As we come to chapters 7&8 of Zechariah we move from an account Zechariah’s visions to the central narrative section of the book. Here we’re no longer dealing with images, but with issues the nation needs to grapple with: of true or false worship, of what God has done and what he will do with his people, of who they’ll serve, who they’ll obey.
Two years have passed since the first set of visions. Things are under way with the rebuilding of the Temple and so, quite naturally, the people are beginning to wonder about the validity of some of their worship practices. In particular they’re interested in the fast that was held in the 5th month to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem. This was introduced as a way of expressing their grief at the fall of Jerusalem and their prayer that God would forgive them and restore the city again. But now that the city has been rebuilt, and the temple is almost finished, they’re wondering whether they should keep these up. So the people of Bethel, in the north, send a deputation to Jerusalem to put the question to Zechariah and the priests.
Well, the priests obviously can’t answer the question so they come to Zechariah. When they ask him the question they get more than they bargained for. Zechariah takes their question and uses it as the basis for a sermon that spans chs 7&8 and that addresses God’s concerns for his people. You could summarise the sermon, and indeed the point of this sermon with two sentences, one from 7:14: "I scattered them." and the other from 8:8: "I will bring them back". And I hope you’re aware that these two sentences in fact summarise one of those big themes of the Bible. One of those themes that run all the way through the biblical revelation. Later on we’ll have a look at how that theme is repeated through the whole bible.
Well, the people have come to Zechariah to ask about this fast, so let’s look at what he says to them. (Zec 7:4-7) "Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: 5Say to all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? 6And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink only for yourselves? 7Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, along with the towns around it, and when the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?" They were fasting religiously every 5th month. They were celebrating the various feasts in the Jewish calendar, but they’d lost sight of what they were doing it for. Notice, by the way, that when they want to know what God thinks, when they want to know how to worship God correctly, the place Zechariah points them to is outside themselves, to what God has done and said in history. He points them to the words of the prophets like Isaiah and Amos, and to the events of their history. That’s an important lesson for us at a time when the prevailing religious view is that if you want to know how to worship God the way to find out is to look within yourself .
In fact Zechariah’s answer has a surprisingly modern ring about it, doesn’t it? How much religious observance that goes on around the world today has its origin in the need of the worshipper to feel a sense of spiritual connection rather than in a desire to do what God wants. How much worship is done for the sake of the worshipper and not for God? It doesn’t seem to matter what our particular inclination is. It’s so easy to look at our worship and ask whether we’re getting what we want from it. How often do you hear someone say something like, "I just don’t seem to get what I want out of worship" or the other way around, "What I want out of worship is ..." But God reminds us here that when we come to worship it should be with God in our minds, not our own likes and dislikes. What’s primary in our corporate worship is the body of Christ with whom we’re joining and the word of God proclaimed in our liturgy and in the preaching of his word. Doug and I were talking this week about the danger of using a liturgy week after week, in that the repetition can make us forget the significance of what we’re doing and saying. The words become something safe and comfortable and so carry the danger that they simply serve to make us feel good about being in church. Instead we need to take the words we use and make them significant each time we use them. So each time we say the words of the confession, let’s make sure we’ve thought about what we’re confessing before we do it; let’s make sure we’re thinking about how seriously God takes our sin, let’s be aware that our sin affects those around us, and so it’s appropriate that we confess our sins together.
Going on to what Zechariah says next, how many Christians are there who fail to make the connection between their Sunday worship and the rest of their lives? What someone has called the Sunday-Monday connection. "The word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying: 9Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; 10do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another." Now this wasn’t a new message. Isaiah had said exactly the same thing: (Isa 58:6-7 NRSV) "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?" The point he’s making is that it’s no good claiming to worship God on the Sabbath, or in our case on a Sunday and then go out on Monday and do things that God hates. If we really claim to worship him we should be seeking the sorts of things he seeks: justice, integrity, fairness, faithfulness in our relationships.
Because look at the objective evidence of history, at what happened to Israel when they failed to do it: "they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. 12They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts." If you want to ignore the word of God here’s a great way to do it isn’t it? Turn a stubborn shoulder, turn your back on God; stick your fingers in your ears; make your heart adamant, that is as hard as flint. Not that any of us would ever be like that! Perhaps on occasion. Well, be careful if you are because God might give you what you ask for. These are terrible words aren’t they? "Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts." If people refuse to listen to God when he speaks, they can hardly expect him to listen when they call to him, can they? I must say I’m always amazed when I hear someone who’s never had any time for God, complaining that God doesn’t fix things up for them. Why would anyone expect God to look out for them if they constantly ignore him? And the result of the people of Israel ignoring God wasn’t just that he ignored them when they called on him. No, he also scattered them like a whirlwind, among all the nations so that the land was left desolate.
