Trinity Baptist Church

Turning the Fast into a Feast

Zechariah 8:1-23

 

This is a tremendous chapter. It is actually a continuation of chapter 7, which we looked at last time. 

 

One of the great truths of Scripture is that God loves His people.  That certainly was true of the nation of Israel; it is true of the church, and it is true of us individually. 

 

Not only is that a truth that is recorded in Scripture, not only does God just “say” it, God demonstrates it. 

Think about all the ways God demonstrates His love for the world, and for you individually. 

 

What about the nation of Israel?  If God really loves Israel, then there will be evidence of that love.  Tangible, observable truths.  That is what Zechariah 8 is about. It is all about what God has planned for those He loves in Israel. It is a tremendous statement about the love of God that manifests itself in the kingdom provisions that God has for the nation Israel.

 

Now remember in Zechariah's day the Jews had been in Babylon in captivity for 70 years. They were taken there when Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the city and flattened the temple and wiped out everything. They were taken to Babylon for a 70 year period. This was to purge them once and for all from idolatry. They had come back to the land and under Haggai and Zechariah, they are beginning to finish the building of the temple and the wall and the city.

Many years have gone by and they are now really at the work, finally. And God had promised them through the words of Haggai and the words of Zechariah that the city will be rebuilt; that the temple will be restored; that the wall will be complete; that they will be restored to their land.

 

But God has said all through the prophecy of Zechariah that that is only like a token or a preliminary to what God is going to do ultimately in the restoration of the nation in the millennial kingdom.

 

That means there is coming a time in human history according to the Bible when God is going to send Jesus Christ back to earth to reign on the earth for a thousand year period in a kingdom, a literal kingdom. And that kingdom will find its concentration and its center in the nation Israel. And there will be a throne set up in the city of Jerusalem and the throne will be occupied by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in His resurrection body. And in that thousand year period every promise ever given to the nation will be fulfilled.

 

And so here all that Zechariah has been saying about the rebuilding of the restoration temple and the restoration city is only a preliminary or a token or only a down payment as it were on the ultimate inheritance that will come in the millennial kingdom. And so we see God's love here manifest in this marvelous thing that God is going to do for Israel. His love was seen in bringing them back from Babylon and His love is seen ultimately by looking forward to what He will do in the millennial kingdom.

 

Now Chapter 8 is a continuation of Chapter 7. You'll remember in Chapter 7 that there was a question asked and the question asked was is it necessary for us to keep having these ceremonial fasts that we've been having, because ever since the city had been destroyed and ever since the Babylonians had come in and wiped them out the Jews had established a whole series of fasts, which were times of mourning and times of sorrow and times of bitterness and in each of those fasts, they would go without food and they would weep and they would wail and they would go through certain things like that.

 

Well, now that the city was being rebuilt, now that the temple was being restored, now that there was a new revival of life and everything looked great, a group of people came from the town of Bethel to the priest and the prophets and they said is it necessary to keep on having these fasts now that everything seems to be so rosy.

 

And so there is an answer to that question that comes in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8. The answer in Chapter 7 is negative and the answer in Chapter 8 is positive. Now if you were here last time you'll understand what I mean. Because in Chapter 7 there is a negative response insofar as God says to these people who are asking the questions, look I never started the fast to begin with. Secondly, you've never observed the fasts as unto me anyway. It's just been pure ritual. And the very fact that the way they stated the question at the end of verse 3 of Chapter 7, "Do we have to keep doing this as we have done so many years?" It's getting to be a real drag.

 

We're getting tired of this routine. And so He says to them in Chapter 7 in effect, you never had to do it to begin with, and besides that, you didn’t really do it to honor Me anyway. 

 

In fact, in verse 5 He said, "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years did you at all fast unto me even to me? And when you did eat and when you did drink, did you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" In other words, since when was any of that stuff ever for me anyway? It was nothing but ritual religion. And so He answers their question with an indictment of their ritualistic approach to religion.

 

And He says to them in effect in the rest of Chapter 7, you know, I don't like what I see in this ritual because you're going to fall into the same pattern that your fathers fell into and they turned their reality into a ritual and you know what happened? That's why they went into Babylon. Here you are coming out of Babylon falling into the same pattern that your fathers fell in and for that reason I had to punish them.

