Second Kings 7 tells a fascinating story of four lepers who sat at the gate of Samaria at a time when the city was under siege. Things had gotten so bad inside the city that women were eating their own children to survive. But Elisha the prophet had predicted something that seemed utterly impossible, that the next day food would be plentiful and affordable in Samaria.

Meanwhile, the four lepers evaluated their dismal situation. If they stayed at the gate of Samaria, they would starve. If they went over to the enemy camp, they may be killed, which would be no worse than starving. But there was the outside chance that the enemy would take pity on them and give them some scraps of food. So they took their chances and went over to the enemy camp.

When they got there, they were shocked to find the camp deserted. The Lord had caused the enemy to hear the sound of a great army of chariots and horses so that they fled in a panic, leaving all of their supplies behind. The four beggars ate all that they could eat. They hauled away and hid several loads of silver and gold and clothes.

But then their consciences began to gnaw at them. They said, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent” (2 Kings 7:9). So they went and told the starving city where they could find abundant supplies to satisfy their needs.

That story illustrates the main message of Zechariah 8, summed up by the Lord’s words in verse 13: “I will save you that you may become a blessing.” God’s people are blessed to bless others. God pours out His grace on us so that we will slop it over on others who are starving and dying without hope.

Because God has promised to bless us abundantly, we should be a blessing to others.

The text falls into two parts, both prefaced with the phrase, “Then the word of the Lord of hosts came saying” (8:1, 18). The first word of the Lord to Zechariah (8:1-17) breaks into two parts. Verses 1-8 present God’s promise to restore His blessing on the nation after the years of captivity. Verses 9-17 apply this promise to the remnant of Zechariah’s day that was rebuilding the temple. The second word of the Lord (8:18-23) shows that God’s blessed people are to become a blessing to all nations. Verse 19 answers the question raised by the delegation from Bethel (7:2-3) by showing that their fasts would be turned to feasts as the people experienced God’s gracious blessings of salvation.

I will be applying this chapter to us as the church, but we need to keep in mind that the chapter applies literally to the nation Israel. Many commentators apply the text spiritually to the church as if that is the final fulfillment of these promises. But Paul shows in Romans 11:17-32 that while God has partially hardened Israel in judgment until the fullness of the Gentiles is complete, after that, all Israel will be saved. There is yet a glorious future for Israel, when God will pour out on the house of David “the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on [Him] whom they pierced; and they will mourn …” (Zech. 12:10).

I appreciate the faith of men like Charles Simeon (who died in 1836) and Charles Spurgeon (preaching in 1863), who both argued that the Jews had to be restored to the land so that God’s promises in this chapter would be literally fulfilled. (See Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines of the Whole Bible [Zondervan], 10:481-484, 488-495; and Charles Spurgeon, “Once a Curse but Now a Blessing” [Ages Software, sermon # 543.) They preached that view a century before Israel became a nation, believing that God’s promises would come true. Both men urged their congregations to evangelize the Jews as a practical application of this text. After lamenting the horrible treatment that professing Christians had shown to the Jews over the centuries, Spurgeon said (ibid.),

May the Lord in his infinite mercy first put it into his people’s hearts to pray for Israel, and then to work in love, and labor in faith: may he hasten in his own time the fulfillment of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then shall the whole earth be covered with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. We may work and we may toil, but till Israel be gathered God’s glory cannot be universal, nor even widely spread.

So the primary interpretation of this chapter relates to the nation Israel. But there are many applications for us as the church.

1. God has promised to bless His people abundantly.

Perhaps when you hear those words, you think, “Maybe God has promised blessings, but I’m not experiencing them. Instead of promises, all I seem to have is problems!” You feel like the discouraged man who said, “What I need are a few blessings that aren’t in disguise.”

The people to whom Zechariah prophesied probably felt like that. They were a weak remnant of 50,000 people who had returned to a devastated land. Powerful enemies surrounded them. They were under Persian rule. While they saw glimmers of hope, these promises of God seemed a million miles away.

But God gave Zechariah these words of promise about the future to encourage His people to persevere in the present. Even though we presently experience only a foretaste of God’s promises for the future, the certainty of His sure word can encourage us to be faithful in the trials of the present time. Two truths shine through concerning God’s promised blessings:

A. God’s promised blessings depend on Him, not on us.

These promises do not stem from Zechariah’s optimistic personality. The text repeatedly emphasizes that this is the sure word of Almighty God. Eleven times in this chapter we read, “Thus says the Lord of hosts,” or some similar phrase. The name “Lord,” (Yahweh, the name of the covenant-keeping God) occurs 22 times. Over and over God declares, “I will,” or “I am” to declare His sure purpose (8:2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

Commenting on verse 8, Kenneth Barker says, “Israel’s predicted complete restoration to covenant favor and blessing rests on nothing less than the faithfulness, veracity, and righteousness of God…. The theological principle involved is that God is a saving, forgiving, delivering, restoring God—one who delights to take ‘Not My People’ and make them ‘My People’” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Zondervan], 7:651).

As you may be aware, the doctrine of God’s ability to save His people according to His purpose and choice, apart from anything in them, is under attack. Two recent books, Chosen But Free [Bethany House, second ed., 2001], by Norman Geisler, and What Love is This? [Loyal Publishing, 2002], by Dave Hunt, both attack the doctrine of God’s sovereign choice to save a people for His glory. Both books assert that God desires to save everyone, but the outcome of who gets saved depends on the response of each person. In other words, God has given up His ability to save anyone, unless that person decides to respond! Thus both authors would have to explain God’s assertions in Zechariah 8 as being based on His foreknowledge of what Israel will one day do by their own free will, not as God’s declaration of what He will do by His mighty power.

But the text does not say, “I can foresee that someday Israel will turn to Me, and I’m sure glad, because I really wanted to save them. But the final result is up to their free will. What a relief that finally they will get it right and choose Me!”

What does the text say? “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people” (8:7). That seems fairly clear, doesn’t it? God does not say, “I’m going to do all that I can to try to save them, but they’re a tough bunch, so I’m not sure they will respond.” If we didn’t get the first declaration, there are more: “I will bring them back … and they shall be My people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness” (8:8). “I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things” (8:12). “I will save you that you may become a blessing” (8:13). “Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, … so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem” (8:14, 15). Israel’s salvation depends on God’s purpose and might, not on Israel’s so-called free will!

God’s promised blessings of salvation do not depend on the impotent fallen will of man, but on the sure purpose and power of the Lord of hosts! “God’s purpose according to His choice [will] stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Rom. 9:11). “It does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16).

This is not just a theological debate that has no practical value. Your assurance of salvation hinges on it! As Paul put it, if God began a good work in you, you can be confident that He “will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). If you have repented of your sins and trusted in Christ alone for salvation, that repentance and faith did not originate in you. It came from God as His free gift, apart from anything that He foresaw in you. If it depends on anything in you, it is not based on grace, but on merit. That makes salvation depend, in part, on man. But Scripture is clear that salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). “He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Thus if you believe in Christ, you can have assurance and hope, because your salvation came totally from God, not from anything in you.

But in spite of the assurance of God’s promised blessings, we all have times when it seems impossible that what God has promised will actually happen. Two things in these verses encourage us with the fact that God will do what He promises:

(1) God’s promises may seem impossible to us, but they are not too difficult for Him (8:6).

The Lord anticipates the response of these despondent people, “Yes, but …!” The population had been wiped out by the Babylonian invasion and captivity. The land was devastated and desolate (7:14). The thought of a prosperous Israel seemed impossible to them. But God promises that in the future, Jerusalem will be filled with the elderly and with children, living securely (8:4, 5).

