NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No.15
CREDO
` The Feasts of Man '
One great danger of a Newswatch service is that we will be drawn into a doom-laden
despair, or if we are very self-righteous we could become card carrying, fully paid up
members of the `woes and lamentations brigade'. It is therefore essential that all our news
intake is sieved through Scripture so that we will hear the good news of what God intends
for all His beloved people. In the midst of the doom-laden atmosphere that has swept across
the western democracies recently, and across the whole gambit of the people that make up
their national life, the redeemed of the Lord need to hear the words of God spoken through
one of the Minor Prophets . . and rejoice!
The Book of Zephaniah records the words of God spoken through His appointed prophet
immediately preceeding the Babylonian captivity, and, therefore, they speak into a situation
not unlike our contemporary times. Dealing first with the people of God, he says: (Zephaniah 1:4)
"I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
and against all who live in Jerusalem. "
Zephaniah then moves on to speak of God's judgement against the surrounding nations -
against Philistia, Moab, Amon, Cush and Assyria. Woes and lamentations indeed! But in
the midst of those terrible times that are spoken of, which would have de-stabilised the whole
of the known world at that time, the prophet speaks of a hope that will be found even in the
midst of catastrophy: (Zephaniah 3:17)
"The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love;
He will rejoice over you with singing. "
In these days, when we, too, face disturbing times which will increasingly overwhelm our
known world, we need to remember those words of hope. He is with us in the midst of
trouble and He is mighty to save - to deliver all His people at His appointed time. So with
these thoughts of a sure and certain hope of deliverance we move on to another Minor
Prophet, and hear those same words of assurance spoken through the words of Zechariah.
It is a message that we need constantly to hear as the days darken and the shadows grow
longer - as we, too, are tested through a probation period during which our characters could
well be tested to breaking point. But:
"The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
He is mighty to save. "
By the time of Zechariah the seventy long years of captivity for God's people had come to
an end, and we know that Zechariah returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and the remnant
of God's people. His prophetic ministry to God's people probably lasted no longer than a
total of two years, spoken intermittently over a period of seven years. (So often in Scripture
we find people raised up by God to speak for such a short time words which have a far-
reaching, eternal effect something perhaps we all need to heed.) In these days of increasing
distress we need to look to the LORD in our midst, who is mighty to save. It is in man's
nature to want to become big, to measure success by the size of our enterprise, but this is
not always so in the purpose of God! In the midst of the efforts of this `remnant brigade',
with their zealous effort to rebuild Solomon's magnificent Temple, the Word of God came,
words of eternal hope and encouragement, spoken over such a short period but which echo
down the corridors of time to where we are today, and seen in the prophetic name of
Zechariah (God remembers). Now we need to look at one even smaller verse for our
encouragement in the midst of increasingly distressing times in Church and national life:
(Zechariah 8:18)
"Again the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, `This is what the LORD of
Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months shall become joy
and gladness and cheerful feasts for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace'. "
Drawing upon the religious traditions of the people Zechariah reminds them of where those
traditions have led them. Then he exhorts them to return in trust to the LORD, who alone
has the desire and will to outwork all that He has promised. The first thing we need to
notice is that all their main four Feasts are remembered in their traditions by Babylonian
names - Tammuz; Ab; Tisri; and Teboth! These are all post-exile names, and even
though the remnant had returned to Jerusalem, under the leading of God, their minds, still
entrapped by religious traditions, had a powerful grip upon their emotions. The fast of the
fourth month was known as Tammuz, which was the name of an ancient Akkadian god
remembered by the Babylonians in the naming of their fourth month. The Jews held it as
a fast, remembering an occasion recorded in Jeremiah 52 when the walls of the city of
Jerusalem were broken down by the invading Babylonian armies: (Jeremiah 52:6-7)
"On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that
there was no food for the people to eat. Then the city wall was broken through and
