God’s Vision For Israel – part 3
Zechariah 8:9-17
January 22, 2017
By now you’re certainly familiar with the context behind this great chapter So I don’t want to spend much time setting the stage.
We know about the delegation which came to seek God’s favor,
And we know that God is revealing to them that they already had it.
We have already seen in the first 8 verses:
1) HIS PASSION – that He is jealous for Zion
2) HIS PLAN – that He will return, remain, and renovate
3) HIS PEACE – that old men and women will sit in the streets
4) HIS POWER – that this is not too difficult for Him
5) HIS PROMISE – not only that He can, but that He will do this
Tonight we continue in this chapter as there are still 5 more realities
That God is going to reveal to these refugees
Regarding the favor that He has toward them.
Tonight, as we get back into that revelation,
I want to uncover yet another emotion that they were most likely feeling.
And that emotion is FEAR
(9) “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong…”
(13) “Do not fear; let your hands be strong.”
(15) “so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!”
Based on the things God is now saying to these people,
I think it’s obvious that fear was one of their main issues.
We should also point out exactly what they were afraid of.
And perhaps this is a surprise to you,
But the thing they feared was the LORD.
Perhaps we would immediately say, “But aren’t we supposed to fear the Lord?”
And the answer is “yes”.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
But not all fear is the same.
There is the type of fear we are commanded to have,
Which deals with awe and reverence toward God.
• We are to know that God is holy and just and will most certainly punish sinners.
• We are to know that He is worthy of all respect and admiration and glory that we could possibly give Him.
• We are not to take His commands lightly or assume that He is fine with sin.
Certainly that type of fear is commanded in Scripture and is healthy.
It is like the fear a son has of his father.
However, there is also a type of fear that is not warranted.
• We should never fear that God can’t do what He says.
• We should never fear that God won’t do what He says.
• We should never fear that God will change His mind regarding us.
• We should never fear that God is working against us instead of for us.
There is a type of fear that motivates our obedience (good fear)
And there is a type of fear that destroys our hope (bad fear)
Oddly enough Satan confuses the two quite often.
He downplays the fear that leads to obedience
(for instance telling Eve, ‘you won’t die’)
And he promotes the fear that destroys hope
(whispering in our ear that God will fail)
The fear we are dealing with in Zechariah 8 is that second type of fear,
Which is detrimental to your faith.
We are talking about that type of fear that destroys hope.
Matthew 10:29-31 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. “So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Don’t let your fear cause you to think that God doesn’t care about you.
That is fear that destroys hope.
Matthew 8:23-26 “When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.”
There it is again, it was a fear that caused them to lose hope entirely.
It is a dangerous type of fear that crushes hope and crushes faith.
Luke 8:49-50 “While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”
Hopefully you get the point.
Some fear is good, some fear is bad.
HOW DO I TELL THE DIFFERENCE?
Good fear exists when we believe the word of God.
Bad fear exists when we don’t believe the word of God.
Does that make sense?
• When God says “obey or else” and we have that fear that causes us to obey, that’s good.
• When God says “don’t worry, I’ve got this”, but we don’t believe Him and still have fear or anxiety, that’s bad.
Good fear exists when we believe the word of God.
Bad fear exists when don’t believe the word of God.
What God is dealing with here is people with the wrong kind of fear.
(That’s obvious since 3 times God tells them not to)
Their fear was because they did not understand the word of God.
In this case they were afraid to stop doing something God never commanded for fear that God would be angry with them.
What was it that they were afraid to stop doing?
That fast on the 5th month.
They had been doing out of tradition and they were afraid to stop.
We call that SUPERSTITION.
It is fear which is not based upon the word of God.
And it is the wrong kind of fear.
Incidentally, it is a very common fear in our world today thanks mostly to religion.
• How many have met Catholics who are afraid to leave Catholicism because of some fear of being excommunicated.
• How many in the cults are afraid to leave for fear of being totally cut off.
• We see people who, in the name of obedience, threaten people with the Law, or with other ordinances, telling people if they don’t do it God will be angry.
Let me give you an example:
TURN TO: COLOSSIANS 2
These people were afraid that if they didn’t keep all these ordinances and commands that God was going to be angry.
We could most definitely throw the Galatians into this boat who were even being circumcised out of fear that they were going to anger God.
(READ COLOSSIANS 2:16 – 3:4)
The Colossians were being threatened to do things God was not commanding, and they were continually doing them out of fear of God.
That sets the stage well for these refugees in Zechariah’s day.
God had never commanded a fast on the 5th month,
But these people were afraid to stop doing it out of fear of God.
(More than that they were afraid they’d lose God’s favor)
God has been telling them not to buy into all that.
• He is jealous for them
• He loves them
• He’s got a plan for them
• He’s going to care for them
His purposes for them are for their good
And they need to quit living in fear of what is not true.
That reality is the backdrop for these next two revelations from God.
We’ve looked at the first 5
#6 GOD REVEALS HIS PLEA
Zechariah 8:9-13
I love that God begins by saying “Let your hands be strong”
We know what He means by that
Because down in verse 13 He says,
“Do not fear; let your hands be strong.”
