“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses” (1 Kings 8:56).
My ABBA, My Father, who is a God like You? Who “look beyond [our faults and see our] need!” We adore You God, we worship You, because You are worthy of our highest praise! We stand in awe of Your love and mercy for sinners such as us! And we love You for it, because You first loved us. We surrender to Your holy will in the only Name that brings salvation, Jesus Christ, the Lord of our lives. Amen.
Today, the promise we are claiming is: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).
I chose this big promise for Zacchaeus, a “wee little man.” I just love the way God’s view of us differs from the way human beings see us. No wonder they refer to God’s kingdom as, “the upside down kingdom!” It really is.
If it was dependent upon human beings, to bring sinners to Christ, Zacchaeus, may never have met Jesus. We do not see anywhere in Scripture that anyone spoke to him about this Special Prophet that was coming to the city of Jericho.
It took the Father to initiate the move, which was facilitated by the Holy Spirit’s convicting, to bring Zacchaeus to the Son, who readily received him! You see my friends, the entire Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are all interested in saving sinners, and they work together in the salvation of souls.
This is how Scripture introduces Zacchaeus: “Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature” (Luke 19:2, 3).
He was a very unpopular person, especially, in the Jewish community! And despised by many because of his dishonesty as a tax collector. Tax collectors were known for their dishonest lifestyle. They were always collecting from people more than they owed in taxes. And a Jew, working for the enemy to exploit his own people was considered despicable!
Obviously, Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and His irreproachable character. Perhaps he had even heard about His willingness to spend time in the company of people like himself. It was obviously heralded in every city Jesus visited that He kept company with publicans and sinners! Could it be that Zacchaeus had even dared to hope that, maybe, just maybe, Jesus would even dare to visit him? But first he must get a glimpse of this Prophet that was said to be different from every other prophet he had ever heard of!
So Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and sat in a tree where he was certain he would see Jesus as He passed by. And sure enough, the crowd was moving in his direction. He had made the right decision, he would get a very good look at Jesus. What he did not know, was that Jesus had already found him, and was coming to sup with him (Revelation 3:20)!
And then it happened – as Zacchaeus was looking down, Jesus had stopped and was looking up at him, right in the eye! This time there was no looking away in shame for Zacchaeus. All his life he had never dared to look anyone in the eye because of his sinful life. But today was different, there was no need to look away. The Holy Spirit had already begun His work in Zacchaeus’ life. He had a testimony to share with Jesus!
“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” ‘ And Jesus said to him, ‘ “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” ‘ ” ‘ “(Luke 19:8-10).
Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus has a way of passing by where sinners happen to be when they need Him, in order to heal them and, or, save them (Matthew 9:20, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 19:5, John 4:4-7, 25, 26, 28-30)? Coincidence? I don’t think so! Do you?
Note: I have added further thought, and some verses, to the last paragraph of this devotional. May you be blessed by them.