 

So Chapter 7 is a warning against a ritualistic approach to religion, which in fact was the very thing that brought the captivity they were fasting to commemorate.

 

But then in Chapter 8, He turns the corner and now He does the other thing that love does. He gives to them. Love warns and love gives. It's always been God's way. It's always been the way of anyone who loved. You prevent them from falling into that which harms and you give them that which blesses.

And so in Chapter 8 comes the positive answer to the question about fasts. And God gives them great incomparable, unbelievable, incredible, promises for the future.

 

There are two divisions to the chapter, and they are easy to recognize: 

 

Notice verse 1

 

Then look down to verse 18

 

So we have two words of the Lord, and they divide the chapter into its two parts.

 

In the first one, verses 1-17, God gives them the promises of the kingdom.

 

From verses 18-23, God tells them the results of the fulfillment of the promise.

 

And incidentally, that is the same formula that appeared in Chapter 7.

 

Chapter 7, verse 4, then verse 8

 

So in these two chapters, four times there are four different messages. Two of them come on the negative side; two of them come on the positive. Two of them are to rebuke and warn and two of them are to give and extend comfort and hope.

 

But in all cases there is a reiteration that this is from the Lord. This stuff is so fantastic and so thrilling and so wonderful that in the human mind it would be hard to conceive and so God continually repeats that this is from Him.

And so we see that in these four formulas, but in addition to that even in Chapter 8 there is a constant repetition of the same phrase.

 

Chapter 8:2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 19, 20, 23

 

Now you get the idea that this chapter is from the Lord, don't you? And that's the point! The stuff in the chapter is so fantastic and it is so marvelous and it is so inconceivable and it is so beyond anything they ever dreamed of that the prophet doesn't want them to have any doubt about its genuineness so He continues to repeat that it's from the Lord because it's so marvelous.

 

It may seem incredible from the natural. It may seem unbelievable from the human viewpoint, but these things will come to pass because it comes from the name of in the infinite, eternal, and faithful Jehovah God who is the Lord of armies. In other words, He's powerful enough to pull it off.

 

Nothing is too hard, nothing is impossible.  In fact, ten times the Lord says "Thus says the Lord of hosts." I'm able to do it. I kind of like that because scripturally speaking, the number ten is a number of completeness. Human beings have ten fingers and ten toes.   God gave us Ten Commandments; the complete Law. Ten has always been representative of wholeness or fullness.

 

So what you have here is God presenting the fullness of His program in the millennium for Israel.

 

So let’s take a look at these ten promises.  We can’t spend much time on them. I just want to draw them across your thinking.

Here are the ten elements to God's program for Israel and the kingdom.

 

 

Verse 1

 

Here we have the statement that God is jealous for Israel. That He is so jealous He has real fury or zeal about His jealousy. Now this is an indication of God's love for them. If you were to go back to the 1^st chapter of Zechariah and note verse 14 you would find almost an identical statement.

 

Why is God so upset? Because God has a divine covenant with the people of His love and God has seen the nations attack and accuse and oppress Israel and go beyond the bounds that He had prescribed. And that's what He means in 1:15 when He says, I wanted them to have a little affliction, but you pushed it too far. And He says there's coming a time when my jealousy is going to result in judging your nations that overdid it with Israel.

 

When Jesus comes in His fury out of heaven and destroys the armies of Armageddon and gathers all of the Gentiles into the Valley of Jehoshaphat into the place of the judgment and He separates the sheep and the goats and He casts the goats into everlasting punishment. That's going to be a great day of judgment on ungodly nations. And that is essentially what He's saying here. I will be jealous for Zion with great jealousy. And I will be jealous for her with great fury.

 

 

Now when the Bible speaks of the jealousy of God, it doesn't mean envy, but it is the boundless zeal that comes from a God who loves holiness and hates sin, who loves His own people who are godly and hates the ungodly. It is the zeal of righteousness. It is the zeal of love, not envy. And because His love for Zion is so great He is jealous on her account and His love against those who oppress her, manifests itself in judgment. And so God will judge the enemy of His people. So we see to begin with then that the kingdom will start with the judgment.

