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As we come to chs 9 & 10 of Zechariah it might be helpful
to know that the book is divided into 3 parts: |
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1-6:
Visions God says: |
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- return to me and I
will return to you
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- bring the nations
to Jerusalem to worship
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7&8:
Teaching. God says: |
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- I will bring the
nations back with you
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9-14:
Prophecy. God says, I will: |
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- bring all nations
to Jerusalem to worship me.
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Notice
that each section says basically the same thing though in
different ways. Notice especially, that each section ends
with the same theme, of the nations coming to Jerusalem
to worship. That indicates fairly clearly that this is a
fairly important theme in the book, since each section
ends with it. |
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Well, as
we begin to look at Chs 9 & 10 we discover that they
form a parallel. Two different prophecies with the same
message. In ch 9 the prophecy is of God the warrior,
while in ch 10 it's of God the shepherd. Each chapter has
three sections. The first shows God coming to overthrow
those who are opposed to him, the second describes how
his appointed leader will take his place over the people,
and the third describes how the rule of God will extend
to the whole earth until all those who were cut off have
been brought back to worship God in Jerusalem. |
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So lets
have a look at these 2 chapters. |
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In ch
9:1-8 we begin with God the warrior coming through the
holy land from north to south and ending up in Jerusalem.
If you'd been in our Tuesday night bible study recently,
you might notice a resemblance between these verses and
the description in Joshua 10 & 11 of the initial
conquest of the land. God the warrior will begin in
Hadrach, Hamath and Damascus in the north, then he'll
work his way south via Tyre and Sidon, down to the
Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod,
until he comes to Jerusalem. |
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He's
coming through the land, ending up at Jerusalem to defend
his house, the Temple and in the process, defeating the
enemies of God's people. But it isn't just destroying his
enemies, notice. Have a look at v7: "I will make an
end of the pride of Philistia. 7I will take
away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from
between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like
the Jebusites." Although God is conquering his
enemies, some of them will turn away from their idol
worship to worship the true and living God, just as the
people of Jerusalem had done, when the Israelites first
came into the land and they too will be incorporated into
the people of God. |
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Then in
ch 9:9 we find these words that are so familiar from the
NT: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout
aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a
donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Here we
have this wonderful picture of God's anointed king
entering Jerusalem, triumphant, yet humble, to bring in
the reign of God, to bring peace, an end to war, to the
whole world, because his rule will cover the whole world.
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Just
think for a moment how this would have sounded to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem at this time. This would have
been revolutionary teaching. You see Jerusalem didn't
have a king. It only had a governor, appointed by Darius
who was King of the whole empire. But Zechariah here
announces that another King is coming, who will in fact
overthrow the nations roundabout, including, presumably,
Persia. In fact, in v10 we learn the extent of the King's
reign: "His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and
from the River to the ends of the earth." |
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And what
will this King do? (vs 11-16) As we read on we find God
the warrior bringing the prisoners back, from wherever
they are in exile, to Jerusalem. The nation will be
restored. Again they'll conquer the nations around them.
Nothing will be able to stand in their way. In vs14 &
15 the language is that of the exodus: the LORD will
appear over them, there'll be lightning, trumpets and
whirlwinds. |
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Notice
too, the basis on which he acts. v11: It's because of the
blood of the covenant that he'll free them. God hasn't
forgotten the promise he made to them. No, the warrior
God will achieve his purpose, he'll fulfill his promise,
and bring his people back. |
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So the
message of ch 9 is that God the warrior King will defeat
the nations, present his king to Jerusalem and bring the
prisoners back from exile. |
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Ch 10 has
a similar outline: vs 1-3 God attacks, not the nations,
but the false leaders of his own people. He says, ask God
for rain, he's the one who provides the harvest. But
what's been happening? The leaders of the people have let
them down. They've turned to idols and diviners with the
result that the people are misled. They wander like sheep
without a shepherd. So what will God do? He'll punish the
leaders and he'll care for his flock himself. |
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And in v4
he'll raise a leader, a cornerstone, a tent peg, a battle
bow, a commander. This is a direct parallel of the coming
of the King in 9:9. |
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Then in
10:6-12 we have another picture of God bringing his
people back from exile - this time including the northern
kingdom as well. It's like the picture we saw in ch 8,
it's a vast reclamation process, again using the language
of the exodus, so vast in fact that the land won't be big
enough to hold them all. |
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Well, as
we saw a couple of weeks ago, this is a theme that runs
right through the whole Bible and of course is a major
theme in the NT. Eph 2:13 says this: "But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ." God is bringing his
people back to him and in the process is bringing back
people of every nation. |
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And how
does he do it? Well, these 2 chapters of Zechariah tell