Then He anticipates their faithless response. He repeats twice the assertion that this is the word of the Lord of hosts to emphasize its certainty: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares the Lord of hosts” (8:6).

“Yes, but …!” You’ve responded that way to God’s promises, haven’t you? I have! How often we make the mistake of judging God’s ability by our ability! Like David, we foolishly number our troops, thinking that our power is proportional to how many warriors we can muster for the battle. But the Lord does not save by many or by few (1 Sam. 14:6)! Like the disciples, we count up our meager five loaves and two fish, or we calculate the amount (which we don’t have anyway) that it would take to feed the vast multitude. But the Lord does not meet the need according to what we have or what we wish we had, but according to His purpose and His power.

(2) God’s promises always work through a remnant (8:6, 11, 12).

Sometimes as a believer, you feel as if you’re on the losing team. Like Elijah, you think that you’re the only one left, and they’re seeking your life (1 Kings 19:10). Or perhaps you despair that you will ever overcome some besetting sin that keeps tripping you up. Or you get discouraged in the Lord’s work. You feel like you’re on Charlie Brown’s baseball team, where only five show up for the game and one of those is Lucy! You feel like giving up.

But remember, God always works through a remnant. Elijah wasn’t the only one; there were 7,000 others in Israel who had not bowed their knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Joshua and Caleb were a minority, but they believed God’s promise and led the people into the Promised Land. Gideon and his 32,000 men were too many, but Gideon and his 300 men were enough with the Lord to conquer the vast Midianite horde (Judges 7). Picture Paul, shivering in his prison cell, asking Timothy to pick up his coat before he comes, and adding, “Only Luke is with me…. At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me” (2 Tim. 4:11, 16). Yet God used that man of faith like He has used few others!

You may think, “I’m the only believer at work or in my class at school.” God works through a faithful remnant. Believe His promises and trust His mighty power to save! His promised blessings depend on Him, not on us. But there is a second truth in our text concerning God’s promised blessings:

B. God’s promised blessings require a response of holy activity for the Lord.

Divine sovereignty is always coupled with human responsibility. Just because God has promised to bless us does not mean that we can kick back and wait for the blessings to flow. His promised blessings require a response. In 8:9-17, Zechariah shows the remnant how the Lord expected them to respond to the promise of His blessing. His words apply to us as well.

(1) Be strong in building the Lord’s house.

Twice the Lord tells the people, “Let your hands be strong” (8:9, 13). Twice He tells them, “Do not fear” (8:13, 15). God doesn’t waste words. If He tells people twice to let their hands be strong, we can assume that they were tending to be weak. If He tells them twice not to fear, they were afraid. They were trying to rebuild the temple in the face of fierce opposition. Jerusalem was still littered with rubble. There was no wall to protect the city. The people had no army to defend themselves. So they were prone to be afraid and to give up the work of rebuilding the temple. But God says, “Be strong! Do not fear!”

Sometimes it seems like working to build Christ’s church is not worth the effort. I read recently that 1,500 pastors leave the ministry every month, many because of frustration and discouragement. You try to advance the cause of Christ, but you get attacked by fellow Christians. People you thought you could count on leave the church without even talking to you to try to work through their problems. Others fall into sin and go back into the world. Frankly, it’s easy to think, “What’s the use? I’ll go find another line of work where I don’t have these hassles!”

But the Lord says to us all, “Be strong! Don’t fear! I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). That sure promise requires that we who know the Lord respond by committing ourselves to build His house.

(2) Be holy in all our conduct.

Without holiness, anything that we do for the Lord will utterly fail. To call ourselves Christians and then to live like the world is to mock God before the world. The fact that the Lord dwells among us (8:3) demands that we be known as people of truth and holiness (see 8:3, 8, 16, 17, 19; note the repeated emphasis on truth).

As 8:16-17 make clear (see 7:9-10), holiness is a practical sort of thing. It demands that we speak truth to one another, that we judge with truth, that we not devise evil in our hearts against one another, and that we do not love perjury. God says that He hates these things. As His people, we must not only love what God loves; we also need to hate what He hates. Since He is the God of truth, we need to hate false doctrine, deception, lies, hypocrisy, and vague moral standards that drift with our godless culture.

The enemy paints a negative picture of holiness. We conjure up a bunch of Puritans in starched shirts, scowling at anyone who’s having fun. We fall for the lie that we will miss out on good times if we follow the Lord. But our chapter is clear that sin leads to great misery and curse (8:10, 13). Holiness and obedience to God are the way of great joy and gladness (8:19). God’s promised abundant blessings should motivate us to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12).

But God does not promise to bless us so that we can sit around feeling blessed. Our text is clear that …

2. God’s blessed people should be a blessing to others.

“I will save you that you may become a blessing” (8:13). I want to answer two questions: How do we become a blessing? Whom are we to bless? First, How do we become a blessing?

A. We bless others by showing them how to find God.

I think that 8:20-23 refers primarily to the Jews in the millennium. God will use them as a light to the nations, to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ. But these verses also apply to us now. In the context, verses 20-23 on being a witness flow out of verses 9-19 on holiness and joy. When people observe our lives, as godly people of truth, love, and joy, they will want what we’ve got, so that they grab us and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (8:23).

Beauty has an attractive power. Why do millions of people flock to Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon every year? They are attracted by the awesome beauty of these places. When our lives reflect the beauty of God’s holiness and joy, people will say, “I want what you’ve got!” Every Christian should be able not just to bring people to church, but also to explain the gospel clearly so that those who do not know God can come to know Him through Jesus Christ. Living a beautiful (= holy) life is the foundation, but you should also be able to give a defense for the hope that is within you (1 Pet. 3:15). If you are not able to do that, I urge you to get some training in evangelism.

B. Whom do we bless? We bless others both near and far.

Both neighbors and distant nations are included in 8:20-23. We are to be witnesses for the Lord, beginning at our Jerusalem, but extending to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). We should pray for our neighbors and our contacts here in Flagstaff, that God would open the door to tell them about Christ. But we should not rest until every people group around the globe has had the opportunity to hear the good news. I commend to you Operation World, by Patrick Johnstone, and the monthly Global Prayer Digest (U.S. Center for World Mission), both of which will help you be informed, pray, and labor for the great cause of world missions.

Conclusion

An African proverb states, “There is only one crime worse than murder on the desert, and that is to know where the water is and not tell.” God has led us to Christ, the living water. He has blessed us with His salvation and He promises to bless us even more abundantly in the future. But He didn’t save us so that we can sit in the lifeboat feeling warm and cozy, oblivious to the lost of the world. He saved us so that we may become a blessing to others. If you’re saved, but you don’t have your focus on blessing others, you’ve only got half the picture. He blessed you so that you may become a blessing.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to affirm that salvation comes totally from God, as opposed to it being a “joint venture”?
2. If we lack faith in God’s promises, how can we get the faith we need?
3. Describe a “holy” person. How can we be holy and yet relate well to a sinful world?
4. To what extent does a believer have to “have it together” in order to be involved in ministry to others?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

One of the most familiar verses in the Bible is, “God helps those who help themselves.” The problem is, that “verse” is not in the Bible! There is a true sense to that bit of folk wisdom, in that the Bible exhorts us to be disciplined and hardworking in all that we do. To goof off all semester and then ask God to get you through a test is not a wise plan! Diligent study and prayer are God’s means for academic success.

But there is another sense in which the aphorism, “God helps those who help themselves,” goes completely against Scripture. Because of the fall, our human tendency is to trust primarily in ourselves and only secondarily, if at all, in the Lord. Thus we are quick to take the credit for any successes that come our way. We may give a passing tip of the hat to God for His part, but the primary glory goes to us for all our hard work or genius. But to the extent that we fail to give all the credit to God, we rob Him of glory.

