September 30 - A City Without Walls

 Read today’s texts first: Zechariah 7-9; Luke 13

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

God’s people, both the Jews and the Church, were sent out to invite people from every nation into God’s family. 

The Jews never quite understood why they were God’s chosen people.  They were not selected because He favored Israel over all the other nations (God is no respecter of persons – Acts 10:34).  On the contrary, they were chosen to be God’s channel of blessing to all nations.  Abraham, the Father of the Jews, was to be the father of many nations (hence the name change from Abram to Abraham).  The Jews were to be kings and priests on earth to represent and model God’s ways for the world to observe and then adopt (Exodus 19:6).  Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute, and Ruth, a Moabite, were so welcomed into God’s family they became entwined in the lineage of the Messiah.  We know the end result of this Master plan is the vision of the great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

Zechariah reinforces that goal for the Jews rebuilding the holy city and their new identity.  In the vision of the man measuring Jerusalem, he heard the angel say, Jerusalem will be a city without walls (2:4).  It was always God’s intent to include all the nations in His holy city:

People from many nations, even powerful nations, will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to ask the Lord to bless them.  This is what the Lord Almighty says: In those days ten people from nations and languages around the world will clutch at the hem of one Jew’s robe. And they will say, “Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (8:22-23)

“Lord, You spoke this message of international inclusiveness to me back in 2002.  At that time I worked on a national curriculum to help churches embrace this idea and transition to become intentionally intercultural.  But as I read these passages again today I realized that was not a one-time assignment. Show me Lord how I can continue to promote the new Jerusalem as a city without walls.”