 

Look at the second.

 

 

verse 3

 

That is a reference to the Shekinah presence of God.

He says there's a day when I'm coming back. This is a fantastic promise. You can't believe how overwhelming this must have been to the people in Zechariah's time. Why? Because they had not known the presence of God. Before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, God had withdrawn His presence from Israel.

 

Where did God dwell in those days? He dwelt in his Shekinah glory between the wings of the cherubim above the ark of the covenant. This was the place of God's dwelling, in the holy of holies in the tabernacle; in the holy of holies in the temple.

 

The Shekinah glory of His presence was God’s way of saying, “I am with you. I'm in your midst. The glory of God is in Israel.” 

By the way, that is the only earthly dwelling place He ever had except the garden.

 

And when Adam fell that ended and His glory came back and dwelled in the tabernacle and in the temple. But do you remember what happened? Israel had fallen into terrible sin? It was a tragic day in Israel. The temple was scarred and marred and people in the temple were worshiping false gods and Ezekiel in his vision went into the temple and he saw people bowing down to the sun and worshipping the sun.

 

And he saw all kinds of gods and creeping things and snakes painted all over the wall of the temple and people worshipping them. And he saw them worshipping Baal. And he saw all these atrocities in the temple and then immediately He saw the glory of God depart. You can read about it in Ezekiel Chapters 9,10, and 11.  Ezekiel watches the glory of God leave.

 

And Ichabad is written over the nation. The glory has departed is what it means. And the Jews had never known the glory of God again because God had left them before they ever went into Babylon. And in Zechariah's time, the presence of God was nothing more than a memory, because Israel had long ago forfeited the presence of God.

 

So what a great promise is this!  Zechariah is saying, some day He'll be back. Some day He'll return. Some day the Shekinah will come again.

 

 

 

 

And notice, not only will He return, He will dwell. 

The word dwell means to abide or reside or settle down. He's going to come back and He's going to dwell, reside, be at home there. 

 

God is going to come back and he's going to live in Jerusalem in the kingdom. You can't believe what ecstasy this could bring to a Jew in Zechariah's time.  Divine punishment, divine presence.

 

Thirdly,

 

 

verses 4-5

 

This is one of the most beautiful pictures of the kingdom you'll ever find.

 

What is this? The streets are all full.  Why don't some of those folks go home? The streets are all full of old people and kids. What's the deal?

 

It's a picture of millennial peace. In our society today we wonder whether we ought to be in the streets at night.  We talk about that, especially in the cities. But here the streets are going to be loaded with little kids playing and old people tottering around hanging onto staffs and canes because they're so old.

 

What's the point? The point is this, do you realize that the millennial kingdom is going to be populated with gobs and gobs of really old people. You say why? Because there will be no wars and there were will be no calamities and the Bible says if somebody dies at 100, they die a baby.

Everybody's going to live so long because of the peaceful conditions that the whole population is going to be staggering around the city with canes.

 

That is a metaphorical truth.  What it is saying is no longer will we have calamities that depopulate. No longer scenes like the Babylonian destruction and the Roman destruction. Everybody's going to get old in the kingdom. The streets are going to be loaded with old people and children playing without any fear.

 

This is perfect peace, and it follows right into eternity. 

 

 

Verse 6

 

Someone might be tempted to say, this is too marvelous ; too wonderful; it could nvere happen.  SO God says, just because you evaluate it that way, does that mean it can’t be done? 

 

The point is what is incredible and what is unbelievable to the remnant in the last days isn't necessarily tough on God.

 

In fact, if you read Genesis 18:14 and Jeremiah 22:17 and 23, you will see the very same word that is used here in the verb form and what the verb says is, is anything too hard for me?

 

And what's the answer? No. What a truth. Have you learned that lesson? Divine power. He says look, this whole thing is easy for me. 