When it comes to the matter of deliverance from God’s judgment (salvation), the Bible allows no tolerance for our boasting in anything that we do. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, … that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:30-31).

Zechariah 9 illustrates a principle that runs all through Scripture and is essential for you to understand and apply:

God brings down the proud, but He helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance.

This does not mean that in every situation we sit passively and watch God work. As I said, we should be diligent and hardworking, trusting God to work through our labors. But in the matter of salvation, the Bible clearly shows that we can do nothing to contribute to the process, except to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood. Even that faith comes from God, not from us.

Zechariah 9-14 constitutes the third major portion of the book. Chapters 1-6 took place in the second year of Darius and contain Zechariah’s eight night visions. Chapters 7-8 took place two years later and give the prophet’s answer to a delegation from Bethel concerning some Jewish fasts.

But chapters 9-14 occur perhaps 40-50 years later. The temple has long been completed. Zechariah is now an old man. Israel is still weak and vulnerable, under foreign domination. Nehemiah had not yet returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Powerful and aggressive neighbors still surrounded the weak remnant. The people worried, “What if these neighbors attack us? What if they tear down the temple we worked so hard to rebuild? What if they invade us and carry us off as captives again?” They feared what the future might hold for their families and their nation.

To these people Zechariah delivers the message of chapters 9-14, which prophesy of Israel’s future. It consists of two “burdens.” The first burden (chap. 9-11) focuses on Israel’s coming king, the Messiah, emphasizing His first coming and rejection. The second burden (chap. 12-14) focuses on Israel’s coming comfort, when the nation will go through severe trials and purging, but finally be delivered by the second coming of Her Messiah and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Feinberg calls these last six chapters of Zechariah “an incomparable treasury of prophetic truth” (God Remembers [American Board of Mission to the Jews], p. 151).

Because many of these prophecies are miraculous, liberals doubt that Zechariah wrote them. But if we believe that God can reveal the future, there is no reason to doubt that He gave the prophet these messages. God gave these prophecies to encourage and comfort His chosen people with the message that He had not forgotten them. He would deal with their enemies through the coming Messiah-King and would fulfill His promises to bless His people in His appointed time.

Chapter 9 emphasizes that God will bring down the proud, but He helps those who are helpless who depend on His deliverance. The same message is illustrated three times, in the three sections of the chapter.

1. Alexander the Great’s invasion shows that God brings down the proud, but helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance (9:1-8).

These verses describe God’s judgment on Israel’s neighbors while Israel itself is spared. Amazingly, Zechariah outlines Alexander the Great’s invasion of Palestine, which took place about 150 years after Zechariah wrote! Apart from the Lord, there is no way that Zechariah could have predicted these things.

Hadrach (9:1) and Hamath (9:2) were cities near Damascus, north of Israel. Tyre and Sidon (9:2-4) were the principal coastal cities of Phoenicia, to the northwest. Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod (9:5-7) were the main Philistine cities on the coast, south and west of Jerusalem. Zechariah predicts that God will judge all of these powerful neighbors, but God will protect Israel from the army that passes by and returns (9:8).

In 334 B.C. Alexander, who was about 21, set out with an army of 35,000 men, moving west through modern-day Turkey, which was then under Persian rule. He defeated Darius at the battle of Issus and then marched south, sending one of his commanders to Damascus, while he moved unhindered toward the Phoenician cities. Tyre was a proud and mighty city that had already withstood a five-year siege by the Assyrians and a thirteen-year siege by Nebuchadnezzar. They weren’t too worried about Alexander.

Verse 3 has a Hebrew pun. In Hebrew Tyre is tsor. Fortress is matsor. The closest we could come in English is to say, “Tyre built herself a tower.” Zechariah is tongue-in-cheek saying, “Tyre thinks she is tough.” It was a mighty city, situated on an island about 700 yards off the coast from the original city. It had a double 150-foot high wall around it. The city’s powerful navy had gained it impressive wealth (9:3). Tyre was so corrupt and opposed to God that Ezekiel (28:11-19) used the proud king of Tyre to describe, in symbolic language, the pre-fall career of Satan. So when Zechariah predicted Tyre’s downfall, he was probably laughed to scorn.

But God used Alexander to bring the city down. It took him seven months, during which time his army took the rubble from the original city and built a causeway to the island city. He thus fulfilled literally the prophecy of Ezekiel 26:12, 14, where God says that He will throw Tyre’s stones and timbers into the water and that the city will never be rebuilt. Thus while the Lord dispossessed Tyre (9:4), He used Alexander to do it.

After taking Tyre, Alexander moved south through the Philistine cities. At Gaza, he encountered some stiff resistance; it took him five months to capture the city. This made him angry with the king of Gaza, so Alexander put thongs through the king’s feet and dragged him through the city until he was dead. Then he killed all the men of the city and sold the women and children into slavery. He repopulated the city with people from the neighboring areas, thus fulfilling verses 5 & 6. The “blood from their mouth” refers either to their pagan sacrifices or to their prey in battle (9:7).

Then Alexander moved south, where Egypt surrendered without a fight. On his way back north, Alexander had a score to settle with Jerusalem. While he had been attacking Tyre, Alexander had appealed to Jerusalem for supplies. But the high priest had refused, maintaining his allegiance to King Darius. Alexander was enraged and, as he demonstrated at Gaza, he could be pretty mean when he got mad!

According to the Jewish historian Josephus (The Antiquities of the Jews [Baker reprint], 11:8:3-5), when the high priest heard that Alexander was moving north toward Jerusalem, he entreated the Jews to offer sacrifices and pray. God told the priest in a dream to open the city gates, dress his fellow priests in white robes and put on his own priestly garments, and to march out to meet Alexander. The mighty general, who bowed to no one, saw this entourage, fell on his knees before the high priest, went into the city, and offered sacrifices to the Lord. The priest showed Alexander the scroll of Daniel, which predicts that he would be a world conqueror.

Alexander’s men were astonished at his actions and asked him why he bowed before the high priest. He replied that he didn’t bow before the priest, but before the God who made him high priest, because while he was still in Macedonia, he had a dream. He had seen this high priest in his robes, and he told him that he would conquer the Persians. We do not know whether Josephus’ story is truth or legend, but we do know that Alexander spared Jerusalem, just as Zechariah 9:8 prophesies. While proud, mighty Tyre’s impressive fortifications failed, Israel’s invisible stronghold, the Lord God, delivered them from the fierce conqueror.

By the way, as with many biblical prophecies, verse 8 spans the centuries. The first part was fulfilled when Alexander spared Jerusalem. The last part, that no oppressor will pass over Jerusalem any more, remains to be fulfilled when Israel’s Messiah returns in power and glory (Merrill Unger, Zechariah: Prophet of Messiah’s Glory [Zondervan], p. 159). The prophecy of Alexander’s destruction of Tyre and his sparing of Jerusalem illustrates the truth that God brings down the proud, but He helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance.

2. Messiah’s two comings show that God brings down the proud, but helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance (9:9-10).

This is one of the great Old Testament Messianic prophecies. I plan to examine it in more detail next week. But for now, let’s do a brief overview and see how it illustrates the theme, that God brings down the proud, but delivers those who trust in Him.

As you know, on what we call Palm Sunday, just before His crucifixion, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in precise fulfillment of this prophecy (Matt. 21:1-11; John 12:12-15). The Jews in Jesus’ day were expecting a powerful political Messiah who would deliver Israel from Rome. They did not expect a suffering Messiah who would die for the sins of His people. Even though Jesus repeatedly had told the disciples that He would be killed and rise again, they did not comprehend what He was saying until after His resurrection (Luke 18:34; 9:45; John 12:16).