us don't they? They both speak of God coming to rule the
nations and his own people; both talk of a God who
provides a ruler from Judah; both speak of a God who
brings his people back from exile. |
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You see
the great picture in Zechariah is of a God who wants to,
and is able to bring people back to himself. Notice, in
ch 10 it's God who takes initiative. He says "I
will" over and over again. I will strengthen the
house of Judah; I will save the house of Joseph; I will
bring them back; I will answer them; I will signal for
them and gather them in; I will bring them home from the
land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; I will bring
them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, I will make
them strong in the LORD. |
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This is
something we all need to hear isn't it?. We're all people
who have wandered away from God. Some of you will
remember those words from the confession in the old
prayer book: "we have strayed from your ways like
lost sheep." That's so accurate isn't it? We so
often feel like people who have wandered from God's ways;
who are scattered; who are distant from God. If you look
around you as you go about your daily life, you'll see
many people who have wandered a long, long way from God;
people who don't even know which way to turn, let alone
how to take a step towards God. That's why this picture
of a God who can draw people from anywhere, after any
length of time, who is powerful enough to overcome the
obstacles that stand in their way ("You who were
once far off have been brought near through the blood of
Christ"), and who takes the initiative in drawing
people back to himself, this picture of the gathering God
is such a powerful one for our world today. You see, my
need is to be gathered to God, and your need is for God
to gather you and the great need of those around you,
your neighbours and friends, is for God to gather them to
himself, to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ. How will
this come about? By the blood of Jesus Christ, Paul says.
Zechariah says it's by the blood of the covenant. Do you
see, it's the same blood. |
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And of
course this picture of a gathering God isn't just a
picture of what God is doing today or in Zechariah's
time. It's also a picture of the last day when the angels
will go out to the four ends of the earth to gather in
the elect. Listen to what Isaiah had to say about that:
(Isaiah 60:1-5 NRSV) "Arise, shine; for your light
has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2For
darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the
peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory
will appear over you. 3Nations shall come to
your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4Lift
up your eyes and look around; they all gather together,
they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and
your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms. 5Then
you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and
rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be
brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to
you." |
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So here
we have two powerful chapters revealing God the Warrior,
God the Shepherd, God who sends his King, his Messiah to
rule in peace over all peoples. By the way, don't miss
the context in which this picture of the coming Messiah
appears - it appears in the great context of the awesome
power of God. |
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First we
see God the warrior King, 9:1-8, then we have this
picture of the King, the Messiah, in vs 9, coming in
humility and gentleness. First a great picture of the
power and majesty and rule of God, and then a picture of
the manner in which God's King comes - humble &
having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey. Now let
me ask you, which picture attracts you the most. The
warrior God or the Messiah who comes in humility, in
weakness and vulnerability? If we were living a hundred
or so years ago, in the age of conquest, it would
probably have been the former, the warrior king. But
these days most of us prefer the latter. The one who
comes in humility and patience and gentleness. |
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But you
see, you can't take 9:9 away from the rest of 9&10.
Here we have a great picture of the way God in his power
and majesty achieves his purpose of establishing his rule
over all the world. If you miss this then you miss the
way God's program, God's plan for the world, the great
program of God the warrior, God the Shepherd, is achieved
through the humble king. If all you think about is the
humble king, you'll miss the fact that this humble king
is achieving the powerful plan of God. You'll
misunderstand the coming of Jesus. And you'll probably
also concentrate on the first coming of Jesus and forget
about his second coming, with all the majesty of God the
warrior and God the Shepherd, to judge the world. |
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Well,
what do we do with this great picture of God the warrior
and God the shepherd and God's Messiah, God's King. |
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Well,
first we see that the events of Zechariah's time, of the
return from exile are parallels first of all to the
exodus, and secondly to the comings of Jesus. We've
already noticed how Zechariah uses the language of the
exodus in speaking of the return from exile. That's to
encourage them to remember that just as God won the
victory then, so he'll win the victory now. |
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But
Zechariah also looks forward to what God will do not just
in Jerusalem and the Holy Land but to what God will do
throughout the whole earth. If God can rule the land of
Israel, in the NT we discover that he'll rule the whole
earth. |
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Next,
what do we learn here about God? |
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Well, we
learn about God and history. We learn that history isn't
just a cycle of cause and effect. The things that happen
in history aren't just random events. No, they're His
story - God's story. It's God who's been acting all the
way through. We may think God is absent, that God is
distant, that God is doing nothing, but in the end when
the books are opened we'll see that it's God who's been
running the world. |
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God and
grace. The exiles are a great picture of failure aren't
they? They're God's people who had abandoned God. Did God
abandon them? No. He brought them back again. Why?
