Word of Salvation – Vol.49 No.43 – November 2004

 

God Is For Us

 

Sermon by Rev J Zuidema on Zechariah 1:7-17

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 73; Romans 8:28-39

Suggested Hymns: BoW 46:1-3; 217; 116A; 424; 525

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ...

It is sometimes easy to be forgiven for thinking that unbelievers are better off than Christians. Asaph, in Psalm 73:3-5, makes that so clear:

'For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.'

And the Lord's people returning from exile must have thought that, too. The Lord graciously returned them to the Promised Land, but it seemed that the nations around them were better off. They were wealthier and more powerful. So doubts arise. Why are we still so weak and suffering? Why do our cities and towns have to lie in ruins? Where is our king that was promised? Where is our God?

Congregation, these sorts of questions are bound to rise up in our minds when we take our eyes of God and His Christ, and start bellybutton gazing. And with such a mind set it doesn't take long to be discouraged and downcast. As a result, this second oracle, like the first, is about encouraging God's people. They have nothing to fear from the nations around them, no reason for not getting on with kingdom work, for God is for them and with them.

In the first oracle, Zechariah called on God's people to return to God and He would graciously return to them. At the end of verse six we read that the people repented.

In this second oracle, we have this strange vision recorded, but it has the same intention as the first. To encourage God's people to think positively about their God and His capabilities. Like the first passage, it begins by identifying Zechariah. However, Zechariah is more specific about the date, stating the day as well as the month. It was significant, for it was exactly five months earlier when the people resumed work on the temple (Hag 1:14-15).

God's people had obviously responded positively to the call to repent and obey God's instruction to build His temple. And in this vision we see divine sovereignty and human agency meet together as God assures the people of His care for them and success in their work. Yet the opening words of this vision create an atmosphere of uncertainty. Four different coloured horses stand in gloomy shadows, with one more dominant than the rest. It sort of makes one feel that not everything is right. Some commentators say that the red horse symbolises war and judgment.

Some suggest that the myrtle trees represent poor Israel. I think it is fruitless to wonder what the myrtle trees may signify. It goes beyond the meaning of the text. It is also fruitless to give too much significance to the colour of the horses. The text and context have no interest in this and we don't need to worry about it too much either (cf Rev 6:2-8). What is interesting is the rider of the red horse and nearly all commentators agree that is the pre-incarnate Christ. There is good argument for this and we will see that this fits in nicely with his role as Mediator for God's people.

The rider of the first horse, the angel of the Lord (vs 11), is the one who receives the reports from the other riders, explains the vision and takes the side of God's people. So it is clear that this rider represents Yahweh, Israel's God.

Now Zechariah asks about the purpose of these other horses. And the angel of the Lord gives the answer in verse 10. The Lord has given them a task, namely, to report what they have seen on the earth.

And in verse 11 it is reported that from the rider's cosmic perspective, the whole earth is at rest and enjoying peace. Now you would think that this is good news for the temple builders but we will see that the rider on the leading red horse is not impressed. In fact the rider's response to this news makes him sound ungrateful to our ears.

Isn't peace exactly what the workers rebuilding the temple longed for? Yes! But it seems that the rider who hears that the earth is in relative peace regards this news as an indication of God's delay in coming to the aid of His people. There was a belief amongst the exiles that the kingdom would dawn only after an upheaval among the nations. Haggai 2:7, Zechariah's contemporary, speaks about a great shaking among the nations before the glory of the Lord would return to the temple. And since there was only peace on the earth, the returned exiles saw this as unfulfilled prophecy.

These people had walked for miles back to their homeland, with the voices of the prophets ringing in their ears that described in stirring language the triumphant rule of Yahweh. But now there is only peace and doubts arise which in turn had a dampening effect on the faith and resolve of the returning exiles.

And the angel of the Lord reflects that disappointment and he calls out, 'How long will you continue not to show mercy to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah?' (vs 12). Surely the seventy years of you being angry with your people is now over!

The angel's question implies that the delay of the kingdom was a delay of divine compassion. Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah seemed to be the objects of God's wrath because there was no evidence that He was intervening to help the returnees. The rubble in the streets and the inescapable lethargy that plagued the people indicated that God may still be angry at them for their earlier disobedience. Perhaps they may fail in their efforts. But the people are wrong. God's anger was over! The time of blessing was near! Look what Zechariah is to say to God's people.

First, he is commanded to announce to God's people that their God is jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. There is no real difference between the two for Jerusalem is often referred to as Zion in the Old Testament. The returning exiles thought that God's favour had turned from them to the nations around them and the communities' miserable failures would have strengthened their view. But this was not the case at all. They are wrong! In fact, the very words that Zechariah is to announce shows that Yahweh's allegiance is towards His own people.

