Wed.’s Devo - Comfort

Read: Zechariah 1:1-21; Revelation 12:1-17; Psalm 140:1-13; Proverbs 30:17 The name Zechariah means “one whom Jehovah remembers”. Zechariah was a priest as well as a prophet like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. He prophesied two months after Haggai during the second year of Darius’ reign. God was really upset with their ancestors who worshipped other gods and abandoned the worship of God. God told them to return to him and he would return to them. He reminded them that he did everything he told his prophets he would do. Three months later Zechariah had a vision of a man sitting on a red horse. It was standing among the myrtle trees in a small valley. Behind him were other riders on red, brown and white horses. When Zechariah asked him who these were God told him that they were the ones the Lord had sent out to patrol the earth. They would report what they saw to the angel under the tree. They brought back the report that the earth was at peace. The angel of the Lord prayed that God would bring comfort to his people. The angel gave Zechariah a message to shout. God had great love and passion for Jerusalem and Mt. Zion but was not happy with their enemies that were now enjoying peace and security. His anger toward his people was over and now he was angry at the people who oppressed his people. It was time to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem. Zechariah was shown four horns which represented the nations that had humbled and scattered Judah and the blacksmiths that were coming to terrify them and throw them down and destroy them. In Revelation, John witnessed several events. The first was a woman clothed with the sun standing on the moon. A crown of twelve stars was on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain. The next event was a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept away one third of the stars in the sky and threw them to the earth. He stood ready to devour her child once she gave birth. She gave birth to a son who would rule the earth with an iron rod (Jesus). The child was snatched away and caught up to God. The woman (the Church) fled into the wilderness where God prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days. There was great spiritual battle in heaven between Michael and Satan and God’s army won. Satan was thrown down to earth and the Church was given authority over him. We defeat him by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and the fact that we are not afraid to die. Once Satan was thrown to earth, he went after the Church. She was given wings to fly into the wilderness where she would be cared for and protected. Satan tried to kill her with a flood but the earth swallowed up the flood. Satan was really mad and declared war on the rest of her children. Lord, may we realize that the devil has already been defeated and we hold all the cards. We have been given authority to rule over him and declare victory for our nation and our families. We declare comfort to your people.