Image: "Walking Among Us", 2018, North Shore Sunset, Oahu, Hi
Zechariah 1:2–3 “The LORD has been very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 2:5 For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ”
Zechariah 2:10–11 “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the LORD. 11 “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
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A few years back Frank Peretti published "This Present Darkness" and its sequels which enjoyed great success among Evangelicals in our country and perhaps worldwide. I cannot endorse the theology enthusiastically but they did make an impact on me in one regard. Peretti brought home the reality of spiritual beings, good and bad, that inhabit our creation along with us and who certainly exert influences on us and the world about us. He built on the very Biblical theme that reality does not consist of just what we can see. In Jacob's vision, he saw a ladder coming down from heaven with angels descending and ascending to do the Lord's will. (Gen. 28:11) Our Lord (John 1:51) applied this "ladder" metaphor to Himself. The letter to the Hebrews treats the presence of angels among us in a most matter-of-fact manner. (Heb. 1:14) I think that we moderns, in our very sterile and overly materialistic worldview, do not take this concept seriously enough. Sometimes, even Christians are a bit uncomfortable with testimony given of "angelic" interventions in ordinary lives. The ancients, Zechariah included, had no doubts about it. Neither does God.
Zechariah saw a gathering of such beings mounted on horses in a vision of myrtle trees. They reported to the Angel of the LORD, Whom I take to be the pre-incarnate Christ and made this solemn pronouncement: Zechariah 1:10–11 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.” 11 So they answered the Angel of the LORD, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.”
This vision strikes us as unusual. We don't read often of the "earth resting quietly" especially during Zechariah's days. The Persians were in firm control with the strong king Darius on their throne. As such, they had restored a measure of stability to the world scene and, as we know, Cyrus and Darius were somewhat sympathetic to the exiled Israelites and allowed them to return to their homeland. We might see a parallel here to the Pax Romana that settled the Roman Empire during the days of Augustus Caesar and we know that this was the stage for our Lord's birth in Bethlehem. What I think we should consider is that God's sovereign guidance of world history is conducted through both direct actions by the Holy Spirit and also through secondary means such as men and angels. Perhaps we might begin to incorporate this well-documented Biblical theme into our ordinary expectations and understanding as we seek to judge our world and our lives in it.
Notice how God views the overall situation in Zechariah 1:15: I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped—but with evil intent.” Here we have a very similar situation to Joseph's brothers selling him into captivity. They meant it for evil but God meant it for good. God is saying here that this present period of "peace" was indeed brought about by those pagan "nations" who were then "at ease." But far from gaining merit before God, they were actually just tools in His hands. "They 'helped'-- but with evil intent." They were used to set the stage for God to "return to Jerusalem with mercy" (1:16). It was time to re-establish His people in Zion and to rebuild His temple. Here the Israelites themselves would be, through angelic "help" and with God's direct oversight, again be constituted as a separate nation on the earth. But we must not see this as an end unto itself. God is preparing the world for the advent of His Son and the Jews and Jerusalem would occupy a primary stage on which this was to transpire.
What God goes on to promise here is that this restoration would be preserved until His plans for it were accomplished. He would be "a wall of fire all around her" (2:5) preserving her and sustaining her and protecting her during the tumultuous times that yet lay ahead. Even when the Persians fell to Alexander the Great and Rome itself invaded and occupied Palestine, yet Jerusalem was not reduced to rubble. Indeed, under Roman rule, she was given some special privileges. This was all God's doing and we can be sure that His angels were doing His will in moving men and nations as He directed.
The whole world is put on notice at this point. When God re-established Jerusalem the world should recognize that something special was going on. True enough, the Jews did not recognize the Lord's Presence among them because He did not show forth His glory in the rebuilt temple as He did before. Also, He did not raise up Godly kings and priests to guide them in restored authentic worship and obedience as He did in the past. But God did again "dwell in (their) midst." (2:11) His special preserving care for His visible Church was present even in their ignorance and stumbling.
God is still in the midst of His visible Church today. True, it is no longer the ethnic people of Israel who can claim that privilege. It is the Church of Jesus Christ that is now the new Jerusalem and into it are streaming all those, in every nation, who have heard the Good News and recognize that "all flesh" should be silent before Him. (2:13)
We Christians need to adopt a much more spiritually tuned world view in order to truly appreciate this.