 

Just because it may be incredible to the remnant in that day, can you imagine what the Jew is going to think of in the midst of the tribulation? He's going to say oh, will it ever change? God will never get us out of this mess. Here we are running through the desert, heading for Edom, the anti-Christ's army chasing us. How are we going to be delivered? The battle of Armageddon, blood deep as the horses' bridles for 200 miles and it's impossible to get us out of this and they'll say that. And the Lord says just because they say that, is it a big deal? No.

 

Listen:  we have no reason not to believe God can do exactly what He promises to do. So God promises divine punishment, divine peace, divine power, and He even promises

 

 

verses 7-8

 

I had to strain a little on that one. You know what's going to happen in the kingdom? He's going to re-gather the Jews from everywhere.

 

Right now they estimate there are approximately 14 million Jews scattered all over the world and when the Lord comes back and sets up the kingdom, He's just going to pull them all together and bring them into Israel.

 

And I want you to see something interesting. 

 

Both east and west are mentioned.  Literally it is "I will save my people from the land of the rising of the sun and from the land of the going down of the sun."

From one end of the globe to the other is what he's saying.

 

Verse 8 says "and they shall be my people. I'll be their God in truth and righteousness." He isn't just gathering them politically, He isn't just gathering economically, He's gathering them for conversion. The nation is going to come to Christ as Romans 11 says, "So all Israel shall be saved."

 

So divine punishment, divine presence, divine power, divine populating and another promise of the kingdom,

 

 

verses 9-10

 

He says let me remind you of how tough it's been. There wasn't any money to pay men. There wasn't any money to provide for animals. There wasn't any peace. There was all kinds of conflict and affliction and people set against their neighbor. You know what He's describing? He's describing the hassles of them trying to rebuild that city. The first group came back with Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest and they immediately put up the altar. And they began to do the sacrifices.

 

But you know what happened? They got the foundation laid, but then everything went bad. They had outside enemies, the Samaritans, remember Sanballat and Tobiah and the Samaritans were hassling them and telling the Persians that they were pulling political power plays and all this kind of stuff and they were having all kinds of problems with politics.

Then they had inside enemies.  They got back in the land and they decided why should we waste our time building the Lord's house when we're living in a rubble. Well, let's build our own house. And Haggai says they wanted to live in sealed or paneled houses and so they stopped building God's house and they started building their own houses, fancy ones with paneled ceilings.

 

And they neglected the work and they began to fight and argue and hassle. And there wasn't any prosperity. Things went downhill.

 

But then in the second year of Darius a new commitment began in Israel and they began to work again. Zechariah wrote his prophecy just as they began the new work and encouraged them and comforted them. And now God adds to that by saying hey this is only the beginning have I got plans for you.

 

Verses 11-13

 

What is He promising? That you've had hard times, Israel. You've had a lot of hard times. Hard times are going to be over and you're going to be blessed. Boy have I got prosperity in store for you. So God promises divine punishment, presence, peace, power, popularity and prosperity. And one more,

 

 

Verse 14

 

 

 

In other words, when I said I was going to punish you, what? I did. I didn't change. Now let me tell you something else

 

Verse 15

 

He says, you know how you can know that I'm going to do what I say about the blessing? Remember what I did when I promised about the punishment? Same thing. God says, I'm going to open the fountains of blessing. I'm going to bless you so much and you're going to sit there and say well, I don't know. I wonder if the Lord will really do it. Just remember this, when I promise to punish you did I do it? Oh yes, Lord.

 

Well, now when I promise to bless you, remember that I kept the promise to punish you. And on the basis of that integrity you can have confidence that I'll bless you. That one of the great...He says one of the great things that you learn from my punishment is that I keep my word and that stands good for my blessings.

 

And so God says I prefer you and to do good to you is my great joy. God is a God of goodness. What does it say in Acts 10:38? "Jesus of Nazareth went about doing," what, "good." He was God in human flesh.

 

God is good. So the very sorrows of the past become divine pledges for the promise of the future. What does the kingdom hold for God's people? A divine punishment of the enemies which brings about vengeance and a righting of the ship as it were. Divine presence, God will be there. Divine peace, marvelous tranquility.

Divine power, God will be able to do anything and everything He promises. Divine prosperity, everything will flourish. Divine populating, He'll regather the whole nation. And divine preference, and He will do good to them because He loves them.