It is a reference to a person who is shaky and weak at the knees.
They are trembling in fear.
And God says “Don’t be afraid”
As a father I certainly want my kids to have a healthy fear of me,
But I don’t want them to be afraid of my plans for them.
There is a difference.
“Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to the words from the mouth of the prophets,”
STOP THERE, because it is a good indicator about their misguided fear.
How did God describe these people?
He called them “you who are listening…”
• In other words, these are obedient people.
• They are doing what God has said.
• They are listening to the prophets God has sent.
What prophets are we talking about?
“those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.”
What prophets spoke to get the people to rebuild God’s temple?
Haggai and Zechariah
Through those prophets God had issued a directive
That it was time to rebuild the temple,
And the people were doing what they were told.
And that is the point.
You have no reason to fear, you are doing what I said to do.
Look at verses 10-13
“For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another. ‘But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. ‘It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’”
This is so perfect to God’s point.
• You are now doing what I commanded, but that wasn’t always the case.
• Do you remember what it was like when you weren’t obeying?
• Do you remember what it was like “before those days”?
For this we look to the book of Haggai
Haggai 1:6-11 “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Haggai 2:15-16 “But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD, from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty.”
Haggai revealed that the reason God was angry and was punishing them
Was because they were not doing what God had commanded.
GET THIS:
• They were not fearing the LORD.
• They were not worried about His commands.
So God was punishing them.
BUT NOW, they are doing what God commanded.
After Haggai preached they got up and started rebuilding.
And the funny thing is that now, even while obedient,
They are fearing the Lord in ways that they shouldn’t be.
I punished you before because you weren’t doing what I said, (11) “But now I will treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”
• I’m not angry at you…
• I’m not punishing you…
• I’m not threatening you…
• I’m going to make peace for you.
• I’m going to give you an inheritance.
• I’m going to make you a blessing.
There is no reason for you to fear, you are doing what you are told.
And here is the simple reality.
When you walk in obedience to God
There is no reason to have anything but hope.
Fear is the last thing you should have,
For God has promised good to those who walk in obedience to Him.
So God’s plea to these people is that they not be afraid.
• He wants them to walk in hope.
• He wants them to enjoy the promise.
• He wants them to live in personal peace.
• He wants them to rejoice in God’s favor in their lives.
Imagine if you walked in to your child’s bedroom
And they were frantically organizing the close in their closet by color.
You ask them why and they say, “Because I don’t want you to be angry with me and kick me out of the house.”
You’d respond, “Who told you that?”
And they say, “Well, my sister told me I’d better do it or else, and I know that you are an organized person and so I figured they were right, please don’t be angry with me.”
And suppose while rearranging they drop a shirt on the floor
And then run to the other side of the bedroom and ball up and are shaking in fear that you are about to grab them and throw them out of the house.
You’d do everything you could to reassure them wouldn’t you?
Don’t be afraid…You didn’t do anything wrong…
That is where God is coming from.
He is reassuring a group of people
Who have been held in bondage under faulty commands.
And so His plea is for them to not fear.
#7 GOD REVEALS HIS PURPOSE
Zechariah 8:14-17
• Just as you would take your child who is trembling in the corner and tell them to stop being afraid,
• You’d also do everything you could to reassure them that your intention is not to kick them out of the house.
That is what God is doing here.
(14-15) “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!”
Let’s break this down a little because God is again using an analogy.
First He brings up a time in the past when His purpose was “to do harm”
Perhaps your trembling child brings that up.
“I remember when you kicked my older sister out of the house for what they did wrong.”
THAT’S A FAIR POINT ISN’T IT?
How can we say “I’m not going to harm you”,
When you know I did it to your older sister?
We are here saying that God wouldn’t reject His child whom He loves,
And yet we all know that God did in fact just kick her out of Jerusalem for 70 years.
But that is really the point…it was only for 70 years.
In other words, it wasn’t permanent.
GOD’S PURPOSE DIDN’T CHANGE.
Just because discipline occurred, it did not change His purpose.
If a child walks in disobedience, then certainly they should fear the punishment…that’s the purpose of punishment; to correct bad behavior.
But even a child under discipline
Should never fear a change of God’s purpose.
And this is so easy to illustrate.
• On the day when God was the angriest at Israel.
• On the day when He was as provoked as we have ever seen Him.
• On the day when He was whistling for Babylon to come on in to Jerusalem.
Do you remember what God said to Israel?
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
What was that?
It was God saying, discipline is necessary,
But My purpose for you has not changed.
Rather, discipline is a necessary process
For HOW I plan to fulfill My purpose in you.
God’s purpose involved them seeking Him and finding Him.
Discipline was necessary to fulfill that purpose.
See, the child who is currently huddled in the corner and afraid
That you’re going to send them away like you did their older brother…
CLEARLY DOES NOT UNDERSTAND GOD’S PURPOSE.
1) They were disobedient, whereas you are not.
2) They were only sent away that I might bring them back, not that I might be rid of them
So understand that.
Beyond that I want you to understand what God is saying here.
