God’s people don’t live on explanations; they live on promises. Faith and hope are nourished by the promises of God given to us in the Scriptures. That explains why Zechariah dropped the discussion of the traditions and delivered a new message from the Lord. In this message, he focused the people’s eyes of faith on the future and shared some wonderful promises to encourage them. Note the repetition of the phrase, “Thus saith the Lord,” which is used ten times in this chapter.
The city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt (vv. 1–6). God affirmed His jealous love and concern for Zion, just as He had done earlier (1:14). He promises that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and become a wholly different city, dedicated to truth and holiness. This promise will be fulfilled when Jesus Christ returns to earth to establish His kingdom (Isa. 1:26; 2:3; 60:14; 62:12).
But the compassionate Lord centers on people and not buildings, particularly the elderly and the children. He describes a city so safe and friendly that the elderly can leisurely sit in the streets and talk, and where the children can play in the streets and not be in danger. In today’s man-made cities, the elderly and the children aren’t safe in the streets or anywhere else! The children are killed before they have a chance to be born, and when the elderly are no longer “useful,” we find legal ways to end their lives. But all of that will change when Jesus returns and righteousness reigns.
The people of Israel will be regathered (v. 7). True to His covenant, God disciplined His disobedient people and dispersed them throughout the world (Deut. 28:63); but one day, He will regather them to their land and to their Holy City (Isa. 11:11–12; 43:5–7; Jer. 30:7–11; 31:7–8). While groups of Jewish patriots have returned from time to time to their land, the kind of worldwide regathering described by the prophets has never yet occurred.
The relationship between Israel and Jehovah will be restored (v. 8). The promise “They will be My people” reminds us that God claimed the people of Israel as His own. When God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, He said to them, “Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God” (Jer. 11: nkjv; see Ex. 19:3–5). For a time, God abandoned His people because they abandoned Him, and He called them “Lo-ammi; for you are not My people, and I will not be your God” (Hos. 1: nkjv).
The nation of Israel was punished for her idolatry by being sent into Babylonian captivity. Then she was punished for rejecting her Messiah by being sent into worldwide dispersion. One day, God will summon His sons and daughters from afar, and the streets of a restored Jerusalem will be crowded with His people. “At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes” (Zeph. 3: niv).
The land of Israel will be refreshed (vv. 9–13). Haggai had rebuked the Jewish remnant because the people weren’t faithful to the Lord in their stewardship (Hag. 1). Instead of honoring the Lord and building His house, they built their own houses first, and for this sin, God disciplined them. The weather turned bad, their crops failed, and the economy became worse and worse. God wasn’t being unkind to His people; He was only being true to His covenant (Deut. 28:38–46).
But now the land would be refreshed by the Lord and the crops would grow abundantly. Laborers would get their wages and their money would be sufficient to pay their bills. The Lord would send the promised rain (Deut. 28:11–12), and the other nations would witness the blessing of the Lord on His people. Instead of being a reproach, Israel would become a witness to the glory of the Lord.
While this promise of material blessing was given primarily to the remnant in Zechariah’s day, it has its application to the future regathered and restored nation. God promises that “the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose” (Isa. 35:1) in the kingdom of Messiah.
There are two facts about material blessings that we must always keep in mind. First, we don’t obey God just to become wealthy and secure. We obey God because He is God and deserves our loving obedience. Obedience builds character, and when our character is what it ought to be, God can trust us with His blessings. Material blessings aren’t bribes, nor are they rewards. They’re God’s way of saying, “You’re maturing in godliness, and now I can give you more to use for My glory.”
Second, God doesn’t always respond with material blessings, and poverty is not a sign that God has forsaken His people. The experience of Job completely destroys this “commercial” idea of faith and obedience. Job’s friends had a “commercial” view of faith, so they encouraged Job to confess his sins so God could again make him wealthy. Bargain with God! But Job refused to do that, though he didn’t understand what the Lord was working out in his sufferings.
God’s covenant with Israel declared that He would punish them physically and materially if they disobeyed Him, but bless them if they obeyed Him (Deut. 27—28; Lev. 26). However, He has no such covenant with Christian believers today. He promises to meet all our needs (Phil. 4:19) and direct in all our circumstances (Rom. 8:28), but our riches are of a heavenly nature (Eph. 1:3). If God chooses to make some of His people wealthy, it’s that they might use what He gives them to help others (1 Tim. 6:17–19). He blesses us that we might be a blessing. However, riches are no proof of God’s special love, nor is poverty evidence that He’s forsaken us.
The covenant standards will be renewed (vv. 14–19). Whether God is dealing with His people in the Old Testament or the New Testament, His standards don’t change. The church today doesn’t live under old covenant law, but “the righteousness of the law” is still what God wants to develop in our lives (Rom. 8:1–4). “Be holy, for I am holy” is quoted from the Old Testament law for New Testament Christians (Lev. 11:44; 1 Peter 1:15–16).
God reminded His people of their obligations to speak the truth, to practice justice in the courts, to honor His name by not swearing falsely, and to love their neighbors. Of course, all the law is fulfilled in our conduct when we practice love (Rom. 13:8–10). The God of love hates sin! (See Prov. 6:16–19.) God’s dispensations may change, and He can work in different ways at different times, but His character and standards never change. He wants His people to be “a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9). “Therefore love the truth and peace” (Zech. 8:19).
In verse 18, the prophet clearly answered the question about the fasts. The day would come when Messiah would reign and all Israel’s fasts would become feasts! “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (Isa. 65:19). Zechariah and Isaiah were both saying, “Don’t live in the past tense; live in the future tense! Rejoice at the promises God gives you for a joyful future!”
The Gentiles will be redeemed (vv. 20–23). God called Abraham and established the nation of Israel so His people would witness to the Gentiles and lead them to faith in the true God (Gen. 12:1–3). In setting apart one nation, God was seeking to reach a whole world. Many of the great events in Jewish history recorded in Scripture had behind them a witness to “the whole world”: the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 9:16); the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 4:23–24); God’s blessing of the nation (Deut. 28:9–11); and even the building of the temple (1 Kings 8:42–43). When David killed Goliath, he announced that God would give him victory so “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Sam. 17:46).
But Israel failed in her mission to the Gentiles. Instead of the Gentile nations coming to worship the true God of Israel, the Jews forsook Jehovah and worshipped the false gods of the Gentile nations. The “court of the Gentiles” in Herod’s temple became a market where Jews visiting Jerusalem from other countries could exchange their money and buy approved sacrifices. However, before we criticize the Jews too much, we had better examine the track record of the church when it comes to winning the lost at home and taking the gospel to nations abroad.
When Messiah restores His people and establishes His kingdom, the Gentiles will trust the true and living God and come to Jerusalem to worship Him. Isaiah saw a river of Gentiles “flowing” into the city (Isa. 2:1–5), and Micah used the same figure (Mic. 4:1–5). Zechariah describes a scene in which ten men (a Hebrew expression for “many men”) will take hold of one Jew and beg to go with him to the temple!
It’s a wonderful thing when God so blesses His people that others want what God’s people have. “We have heard that God is with you” (Zech. 8:23). This sounds like what should happen in our local churches when an unbeliever beholds our worship of the Lord. “He will