So as He approached Jerusalem on that final Sunday, Jesus acted out a public demonstration to show the rulers, the people, and His disciples that He was their Messiah. But He was not the powerful King that they were expecting, but rather the humble, suffering Messiah predicted by Zechariah, Isaiah, and others. In the context of Zechariah 9, the prophet is showing that the Messiah would come in humility and lowliness, not in a display of human might. In contrast to proud Tyre and to the proud and mighty Alexander, Israel’s Savior would come in humility, riding on a lowly donkey’s colt.

After Solomon’s time, kings and warriors rode horses, not donkeys. The donkey was a burden-bearer, used in times of peace. Powerful kings did not ride to battle on donkeys, especially not on the foal of a donkey! People of lowly rank rode donkeys. The word “humble” indicates one who is oppressed or afflicted by evil men. It looks at Jesus as our sin-bearer, despised by the rulers of His day, but bringing God’s salvation for those who would receive it.

Why does Zechariah give us this picture of Messiah in this context? I think that God is showing His people through the humility of Messiah the attitude that we must have to experience God’s salvation. God does not save the mighty, who just need a little boost from Him. He delivers the weak and helpless who trust in Him, epitomized by Messiah in His first coming, riding on the foal of a donkey.

The entire church age fits between verses 9 & 10. When He comes again, Jesus will cut off all opposition against Israel and He will rule in peace over the entire earth. Then God will highly exalt Jesus and give Him the name above every name, because He humbled Himself by taking the form of a servant and becoming obedient to death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-11). Thus the two comings of Jesus the Messiah, contrasted with proud Tyre and the mighty Alexander, illustrate the principle: God brings down the proud, but He helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance.

3. God’s future deliverances of His people show that God brings down the proud, but helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance (9:11-17).

Biblical prophecy often has multiple fulfillments leading up to the final fulfillment. Such prophetic events (or people) are centuries apart, although the prophecy doesn’t specify that fact. For example, Malachi 4:5 predicts that God would send “Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.” In Matthew 11:14, Jesus explained that John the Baptist was that Elijah to come. But the great and terrible day of the Lord is yet to come, almost 2,000 years after John’s ministry. Thus when Revelation 11 predicts that two powerful witnesses will prophesy just prior to the Lord’s coming, many believe that one of these will be Elijah himself, the ultimate fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy.

That prophetic mode of multiple fulfillments, culminating in the final fulfillment, is used in Zechariah 9:11-17. On one level, Zechariah describes the victory that God granted during the Maccabean revolt against the wicked Antiochus Epiphanes in 166-160 B.C. This was the only time that the Jews fought against the Greeks (9:13). This wicked ruler suspended daily sacrifices, abolished the Sabbath, destroyed copies of the Scriptures, forbade circumcision, and erected pagan altars. To crown it all, in December, 167 B.C., he set up a pagan altar in the temple and offered swine’s flesh on it (an initial fulfillment of Daniel’s “abomination of desolation,” Dan. 11:31, 12:11; see James Boice, The Minor Prophets [Baker], 2:532-533). Antiochus is a type of the Antichrist who will come to world domination, setting himself up as God in the temple of God, the ultimate abomination of desolation (2 Thess. 2:4; see Matt. 24:15).

Thus while Zechariah 9:11-17 pictures on one level the victory that God would grant the Jews during the Maccabean revolt, on another level it looks ahead to the final victory when Messiah will return in power and glory to crush Antichrist and his followers. Since both Antiochus and the Antichrist are the epitome of worldly pride and power, their defeat and Israel’s deliverance illustrate the principle: God brings down the proud, but He helps those who are helpless, who depend on His deliverance.

These verses should encourage us because they show that God prepares deliverances for His people years before we even know that we need them. When Zechariah prophesied, it would be almost 200 years before Greece would pose a threat, and 300 years before the Maccabean revolt. And yet the Lord knew all of this in advance and prepared the victory for His people long before they knew that they even needed it. As Revelation shows, God has already prepared victory for His people in the Great Tribulation, when Israel will be hemmed in by the forces of evil. Just in time, Christ will return and “cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem,” and will reign over all the earth (9:10).

This means that the Lord has prepared deliverances for situations that you may encounter this week, later this year, and for the rest of your life. Our emergencies never take the Lord by surprise! When we are overwhelmed by some trial, we can trust in the Lord and know that He cares for us.

Note the assurances that He gives to encourage us to trust Him: We are in a blood covenant relationship with Him (9:11). He promises to give us victory over powerful enemies (9:13-15). We are the flock of His people, sparkling stones in His crown (9:16).

You may wonder, “But what about God’s people who have been tortured or slaughtered? What about those who go through horrible trials? What about the situations where wicked tyrants prosper and God’s people suffer? How does God deliver them?”

The Bible doesn’t dodge these hard issues. The forerunner, John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest among men (Matt. 11:11), was beheaded because of the stupid promise of a drunken, lustful king. The godly Stephen was stoned by the wicked Jewish leaders. Most of the apostles died martyrs’ deaths. Revelation 6:9-11 pictures many martyred saints in heaven, waiting the day of their vindication. God tells them to wait because there are still others to be killed for their testimonies. Their vindication comes at the very end, when Jesus returns in power and glory to crush all opposition. At that time, the multitude in heaven cries out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God… Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him” (Rev. 19:1, 7).

When we experience God’s deliverance, whether it is the minor deliverances of day to day trials and temptations, or the final deliverance of His victory over all the forces of evil, praise and glory to God are the result. Zechariah 9:17 should be translated with the NASB margin, “For what comeliness and beauty are His!” The singular pronoun refers to the Lord. Verse 17 is a burst of praise coming from God’s people who have just experienced His deliverance.

Conclusion

There are two commands in this chapter that we should apply. First, “Rejoice greatly! Shout in triumph!” (9:9). It is significant that in Revelation, when God throws down wicked Babylon that has killed the prophets and saints, we read, “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her” (Rev. 18:20). Again, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him …” (Rev. 19:5). And, again, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him …” (Rev. 19:7). When we see how God will bring down the proud, but how He will ultimately deliver the helpless who trust in Him, we should praise His glorious name!

The second command is, “Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope” (9:12). This was directed to the Jews who still believed in the God of Abraham, but who had not yet returned to Israel from the captivity. Perhaps they were afraid to move back to Jerusalem, which had no visible wall and no human army to protect it. Zechariah is teaching them that God Himself is their sufficient defense, that He would be to them, as Isaiah 26:1 declares, a wall and a rampart (John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 263).

Even so, some know Christ as Savior—they have hope in Him—but they are still prisoners, enslaved to some fears or sins. God wants us all to see that deliverance by any human source or scheme is in vain (Ps. 60:11). Christ Himself is our stronghold. Return to Him! “The king is not saved by a mighty army; a warrior is not delivered by great strength; … Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name” (Ps. 33:16, 18-21).

There is a story of a guy who was fixing the TV antenna on his roof when he slipped and slid toward the edge. He managed to grab the rain gutter as he went over the side. So there he was, dangling by his fingertips, two stories above the concrete driveway. In desperation, he looked down and yelled, “Is there anybody down there that can help me?” Total silence.

With no time to waste, he looked up and shouted, “Is there anybody up there that can help me?” Just then, the clouds parted and a deep voice boomed out of the sky, “Have faith, I’ll catch you. Just let go!” The man quickly looked down at the hard landing two stories below. Then he looked back up and shouted, “Is there anybody else up there who can help me?”

The answer is, “No!” God alone will help you if you are helpless and depend on His deliverance.