God is making a point about how
When He purposes to do something He always does it.
In verse 14 God speaks of a time when He purposed to “to do harm” to Israel.
• That was in response to their idolatry,
• God determined to punish Israel,
• And nothing could turn Him away from that.
Let me show you how resolved God was to this once He purposed it.
FIRST, let me show you when God made the decision that He was going to harm Israel.
2 Kings 21:10-15 “Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. ‘I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ‘I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.'”
• Manasseh was a wicked king who led Israel into all sorts of idolatry and immorality
• During his reign God made up His mind that He was going to punish Israel.
He purposed it in his heart that discipline was necessary.
But do you remember who was king after Manasseh?
Do you remember Manasseh’s grandson?
His name was Josiah.
2 Kings 22:1-2 “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. He did right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.”
In fact Josiah cleaned house of idolatry.
It started with a determination to repair God’s temple.
As they repaired it they found the book of the Law.
And when Josiah read it, it profoundly impacted him.
2 Kings 22:11-13 “When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant saying, “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
• Then Josiah burned all the utensils of worship for Baal and Asherah.
• He did away with all the idolatrous priests in Judah
• He did away with everyone who burned incense to Baal
• He burned the Asherah
• He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes
• He defiled all the high places and broke them down
• He defiled Topheth (which is where children were passed through the fire)
• He did away with the horses which had been consecrated to the sun
• He burned the chariots of the sun with fire
• He smashed all the pagan altars which Manasseh and the other kings had made.
• He even broke down high places that Solomon had built for his pagan wives.
• He even destroyed the altar Jeroboam had made at Bethel and defiled it
• He cleared out all the high places in Samaria
• He slaughtered all the pagan priests of the land
• He came back and commanded the people to celebrate the Passover
• And the Passover he kept had not been done since the time of the Judges
• He removed the spiritists and mediums from the land
The point is, Josiah turned Israel around like you can’t imagine.
But God had already purposed to do harm to Israel
During the days of Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh.
So let me read to you what it says after Josiah did all those great things.
2 Kings 23:25-27 “Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.'”
In fact, through Jeremiah, God said this:
Jeremiah 15:1-4 “Then the LORD said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”‘ “I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. “I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”
Now what do you learn there about when God says that He purposes to do something?
You learn that He will do it and nothing can change His mind.
Now notice what He says to these refugees in Zechariah’s day.
(14-15) “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!”
Why would God say that to these refugees?
• Because He wants them to stop being afraid.
• He wants them to walk in faith.
• He wants them to rejoice in hope.
What a glorious day it is when we realize
That God has purposed to do us good.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Did you catch that “called according to His purpose” part?
It’s not about what we deserve, it’s about what He has purposed to do.
Our hope and our security rest in the fact that
God has purposed to do good to us, regardless of what we deserve.
Ephesians 1:11 “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,”
Ephesians 3:11 “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,”
2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”
That is what God is telling these refugees here.
• I did in fact purpose to harm your fathers.
• I did it for disciplinary purposes in order to purify them.
• Now I purpose to do you good.
And I will accomplish My purposes.
Especially since you are walking in obedience.
But then comes an almost contradictory couple of verses.
(16-17) “These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. ‘Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the LORD.”
Just after God tries to quiet them down
He turns right around and gives them four more commands.
They aren’t new, we’re familiar with them.
• “speak truth to one another”
• “judge with truth and judgment”
• Do not “devise evil in your heart against another”
• “do not love perjury”
And God gives those commands with this stipulation,
“for all these are what I hate” declares the LORD.”
And we back up and say, “See! God does want us to be afraid.”
“He may say He purposes good for us, but one slip up here and He’ll be just as mad at us and will kick us out too!”
It almost reads like that doesn’t it?
Do you know why we read it wrong?
Because we don’t understand the meaning of the word “good”
In verse 15 God said “I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem”
And we take the liberty of filling in what that “good” should look like.
We say, “Aha!” It’s wealth, and health, and prosperity, and our football team will win state, and sheep will bear twins, and our cat will quit getting pregnant, etc.
But we don’t get the liberty of defining what “good” is.
Only God gets that right.
• And “good” for God does not mean comfort or wealth or even health.
• “good” for God means holiness.
Do you understand that what He did to Jerusalem when He destroyed it was good? It was because it broke them of idolatry.
God’s discipline did not change God’s purpose, it helped fulfill it.
What He is reminding these refugees of here is that they have no reason to fear because His purpose for them is always good.
Now it is true that sometimes “good” does involve punishment,
But not for those who walk in obedience.
So, “speak the truth”, “judge with truth”, don’t “devise evil”, “and do not love perjury”
It’s not because these things will change God’s purpose,
It’s just that these things might affect
How He brings that purpose to fruition.
And that is what I’d pass on to you tonight.
As part of God’s church, God has purposed to do good to us
And He has done that through Christ Jesus.
Do not fear that that will ever change.
The only fear you should have
Is that which you leads you to believe God’s word.
The fear that causes you not to believe God’s word
Is the wrong kind of fear.
God has purposed to us good.
You never have to fear that He will change His mind.
