“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.  And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be glory in her midst.”  -Zechariah 2: 4b-5, ESV

The promises of God for his church are a delight to find, are they not?  The fulfillment of this prophesy is not in the post-exilic period as some would suggest, but no, it is in Christ, where God has drawn peoples of all nations to himself.  Through the preaching of the gospel, the boarders of Jerusalem have been expanded to cover the corners of the globe.  And while the people of God do face the fires of persecution, those fires sanctify, and God has promised to hold us fast, that not one of the elect would slip through the fingers of Christ.  The new wall cannot be breached by powers or principalities; no force on earth of around it can breach these new walls; and God’s glory, as revealed in his Son and through his Holy Spirit, is in our midst!  There is great hope and encouragement for the Christian within the words of this text.

The question that we need to ask is whether we are living like it.  You see, while the full number of elect are coming into the kingdom, we still are looking toward the future, when God’s glory would be fully revealed to every tribe and nation and that this world will be remade without the curse of sin.  While we are in the “already” but are still looking for the “not yet,” Satan takes aim on our lives.  Do we live like we are heirs to the promise, with confidence in the wall that God has placed around his church?  Or do we whimper with fear when trials and tribulations arise?  Brethren, let us face them head on.  The promises of God have been decreed before creation and while may not have been realized temporally, are as sure as if they have already happened.  We can trust and rely on them.

As we go about our day, let us turn our thoughts to heavenly things, trusting in the promises as God has revealed them to us within the words of his great love letter to us, the Bible.