Are We Really on God’s Side?
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Important messages
The sign of genuine love is
found in the constant desire to seek the happiness of the beloved. God looks
for love from Israel and that that, which would be good for their God, would be the most important thing in their lives, far beyond what they want for themselves. The heart of Israel had become more and more hardened and calloused,
because they had been resisting His word constantly. As a result, the wrath of
God had to fall! I don’t know why we find it difficult to speak of the wrath of
God. We have been ashamed of one of the attributes of the Lord, in whom we
claim to believe. As Francis Chan wrote in his book, Erasing Hell: “Refusing
to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it. I really
believe it’s time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start
apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal
Himself.”
I want to remind you again to
keep your Bible open and at your side in order to look at each verse, as it is
quoted. That’s the way a Bible study works…
“When you fasted
and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it
actually for Me that you fasted? When you eat and drink, do you not eat for
yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? Zechariah 7:5-6
An expository study of Zechariah, chapter 7
Are we looking for God’s happiness
or ours in the things we do?
The second part of the book
of Zechariah (v.1) begins in chapter 7 and it is divided by time from the first
part. This part occurs two years later, in the 4th year of Darius,
in the 9th month, which is Chislev, on the 4th day. To us
that would be December of 518 B.C. (compare this with 1:1). The book also could
be divided according to the ways that Zechariah received the revelations; the
first part was given by visions and the second by the spoken word, which
begins, actually, in 6:9-15.
It is interesting to read how
a contemporary of Zechariah wrote about his ministry in Ezra 6:14-15: “The
elders of the Jews were successful in building through the prophesying of
Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they finished building
according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius,
and Artaxerxes king of Persia. The temple was completed on the third day of the
month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.” Adar was
the last month on the Jewish calendar, which would be March to us. During this
time, of two years and three months, Zechariah prophesied, while the people
built.
As always, a true prophet
speaks only when the word of God comes to him. It is not a ministry directed by
his own criteria. “God, after He spoke
long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways…” (Heb.1:1).
Of all the words that the prophet had spoken during those years, the Holy Spirit
has separated, in a special way, the six chapters that we have left to study.
God spoke and revealed to Zechariah and to all his readers His Word, wherever
and whenever they may be. He chose these revelations to be written and remain
to this century. Therefore, they were more than words of encouragement for the
Jews, until they finished building their temple. We can be very sure in our
hearts that, that which we have before our eyes just now, is a word from God to us,
and that we need it in order to know that, which is happening in our times.
Bethel was a place that had a
lot to do with Jacob and it was repopulated by people that had returned from
Babylon. In Ezra, chapter 2, there is a list of all those that returned and of
the towns, from which they originated. It says that 223 were from Bethel and Ai.
Collectively, the town sent representatives to Jerusalem, so that they would
seek God’s blessing (v.2). They wanted to be in good standing before Him and to
be sure that He would act in their favor. However, it seems to be a religious
intent with little spiritual sensitivity. They thought that God’s favor towards
them would be determined by their religious acts.
They came for counsel from
the priests and prophets (v.3), concerning a rite that they had been practicing
throughout the 70 years of captivity. They fasted officially four times a year
(8:19), but their question only concerns one of the fasts. It sounds something
like this: “He have been liberated from the captivity and have returned to our
land. Should we continue, as always, the custom of weeping and fasting in the
fifth month, now that the captivity has ended?” In this question, the
religiosity is easily discerned. The religious always have limits. How long do
I have to separate myself and fulfill my responsibilities? Have I done my part?
The sincere and true person doesn’t ask those kind of questions, but enters
into a life and relationship with the Lord of Hosts that never ends.
It doesn’t take long for God
to reply (v.4) and the answer was directed towards the entire nation, and not
only those of Bethel. He answered with another question, as Jesus tended to do
in the Gospels. The question was not about the practice, but about the
motivation behind it. Doing is not as
important to the Lord, as the motive, the
reason why.
They asked about one fast,
that of the fifth month, and God mentioned another… that of the seventh month. God
wants to know, if how He feels and what His will is in this matter, is really
important to them. “Was it actually for Me that you
fasted?” (v.5). Did
you do it for Me? The answer, although they didn’t actually express it, was “no”. No,
they fasted because they were worried about their own condition and well-being.
Do you think that God had them in captivity for their well-being? Of course He
did! He had determined the time that would be necessary to transform their
character, so that they would not again fall into rebellion. God did not want
them to suffer on day longer than was absolutely necessary. Everything was
ordained for their good. For this reason and for another more important reason,
they should have fasted. The other reason was because He longed for their love
and that, far above their own personal desires, they would desire the best for
their God. The sign of genuine love is in seeking always the happiness of the
beloved.
The next question penetrates
more deeply into the heart of the people. It goes beyond their special efforts
in special times of the year. It concerns their daily life: “When you eat and drink… for whom do
you do it? (v.6). As much in the Old Testament as in the New, to belong to God
means that He possesses totally the heart of His people. Paul espresses it in 1
Corinthians 10:31: “Whether, then, you
eat of drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We can call
ourselves true Christians only if we live for His glory and by means of His
attributes. Paul said, “Not I, but
Christ in me”. We live according to His principles and by His will.
