The King of Zion

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

"And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth."

"As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water."   Zechariah 9:9-11

The Minor Prophets are anything but minor.  I like what one commentator called them.  In an effort not to use the misleading title of "minor," he called the collection of shorter prophetic writings "The Twelve."

Zechariah foretold the first coming of Jesus the Messiah which came to pass near 30 AD when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem just before the crucifixion.  The first time, Jesus appeared as the suffering Savior, but the next time that He returns, it will be as the conquering King.

Verse ten above has the second coming of Christ in view.  When Jesus returns, He will subjugate the armies of earth that will have gathered themselves together against Jerusalem and against Himself.

The Bible tells us that He will do this by the Word of His power.  "...He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." (Isaiah 11:4)  War will cease; weapons of war will become rare commodities and relics of the past.  Violence, deception, cruelty, bloodshed, rebellion and sins of all kinds will no longer be the norm.  Instead, truth will conquer; and, as Zechariah tells us here in these passages, the battle bow, chariot, and war horse will be cut off.

From the wadi of Egypt, to the great Euphrates River and beyond, the Kingdom of the Messiah will stretch forth and touch every corner of the globe.  The righteousness of God will prevail; evil men will be put down; rejection of the truth will be quickly punished, and all flesh will come to worship Christ in the Millennial Temple at the renewed Jerusalem.

How is this possible?  The last verse gives the clue.  Through the blood of the covenant, God will set Israel, and all who come to Christ, free.  When Israel turns to Jesus at the end of the Great Tribulation, her citizens shall be set free from the pit of damnation.  As of now, most of the Jewish population is in spiritual darkness because they deny their Messiah, but this will change when God humbles the nation by means of the end-time events.

Anyone who is willing to come to Christ and receive Him as his or her Savior can become a citizen of heaven.  The blood of the covenant is not just for Israel.  The blood of Christ will cleanse any sinner, Jew or Gentile, who bows the knee in faith to the superiority of God's Son.

Memorial Day is a time to remember those who died in war to defend freedom, and Zechariah reminds of a future day in which there will be no war.  That day won't come because of better education, charismatic leadership, better economical conditions, or any other flawed means.  That day will come only when Christ comes back.

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus."  Revelation 22:20

A Bodyweight Workout with the Nephew

One of our many nephews stopped in the other day to spend the night with us while on his way to an internship at a church nearby.  He joined me the next morning for a workout.  Here's what we did ...

The work was 40 seconds, the rest was 20 seconds.  We did 5 rounds of the following ...

Pushups

Squats

Bulgarian split squats

Pullups

Planks

If you do a 5 minute warmup and a 3 minute cooldown, this is a 33 minute workout, and it's a torcher!

Don't know what a Bulgarian split squat is?  It's easy; well ... the explanation is, not the exercise.

Get into a lunge position.  Except, you are going to elevate the back leg on a bench or stool.  Using the leg that is in front of you, raise and lower yourself.  The back leg that is elevated cannot provide much assistance, so this exercise will be felt deep into the quad muscles.

Grilled Chicken Wraps

Wednesday's lunch consisted of grilled chicken in a gluten-free spinach wrap.  I added mixed greens and Dijon mustard, but you can add what you like.

It's a lean choice, and the carbs from the wrap aren't the worst carbs that you could choose.

Chicken is high in protein.  I used 4 ounces per wrap.  At 8 grams/ounce, that's 64 grams of protein.  Not a bad choice!  Chicken is also lean (about 35 calories/ounce).  So these babies were only 280 calories for the meat plus 260 for the wraps.

Tending to the Field First

"Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house."  Proverbs 27:24

Most of us don't think much about the importance of the field.  We go to the store and buy what we need.  Unless you live on a farm or have a garden, you are getting what you need from a store, not from a field.

Things were a bit different in Solomon's day when these proverbs were written.  In those days, most people farmed for their own food.  A productive, well-maintained field was important to them.  For them, a house was a necessity, not a luxury.  It's value was outweighed by the value of a fruit-bearing field.

This verse is teaching us a lesson in priorities.  Do we have our priorities straight?  Let's think about the field in terms of our spiritual lives and the house in terms of physical needs and wants.  Which one is more important to me?  Which one is more important to you?

Are we cultivating the spiritual "fields" of our lives?  Are we spending time in God's Word daily, beyond a quick surface reading?  Are we putting into practice the commands and principles found in the Bible?  Are we spending time talking to God and praising Him for who He is and what He has done?

My "field" tends to get weeds.  If I'm not fellowshipping with God, the weeds of sin tend to overgrow the productive ground of my field.  When this happens, ground that could have been used for growing fruit becomes ground that produces useless and harmful weeds.

Peter said, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby:"  (I Peter 2:1, 2)  The study and application of the Scriptures is what cultivates the field.

Is the house important?  Yes!  We all have physical needs.  We all need shelter, food, clothing, etc.  God knows this, but our tendency is to "spruce up" the house while the field gathers weeds and briers.  Don't forget, we need the fruits of the field in order to live.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  Matthew 6:33

Lunch in the Park

 

Travelling to different stores to provide product support is one thing that I enjoy about my job.  Yesterday, I went to the city park and had lunch after resolving an electrical issue.  

It was a beautiful day here in KY!

Sprints in the AM

 

Sprint training this morning before getting into my work truck and driving 2.5 hours one way for support on a job.

I warmed up with a 5 minute slow run and then did 7 rounds of sprinting for 30 seconds and walking for 2 minutes.

I went all out on the sprints.  This type of movement builds the fast-twitch muscle fiber which begins to dwindle after age 30.  

Sprinting isn't my favorite, but it's good for me 😒

Tomorrow is "active-recovery-day."  

A Renewed Appreciation for Strength Training

I've been reading a book on the importance of strength training, especially as we age (ain't none of us getting any younger!).

I do strength training about twice per week anyway, but reading this book reminded me of the many benefits, from increased bone density to calorie burning long after the workout is over.

Here's a simple but effective strength training routine.  I used two 25 pound dumbbells ...

10 reps of pushups followed by 10 reps of a goblet squat holding one dumbbell

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 30 seconds to 1 minute rest between circuits.

10 reps of dumbbell row on the right followed by the left

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 30 seconds to 1 minute rest between circuits.

10 reps of a military press with the right arm followed by the left

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 30 seconds to 1 minute rest between circuits.

10 reps of a dumbbell swing (also called kettlebell swing) followed by 10 leg raises (hanging from a bar or on the floor)

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 30 seconds to 1 minute rest between circuits.

Your workout should look something like this:

10 Reps ... Pushups/Goblet Squats (x3)

10 Reps ... Right arm Row/Left arm Row (x3)

10 Reps ... Right arm Military Press/Left arm Military Press (x3)

10 Reps ... Dumbbell Swings/Leg Raises (x3)

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."                                                                                                                              Revelation 21:7

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."                                                                                                    I John 5:4