23 August | EVERYONE
“And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’" Zechariah 13: 6
In this text, prophet Zechariah transports us to the heavens. The redeemed, saved by the power of the gospel, rejoice and exult in the Lord. The history of sin has come to an end. Pain, suffering, and death are gone. We are back in the Father's house.
However, there are redeemed people who do not know the story of redemption and ask the Lord, "What wounds are these in your hands?" They have not read the story of the Cross, they do not know that the Savior shed His blood to save them, and they long to know what caused those scars.
This text describes the infinite mercy of Jesus. There will be people in heaven who will get there without having known the redeeming gospel. How is this possible? Perhaps the apostle Paul will answer this question by saying, "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them" (Romans 2:14-15).
God has inserted into the heart of every human being the voice of conscience through which He tries to guide your actions. His grace is an abundant source of life for all who worship the Lord with the light they have received. No human being has the right to say who will be saved or lost. People see only what is before their eyes, but God sees the heart and sees with the eyes of His infinite mercy.
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Applied to Jesus, today's verse alludes to the physical footprints of the cross. The wonderful thing is that He calls those who produced them "friends." Doesn’t such a love melt you? Do you not want to go out and proclaim it from the rooftops?