Brown's Daily Word 3-20-13

Praise the Lord for the first day of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. It is just like summer in India. The mango trees are already past the blossom stage, and there are green mangoes now. It snowed almost 6" in parts of the Southern tier of New York so Alice's school, closed not even once for the snow day through the heart of the winter season, closed for the first time for a snow day on the last day of winter. We will gather for our mid-week fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM for a special meal and for Bible study at 6:30 PM. We will be looking at Luke 19.

In Joshua 6 we find that Jericho was the first city Israel came to after they crossed the River Jordan and entered the Promised Land. Jesus, our "true Joshua", had to pass through Jericho because it represented Satan’s stronghold of unbelief and disobedience and doubt.

Zacchaeus means just or pure. He was called a son of Abraham. Abraham, we are told, was the father of faith, and through him faith promises were obtained.
Zacchaeus, however, was not living by faith. In fact, according to Luke 19, we are told he had a reputation of being a sinner. Not only that, he was a Chief Tax Collector, and as such he impoverished the people, mistreated them, and stole from them, as was the custom of the day. He worked for the Romans, who represent a type of the world. So our “son of faith” was not living by faith, but instead he was living and controlled by his senses and as such was a prisoner of Satan.

Jesus, then, went to Jericho to demonstrate His complete victory over sin and Satan to prove that no-one is unreachable by Him . Jesus entered the city where He straightway did battle with Satan. Thousands of people lived in that city and countless of them were firmly in the grip of the evil one, but one of those who was firmly in the grip of the devil, Jesus publicly plucked out of the devil’s grasp. For in the heart of Zacchaeus God worked faith. That tax collector who had but one obsession in life was moved by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to desire to see the Lord. Instead of that plucky character elbowing his way to the front of the crowd and so being caught up by whatever mood the crowd might have, Zacchaeus chose a quiet spot above the people from which to observe the Lord more closely; he climbed a sycamore tree.

When Jesus passed under the particular tree in which the curious tax collector was perched, He made a point of looking up and speaking to the man in the tree, for Jesus knew where Zacchaeus was, knew what his name was, and that he had a house. This, in itself, was already a show of heavenly strength in the stronghold of Satan, but a greater show of heavenly strength was still to come. Jesus said, "Zacchaeus make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." Jesus declared the necessity of spending time with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector. This especially was an affront to Satan. Satan could not keep Jesus outside Jericho, and Satan could not bind Jesus in Jericho. Satan had to watch helplessly as Jesus sovereignly prepared for Himself a place to stay, and settled down in the home of His choice. In doing this Jesus demonstrated at the entrance of the Promised Land that Satan is not greater than He. Therefore Jesus walked into the house of that hardened sinner, Zacchaeus, and Satan could do nothing about it. Moreover, He took that hardened sinner, Zacchaeus, and rescued him from Satan’s clutches, restoring him to His side. The evidence that Jesus in fact snatched this sinner from Satan’s grasp is clear: Jesus worked faith in him and gave him a new heart so that he was willing to give half of his wealth to the poor, and pay back fourfold whatever he had defrauded.

Luke 19:8-10 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Zacchaeus had some walls that had to come down in his life, much as we ourselves do today, but rather than scale these walls ourselves, God has placed the victory before us in and through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:14, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation."
In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/-4kTei0XrCs