Day 12/29 – Agreement, Submission and Cooperation

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter Henrichsen
Agreement, Submission and Cooperation
Day Three Hundred Sixty-three

“That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:6

Agreement and submission are frequently confused in those relationships in life where one is under the authority of another. For example, a wife says, “I submit to my husband most of the time.” What she means is, most of the time they are in agreement, and the infrequent occasion when they are not in agreement she finds cause not to submit. You test submission by doing what you don’t want to do, not by doing what you agree needs to be done.

Many know how to pretend to submit when in fact they are only agreeing, and many know how to rebel; few know how to cooperate in a spirit of submission. You can easily yield to your authority in an act of submission without being willing to cooperate. When told you must do it, you obey in a perfunctory manner with no heart to make it work properly. “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”466

Submission is more than an act; it is an attitude of the heart. Only you and God know your heart, and He will judge you, in part, by the heart attitude you carry into the execution of the request. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”467

466 II Chronicles 25:2
467 Colossians 3:23-24

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Zechariah 9-12 Revelation 20 (New King James Version)

Zechariah 9-12
Israel Defended Against Enemies
9
The [a]burden of the word of the Lord
Against the land of Hadrach,
And Damascus its resting place
(For the eyes of men
And all the tribes of Israel
Are on the Lord);
2
Also against Hamath, which borders on it,
And against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3
For Tyre built herself a tower,
Heaped up silver like the dust,
And gold like the mire of the streets.
4
Behold, the Lord will cast her out;
He will destroy her power in the sea,
And she will be devoured by fire.
5
Ashkelon shall see it and fear;
Gaza also shall be very sorrowful;
And Ekron, for He dried up her expectation.
The king shall perish from Gaza,
And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
6
“A[b] mixed race shall settle in Ashdod,
And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7
I will take away the blood from his mouth,
And the abominations from between his teeth.
But he who remains, even he shall be for our God,
And shall be like a leader in Judah,
And Ekron like a Jebusite.
8
I will camp around My house
Because of the army,
Because of him who passes by and him who returns.
No more shall an oppressor pass through them,
For now I have seen with My eyes.
The Coming King
9
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
10
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.’
God Will Save His People
11
“As for you also,
Because of the blood of your covenant,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12
Return to the stronghold,
You prisoners of hope.
Even today I declare
That I will restore double to you.
13
For I have bent Judah, My bow,
Fitted the bow with Ephraim,
And raised up your sons, O Zion,
Against your sons, O Greece,
And made you like the sword of a mighty man.”
14
Then the Lord will be seen over them,
And His arrow will go forth like lightning.
The Lord God will blow the trumpet,
And go with whirlwinds from the south.
15
The Lord of hosts will defend them;
They shall devour and subdue with slingstones.
They shall drink and roar as if with wine;
They shall be filled with blood like [c]basins,
Like the corners of the altar.
16
The Lord their God will save them in that day,
As the flock of His people.
For they shall be like the [d]jewels of a crown,
Lifted like a banner over His land—
17
For how great is [e]its goodness
And how great its beauty!
Grain shall make the young men thrive,
And new wine the young women.
Restoration of Judah and Israel
10
Ask the Lord for rain
In the time of the [f]latter rain.
The Lord will make [g]flashing clouds;
He will give them showers of rain,
Grass in the field for everyone.
2
For the idols[h] speak delusion;
The diviners envision lies,
And tell false dreams;
They comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wend their way like sheep;
They are [i]in trouble because there is no shepherd.
3
“My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
And I will punish the [j]goatherds.
For the Lord of hosts will visit His flock,
The house of Judah,
And will make them as His royal horse in the battle.
4
From him comes the cornerstone,
From him the tent peg,
From him the battle bow,
From him every [k]ruler together.
5
They shall be like mighty men,
Who tread down their enemies
In the mire of the streets in the battle.
They shall fight because the Lord is with them,
And the riders on horses shall be put to shame.
6
“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back,
Because I have mercy on them.
They shall be as though I had not cast them aside;
For I am the Lord their God,
And I will hear them.
7
Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man,
And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine.
Yes, their children shall see it and be glad;
Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
8
I will whistle for them and gather them,
For I will redeem them;
And they shall increase as they once increased.
9
“I will [l]sow them among the peoples,
And they shall remember Me in far countries;
They shall live, together with their children,
And they shall return.
10
I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt,
And gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
Until no more room is found for them.
11
He shall pass through the sea with affliction,
And strike the waves of the sea:
All the depths of [m]the River shall dry up.
Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down,
And the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12
“So I will strengthen them in the Lord,
And they shall walk up and down in His name,”
Says the Lord.
Desolation of Israel
11
Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That fire may devour your cedars.
2
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the mighty trees are ruined.
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the thick forest has come down.
3
There is the sound of wailing shepherds!
For their glory is in ruins.
There is the sound of roaring lions!
For the [n]pride of the Jordan is in ruins.
Prophecy of the Shepherds
4 Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, 5 whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do not pity them. 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall [o]attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”
7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, [p]in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called [q]Beauty, and the other I called [r]Bonds; and I fed the flock. 8 I [s]dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, “I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff, [t]Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. Thus the[u] poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it is [v]agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. 14 Then I cut in two my other staff, [w]Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me, “Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. 16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.
17
“Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”
The Coming Deliverance of Judah
12 The [x]burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of [y]drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. 4 In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.
7 “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. 9 It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Mourning for the Pierced One
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of [z]Megiddo. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
Footnotes:
• Zechariah 9:1 oracle, prophecy
• Zechariah 9:6 Lit. An illegitimate one
• Zechariah 9:15 Sacrificial basins
• Zechariah 9:16 Lit. stones
• Zechariah 9:17 Lit. His
• Zechariah 10:1 Spring rain
• Zechariah 10:1 Or lightning flashes
• Zechariah 10:2 Heb. teraphim
• Zechariah 10:2 afflicted
• Zechariah 10:3 Leaders
• Zechariah 10:4 Or despot
• Zechariah 10:9 Or scatter
• Zechariah 10:11 The Nile
• Zechariah 11:3 Or floodplain, thicket
• Zechariah 11:6 Lit. strike
• Zechariah 11:7 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX for the Canaanites
• Zechariah 11:7 Or Grace
• Zechariah 11:7 Or Unity
• Zechariah 11:8 Or destroyed, lit. cut off
• Zechariah 11:10 Or Grace
• Zechariah 11:11 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX the Canaanites
• Zechariah 11:12 good in your sight
• Zechariah 11:14 Or Unity
• Zechariah 12:1 oracle, prophecy
• Zechariah 12:2 Lit. reeling
• Zechariah 12:11 Heb. Megiddon

Revelation 20
Satan Bound 1,000 Years
20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for [a]a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Satanic Rebellion Crushed
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where[b] the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The Great White Throne Judgment
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before [c]God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second [d]death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Footnotes:
• Revelation 20:4 M the
• Revelation 20:10 NU, M where also
• Revelation 20:12 NU, M the throne
• Revelation 20:14 NU, M death, the lake of fire.