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. The people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
"From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every rule. Together they will be like mighty men trampling the muddy streets in battle. Because the Lord is with them, they will fight and overthrow.
"I will strengthen the house of Judah. I will restore them because I have compassion on them.
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sources: New International Version
Wasn't this amazing?? In this prophet's books in the Old Testament we see news of the coming Messiah.
1. What news about the coming Messiah did you find?
By Mary Vee
Ezekiel 37
From Ezekiel's Journal
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| Photo by Mary Vee |
My name is Ezekiel. I am a prophet, a person sent from God to give messages to the Israelites who were taken captive to Babylon.
I told the people about the dry bones I saw in a valley. God had given me the vision to help them understand they would one day be restored to their homeland and have a new life.
God then gave me a sign to show the people.
He asked me to take two sticks. On one stick, God told me to write the words Belonging to Judah and the Israelites with them. On the other stick I was to write Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel with them.
I found two sticks big enough to write the words.
Next, God asked me to put the sticks together so they become one in my hand.
I put the sticks together and showed the people.
They asked me, "What does this mean?"
I answered with the words God gave me. "God says that He will bring us together with all our brothers who have been scattered away from our home and bring us back to our land. We will become one nation. We will have one king over all of us and we will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.
"With God's help we will not worship idols any longer. He will save us from all our sins and will cleanse us. We will be His people, and He will be our God.
"We will have one king over us who will be like a shepherd. In our homeland, God will help us follow His laws. We will live in a land He gave to Jacob, the land where our fathers lived. We and our children and our children's children will live there forever.
"God will make a promise of peace with us, one that lasts forever. God says He will live with us. He will be our God and we will be His people. That is when all the nations will know that God made Israel holy--when they see His sanctuary is with us forever."
We understood that these words from God talked about the future. God already told us we would be in captivity for seventy years. After hearing these words from God today, we are excited to see our brothers come together to live as one nation.
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1. What did God ask Ezekiel to get?
2. What did God ask Ezekiel to write on them?
3. What did God ask Ezekiel to do next with them?
4. What was the special meaning for these objects?
