Yesterday the Lord had a word for the people who had been observing fasts in the wrong spirit. He did not say they could not continue observe a fast to commemorate the destruction of the temple. although He never commanded them to do so. He was not finding fault with the idea of the fasting itself, but with the spirit in which it was done. Their mourning on that day was a mourning for what they had lost politically and materially, but the Lord wanted to help them to realize they should be mourning for what they had lost spiritually.
We have been created to desire fellowship with our Creator more than anything else. The first commandment the Lord gave is, "You shall have no other gods before Me," and gods don't necessarily have to be graven images. They can be anything that is more important to us than the Lord. In yesterday's passage the Lord asked the people to stop and think about why they were fasting and mourning. He asks this because He wants to help them. He knows that if they place Him in His proper place in their lives, all other things will fall into their proper places.
Nevertheless, though they have failed at times to make God the only god in their lives (as we all have at one time or another), He yearns to bless them. He intends to bless them. Chapter 8, which we will have to study in two parts, deals with God's undying love for Israel and His unbreakable promises to her.
Zechariah says, "The word of the Lord Almighty came to me." (Zechariah 8:1) Amen! What a wonderful thing it is when the word of God leaps off the page and speaks directly to us in our situation. How refreshing it is when hope springs up anew in our souls.
"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.'" (Zechariah 8:2) I think one of the best ways to express this thought is to compare it to the overwhelming love a parent feels for a child. Those of you who are parents, don't your hearts burn for your children? Don't you want the absolute best for them? When they are happy, you rejoice with them. When they are hurt, you are hurt. When they stray from the family or from the faith, aren't you like the father of the prodigal son who stands outside every day looking down the road hoping to see that wayward child on his way home? This is how the Lord feels about Israel. He says, "I love Israel so much that My heart is almost bursting. I will bless her not because she has always done what is right, but because My love compels Me to extend mercy to her." Isn't that how you feel about your children? Even when they've been disobedient, you don't disown them. You still love them. What you want most is to be in close relationship with them and to see them prosper.
God's love won't allow Him to disown these people who have, at times, disowned Him. "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.'" (Zechariah 8:3) These promises began to be fulfilled in Zechariah's day and will find their complete fulfillment during the kingdom of the Messiah when "the glory and honor of the nations" will be brought to Jerusalem, which will be the political and spiritual capital of the world under the King of kings. (Revelation 21:26)
The city that once was so desolate, so utterly destroyed by the king of Babylon, will again ring with the happy shouts of laughter. The rebuilding has been backbreaking work. Enemies have opposed it from every side. Discouragement caused the temple project to fall by the wayside for a long time. So now the Lord paints a picture the people can view in their minds. Whenever they feel discouraged about the work remaining to be done, they can envision the finished product. "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.'" (Zechariah 8:4-5) One reason that not all the exiles returned with the group that included Zechariah is because many of them were too elderly or infirm to participate in the work. They did not want to hinder the work in any way, so they were waiting for the city to become habitable again before making the journey. But as the Lord promised earlier in the book of Zechariah, the city and the temple will be rebuilt. The project will be successful because God is involved in it. They can count on it!
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by a monumental task or by a difficult situation that you said to yourself, "I can't do it"? Have you ever stated with certainty in your heart, "This is impossible"? That's how the people at Jerusalem felt on the day Zerubbabel set the first foundation stone of the temple in place. They stood there and gazed at the foundation stone, then they turned and looked at the enormous pile of rubble beside it and thought to themselves, "There is too much to be done. We can't do it. It's impossible." That might have been true if the rebuilding depended solely upon the strength of man. But God assured the people that the rebuilding depended upon His inexhaustible power. (Zechariah 4:6) The people who are going to witness the rebuilt temple and city, and who are going to see the promise come true that boys and girls will play in the streets once again, will be almost disbelieving that such a tremendous thing has been accomplished. The Lord knows this is how they will feel and so He says to Zechariah, "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to Me?' declares the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 8:6)
In other words, is anything too hard for the Lord? What seems practically unbelievable to the people will be nothing but an ordinary day's work for Him. This is the God who spoke the universe into existence out of nothing. Can He not also rebuild Jerusalem? Can He not be trusted to keep His promises? Before Jerusalem fell to Babylon, the Lord commanded the prophet Jeremiah to buy a field there and to have the purchase witnessed. At that very moment the city was under siege. It must have seemed crazy to the people there that Jeremiah would buy real estate just before the city was captured. But this field was intended as a sign to Jeremiah and to the people that God was going to return them to the land. It appeared impossible on that day, but God said to Jeremiah, "I am the Lord, the God of mankind. Is anything too hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)
We will be faced with tremendous tasks in this life. We will encounter difficult situations. These things may genuinely be too hard for us to overcome in our human strength. But nothing is too hard for God. If He has made you a promise, He will keep it. The keeping of the promise doesn't depend on your strength, but on His.
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