the whole army fled . . . . "
Their memories, enshrined in religious traditions not ordered by God, constantly brought
them into despair as they remembered the destruction of the Temple and the city of
Jerusalem, even though they had returned to Jerusalem through the power of God! The fifth
fast, in the month of Ab, commemorated yet another dreadful occasion in the earlier
destruction of Jerusalem - again recorded by Jeremiah in chapter 52: (v12-13)
"On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon . . . . Nebuzaradan . . . . set fire to the Temple of the LORD, the king's
palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. "
The religious fasts reminded them of the consequences of their apostacy - a continuous,
unrelenting destruction of their social, religious life as a nation under God - deepening
famine; diseases flourishing; the walls of the city broken down; their religious centre
destroyed by fire; the royal palace and the houses of the princes and the people put to the
flames - their world was in ruins, and so they remembered through their fasts the results
of the nation's apostacy. In the seventh month, Ishmael, who was of royal blood and had
been one of the king's officers, came with ten men `and struck down Gedaliah . . . with
the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the land'
(Jeremiah 41:1-3). Did they perhaps notice that this particular fast, set in the seventh month,
corresponded with the Levitical month which starts with the Feast of Trumpets - a call to
repentance which culminates in the glorious last Feast of the LORD, the Feast of Tabernacles
- or were their eyes and minds set upon their humiliation, even though they were back in
the Land of Promise? Such is the problem with all our traditions and our efforts to please
God!
Finally we come to the tenth fast, in the month of Teboth. Set in the calendar month of
January its name has the meaning of `sinking' . . bogged down in the mud resulting from
the winter rains. The fast itself commemorates an event recorded in Ezekiel 24: (v1-2)
"In the ninth year in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the Word of the
LORD came to me: `Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of
Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. "
Four fasts (the number speaks of `testing') all commemorating terrible events in the history
of the people of God! And finally, in the last fast, the tenth day of the tenth month
(speaking of the fulness of God's testing) the LORD, speaking through Ezekiel, says:
`Record this date, this very date', a double reminder of the consequence of their apostacy,
which was destruction leading on to captivity. And yet we have seen that within these four
fasts the third one was within the religious calendar of the Levitical Feasts - a call to
repentance, leading through the Awesome Days to the Day of Atonement and on to the
glorious Feast of Tabernacles, God tabernacling with His people! Indeed:
"The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
He is mighty to save. "
And so, through the words given to the prophet Zechariah, to a people who had been
brought back into the Land, back to begin the rebuilding of the Temple ready for others
who would come, they were told to leave behind the four fasts of men for the LORD would
turn them into Feasts . . . Feasts of joy and gladness, cheerful Feasts. `Therefore, love
peace and truth'.
If our trust is in God, who reveals Himself through His Word, we would suggest that this
is a timely warning to all of us in the times in which we find ourselves. The Temple, built
by God in this Age of Grace, may not be all that we desire! Zealous efforts to restore what
only God can restore could cause many to stumble and could lead into religious `fasts',
remembering all our past and re-occurring mistakes. We could look at the growing apostacy
with self-righteous eyes . . . we could look constantly at the gloom and despondency which
is so beloved of the media in order to expand its sales. But the words spoken through
Zechariah, in a small verse set in the midst of the whole Word of God, show us where our
hearts and minds should be - trusting our God who has turned our fasts into feasts through
our acceptance of our Lord Jesus! Surely that must be the message of hope that we have
been entrusted with. Through the gloom and despair of secular `newswatches', our hearts
and minds must be set on the `Newswatch' of God, who is with us, mighty to save!
We finish with that joyful verse spoken through Zephaniah: (Zephaniah 3:14-15)
"Sing aloud, O Daughter of Zion;
Shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away your judgement,
He has turned back your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
Never again will you fear any harm. "
April 30th 2001
* * * * * * * *
For comment or for future Newswatch letters our e-mail address is:info@northernstyletrust.com
Our telephone No. is:(01493) 441891
Return