Chosen as the Apple of His Eye!
By: Elder Enoch Ofori Jnr
Golden Text:
“The LORD has chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation” (Ps 132:13 KJV).
The true believer called and chosen by the LORD is the beloved Zion spoken of with tenderness:
“But of Zion it shall be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her; And the Most High Himself will establish her. The LORD shall count when He registers the peoples, ‘This one was born there.’ Then those who sing as well as those who play flutes shall say, All my springs of joy are in you” (Ps 87:5-7 NAS).
Those chosen in Zion are in the Lord’s register, and they shall never be forgotten:
“But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:14-15; see also 63:16).
Therefore, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt” (John 12:15 NAS).
The chosen of the LORD are His delight, the apple of His eye! Indeed, the joy of the whole earth (for the LORD) is Mount Zion—we who are called and chosen (Ps. 48:2)!
In His love for us the chosen, He laid down His life for us and chose us to be fruitful:
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16 NKJV).
Because we have been chosen to bear fruit, all our prayer requests to the Father are bound to be granted. True Christians are the chosen ones of God, His royal priesthood and holy nation. And we have been called to “declare the praises of Him” who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).
The people so chosen as His special loved ones are unshakeable like mount Zion which cannot be shaken but abides forever (Ps 125:1). Why? Because once chose always chosen! Nothing (except we ourselves draw back, Heb. 10:38) will make the LORD abandon His love for us or change the choice He has made of us. Samuel, the prophet, told the nation of Israel:
“The LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people” (1 Sam. 12:22).
Thus the fury of the devil against us will not make Him change His mind nor the machinations of our enemies! When Satan tried to frustrate the LORD in His choice of Jerusalem/Zion, symbolized by the re-consecration of Joshua, the post-exilic high priest, this was the stern reprimand he received from the LORD:
“The LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” (Zech. 3:1-2 NIV).
May the LORD God of Israel who has chosen us rebuke Satan and all our enemies around us! The LORD, out of His deep love for us, ‘risked’ and sacrificed to snatch us out of fire (danger, problems, etc). Will He now abandon us? The devil is a joker! As the daughter of Zion, we dwell with the daughter of Babylon—our sworn enemies, and they have been warned to keep off: ‘Whoever touches you (Zion), touches the apple of My eye,’ says the LORD who has chosen Zion (Zech. 2:7-8).
A similar warning was given concerning the patriarchs of Israel as they journeyed among the nations: “He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, Saying, ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm’”(Ps 105:14-15; compare Gen. 35:5).
The LORD, our King, who is in the midst of Zion, will spring to our defence whenever the daughter of Babylon comes at us (Zech. 2:8, 10). For our sakes, Christ, the King of Zion, will do anything—even rebuke kings and kingdoms, cause the sea to dry up and mountains to tremble (Ps 114:1-8; Isa. 64:1-4).
He has chosen Zion—whether Satan accepts it or not—the Mount Zion which He loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Ps 78:68, 87:1-2).
You and I are that beloved Zion which God has chosen to bear the glory of His Name. As His beloved, He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5-6). For He loves us above all the possessions of Jacob!
