ZECHARIAH

chapter eight

In the previous chapter, a question had been asked by a delegation from Bethel. Evidently these were some of those who were left behind when the others had been taken into captivity. They had spent the entire time feeling sorry for themselves instead of repenting of their sins, which had caused it to happen. They want to know when they can quit mourning. So far God has only reminded them of what had happened and why. Now He answers the question and looks beyond the immediate events to a brighter day.

Vv-1,2. Zech 8:1 Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
Zech 8:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

A. Thus saith the Lord--repeated 10 times in this chapter. He wants them to know that this is spoken with authority. It will come to pass.

B. Jealous with a great jealousy. They couldn't say they had not been warned.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

V-3. Thus saith the Lord #2. Zech 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.

A. His promise to return to the city and to the temple from which Ezekiel saw him leave.
Ezek 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
Ezek 10:19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
Ezek 11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

B. Those who would dwell there will receive great blessings, but they must abide by God's rules.

C. God will dwell there in the person of His Son and it will be a city of Truth.

D. The mountain (government) of the Lord will be a Holy mountain (government.) There will be no political intrigue nor corruption.

Vv-4,5. 'Thus saith the Lord "#3. Zec 8:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
Zech 8:5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
A happy scene of a city at peace. When shall it be? This is a far cry from the city of fear of today.
Children and old people were precious to them. Remember, there were only two people in the entire nation over sixty years old when they entered the land.

Vv-6-8. 'Thus saith the Lord" #4. Zech 8:6 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts.
Zech 8:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
Zech 8:8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

A. v-6. Men have struggled for years to bring about any kind of a peaceful situation in Jerusalem they can. Nothing has worked. The present situation is that described in, Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; The scene of peace seems almost an impossible dream.
Only God can bring this about, and we have His Word on it, 'HE WILL.'

B..v-7. Jews will be brought home from all over the world. The present gathering is only partial. There are Jews left in every nation in great numbers. If all were returned to the land of Israel, the borders would have to be enlarged considerably. When this is fulfilled there will be only 144,000 left alive on the face of the earth.

C. v-8. The city of Jerusalem will hold them all.

V-9. 'Thus saith the Lord" #5. Zec 8:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

A. Now comes a direct answer to the question which brought them to the prophet, "When will our troubles end and we can quit mourning?" 'Good and comfortable words' continue.

B. Let your hands be strong. 'Cheer up and get to work.'

C. Twofold application of the prophecy.
1. To these who needed all the encouragement they could get in the work of rebuilding the temple and the city.
2. To the Jewish remnant of the end time.

D. They are admonished to heed the words of the restoration prophets such as Ezra, Nehemiah, Zephaniah, Haggai and Zechariah.

V-10. Zech 8:10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

A. The time before the restoration is compared to that of the tribulation, which will come.
1. Hire of man and beast are worthless Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Hag 1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

2. Time of no peace; only affliction. Every one against his neighbor.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Before the captivity, Micah had foretold this.
Micah 7:6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

V-11. Thus saith the Lord; #6 Zec 8:11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts.

A. He promises the return of the nation to God's favor.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

V-12. Zech 8:12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

A.. The remnant shall possess the land.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Isa 1:8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

V-13. Zech 8:13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.
He promises them that their rise will be as spectacular as their fall.

V-14-15.'Thus saith the Lord' #7 Zech 8:14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:
Zech 8:15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
They can take comfort in the fact that His determination to comfort , restore and bless, is as great as that of their punishment.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

V-16-17. Zech 8:16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
Zech 8:17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

A. He lays out their responsibilities in the new order.

1. To speak and DO the Truth. God has never required more than this, nor will He accept less!
2.He is speaking now as the King to his subjects. They had received a Law at Sinai for the Law age and now they receive the Law of the Millennium.
V-18-19. Thus saith the Lord #8. Zech 8:18 And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying,
Zech 8:19 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

A. At last a direct answer about the fast days they had been observing in self pity. They are to be turned into feasts and gladness.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
A. In the 10th month, Nebuchudnezzar had begun the siege which had lasted two years.
Jer 52:4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
Jer 52:5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

B. In the 4th month, Jerusalem was destroyed.
Jer 52:6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
Jer 52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.

C. In the 5th month, the temple and palace were destroyed.
Jer 52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
Jer 52:13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

D. In the 7th month, there was a massacre of those remaining . Jeremiah chapters 40,41.

E. They had been remembering the RESULTS of sin, and sorrowing for it. Now they are to rejoice!
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Vv-20,22.'Thus sayeth the Lord #9' Zech 8:20 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
Zech 8:21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.
Zech 8:22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.
The whole world will behold the Glory of Israel when the Lord is her King!.

V-23. 'Thus saith the Lord #10' Zec 8:23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shall be worshiped by all men, and the Jews will be much sought after as a ticket into His presence.