In the Book of Zechariah, chap. 1, verses 4-6, he states "Be not as your fathers, unto the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us."
The following is taken from the book, "Zechariah's Prophetic Vision for the New World" by Norbert Lieth.
" The Lord reminded His people of past occasions when their fathers had been disobedient to Him, had not listened to Him, and had committed spiritual adultery (see Ezekiel and Hosea). The Israelites thought they could cast the words of the prophets to the wind. What was the result? It was shocking! How moving that God doesn’t speak about the terrible punishments that came upon His people, but about their mortality: "Your fathers, where are they?" What remained of them? What had their rebellion brought them? They had died in their sin! That is the worst thing that can happen to a person!
What counts is what remains at the end of our lives. Where are the great mockers, tyrants and atheists of world history? They have all passed away, but God lives forever. His Word, in contrast to them, will abide for all eternity! How many generations have had to acknowledge that the "great" men of the past were wrong? Where is Lenin today? Where are Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, Voltaire and Nietzsche? Millions of people looked up to them. But where are they now?
A report on Nietzsche entitled "The Way To Insanity," describes Nietzsche's last years as being characterized by sickness, headaches, eye pain and a tormenting depression. He was afraid of noise, near-sighted and had stomach trouble. he was afflicted by vomiting and a colic that led to unconsciousness. He needed more and more medication in order to sleep. Ultimately, he went insane. This man who said "no" to everything weak and "yes" to everything strong seemed to have no scruples. With words like the blows of a hammer, he turned against everything godly and made a genuine contribution with his philosophy to an atheistic way of thinking. But in the depth of his soul, he knew of the One against whom he arose. He once wrote the words, "God is dead! God will stay dead! And we have killed Him! How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? The most Holy and Mighty the world possessed bled to death through our knives. Who will wipe the blood from us? With what water can we cleanse ourselves?" Nietzsche became a desperate man. He died, but God lives!
With the words of Zechariah 1:5, "...and the prophets do they live for ever?," the Lord was surely saying that His servants were also buried, but His work continues. The prophets proclaimed the truth and died in service; yet the truth remains.
In summary, some didn't believe, died and perished, while others believed and died but remained in eternity. The Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity recognized this and turned wholeheartedly to their Lord. We will all experience death, but our trust in God, our devotion to Christ, and our service to Him will remain in eternity. Paul said, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). "
By George Konig
2/25/2008
www.georgekonig.org
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