Discussion Questions

1. How can we determine the balance between doing all that we can and yet depending on God’s strength (see 1 Cor. 15:10)?
2. Should we feel sorrow or joy when the wicked get what they deserve?
3. Sometimes God delivers while we do nothing (Exod. 13-14). At other times, we must act while trusting God (1 Sam. 23:2). How can we know the difference?
4. Why do the deaths of God’s saints at the hands of the wicked not undermine God’s promised deliverance?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

At the historic battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington led the British forces against the mighty Napoleon. News of the battle’s outcome traveled by sailing vessel to the south coast of England and was signaled by semaphore overland to London.

On top of Winchester Cathedral, the signalman began to spell out the eagerly awaited message. The words came across, “Wellington defeated ….” At this point a thick fog settled in. The semaphore could no longer be seen, and the discouraging news of Wellington’s defeat spread through London.

But later the fog lifted and again the signaling semaphore atop the cathedral became visible. This time it spelled out the complete message: “Wellington defeated the enemy!”

If you have known the Lord for any time at all, then you have experienced something like that in your praying. You have prayed earnestly for something important. But it seemed as if God was not answering, or even worse, that His answer spelled defeat. Perhaps you are still in the fog and don’t understand why God seemed to do the opposite of what you prayed. I feel that way about several of my long-term prayer requests. At times you may wonder if God’s promises are really true.

But the Bible is clear that someday the fog will lift and we will see that all of God’s promises are yes in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). From our limited vantage point, it may not seem so. But seen from the perspective of God’s prophetic plan for history, we can see that God always fulfills His promises for His people. It may not be in our time or in our way. But God always keeps His promises. This should encourage us to pray.

As we saw in our overview of Zechariah 9, the prophet encouraged the weak and fearful remnant with the truth that God helps those who are helpless who trust in Him. In chapter 10, he continues this theme by reminding the people of God’s promised blessings for Israel. The words, “I will,” or “they will” are repeated throughout the chapter to give assurance that God is not iffy about His plans for His people.

The only command in the chapter is in verse 1: “Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain.” God meant for this command to be taken both literally and spiritually. They were to ask God for the spring rains for their crops; but also, they were to ask God to pour out His spiritual rain on His parched people. God promises to bring His scattered people back to the land and to strengthen them to walk in His name. So Zechariah exhorts them to ask God to send His spring rains to fulfill these promises.

God’s abundant promises for His people should motivate us to pray for their fulfillment.

Even though God has promised to complete the work that He has begun in us (Phil. 1:6), He doesn’t do it automatically, apart from our active participation in the process. Prayer is God’s appointed means of bringing down His showers of blessing. So we need to pray God’s promises into reality. The major part of our chapter shows that …

1. God has promised abundant blessings for His people (10:2-12).

For Zechariah’s audience, these promises seemed so far removed from their immediate situation as to sound like fairy tales. Most of the Jews were still scattered across the Persian empire. The weak remnant that had returned was threatened by hostile neighbors. The land was still devastated from the Babylonian conquest. But here Zechariah predicts that Israel will someday trample her enemies and be regathered in the land to the extent that no more room could be found (10:10). The Jews must have thought, “This prophet has his head in the clouds!”

Perhaps some of you feel that way. When you hear of God’s abundant promises, you think, “No way!” The reality gap between where you are living and what God has promised is so great that you have trouble believing that it ever could happen. If you can identify with that, then our text is for you!

It falls into two sections: verses 1-5 outline God’s promised deliverance from enemies; verses 6-12 describe God’s promises of restoration and strength for His people, whom He will regather into their homeland. While these verses apply spiritually to the church, I agree with Charles Simeon (Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible [Zondervan], X:508), who wrote over 100 years before Israel became a nation. He asked, if the Jews’ regathering to the land is figurative, how could God say anything literal in plainer language than He uses here? At the present time, only part of this prophecy has been fulfilled. The Jews are returning to the land from all over the world, but they have not yet returned to the Lord. To that end, we should pray for the conversion of the Jews.

A. God promises to deliver His people from their enemies (10:2-5).

(1) The enemies (10:2-3a).

Two enemies are mentioned here: the false gods in which the people had trusted through false prophets; and, the corrupt leaders that had dominated the nation for their own gain.

(a) False gods and false prophets are perpetual enemies of God’s people (10:2).

For the most part, Israel did not fall into idolatry after the Babylonian exile, but that sin had been a major cause of the exile. So Zechariah warns against it here. When the Lord did not seem to answer their prayers for rain, the Jews easily could fall prey to false prophets who promised rain through idols, divination, or false dreams. Idolatry involves a reversal of our proper position before God, where instead of submitting to Him, we try to manipulate Him (or other spiritual powers) to get what we want. It often is a subtle shift, where we take control and God becomes our servant, to carry out our will. If the living and true God won’t cooperate, we use other spiritual means to get what we want.

Israel often did this with teraphim, which were household gods. Although obviously pagan, we find them repeatedly in Israel’s history (Gen. 31:19, 34; 1 Sam. 19:13; 2 Kings 23:24). They were used to try to determine God’s will through magical or occult means (divination). Zechariah says that even though people may gain temporary comfort through such methods, it is false and empty comfort, because it does not rely on the living God.

The warning is this: Whenever God puts you on hold, you are susceptible to turning to false gods or false teachers for help. I’ve heard of Christians turning to astrology or fortune telling for guidance. A woman in my church in California was in chronic pain. She started going to a Science of Mind healer. When I pointed out to her husband that this is a dangerous false cult, he curtly replied, “My wife is in pain. This relieves her pain.” They dropped out of the church.

Many false teachers prey upon God’s people who are suffering. They teach that it is God’s will to heal everyone or to make us wealthy. Desperate people flock to these godless men, only to be disappointed because “they comfort in vain.”

(b) Selfish, domineering leaders are perpetual enemies of God’s people (10:3a).

Scholars differ over whether the shepherds and “male goats” of 10:3 refer to Israel’s leaders or to the foreign leaders who dominated Israel. Certainly, Israel had suffered from both! “Male goats” refers to leaders who selfishly dominated others by force, much as goats try to butt their way into dominance over the flock. Israel suffered from false shepherds, who took advantage of the flock for their own gain (Ezekiel 34). Because of the flesh, leaders must always be on guard against lording it over the flock and using people for selfish purposes (1 Pet. 5:2-3).

(2) The promised deliverance (10:3b-5).

God promises to visit His flock and to make them like His majestic horse in battle (3b). The pronoun “them” (10:4) is literally “him,” referring to Judah. From Judah will come the cornerstone, the tent peg, the bow of battle, and every ruler. God’s people will then “be as mighty men, treading down the enemy” in battle, “for the Lord will be with them.”

Some commentators interpret the terms in 10:4 as referring to God’s raising up strong leaders from Judah, in contrast to the corrupt leaders of 10:3, but they do not see a messianic reference here. But since the ultimate leader over Israel will be Messiah, since some of these terms are used elsewhere for Messiah, and since the Jewish targum (an Aramaic paraphrase and commentary on the Scriptures) on this section refers it to Messiah, many see these terms as messianic. Taken this way, …

*Christ is the cornerstone of His people. The Old and New Testaments frequently use this designation for Christ (Isa. 28:16; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6). In Zechariah, it speaks of Christ as the leader upon whom the government rests and holds together. Christ is the cornerstone of His church.

*Christ is the tent peg of His people. This refers to the peg in an Oriental tent on which the residents hung many valuables (Isa. 22:23-24). It refers to Christ as the one on whom the glory of the Father dwells. Everything of value that we have is in Him.

*Christ is the bow of battle for His people. He is the coming conqueror, who will vanquish all of God’s enemies when He returns (Ps. 110:5-7; Rev. 19:11-16).