What a comforting thought for these returned exiles. God is for them and not against them. God would bless them and show His redemptive love to them and would continue to watch vigilantly over them. And God is not just jealous for them, but He is very, or greatly jealous for them. And this was not a response to the people's favourable response to the prophet's plea in verse 3, for the perfect tense is used here in the original language. God has always been jealous for His people and always will be. The people's favourable response of heart and hand enabled the Lord to demonstrate His positive feelings, which would be seen in the blessings they receive as they finish the temple and as the nation of Israel is re-established.

In fact, it is not only positive towards Israel, it is contrasted with God's anger towards the other nations, which has now increased. Just because the nations are at peace and they seem secure, doesn't mean that God has turned away from watching over His own people in favour of them. Not at all, for He is not merely angry with these other nations, He is enraged!

At one time God was angry with His covenant people for their disobedience and breaking of the covenant. The exiles had lost their homes and most never saw their country again. They had suffered humiliation at the hands of hostile powers. But this was only a little of Yahweh's anger. If Yahweh had displayed the full extent of his anger, He would have utterly destroyed them. However, such a display would have violated Yahweh's own allegiance to Himself and to His own Word. Sure, God punished them for breaking the covenant, and He sent them into exile, but the promise was always there that He would bring them back. The promised Saviour is to be born.

However, the nations that God used to bring his people into exile had exceeded acceptable bounds in the treatment of their captives. The cruel excesses of the Assyrians and the Babylonian armies enraged Yahweh. Isaiah 47:6 refers to these excesses when he accuses the Babylonians of showing no mercy, and on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy! Perhaps that is why Assyria and Babylon were both no more!

And because of this cruel treatment, Yahweh's compassion is aroused for His people. According to the text before us, Yahweh didn't just respond out of loyalty to His promise or to His people, but out of pity for His people and His emotional response to their suffering. God could not give His people up as Hosea 11:8 reminds us.

If the angel in verse 12 is looking for compassion and mercy - here it is! Yahweh's heart is not cold towards his people, but warm with compassion. The exile was just, but the inhumane treatment the exiles received was not and that enraged God. Therefore God will return to them and the temple would be built and Jerusalem will continue to expand as the builders stretch their lines.

The people's frustrating inaction will come to an end and divine enablement will bear them along! With God's blessing, motivated by His sympathy, the psychological and physical barriers that had hindered the work to this point would be removed.

But there is still more. Zechariah is called upon to make a second encouraging announcement. It's not just the temple and Jerusalem that will receive this blessing, the other towns will, too. They will no longer struggle to keep a secure footing on the land but would enjoy full restoration.

In some ways it sounds a little materialistic, but that has always been God's promise to his Old Testament people, and indeed to us. Of course for us today, the -~landedness' is a world conquered by Christ and a rest that those who are in Christ enjoy.

Yahweh would again choose Jerusalem and Zion. The deep longing of the angel of the Lord in verse 12 has now been fully met. The covenant God would not let His people perish. He may have allowed a generation or two to be punished, but He was bound by his own word to not let them perish as a nation (cf Deut 28).

So what a marvellous encouragement for these returned exiled people. God was with them and He would bless them again. After being discouraged, they hear this marvellous word from God's mouthpiece, Zechariah.

And it is a beautiful picture for us, too. If the angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ was already pleading and mediating for God's people then, and it brought about this positive response, how much more so for us today.

How much more so when we consider that the Christ, God's own Son, went to the cross for His people and gave His life as a payment for their sins. And what a comfort for God's people today to know that the one who saved them is now in heaven in the very throne room of God, interceding on our behalf.

And if God needed reminding, not that He does, He would only have to look at the nail scarred hands and feet of His Son and be reminded of His promise that all who believe in Him will be saved, but that He will be with us to the close of the age through his Holy Spirit who dwells within us!

So congregation, what do we really have to fear? Why is there is much reluctance to be busy in the kingdom in God's church today? If God is for us, who can really be against us? If God did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

Yes, I know the world is seemingly powerful and it may look as though we are weak at times. And yes, I know the battle can be difficult, but be assured the war has already been won. So what do we really have to fear? We are safe forever in God's loving hands because of Christ! I guess there is something to fear though, and that is if you don't belong to God's people. Let me put it more pointedly. If you do not have Jesus as Saviour, then there is something to fear! Then you have everything to fear, for God remains very angry with you. He gave His Son so that you may have life to the full. And to reject that wonderful offer increases God's anger towards you and unless you repent and believe, you will have to suffer God's wrath. Why be so foolish when the offer of eternal life is presented to you today?

Don't accuse me of preaching doom and gloom. Today is the day of salvation - that is, God's call to you - repent and believe and you will be saved!

Christians, on the other hand, have no reason for lethargy or to fear the nations. Almighty God is for them and with them. Let's read together the last few verse of Romans 8:

'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: -~For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!'

Amen.