Zechariah 3 & 4: Behold, I Am Doing Great Things...
Image: "Foretaste of Heaven", 2018, North Beach Scene, Oahu, HI
Zechariah 3:4 Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
Zechariah 3:8 ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
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Sometimes we are tempted to think: "It's just too hard!" We want to achieve some significant goal, or undertake a great, important task, and as we get started the problems mount, we discover our own deficiencies, and we just want to give up. Then Satan really gets in our head. We start hearing the serpent's hiss the discouraging word. We find ourselves more concerned with "blame" than solutions, and we know that we're in trouble.
This situation faced Joshua (the high priest) and Zerubbabel (the governor) as they undertook to build the Lord's temple. The people had lost enthusiasm (Haggai 1:2) and there was constant opposition from the surrounding peoples who feared a resurgent Judah. It was exactly here that God spoke to them and called His people and their leaders to a renewed dedication and renewed hope in their efforts.
As is always the case, we see the religious leader, Joshua (parallel to Jesus) being tempted and accused by Satan. (3:1) The key to uniting the people of God together unto some great work, or perhaps, any good work, is that they be inspired to the task. This is where the minister comes in. He is to lead the people into a vision of God's glory inherent in the work before them. Satan, of course, knows this and as he did with Jesus and as he does with every zealous shepherd of God's flock, he undertakes to undermine the man. Here we are told that he comes before "the Angel of the LORD" (Whom I take to be the pre-incarnate Christ) with intent to "oppose" Joshua. Our Lord, in an action beautifully descriptive of how all sinners are justified, rebukes Satan and then turns to Joshua and cleanses him of all his iniquity and dresses him in "rich robes" of righteousness. (3:4)
Brothers and sisters is this not a terrifically "great thing?" How can any man not be inspired to undertake great works for the Lord when he truly knows what the Lord has done for him? To have Satan silenced, to have all his accusations flung in the trash or, better metaphor, "nailed to the cross so that we bear them no more", is gloriously astonishing in its scope. This is all done before we ever even get started on good works! How can any sane individual think that some "good work" on our part moves God to grant us grace? Justification, the declaration that we are righteous before God, is the foundation of our good works and the only claim we have to His eternal blessings.
God then gives Joshua even more encouragement. Joshua and his "companions", fellow servants, are to be a "wondrous sign," a signal of something ahead. God is using them and the work that they will complete to foreshadow another great "thing." He will bring forth, in time and space, His "Servant the Branch." This pregnant description was well known to Joshua and the other religious leaders. The "Branch" was, of course, the Messianic Son of David Who would come and complete the work that this temple Joshua was building was to be a "stone." Joshua is here told that this work means far more than just restoring worship to God's Old Covenant people. It was a building block in God's purpose of building a New Covenant people who would fulfill the promise this temple represented. How could Joshua not have thrilled in enthusiasm for the difficult job that lay ahead. It was truly God doing a "great thing."
In chapter 4 God speaks to the other partner in this great work, Zerubbabel. It was he, as Governor, who had to maintain order and provide the finances and organization for the work. He also must have been discouraged and who can blame him? If he failed then there were real world consequences that would descend on him from the Babylonian court. So, I imagine Zerubbabel was pulling out his hair. How could he make it happen. He was surrounded by a "great mountain" of difficulties (4:7) and God tells him, plain as day, that this mountain would become a "plain." What appeared astonishingly difficult to him would, when undertaken, to be not only possible but not as hard as he expected.
How was this to be understood? God tells him plainly. These difficulties will not be removed by (your) might or power, "but by My Spirit." All Zerubbabel had to do, as every minister of God discovers, is "show up." He had to place himself in the Lord's service, do the tasks immediately before him and discover, amazingly enough, that God would bring the fruit of success. Any good work, that is, a work that is undertaken for the glory of God and in accordance with His leading, will be conducted in the Lord's Spirit.
This is truly a great thing.
Much more can be said about these chapters but this will have to suffice. They serve to remind us that this life is hard and Satan is always there, seeking to discourage us, but the great truth is, that God is the one who not only saves but inspires and empowers us to our tasks. We just need to embrace that truth and rejoice in it.
Posted by Gadfly on September 30, 2020 at 10:06 AM in Church, Commentary, Devotional Meditation, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0)
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