Do you feel what God feels?
That is what God has desired from the beginning, when He created man for Himself
(v.7). It is what he declared to His people by means of the prophets, when they
were living in peace. That word was extended, just like the gospel extended,
beginning in Jerusalem, covering the neighboring cities and reaching to the
south (Negev) and unto the foothills. For this reason, more than any other,
because they failed to do this, they were abandoned in captivity. God demands
the same today… to live for Him and nothing less! Zechariah was an Old
Testament prophet, but he preached this message better than many preachers in
New Testament times. The word of God is the word of God anytime and it carries
infinite authority.
Do we honor and stand behind all His attributes?
Another spoken and audible
revelation follows (v.8). The Lord of Hosts demands the administration of
righteousness in society, in the streets, in businesses and in government
houses (v.9). The apostle declared that the Kingdom of God is righteousness
(Ro.14:17) and, in this sense, nothing changes in passing from the Old to the
New Testament. God expresses His preferences to Zechariah exactly as He
expressed them to Isaiah earlier, when the kingdom of Judah was still intact
(Is.58:3-7). If the fast is not accompanied by a desire to “loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to
let the oppressed go free and break every yoke”, share your bread with the
hungry, bring the homeless poor into the house, cover the naked, and not to
hide from the needs of your brother, then your fast is selfish.
God wants true righteousness
that is not only preoccupied with the law and the consequences of breaking it,
but He wants it to be full of compassion and mercy. He desires that His nation
be exemplary, as one of love. Where have we ever seen it on this earth? How is
it possible? It can only happen when God becomes sovereign over His people… He
is the loving, merciful and compassionate Lord of Hosts! Go with me just a
moment to chapter 8 (v.8): “I will bring
them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My
people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness”.
Here we see the clauses and
articles of the constitution of the Kingdom of God… Thy kingdom come! They are
laws and the laws have to do with the well-being of its citizens. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath”. The most civilized and refined governments are those that
best protect the weak. Evolution is cruel, supporting the strong, ignoring and
even persecuting the weak. I saw that when I went to visit a home for the
elderly, shortly after communism fell in East Germany. The residents had been
poorly treated. They told me that when the two countries were reunited,
everything changed and they came to know what it meant to be treated with
compassion and respect, in the hands of people who really cared for them. Nazism
under Hitler persecuted the unfortunate, and Hinduism justifies its
indifference to the poor, as it sanctifies dirty animals. “Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor”, says
the word of God (v.10).
“Do not devise evil in your hearts…” “Consider yourselves
dead to sin”. If Paul is teaching that
to be dead to sin is a fact for every true believer, then we ought to live it.
We need to say ‘no’ to everything that attempts to enter our lives to satisfy
the old man. Temptation comes like a telephone call, asking for someone, who
lived previously in the house, but has moved out. We answer, “No, there is no
Adam living here; Christ lives here now” … and we hang up! It doesn’t matter
what the offer is; temptation has nothing to offer or to tell us.
We can define evil as a
rebellion against normality and nature constituted by God. Sometimes, I compare
it to holding a rubber or plastic ball under water. You have to maintain it
there by force, because, if you do not, it will come to the surface by itself.
This is what we learn from verse 11… you put your hands over your ears turned
your back away, instead of confronting the truth! Fallen man is a perverse
being that is at continual odds with his Maker.
In this way, the heart of
Israel has become more and more hardened and calloused, because they have been
resisting His word constantly. In other passages of the Bible, the hard heart
is compared with a stone, but in this case it is compared to a diamond, the
hardest of all rocks (v.12). The One whom they are resisting is the Spirit of
God and they persecute the people, who have received an anointing in order to
correct them, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, before Zechariah. As a
result, the wrath of God had to fall.
I don’t know why we find it
difficult to speak of the wrath of God. In the first place, it is a reality and
one of His attributes. Secondly, it is a good thing that works justice and leaves
the situation in better condition. The Lord moved His army in order to
demonstrate His wrath. As Francis Chan wrote in his book, Erasing Hell: “Refusing
to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it. I really
believe it’s time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start
apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal
Himself.” We have been ashamed to speak to society of God’s anger and once
more, by doing so, we have demonstrated the rebellion of fallen man. The shame
comes from our adherence to humanism. We have been ashamed of one of the
attributes of the Lord, in whom we claim to believe.
The punishment of the nation
was also a work of God’s righteousness (v.13). He warned them and called to
them, but they would not listen to Him. Afterwards, when they were under severe
conditions for 70 years, the Lord would not listen to them. It was totally
right. The truth of the matter was that God actually worked with His armies
against them, closed His ears to their prayers, and maintained their captivity
until their hearts were softened.
Here, in verse 14, we have a
description of how the Lord worked: He blew against them with a storm so that
they would be scattered into foreign lands. Their own country went unattended.
Speaking of that land, Mark Twain said after he visited Palestine, before the
State of Israel was reestablished, “I don’t know why anyone would want to fight
to obtain this territory. It’s a complete desert.” By this 21st
Century, this desert has been transformed into a prosperous nation, as God
carries out His purposes in these last days.
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