The Inbetween
One Year Bible: Dec. 21
Zechariah 1:1-21
The Inbetween
“Here’s What I can tell you: I was one way. And now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between… was him.” --Mary Magdalene’s Witness from “The Chosen” Season 3
Our family recently enjoyed the Season 3 movie theatre preview of “The Chosen Season 3”. Of all the things I could watch in a theatre, I love seeing characters come to life from the Bible. For perhaps the first time, you ponder how it would have been to walk in their steps and come face to face with the things they saw and heard. Yes, it is drama, which makes us pause to think about how real people felt in such life-changing situations.
In the movie, Mary Magdalene explained to Nicodemus how she had been healed by Jesus. While she didn’t fully understand what happened, she knew that his presence, power, and voice sent the demons running out of her.
The theme song “The Inbetween” by Matt Maher was based on Mary Magdalene's words in the movie. It is a powerful song that focuses on the change from her encounter with Jesus Christ.
When you think about it, the people receiving Zechariah's prophetic words are also living “Inbetween Kingdoms.” They had known the “Glory Days of the Temple” and then captivity, but they would not see Jesus in their lifetime.
But then there was Zechariah, who had visions of what was to come. Yet, he lived in the reality of no temple and no power in the people’s lives. They were rebuilding their homes but really not rebuilding their lives.
There was no way to rebuild their lives but to rebuild the temple. This was the place where God dwelled with his people. He was the light that never went dim.
So, Zechariah’s message to God’s people returning from captivity was this, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and stop all your evil practices.”
Zechariah has the sobering responsibility to speak to a people that lived stuck Inbetween Glory and Glory. The Glory of the original Temple in all its splendor has passed, and the coming Kingdom of God is in the distant future.
So, God gives Zechariah visions, word pictures, and images as signs along the path. As he shares this with the people, they will tell their children, and when Jesus comes, they will recognize that he is “The Long Awaited One”... The promised Messiah.
The book of Zechariah has more prophecies of Christ than any other Old Testament book except for Isaiah. These important prophecies are confirmed in the words of the apostles and Jesus in the New Testament.
There is also great symbolism, like in the book of Revelation, that corresponds with John’s prophetic words about the end times. It is all rolled into this book, "In the Inbetween.”
Zechariah will tell of Jesus…Servant, Branch, King/Priest, Lowly King, Betrayed, Hands Pierced, Smitten Shepherd, and his Second Coming.
One of the powerful concepts of the entire New Testament is God’s fulfillment of his covenant promises to Abraham and the lineage of David. Zechariah will remind people that although they have come home and the Temple of David is not still there, God is.
Not only that, God doesn’t need the old Temple to dwell with them or to keep his promises to the lineage of David.
One of the important words that Zechariah will use to describe Jesus to the people is the word, “Branch.”. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Jesus as the Root or BRANCH of Jesse”?
Isaiah 11:1, 10 says, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”
What was the root or “BRANCH of Jesses.” The lineage of David, the priest, and King after God’s heart, helped build the Temple. In Romans 15, Paul paraphrases this prophecy and links it to Jesus Christ.
The theme of the BRANCH prophesied in Zechariah has been illuminated by Jesus himself. The Messiah has come not just for the Jews but for the gentiles. He came for all mankind!
Nothing is out of God’s sight, power, plan, and providence. In Jesus, all will be made right!
These people truly lived in the “Inbetween,”, somewhere between Glory to Glory, but very soon, these prophecies will come true, and Messiah will dwell among them. They had no hope of ever being holy without HIM.
“I don’t think he is waiting for us to be holy. He is here because we can’t be holy without him.”--Mary Magdalene (Season 2 of “The Chosen”)
