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One Year Bible: Day 341 - Zechariah 1:1-4:14; 3 John 1-14; Psalm 139:11-16

The removal of sin (Zechariah 3:4,9) and the restoration of glory: Here, we have a great description of salvation, wiping out the sin of the past, giving an anticipatory glimpse of the glory to come. The past is forgiven. The future is promised. What about the present - "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord" (Zechariah 4:6). This life in the Spirit - lived between the forgiven sin (the past) and the glory to come (the future) - is to be a life of "working together for the truth" (3 John 4). As we live this life in the Spirit, we enjoy the "peace" of God (3 John 14). This peace arises in our hearts as we learn to praise God. we praise Him for His work of creation - "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." This praise - "Your works are wonderful" - causes us to reflect also on His works of providence - "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:14,16). It also causes us to reflect on God's work of redemption. The thought of creation leads on to the thought of re-creation: "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The thought of providence also leads us to think of redemption: God's "book" (Psalm 139:16) turns our thoughts to "the book of life" - the book of eternal life which we receive through faith in "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
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