True Religion (Part II)

Zechariah 8

MARCH 3, 2003

 

III. God's Initiative 8:1-23

 

Against the backdrop of Israel's stubbornness, there is God's grace displayed through His initiative to call out a people for Himself.  Without His initiative - without grace - then men are left to follow their own devices. 

 

1. He is mighty to save   vv. 1-8

 

(1) God is jealous for His people  v. 2

 

"God's jealousy is to be understood in relation to the covenant...Though they are not truly seeking Him now, even in their fasts, His depth of feeling for them wells up into action on their behalf.  As Ezekiel saw so clearly, restoration was totally due to God's initiative and grace" (Baldwin 149), (Ezekiel 36:11, 21-22, 32). 

 

Illustration:  Ezekiel 36:21-32; 37:1-14.

 

(2) New covenant promises  vv. 3-8

 

This passage is either eschatological or it follows in line with 6:12-15, as language describing the new covenant being enacted in all its blessings.  The language is reminiscent of Jeremiah 30-31, Ezekiel 36-37, Hebrews 8, all new covenant promises. 

 

While there may have been temporal blessings that took place, the ultimate fulfillment of the presence of the Lord (v. 3a), the combination of truth and holiness (v. 3b), the prosperity of peace (vv. 4-5), the global work of redemption (v. 7), and personal relationship with God through imputed righteousness (v. 8) describes God's gracious work in the Church. 

 

T. V. Moore wrote, "There is something more than a mere political restoration required by the general drift of the prophesy, which is spiritual and not temporal, and which therefore demands a spiritual reunion to the spiritual theocracy, or the blood-bought and blood-washed Church of God" (195). 

 

For a deeply oppressed people, this was staggering and practically unbelievable; so the question of verse 6 is intended to quell the doubts and remind us of God's might.  Human reasoning is not adequate to decide God's abilities or intentions.

 

Keep in mind that biblical prophecies utilize the current modes of language, concepts, and arenas of understanding to communicate massive truths - use of metaphors, imagery, and other illustrative methods to help them grasp what was beyond their experience and knowledge. 

Illustration: (read about Christian missions and the global expansion of the church.  See how the most remarkable things took place and continue to do so. 

 

Application: 

Do we often see God as though He had our limitations and abilities?  Consider the global expansion of the church without military force (as in Islam) but by the power of the gospel.  Do we minimize God when it comes to the challenges of the gospel and Christian ministry around us?

 

2. Faithful to provide   vv. 9-13

 

The exhortation to finish the temple is given (v. 9) in light of God's promises.  Keep in mind both encouragement for work in the present and hope in the future is the aim.  Verses 10-13 recount God's treatment of the disobedient forefathers but now He has taken initiative to demonstrate that all is grace.  There's the promise for them of temporal blessing.  And with the temporal blessings is a much broader purpose for Israel as an evangel to the nations. 

 

3. Unchanging in righteousness   vv. 14-19

 

The difficult days of history do not alter God's course of action.  He purposed to act against disobedience Israel - and He did what He purposed (v. 14).  Now He purposed to do this remnant good (v. 15).  Here is the assurance of God's gracious favor.

 

Verses 16-17 show clearly that grace and law go together, for as God shows grace the response is one of obedience to God's laws.  Added to what He previously prescribed (7:9-10) is the call for "straightforward dealings and reliability" as "the foundation of a stable society" (Baldwin 154) (also note Romans 6:1-2, 12-19).

Why are God's people to refrain from these things?  The reason is found in God's own character, "for all these are what I hate."  "Here is the theological basis of ethics," comments Joyce Baldwin (154). 

 

T.V. Moore - "The reason given for avoiding these sins, viz. because God hated them, is instructive, for it brings out the great principle of piety that runs through all revelation, that religion consists in loving what God loves, and in hating what God hates, our own nature being thus brought into conformity with His" (207).

 

In verses 18-19, he finally answers the question of 7:3.  "When God makes the sun shine, the tear-drops should be dried, and when his blessing comes upon us, the memory of our sorrows should be used only to enhance our present joy" (Moore 202).  Rather than fasts they were to feast but not carelessly, rather in such a way that demonstrated a love for truth and peace. 

 

4. To accomplish the improbable   vv. 20-23

 

No one felt more despised than this group of returned exiles.  And yet God's initiative promises global enlargement of the covenant people, and the favor of the Jews.  "Grabbing the garment" shows "earnestness, importunity, and perseverance (Moore 204), an intensity of anxiety and a depth of conviction of the very highest grade."

 

Though 500 years must pass before being fulfilled, here was the divine assurance that He would so enlarge the elect from all the nations.  Pentecost - Acts 2 - saw a literal fulfillment of this text as it had been amply fulfilled time and again.  All these peoples have looked to a Jew - in the flesh - Jesus Christ, to save.  It is clear from the intent of the portion that true religion ultimately results in missionary spirit. 

 

The promise ensued their part in the central place of global evangelism/missions.  Every time we are involved in missions and evangelism we see this promise magnified.  The promise of future expansion of God's people to all nations is shown to be:

 

(1) Voluntary rather than forced by military might of political decree.  Verse 21 shows an enthusiasm in seeking the Lord and a ready willingness on the part of "the inhabitants of many cities."  Calvin comments, "And hence we learn, that faith then only produces its legitimate fruit when zeal is kindles, so that every one strives to increase the kingdom of God and to gather the straying, that the Church may be filled "(227).

 

(2) It will be characterized by a concern for the glory of God.  Here is the great motivator in all mission endeavors.  Calvin -  "Besides, true godliness brings with it a concern for the glory of God" (227).

 

(3) It will give priority to prayer -- "to entreat the favor of the Lord and to see the Lord of hosts." Calvin - "For prayer to God is the chief part, yea, the main thing in religion... It must be observed, that God is then only really sought when men desire to learn from his word how he is to be worshiped... the design of the whole truth respecting salvation is to teach us, that our life depends on God, and that whatever belongs to eternal life must be hoped for and expected from him" (227).

 

(4) Jerusalem would be the source of truth for the nations (v. 22). Indeed, truth's light arose from Jerusalem and the temple was to remain a visible seat of truth until Messiah would come. It is only by the truth of the gospel established in Jerusalem by our Lord that the nations will find life. Calvin - "Since then none could be accounted the children of God except they were brought up in that school [i.e. gospel that diffused to the world from Jerusalem] and acknowledged that alone to be true religion which had its first habitation at Jerusalem, we hence see why the prophet expressly mentions that city" (228).

 

(5) It will be a universal gospel (v. 23).  The word "nations" is literally, "languages of the nations," which gives even more strength to the universal scope of the gospel and missionary work.  Here is the assurance for missionaries and Christians of all ages to carry the gospel far and wide with the assurance that the Lord has set apart a people for Himself from among all peoples. 

 

Conclusion

 

The unity of all true believers under the banner of the cross is metaphorically stated by the ten men from all the nations grasping the garment of one Jew and asking to go to Jerusalem to seek the Lord.

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