*Christ is the ultimate ruler of His people. Some commentators who take the first three terms as referring to Christ object to taking the fourth term in a similar manner, since the word usually refers to a tyrannical or oppressive ruler. They interpret it to mean that all oppressive leaders will depart from Judah when Messiah comes to reign. But the word can have the sense of a strong leader in a good sense (BDB Hebrew Lexicon takes it this way, p. 620). In light of verse 5, which pictures God’s people trampling their enemies, it makes sense to see them under the leadership of their supreme ruler, Jesus Christ.

We can apply these promises for deliverance in two ways:

• All that we have in Christ and His promised presence with us is sufficient for victory over every foe.

Jesus Christ is our “all in all” (Col. 3:11). In Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We have been rooted in Christ. We are to be built up in Christ. “In Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form and in Him you have been made complete.” God made us alive from the dead in Christ, through whose death we have forgiveness of all our sins. In Him we have victory over every spiritual foe (see Col. 2:3, 7, 9, 10, 13. 14, 15). If we are defeated by our sins or by some problem, it is because we have not learned to lay hold of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

This doctrine of Christ’s sufficiency is subtly under attack. John MacArthur perceptively deals with this in Our Sufficiency in Christ [Word, 1991]. He shows how humanistic psychology and pragmatism have invaded the church and replaced the need to rely totally on the riches that we have in Christ. He says (p. 31), “The clear message [of ‘Christian’ psychology] is that simply pointing Christians to their spiritual sufficiency in Christ is inane and maybe even dangerous. But on the contrary, it is inane and dangerous to believe that any problem is beyond the scope of Scripture or unmet by our spiritual riches in Christ.”

I would also commend the final chapter, “Christ is All,” in J. C. Ryle’s Holiness [James Clarke & Co.]. He writes (p. 317), “The true way to be strong is to realize our weakness and to feel that Christ must be all. The true way to grow in grace is to make use of Christ as a fountain for every minute’s necessities.”

• Trusting in the sufficiency of Christ does not imply passivity on our part.

Note the balance (10:5), “And they will fight, for the Lord will be with them.” The Lord’s presence and strength do not imply that we sit back and do nothing. “Let go and let God” is not the total picture. MacArthur devotes Chapter 9, “A Balance of Faith and Effort,” to this topic, expounding on Philippians 2:12-13, which exhorts us to work out our own salvation because it is God who is at work in us. While Jesus Christ is our strength, we have to engage in the battle. Disciplining ourselves for godliness (1 Tim. 4:7) goes hand in hand with reliance on God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:16).

Thus the theme of verses 2-5 is that God promises deliverance from our enemies as we learn to do battle in Christ.

B. God promises to restore and strengthen His people (10:6-12).

The emphasis here is on the Lord as the One who will strengthen and deliver His people: “I will strengthen… I will save… I will bring them back…” (10:6). “I will bring them back… I will bring them into the land…” (10:10). “I will strengthen them in the Lord…” (10:12). God is very definite about what He will do! His plan does not depend on the so-called “free will” of people. It is not that God forces human will, but rather, after He converts us, by His grace He enables us freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good (see The Westminster Confession, IX:IV, and The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, 9:4).

So the balance of Scripture is, on the one hand, God sovereignly saves, strengthens, and sustains His people. On the other hand, we must actively rely on His strength and take action to walk in His name (10:12). We must return to the Lord, but we can only return to Him in the strength that He imparts.

Two practical observations:

*God sometimes scatters His people in weakness so that they will look to Him alone to save. Note verse 9: “When I scatter [lit., sow] them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries…” Egypt and Assyria (10:10) are representative of all of the places around the globe where God has dispersed His disobedient people. When God says that He will whistle to gather back to the land (10:8), it refers to a shepherd’s blowing a pipe-like whistle to call his flock back to the fold. Just prior to Messiah’s return, God will gather the Jews back to the land from around the globe.

God’s sowing His people among the nations pictures them as seed awaiting a harvest. F. B. Meyer (The Prophet of Hope [Christian Literature Crusade], pp. 102-113) has a helpful sermon, “God’s Sowing.” He shows that sowing implies death, darkness, and loneliness, as the seed is planted in the ground. But God does not forget the seed, any more than a farmer would forget the crop that he has planted. In due time, that seed that falls into the ground and dies will bear much fruit (John 12:24).

God often has to plant us in situations of overwhelming despair so that we look to Him alone. Paul was burdened excessively, beyond his strength, so that he despaired even of life, “in order,” he said, “that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:8-9). Hudson Taylor said, “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.” He also said that when God wanted to open inland China to the gospel, He had to look around for a man weak enough for the task.

*When weak people experience God’s strength, great joy results. Note verse 7: “And their heart will be glad as if from wine; indeed, their children will see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the Lord.” When God has brought us to the end of ourselves, where we are forced to rely on Him alone, not only do we experience great joy; our children also enter into our joy!

The way to bring great joy to your children is not to give them all the junk that the world says we need in order to be happy. Rather, by your example of faith and prayer, teach your kids the reality of our weakness, but of God’s strength and sufficiency. Read them stories of great men of faith like George Muller, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. As a family, present your needs to the Lord in prayer, and rejoice when He provides. That leads to the means that God has ordained for us to lay hold of His promises:

2. God’s promises should motivate us to pray for their fulfillment (10:1).

You may wonder, “Why pray if God has promised to do it? Won’t it happen anyway?” God’s purposes will happen, but if you don’t pray, you won’t be blessed. There are four good reasons to pray for the fulfillment of God’s promises:

A. We should pray for God’s promises because He commands us to pray.

God tells His people to ask Him for the spring rains (10:1). God has ordained for His eternal purpose to be fulfilled through the prayers of His people. That’s why the Lord taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). God’s kingdom will come. The question is, will you be a part of the process by praying for it to come?

B. We should pray for God’s promises to acknowledge our dependence on Him.

We don’t pray to inform God of things that He doesn’t know! Jesus explained, “Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8), and then went on to tell us how to pray. In prayer, we confess our total dependence on God.

C. We should pray for God’s promises to remember the Lord alone as the source of all our blessings.

God commands them to ask Him for rain. Rain is a natural phenomenon. Scientists can explain the process without mentioning God. When they can’t figure it out, they attribute it to good old Mother Nature! But don’t let them fool you: It is God who sends rain! If the crops grow, it is because God makes them grow. If you sit down to a meal that you bought with money you earned, it is God who provided that meal, and you need to give thanks to Him.

D. We should pray for God’s promises to realize the fulfillment of His purposes.

When God tells His people to ask Him for the spring rains, they needed to pray literally for the spring rains. But, also, they needed to ask Him to fulfill the promises of this chapter, to save, restore, and strengthen His people for His glory. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done…” That will happen, but it will happen through God’s people asking Him to send His rain.

Did Zechariah’s audience realize the fulfillment of these messianic promises? No. Did their children? No. It has been 2,500 years and these things are still not fulfilled. The Jews are back in the land, but they are not walking with God. They have not yet looked on Him whom they pierced and mourned (Zech. 12:10). As God’s redeemed people, we should be praying for the conversion of the Jews and all of God’s elect from every nation.

Conclusion

John Piper has often pointed out that the church is engaged in spiritual warfare, but that most believers have a peacetime mentality. Having this mindset, we use prayer as a domestic intercom rather than as a wartime walkie-talkie. He pictures Jesus, the field commander, issuing each of His troops a walkie-talkie tuned to the general’s headquarters. If they have any need on the battlefront, they can call for help. Then he writes (http://www.desiringgod.org /library/topics/missions/prayer_work.html),

But what have millions of Christians done? They have stopped believing that we are in a war. No urgency, no watching, no vigilance, no strategic planning. Just easy peacetime and prosperity. And what did they do with the walkie-talkie? They tried to rig it up as an intercom in their cushy houses and cabins and boats and cars—not to call in fire power for conflict with a mortal enemy, but to ask the maid to bring another pillow to the den.

