Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Oct 1st, 2023 The Apple of His Eye

Today’s Passage – Zechariah 1 – 5 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 19

Read the “1001 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” – (Zechariah 2:8)

In Zechariah 2, God is reminding us that He will someday make Jerusalem, and all of Israel, the very center of His eartly Kingdom. When Christ returns, He will reign on earth for 1000 years, and “will dwell in the midst of [Jerusalem]” (v 11). In the middle of this passage God refers to the nations that have attacked Israel through the years, and describes His anger toward them. He says that they have “touched the apple of his eye”. We still use this phrase today to describe people who we love dearly. God was making it clear that he loved Israel, and His people that live there.

As a New Testament Christian, I know that God also loves me dearly. There is nothing about me that is loveable, yet because of the relationship that I have with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He loves me anyway. I am His child, and He is my Father. I am not always an obedient child, and I don’t always love Him as I should, but I am still the apple of His eye. Amazing. I understand a little how He feels, because I have children of my own. They are not always obedient either, but I cannot stop loving them.

Another application that we can take away from this passage is that since God loves Israel, we ought also to love Israel; and since God loves other Christians, so should we. I may be the apple of His eye, but I am not the only apple He has His eye on.