PART 12
By
Pastor Roger Anghis
March 20, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
Our next verse is Joel 2:23-25 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. (24) And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. (25) And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. (26) And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
The literal translation states “the early rain according to righteousness” instead of “moderately”. It is the Hebrew word tsedaqah (tsed-aw-kaw) and one of the meanings is moderately, but the lexicon states that that phrase means ‘early rain for prosperity’. The purpose of this statement is because the verse is talking about crops. Crops thrive on water. God is stating that He will start the rains early and the rains will be often, in perfect timing for the crops to produce their best. The grapes will be a bumper crop. The wheat will be a bumper crop; the olives will have a bumper crop. There will be no lack of anything. These items are for not only their own use, but these are items that they sell as well. This creates profit all caused by God Himself. The Hebrew word used for “restore” is shalam and it means make complete, make amends, be at peace, make prosperous, make restitution, restore.
The meaning here is to restore to what Adam had and that meaning is Adam wanted for nothing. During their times of famine, usually but not always caused by their disobedience, plagues of locust and other creatures would devour their crops. God is saying that for all of those times God would pay back with interest. He states that they will eat and be “satisfied”. This is the Hebrew word saba and it means to have enough, fill, be full, to have plenty. Webster defines satisfy as having the desires fully gratified; made content. This is a sign of wealth to always have enough. The Hebrew word even gives an indication of; to glut; to fill beyond natural desire. This is having way more than enough.
Our next verse is Haggai 2:9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. God is speaking of the physical condition of the later day church. In the previous verse He states that all the silver is His and all the gold is His and in verse seven He states that He will fill His house, the church, with glory. This is the Hebrew word kabowd which we have seen before and it means splendor, copiousness. Webster defines copiousness as abundance; plenty; great quantity; full supply. In verse nine we see this word again in the “glory of this latter house”. The latter house will have plenty, great quantity. The main definition in the lexicon is abundance, riches. The first time we saw the word glory in scripture was in reference to material wealth (Genesis 31:1). God goes on and states that he will give peace in that place. The Hebrew word used for “peace” is shalom. We have seen this word before and it means health, happiness, prosperity, peace, favor, welfare, wholeness. All of these attributes require wealth. All of this, God says, He will bring forth for those that are obedient and faithful to Him.
Our next verse is Zechariah 1:15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. This chapter is talking about bringing Israel back to its glory. At this particular time Israel has been in captivity for 70 years and those that took Israel captive are being too harsh on Israel. They have plundered more than God wanted them to. The Hebrew word used for “ease” is shananan (shah-an-awn) and it means haughty. The lexicon states that it means careless, wanton, arrogant. God’s displeasure is that the heathen had abused Israel beyond what God had called for and they had needlessly exploited Israel’s wealth. In the 17th verse we see that God has a plan to restore Israel to its previous glory; Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. He is telling Zechariah to speak forth what God wants to have happen. Remember that man has dominion and God can only do what man calls forth.
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God says that through prosperity, Israel will be built back up. The Hebrew word for “Cry” is qara (kaw-raw) and it means to preach, proclaim, pronounce, publish. In other words, he is to let all know what God has in mind for the nation of Israel. The Hebrew word for “prosperity” is towb, a word we have seen many times in this study and it means welfare, prosperity, happiness, all in reference to material things. It is through this prosperity that Israel will increase. The KJV states “spread abroad” but the literal translation states that the cities will overflow. The Hebrew word used for “spread abroad” is puwts which means to scatter, spread abroad, overflow. Because of the prosperity God brings, the cities will increase in size indicating growth and wealth. God also states that He will comfort Zion. The Hebrew word for comfort is nacham and means to console, to comfort. Webster defines comfort as to strengthen; to invigorate; to cheer or enliven. God is reestablishing Zion to its status when they took possession of their promise land. God will also reestablish a believer to a position of wealth and prominence. This is the position that God originally intended man to be in so as a believer, we are entitled to that type of life.
Our next verse is Zechariah 8:12 For the seed shall be prosperous ; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. God is referring to descendents in the first part of this verse. The Hebrew word for “seed” is zera and it means child, posterity. The Hebrew word for “prosperous” is shalom which we have seen used for many things including prosperity, welfare, happiness, wealth. The literal translation uses the word peace. The Hebrew’s know that when you have all that you need and lack nothing, you are at peace.
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Then God states that there will be no lack of produce that is planted. All things will work together so that there is plenty of water, bumper crops, the ground will be fertile. The literal translation says that God will give their seed peace. Again this is the word shalom giving the meaning that there will be days of heaven on earth for the believer. He will have all that he needs. This only comes from material prosperity. Yes, there must be spiritual prosperity as well for complete shalom, but this verse is referencing only the physical aspect of shalom.
Click here for part -----> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
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Pastor Roger Anghis is the Founder of RestoreFreeSpeech.org, an organization designed to draw attention to the need of returning free speech rights to churches that was restricted in 1954.
President of The Damascus Project, TheDamascusProject.org, which has a stated purpose of teaching pastors and lay people the need of the churches involvement in the political arena and to teach the historical role of Christianity in the politics of the United States. Married-37 years, 3 children, three grandchildren.
Web site: RestoreFreeSpeech.org
E-Mail: editor@restorefreespeech.org