The Lord did instruct us to pray for our personal needs (our daily bread), but only after we pray for His name to be hallowed, His kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we ought to pray for rain to end the drought in our part of the country. But first and foremost, we ought to be praying for God to send the rain of His Spirit to bring the nations into His kingdom. It will happen! But it will happen through God’s people asking Him to send His rain.

Discussion Questions

1. How can we know whether a biblical promise applies to us or whether it only applied to those to whom it was written?
2. How would you answer a person who insists that physical healing is always God’s will, based on such verses as Ps. 103:3?
3. Since we must engage in spiritual action, how can we know whether we are acting in God’s strength or in our own strength?
4. How long should we persist in prayer if God doesn’t seem to be answering?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Just outside of Madrid is a famous old monastery, the Escorial. The kings of Spain have been buried there for centuries. The architect who built the church made an arch so low that it frightened the king. Fearing that it would collapse, he ordered the architect to add a column to uphold the middle of the arch. The architect protested that it was not necessary, but the king insisted and so the column was built.

Years later, the king died and the architect then revealed that the column was a quarter of an inch short of touching the arch, and that the arch had not sagged in the slightest. I have heard that tour guides still pass a lath between the arch and the column as mute proof of the architect’s knowledge (Donald Barnhouse, Let Me Illustrate [Revell], p. 245).

That arch illustrates our salvation, which comes totally from the Lord. It stands because of God, not because of anything that fallen sinners can add to it. But, like the Spanish king, people want to add something to help God out. The idea that salvation is totally from God is an affront to our pride. So even many that profess to believe in Christ as Savior are prone to think that their salvation rests at least partially on something that they must do, rather than completely on what God has done. We keep adding our columns, but God’s Word clearly shows that God’s salvation does not need our human support.

God’s mighty power will save His people according to His purpose.

Zechariah 12-14 contains the second “burden” that the prophet received from God (see 9:1). This burden focuses on Israel, and specifically on Jerusalem (22 times in these chapters). The phrase “that day” occurs 17 times and “the nations” occurs 14 times, pointing to the period of time when God brings His purpose for Israel and the nations to culmination. As we saw last week, chapter 11 predicts Israel’s rejection of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and her subjection during the Tribulation to the worthless shepherd. This will plunge the nation into a time of severe testing, described by Jeremiah (30:5-7) as “the time of Jacob’s distress.” Daniel (12:1) calls it “a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.”

This time of testing culminates in the Battle of Armageddon (Joel 3:9-16; Rev. 16:16-21; Zech. 12:1-9; 14:2-3), when God will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. At the last minute, just before Israel is annihilated, God will supernaturally rout the enemy and deliver His people. Our text describes the physical deliverance of Israel in verses 1-9, and the spiritual deliverance of Israel in verses 10-14. The great military victory that God will achieve for His helpless people illustrates the great spiritual salvation that He also brings. Both sections emphasize the truth that God is mighty to save His people according to His purpose.

1. God is mighty to save His people physically (12:1-9).

First, God establishes His sovereign authority and power as seen in His role as the creator and sustainer of the universe. Then He shows what will take place with His chosen people, Israel, in the end times, and how He will “destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (12:9).

A. God’s supreme authority and power are seen in His sure word and in His role as creator and sustainer of the universe (12:1).

“Burden” means a message from God that is weighted with important words of judgment and deliverance. We might say, “That’s a heavy message.” It is a burden “of the word of the Lord concerning Israel.” This is further underscored by “Thus declares the Lord…” So before he even describes who the Lord is, Zechariah wants us to know that this is not his human word; it is the word of Almighty God.

Then he describes God as the one “who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.” The Hebrew participles refute the idea of deism, that God created the earth, but has nothing to do with it now. Rather, He continually stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him (E. W. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament [Kregel], p. 355). As Colossians 1:17 states of Jesus, “in Him all things hold together.” If Jesus decided to “let go,” the universe would chaotically self-destruct! He is the Lord who is speaking here! If He spoke the universe into existence and sustains it by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), then when He states what is going to transpire in the future, He has the authority to make it happen. We should thus believe His word and submit ourselves to Him as the Sovereign Lord.

B. God’s mighty power to save is seen in the way that He will deliver Israel from all her enemies (12:2-9).

If all that we had to go on was 12:2-9, we might conclude that the battle will not be too bad for Israel. These verses show how God will strengthen the nation for battle so that her enemies will be defeated. But 13:7-9 and 14:2-3 reveal that things will get pretty desperate for Israel before the Lord intervenes. The city will be captured, houses plundered, women raped, and half of the city exiled before the Lord fights against the nations. Two parts of the land will be cut off and perish and the third part will be brought through the fire. Only after this will Israel be delivered.

God will make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the nations (12:2). The nations will greedily consume Israel like a cup of wine, but instead of satisfying them, it makes them stagger and fall to the ground. God also promises (12:3) to make Jerusalem a heavy stone, so that whoever tries to lift it will only injure himself. Also, God will strike the horses with bewilderment and the riders with madness (12:4). Scholars differ over whether there will be literal cavalry in the campaign of Armageddon or whether the prophecy uses language of the times (maybe God will cause the computer systems to go haywire!).

Some understand verse 5 to mean that the leaders (NASB, “clans”) of Judah will side with the nations until they recognize that God is empowering those in Jerusalem (F. Duane Lindsey, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary [Victor Books], 1:1566). Or perhaps the faith of those in Jerusalem will inspire these leaders to trust in God. He will make them like a fire to consume their enemies (12:6).

Then (12:7) God promises to “deliver the defenseless country [“tents of Judah”] before the fortified and well-defended capital, so that both may realize that the victory is of the Lord” (Charles Feinberg, God Remembers [American Board of Mission to the Jews], p. 225). Merrill Unger observes, “The Lord will manifest Himself in such deliverance as will honor faith, unite His people, and cause them mutually to make their boast wholly in the Lord, instead of partially in themselves” (Zechariah: Prophet of Messiah’s Glory [Zondervan], p. 212, italics his). God promises further that the weakest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be like David and the leaders (“the house of David”) will be like God, further described as like the angel of the Lord going before them.

In 12:9, when the Lord says [literally] that He “will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem,” it is not as if there is any doubt about the outcome! Verse 1 shows us God’s omnipotent ability to do whatever He purposes to do. Rather, it is using human language in the sense of focusing full attention on the matter, so as to say, “When God sets His mind on doing it, it’s a done deal!” (See Unger, p. 213.)

God’s reason for delivering His chosen people physically (12:2-9) is so that later He can save them spiritually (12:10-14), and all of this is for His glory. Many of God’s people can testify that God saved their lives from physical death years before He later saved their souls from spiritual death. John Newton, the wicked slave trader, who was saved to become a pastor and hymn writer (“Amazing Grace”), more than once narrowly escaped death before his conversion. Once he fell overboard when he was drunk and was harpooned to get him back on deck, but he survived! If God has spared your life, but you have not yet come to Christ, He wants you to turn in faith to Him today!

There is another lesson here: The safest place for any of God’s people is in the center of His will and purpose. When Zechariah wrote, many Jews were still in Babylon. Perhaps they thought, “It’s just not safe to move back to Jerusalem. There is no army there and no wall around the city. The place is surrounded by hostile neighbors. I’ll just stay here in Babylon.”