But thankfully that wasn’t the end. Again "The word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying: 2Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath." Or "I am burning with jealousy for her." "3Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts shall be called the holy mountain. 4Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. 5And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." God is going to do something about his scattered people, but notice what it is that motivates God. It isn’t the repentance of the people, notice. No, it’s that he’s jealous for Zion. He’s jealous for his holy city Jerusalem. In fact what he’s jealous for is his holy name. Zion is the city that bears the Lord’s name. It’s the city of the great King. But his zeal for Zion inevitably results in a zeal for the inhabitants of that city. And so he’s going to call them back. He’s going to restore the glory of his city. He’s going to establish peace and prosperity for its inhabitants. No longer will people die from wars and famine, from now on they’ll live to an old age. So long in fact that they’ll need walking sticks. The city will be teeming with young children. In other words family life will be restored to normal. No longer will the husbands be sent off to war so they’re not around to father children.
But while this picture of peace and prosperity is wonderful, let’s not skip over the fact that this will all come about by the grace of God. He’ll initiate it because he cares for his name and for his covenant people, not because they’ve suddenly become worthy of it. Mind you, they will have to live up to God’s expectations if they want to remain there. "These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, 17do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, says the LORD." There’s still a covenant requirement of faithfulness on them.
Finally notice just how wonderful the grace of God is. Ch 8 contains a list of promise upon promise of the way God will restore peace and prosperity to Israel and in among all these promises we discover a wonderful thing. God has scattered his people among all the nations and now he’s going to gather them back again. But not just the people who are in exile in Babylon, this in-gathering will include the house of Israel as well. He’s going to bring them back from the east and the west. You see, when Assyria conquered Israel, the northern kingdom, their policy was to relocate the exiles all over world. Divide and conquer was their basic principle. But God was going to seek them out as well and bring them back. And it’s even better than that. As Tim Shaw would say, "There’s more!" God’s grace extends not just to the peoples of Judah and Israel but look at what will happen then. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, the inhabitants of many cities; 21the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, "Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going." 22Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the LORD. 23Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, ’Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’" So what we discover is that there was a greater purpose in God’s scattering of the people of Israel and Judah. That was that all the peoples of the world might be brought back with them.
God has scattered his people in judgement, but now as he brings them back, by his grace, that grace is extended to all people everywhere. That of course is what began to happen on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up to preach to people from all over the world about Jesus. And it continues to happen as people today go into the world to preach the gospel. People who are far from God are called back to him. It can happen in our own experience, as we wander from God from time to time, and God calls us back to him, through Christian friends, or through reading his word, or even through our personal circumstances. God is a God who calls people back to him even when they’ve rebelled against him. That’s the wonderful thing about God’s grace, about the gospel of God’s grace: that while we were still enemies Christ died for us.
Well, lets spend a few moments now having a look through the bible at how this big bible theme comes out. Would you first turn to Gen 11:1-9 (p9). Here we find the inhabitants of Shinar, that is, Babylon, building a great tower to make a name for themselves, in order not to be scattered. But God comes down and does just that. He scatters them abroad over the face of all the earth. Then turn to the next chapter, Gen 12. Here we find the beginning of God calling people back to him as he makes a covenant with Abram to bring Abram to the promised land, and as a result all the nations are to be brought into the blessing of this covenant. Next, Deut 4:25-30 (p164): "When you have had children and children’s children, and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and provoking him to anger, 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27The LORD will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the LORD will lead you. ... 29From there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. 30In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the LORD your God and heed him."
Jump to Ezek 34:1-6: (p826) "The word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them--to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. 6My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them." Then in v 10: "Thus says the Lord GOD, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them. 11For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness." Does that remind you of something? (Luke 15:3-7 NRSV) "So he told them this parable: 4"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ’Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." And of course Jesus said he was the good shepherd.
Finally, look at Eph 2:12&13 (p184) "remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
So here is one of the great messages of the Bible: God is a God who scatters those who oppose him, but who brings back those who belong to him.
Are you someone who needs to be brought near to God? Well, be ready! God is seeking you out. Listen to him when he calls, and respond to him. What could be better than for the God of the universe to be calling you to come to him, to be offering you his grace and forgiveness. When he calls don’t ignore him. Come to him. Have you wandered from God? God is calling you back to him. Let’s all give thanks that God doesn’t leave us in our sin but constantly calls us back to him. Let’s thank him that he calls us into a congregation like this, where we can be supported and encouraged as we seek to worship God with our whole lives. And let’s pray that he’d enable us to be strong. To speak the truth to one another, to render judgments that are true and make for peace, not to devise evil in our hearts against one another, not lie to one another, but to show kindness and mercy to one another.
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