Because he's a God of grace and compassion. If you're
someone who's wandered away from God you can take heart
that God wants to bring you back, and he is bringing you
back. |
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God and
covenant. Is God an erratic God, a fickle God? No, God is
a constant God; a God who keeps his promises; who keeps
his word, who's faithful to his people despite their
faithlessness. |
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God and
the nations: they're no effective opposition to the plan
of God. If you read Zech 9&10 you could never doubt
that God will achieve his purposes. |
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God and
his ruler, the Lord Jesus: "Now in Christ Jesus you
who were far off have been brought near, through the
blood of Christ. |
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Finally
what's our response to this powerful picture of a
powerful God? Well, what response does Zechariah expect
from the people of God? 9:9 "rejoice, shout, for Lo,
your King comes to you." |
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I often
get people ringing me up to ask me to support their
favourite program or cause, or to promote it within the
Parish. And they're almost always incredibly passionate
about it. They're usually good enough programs, worthy
enough causes, but rarely do I feel the sort of passion
that they obviously have. So I have to try to sound at
least mildly interested. Now I imagine that must be
terribly frustrating for these people. The worst thing
you can encounter if you're passionate about something is
indifference. Someone saying "Well, yes, I'm sure
you're right. I hope you can get somewhere with
that." I probably shouldn't admit this but one of my
passions is the music of Peter, Paul & Mary. Well, I
remember a few years ago getting their latest CD for
Christmas and no-one else wanted to listen to it. So I
had to go and listen to it all on my own. It was very
frustrating. |
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Well, let
me ask you, what has God done in Zechariah? He's declared
his passion for his name and for his people. Turn back to
Zech 1:3: "Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD
of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I
will return to you." |
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Or 1:14:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am very jealous for
Jerusalem and for Zion." |
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Or 2:8:
"the one who touches you touches the apple of my
eye." |
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Or 2:12:
"The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the
holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem" |
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Or 3:2:
"The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you,
O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke
you!" |
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Or 8:2:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion
with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great
wrath." |
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Or 8:3:
"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." |
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What's
God doing here? He's telling us of his passion. He's
saying my love for you is passionate. I'm jealous for
you. I want your good, whatever it takes. I'm not an
indifferent God or a remote God. I'm passionate about
you, my covenant people, and I want to do good for you.
That's why the response called for here is 'rejoice and
shout'. It calls for a passionate response. |
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How do
you respond to the passion of God? Do you give it an
intellectual assent? "Oh yes, it's really good that
God is going to save all people." Or are you
passionate about it? |
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Will you
respond to God's passion for you, with your passion for
God? Will you respond to God's passion for the world with
your passion for those around you who are headed for
eternal judgement if they don't come to Jesus Christ for
salvation? I was thinking about this last week after the
AGM. I was trying to work out why our outreach isn't that
effective. And one reason I came up with, among others,
was that we're not really committed to winning our
friends to Christ. We're not passionate about it. We're
not setting out to win them. Oh, it'd be nice if we had a
few more people in Church, we think, but there's not much
we can do about it. And it won't really matter if they
don't come. But God says, "I'm jealous for my
people. I'm passionate about those who are estranged from
me. I long to bring them back!" God is so passionate
about us that even while we were still sinners while we
were his enemies, he sent Christ to die for us. Will you
match that passion of God for those who are separated
from him, by setting out to bring them to know Jesus
Christ in a personal way? Will you look around you and
select, say, 3 people for whom you'll pray consistently
that they'll come to know Christ; who you'll talk to
about your faith in Christ, who you'll invite to outreach
events that we might hold; who you'll invite to guest
services, or just our ordinary Sunday services, until
they come to know Christ in that personal way. That would
be an appropriate response to the passion of God for his
people wouldn't it? |
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Rejoice
greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter
Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and
victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey. |
