The Cup of Israel

In one paragraph

Brian walked Tribe fam through Zechariah chapter 12, reading the whole chapter together as a congregation and asking people to call out what they noticed in the text. The conversation wove between the ancient context of the passage and what is unfolding in Israel right now. The through-line was a phrase that kept coming up in the chapter: "on that day." Zechariah was a minor prophet writing to...

Read together

1. Zechariah 12 primary text read aloud by congregation members and discussed throughout the sermon
2. Joel 2 quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost to explain what the crowd was seeing
3. Acts 2 Peter stands up at Pentecost and quotes Joel, used as an example of recognizing prophetic fulfillment
4. Jeremiah 30-31 referenced as containing the time known to Jews as the time of Jacob's trouble
5. Luke 21 referenced as describing the time of tribulation from a Gentile and Christian perspective
6. Matthew 24 referenced alongside Luke 21 as describing the time of tribulation
7. Daniel 7 referenced regarding the man of lawlessness making a covenant with Israel and breaking it halfway through
8. Ezekiel 38-39 referenced regarding a man of lawlessness setting his sight on Israel and those from Tarshish coming against him
9. John 18 soldiers come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says I am and they fall down

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about how God told Zechariah to speak about a future Messiah when the returning exiles needed practical comfort and encouragement for their present situation. Has there been a time when you went to God with a pressing need and felt like he was pointing you somewhere else entirely? What happened?
2. The sermon described biblical prophecy as having multiple layers of fulfillment, past, present, and future, rather than a single moment where a box gets checked. How does that change the way you read a passage like Zechariah 12, and does it change how seriously you take it as something still unfolding?
3. Richard shared that being physically present in Israel brought out emotions he did not expect, including some negative ones toward Israel, and that the spiritual weight of the place was unlike anything he had felt elsewhere. What do you think shapes our emotional and spiritual response to the conflict in Israel, and how do you personally try to stay grounded in what the text actually says rather than what the news or social media says?
4. Brian used the phrase 'everyone must drink from the cup of Israel' and asked whether it makes you more sober or causes you to stagger. Looking at the nations and groups discussed in the sermon, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and others, what pattern did you notice, and what do you think that pattern is meant to say to us personally about where we put our confidence?
5. Brian closed by connecting Zechariah 12 to Sukkot, the idea of stripping back to simplicity and dwelling with God, and said that whatever front you feel under attack on right now, the enemy is the one who will throw his back out. What would it look like practically for you to hold your ground this week rather than spin out in anxiety about what is happening in Israel or in your own life?