In the House of my FRIENDS

Zec 13:6

And [one] shall say unto him, what [are] these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded [in] the house of my friends.

And [one] shall say		[0559]	amar
unto him, What [are] these wounds		[04347]	makkah
in thine hands?		[03027]	yad
Then he shall answer,		[0559]	amar
[Those] with which I was wounded		[05221]	nakah
[in] the house		[01004]	bayith
of my friends.		[0157]	ahab

"What are those wounds in thine hands?"

This prophetic line tears the heart in two
when the response is "those with which I
was wounded in the house of my friends."

This tender verse frames the beauty of
salvation. It is nourishing to our sick
souls when we can fully recognize the
sacrifice of Christ on the cross, whose
wounds and stripes enabled us to bridge
the abyss of our sins. His friendship means
relatively more than the abstract absolute
of God's love. We know God is love, but,
the knowledge of his friendship with us
is paradoxically more special.

He brought us into his ministry, not
as slaves and servants of the Gospel,
although we are more than willing to
sacrifice all to be only that. He made us
brothers and sisters, by adoption, and
more importantly, he made himself
accessible to us as a friend.