Breath Of God
So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts. Zech 4:6
The Scriptures contain many
illustrations of the truth laid out in this passage.
The examples move from the parting of
the Red Sea 1500 years before the Cross to the Lord’s calming of the storm on
the Sea of Galilee.
Between those two events we see David’s
encounter with the Philistine giant, Goliath.
Let’s look at 1Sam 17:40-51.
Then he took his staff in his
hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them
in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And
he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine came, and began drawing near
to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy
and good- looking. So the Philistine said to David, “ Am I a dog, that you come
to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the
Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds
of the air and the beasts of the field!”
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.”
So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
Notice what it was that brought
Goliath down - a smooth stone – just one.
A stone smoothed by the water in the
brook.
The removal of roughness might be
speaking of spiritual maturity brought on by the washing of the water of the
Word.
And why five?
There are those who would teach that
the five stones represented the five-fold ministry of Eph 4:11 working together like the
fingers of a hand - And He Himself gave some to be apostles; some prophets; some
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
But five is also the number of Grace.
Grace - which is the very Spirit of
God.
Charis - grace: God’s influence on the heart and its
manifestation in the life of the believer.
Grace is the manifestation of Divine
Will in a child of God.
It is God’s purpose that we be
channels of His divine Will.
It is God’s grace that enables the
believer to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and resist the Devil.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit on
the soul of a yielded vessel that brings stability in the midst of chaos.
It is His presence that imparts the
strength to withstand the onslaught of the Devil and carry us through to
victory over impossible circumstances and conditions.
Not by might nor by power, but
by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts. Zech 4:6
Look at the crossing of the Red Sea
in Exodus 14:19-22
And the Angel of God, who went
before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud
went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the
Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one,
and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the
other all that night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
There are those who believe that a
strong wind blew the water into a wall.
But verse 22 tells us that the water
was a wall on their right and on their left.
Not likely that a literal movement of
air could do that.
But the Hebrew word translated “wind”
is “ruwach” – the same word that is used for spirit. Qodesh Ruwach – Holy Spirit - Breath of God. (Gen 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”)
In the parting of the Red Sea we can
see how an impossible obstacle is removed as the Spirit of God is projected
into the adversity.
What is God trying to tell us?
God’s Grace introduces order into the
chaos.
Not by might nor by power, but
by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts. Zech 4:6
Let’s look at Jesus.
Matthew 3:16 tells us, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water;
and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.”
I believe that Jesus was filled with
the Spirit of God from conception and that the incident at His baptism was
simply for the sake of the witnesses.
In His three years of public ministry
Jesus showed us in both word and deed the awesome power of grace to calm the
storms of life and bring the arrogant to their knees.
With gentleness and great finesse,
Jesus toppled the mountains of tradition and changed the direction of the human
history.
And as the very definition of Grace
He corrected religious error and built a glorious bridge to unite man and God
with His own body.
We see this in Hebrews 10:19-20 where we
read, “Therefore, brethren, having
boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way
which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh...”
Jesus showed that chaos begets chaos.
But that by the Spirit of God, grace
will transform chaos into peace.
After Jesus rose from His grave He
appeared to His disciples in the upper room and commisioned them for ministry
in the power of the Holy Spirit - He breathed on them.
John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive
the Holy Spirit.
Have you received Jesus in the Upper
Room - the “alayah?”
Are you confronted by giants that
mock you and torment you as Goliath mocked and threatened the army of God?
Are you discouraged by some impossible
obstacle?
Is there a Red Sea that you must
cross?
Do you find the storms of life
threatening to overwhelm you or tear you apart?
The answer is within your reach.
Know the Word of God.
Believe the Word of God.
Stand on the promises of God – don’t
be a hearer of the Word only.
Hebrews 11:6 declares that, “... without
faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
The Spirit of God is imparted through
His Word - it is the Logos: Divine Mind….
This is the very mind of God that is
imparted to those who are born again and members of the body of Christ.
The believer is transformed into an
instrument of Divine Grace only by the Holy Spirit of God.
We are channels through which God
breathes order into this fallen world.
Remember, It is not by might nor
power but by the Spirit of God that the believer is victorious over any and all
adversity.
It is only by union with Divine Mind,
by the Word of God, that the mountains placed in our lives by the Enemy can be
removed.
Amen