Hearts of stone and the forgotten Word of God

Zechariah 7

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

• Should we be sad in this world after coming to Jesus Christ?
• In captivity to sin, we serve the flesh while we should be serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
• God requires mercy from us not superficial service.
• A heart of stone brings the wrath of God.

Should we be sad in this world after coming to Jesus Christ?  “Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?” Zechariah 7:1-3

During the seventy years of captivity to Babylon, the Israelites were required to ceremonially weep in their prayers to God and to fast on a periodic timetable. It was believed that God would see and hear their outward expression regardless of having a heart of stone, as Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 6:7 At the end of the seventy years of captivity, representatives from the Israelites asked the priests if they should continue with their ceremonial weeping. In this Chapter, Zechariah gives them the answer to their question.

As followers of Jesus Christ, when we are freed from being captives to sin, it is a time of rejoicing and not a time of mourning, “And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” Mark 2:19-20 We rejoice in our freedom from sin and in the hope of eternal life to come.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:1-5

In captivity to sin, we serve the flesh while we should be serving the Lord Jesus Christ. “Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? ” Zechariah 7:4-6

To have a heart right with God through Jesus Christ, we have to ask if what we are doing is for ourselves or really done for Him. To live our life for Him means to have a soul of Holiness through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, to express our belief in God, and to acknowledge the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ. By doing that, we move beyond the ceremonial expressions of service of a heart of stone and into a heartfelt relationship with God.

Today, people serve another thing as if it were God and it forms what they think, feel, do, and say. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through them. They serve it for self-interests such as receiving uncanny knowledge, physical comforts, heightened intuition, social approval, sensual pleasures, money and possessions, extraordinary kills, authority, amazing physical abilities, etc. They have a heart of stone against belief in God, are hardened against the remission of sin through Jesus Christ, and are hardened against the Holy Spirit who makes Holiness possible. They are conformed to the anti-Christian global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

 “Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ” Zechariah 7:7

Zechariah lets the Israelites know that their heart wasn’t right with God when they had their freedom, and that led to their captivity. Seventy years ago, before captivity to Babylon, they were prosperous as Israelites. However, they would not listen to the Prophets who tried to shepherd them into a continual relationship with God. As followers of Christ, in the good times and in the bad times, we must live for God through Jesus Christ, as quoted, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalms 62:8

There has been an enormous falling away from the freedom once held in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The falling away has happened since after WW2 when the United Nations (global government of the beast) was established (as described in Daniel 8). Since that time, people have progressively become captives to the thing forming their thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through them as they turn away from God, discard the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ, and ridicule the Holy Spirit. They scoff at Holiness. In their captivity, they are conformed to the anti-Christian global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.

God requires mercy from us not superficial service. “Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’” Zechariah 7:8-10

Today, we are seeing a world with a heart of stone with no true justice, no mercy, and no compassion. They ignore the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oppression is around every corner, and there is hostility towards the poor, the homeless, the widows, the elderly who live alone, and the strangers in the land.

All one has to do is consider the massive number of immigrants at the US/Mexico border to question where justice exists in the world. The immigrants are fleeing countries from various types of abuses and walk for days with no end to get to a place that they think is safe and welcoming. That is not just happening in America but is happening in European countries as well. The governments of countries around the world are not practicing true justice to their people, there is no mercy for those fleeing countries around the world, there is no compassion. Orphaned young children are sent across the border alone, others separated from parents once the border is crossed. The aliens, orphans, widows, those alone, and the poor are oppressed. There is a plot of evil detected in all of that.

The states and countries suffering the ill-effects of mass migrations cry out against the inability to execute justice. They are being shown no mercy and no compassion as they suffer the various types of oppression coming from the influx of very needy people. With that, the evil plot is detected of sending an enormous number of deadly drugs and human trafficking across the border. With that, the nation is suffering a crisis in hospitals, nursing homes, and the entire health care industry with various types of abuses and negligent deaths. Child violence is rampant, abuse against children is rampant, poverty strikes whole cities, the cry of racism is loudly heard, and oppression is everywhere.

It’s no coincidence that the injustices and lack of mercy and compassion in the world is present at the same time as the thing which forms what people think, feel, do, and speak. Its only purpose is to enable the image of the beast to live and speak through people, and there is no concern for the life of human beings. They coerce the masses in every city around the world into conformity to the dictates of the global government of the beast. Massive numbers of deaths are happening globally by the hands of the psychotic “lamb.” People are compelled to conform to the anti-Christian global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us about the need for mercy, which only comes by the Holiness of the Spirit. We must believe in God, acknowledge the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to be a part of who we are. These words are spoken to us, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Matthew 9:12-13 “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6

Jesus Christ came to this world to bring justice, mercy, and compassion, as quoted below,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Luke 4:18-19

A heart of stone brings the wrath of God. “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.” Zechariah 7:11

Who would shrug their shoulders and refuse to listen to a call for the mercy and compassion of God through Jesus Christ? Those who live by the thing which forms what they do, what they say, what they feel, and what they think. They allow the image of the beast to live and speak through them and they are conformed to the global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

 “Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 7:12

We live in a world where people in every city around the world has a heart of stone against the Gospel of Christ (Everyone except those whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life). Jesus Christ came to this earth in the Spirit of God to share the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and people refuse to hear Him. The great wrath of God has already come in part to this world, and more is to come. Global warming is already in the world, and in its intensity is the Fourth Plague, as written in Revelation 16:8-9. That leads to the power center of the beast being destroyed (Fifth Plague Revelation 16:10-11), which leaves the global government of the beast powerless. That leads to the Battle of Armageddon (Sixth Plague Revelation 16:11-16). Jesus Christ comes back when the Seventh Trumpet sounds within the Seventh Plague.

“Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts. “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.” Zechariah 7:1314

Those living for the thing which forms what they do, say, feel, and think have made this world desolate of pleasant things. They are hostile to Holiness, hostile to the goodness of God, hostile to the compassion of Jesus Christ, and hostile to the Holy Spirit. We are seeing the start of the fall of this world’s system, and these words are certainly prophetic, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’” She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.” Revelation 18:2 Babylon represents the global government of the beast (United Nations).

God promises that everyone who comes to Him will be given a new heart and the heart of stone removed, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 The heart of flesh refers to human compassion through the Holiness of Christ as opposed to an artificial heart controlled by the thing giving a person what to feel and do.

---

“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1