 

And then Zechariah closes the chapter by saying, and there are three things that are like results of all of that.

 

Number one is

 

 

verse 19

 

He says I'm going to turn your fast into feast.

 

You see the fast of the fourth month was the fast that remembered the taking of Jerusalem and the flight of the royal seed. The fast of the fifth month was the fast that remembered the destruction of the temple. The fast of the seventh month was the one that remembered the murder of Gedaliah who was the governor. And the fast of the tenth month was the one that remembered the mourning for the day that the seeds began.

 

And they had all these fasts and all this weeping and all this mourning. And God says, some day I'm going to take the whole bunch of them and I'm going to turn them into joy and gladness and a feast. No more fasts.

 

And so He says, that's my promise. And so there will be in the kingdom pleasure.

Secondly or ninthly, in the ten,

 

Verses  20-21

 

You know what's going to happen? People all over the world are going to be getting together to go to Jesus. Isn't that terrific? He's going to be on the throne. This is going to be the new center of attention of the world. The pilgrimages are going to come every corner of the globe.

 

The world is going to seek the Lord. The world conversion is what He's talking about. Millions of people around the world migrating to Jerusalem to see the glorified Christ and to be converted.

 

So the first result of the seven characteristics of the kingdom is pleasure and the second is prayer and that is that they will pray to the Lord to see Him and be converted. Can't you see it? Delegations from London and Paris and Berlin and New York and Buenos Aires all coming to Jesus Christ?

 

And then number ten, the sum of it all the thing which Israel had always known God had promised I call it

 

 

Verse 23

 

The world is going to take one look at the Jews and say they are the people. Let's grab their coattails and get in on this deal. They'll get the special favor. And the ten again represents all.

The whole world is going to grab the Jews who are going to be God's emissaries and God's ambassadors.

 

This is what it's going to be in the day when the Lord fulfills His covenant.

 

And I know what someone is saying, But Brother Terry, you left out two verses. I knew you'd say that.

 

Verses 16 and 17

 

"These are the things that you shall do." Did you hear that? You know all of this is very wonderful and it's all from God, but there are some conditions, aren't there? There are some conditions.

 

"Speak every man the truth to his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against His neighbor and love no false oath for all these are things that I hate says the Lord."

 

And then the end of verse 19, "Therefore love the truth and peace."

 

God says look, all of this is yours, but there's a condition and the condition is a very simple one, honesty, and He names these four things; honesty, justice, love, and trust. And beloved, all of those are manifestations of true righteousness.

 

When you're lives are right and they manifest honesty and justice and love and trust, these are the things which you shall do and when you do these things and at the end of verse 19, "when you love what I love, then it'll come to pass."

So God blesses in response to obedience, His people Israel. And the day that they turn as Zechariah says and look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son and the day the stony heart of their flesh is taken out as Ezekiel said and they are given a heart of flesh is the day they are born again and when they are born anew it is then that the kingdom will come.

 

And what is true of them then is true of us now. 

 

It is a work of God which He will do then, and it happens every time a sinner is converted. 

 

The kingdom that belongs to them is our kingdom too.   We're children of the kingdom also. The kingdom is our kingdom and we can also say that "eye has not seen nor has ear heard" like Paul said to the Corinthians. "The things that God has prepared for them that love Him."

 

One thing more, what makes it all possible? How could God do this? How could God bypass the sin of Israel? How could God forgive? How could God restore? How could God give this to me? How could He make me a part of such blessing? It all goes back to one thing right there. The cross.  

 

Jesus died on the cross to save the Jews who had lived before He was even born? That's right. Did you know that everybody who's ever been saved has been saved by virtue of the act of Jesus Christ on the cross even if they lived before it or after it? It's the cross. It's the cross that is everything.

 

 

And so as we think about the love of God for His people Israel, and as we think about the fact that we too share the kingdom, that we too will rule in the kingdom, that we too will reign in the kingdom, that we too will be a part of every good thing God has prepared, that we too according to Ephesians 1:3 are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlys in Christ. We have to go back and say one thing made it possible, the cross of Jesus Christ.