But Zechariah is showing them that even if all the hostile nations in the world are lined up against Jerusalem, it is the safest place in the world to be, because Almighty God has promised to destroy the nations that come against Jerusalem. This doesn’t mean that we should throw caution to the wind, or that there are not times when God’s servants should flee for their lives. But it does mean that God watches over His people (12:4), and that no one can touch them unless it fits with God’s purpose. All the armies on earth can line up against God’s people, but they will not thwart God’s mighty purpose to save His people for His glory.

2. God is mighty to save His people spiritually (12:10-14).

Verse 10 is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible. There is no way to explain it apart from the incarnation, death, and resurrection of one who is both God and man. The speaker throughout this passage has been God, who now says, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced.” “Pierce” is consistently used of someone being run through by a sword or spear (Num. 25:8; Judges 9:54; 1 Sam. 31:4). No one can pierce God, unless God first takes on human flesh. And the Jewish nation cannot someday look on this one whom they pierced unless He is then living, having been raised from the dead. When the soldier thrust his sword through Jesus’ side as He hung on the cross, he inadvertently fulfilled this prophecy in remarkable detail (John 19:36-37)!

Before we look at several aspects of the spiritual salvation that God promises to bring to His chosen people, note that it is entirely of God. God does not say, “I would like to save My people someday, but they must exercise their free will in order for the process to happen.” Nor is this prophecy based only on God’s foreknowledge of what will happen, but rather on His mighty power that causes it to happen. In other words, God isn’t looking down through the centuries here and exclaiming, “Finally, after all these years, I can see that the Jews will soften their own hearts by their own free will and trust in Me! I’ve always wanted them to do this, but I couldn’t do anything about it because of the sovereignty of human free will. I’m so glad that they finally decided to follow Jesus!”

That is how many evangelicals view salvation in our day, but it is definitely not what the Bible teaches. It shows that salvation is of the Lord, from start to finish. While we must trust in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins, neither saving faith nor repentance originates in the fallen human heart. They are God’s gift, so that none can boast (Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 5:31; 11:18).

Note briefly five things about God’s salvation:

A. God often prepares us for salvation through trials.

Before God saves the Jews spiritually, He will take them through the awful events of the Tribulation, culminating in the horrifying campaign of Armageddon. Lest you think that God is merely describing what will happen in the future, apart from His causation, in 14:2, He states, “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle….” Those nations will be accountable for their hatred against the Jews, but behind all events is God, “who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).

When you encounter trials, you are prone to doubt either God’s love or His sovereign power. You may even go so far as to doubt His existence: “If there is a loving, all-powerful God, then why are these terrible things happening to me?” But our text is clear that God is by far stronger than the most powerful armies in the world and that He cares for His people, whom He will save.

There are Christians who say that anything bad that happens to us is from the devil and that it was not God’s will (imagine!). But the implication, then, is that Satan got one over on God! The Bible is clear that God sometimes uses Satan to carry out His will, but Satan can go no farther than God permits (Job 1-2). It brings far more comfort to know that even severe trials are under God’s sovereign will, than to think that somehow they are not.

In the chemistry lab, every substance has its melting point. The same is true of the hard human heart. God graciously brings trials into our lives to soften us and prepare us to receive His grace. Before the trials, we didn’t know that we needed God. We thought that we were in control. So God yanks the rug out from under us by bringing all the armies of the world against us to cause us to cry out to Him for help!

B. God brings us to salvation through the Holy Spirit.

God promises to pour out on the Jews “the Spirit of grace and of supplication.” This is a reference to the Holy Spirit (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; note all three persons of the Trinity in Zech. 12:10). Jesus told Nicodemus that the new birth is effected by the Spirit (John 3:5-8). “It is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63). Unless the Spirit of God convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8) and imparts new life to us, we remain dead in our transgressions and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5), excluded from the life of God because of our hard hearts (Eph. 4:18). Salvation, like the original creation, requires the sovereign power of God (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).

He is called here “the Spirit of grace and of supplication.” Grace means God’s undeserved favor. The Jews who pierced their Messiah do not deserve God’s favor, and neither does any sinner. Grace means that we do not have to clean up our lives or accumulate good works in order to qualify for salvation. Those things follow salvation, but they do not precede it to prompt God to act.

The “Spirit of supplication” means that when He graciously intervenes in a sinner’s heart, that sinner cries out to God, “Save me, Lord, or I perish!” All subsequent prayer stems from God’s gracious Spirit of supplication moving us to cry for help. If you recognize that you are a sinner in God’s sight and you have cried out to Him to save you, it is because He has poured out His Spirit of grace and supplication on you. If you know Christ as Savior, but you lament the hardness of your heart, and you are crying out, “God, soften my heart towards You,” it is because His Spirit of grace and supplication is working in you.

C. God’s salvation brings us to see the Savior accurately.

Israel will “look on Me whom they have pierced.” As I said, the only way that this can be explained is if the one pierced is both God and man. In the 16th century, John Calvin fought against the same errors that we face in Unitarianism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny that Jesus is fully God. He comments on this text to show that Christ is the same in essence with the Father and the Spirit, but distinct in person. Thus God the Father was not pierced, because He did not take on human flesh. But He can say, “They shall look on Me” because He is one in essence with the Son (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on The Twelve Minor Prophets, pp. 365-367). While you do not need to understand the Trinity to be saved, you really cannot understand the gospel unless God opens your eyes to see that Jesus is fully God and fully man. He had to be God to be sinless, so that His sacrifice would be acceptable to the Father. He had to be man or that sacrifice could not apply to humans.

But not only must we see the Savior accurately, as God and man; we must also see that “He was pierced through for our transgressions” (Isa. 53:5). There is no salvation apart from Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23-24; 2:2). Apart from the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness for sins (Heb. 9:22). To follow Jesus as a great moral example is not enough. To be saved, you must apply His shed blood to your sins.

The Jews who will be living during the Battle of Armageddon did not physically kill Jesus. True, their ancestors did. But God says here that they pierced Christ. We need to apply this to ourselves: I pierced Christ by my sins! You pierced Him! If you do not see that fact, you do not understand God’s salvation.

Thus God often prepares us for salvation through trials. He brings us to salvation through His Spirit and by opening our eyes to see the Savior accurately.

D. God’s salvation requires that we look to the Savior in faith.

The emphasis in looking “on Me whom they have pierced” is not on looking on the Messiah literally, but on looking to the Messiah in faith (Kenneth Barker, Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Zondervan], 7:683). It is the same as when Moses erected the bronze serpent, and whoever looked to it in faith lived (Num. 21:9). Some interpret this as happening at the second coming of Christ, but I understand it to be just prior to that event. At that point, there will be a widespread conversion of the Jews, as Paul states in Romans 11:25-27. No one, Jew or Gentile, can be saved apart from looking in faith to Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Son of God.

E. God’s salvation produces genuine repentance in the hearts of His people.

Israel will mourn over the pierced Savior, as one mourns for an only son, and as the Jews mourned for the good King Josiah in the plains of Megiddo, when Pharaoh killed him.

Genuine repentance is not something that a person must work up in order to be saved. But it does necessarily accompany saving faith, so that the New Testament views saving faith and repentance as flip sides of the same coin (Acts 20:21; 26:18). Just as saving faith is not a one-time thing, but ongoing, so with repentance. Ongoing repentance should mark the life of a believer, as we continually look to the Savior who was pierced for our sins.

As believers, we should look frequently to the Savior whom we pierced, and mourn. It must be personal, so that even husbands and wives mourn separately. That is the point of the repetition of “by itself” (12:12-14). The family of David refers to the rulers; the family of Levi refers to the priests. “All the families that remain” refers to everyone else. True repentance is not glib, shrugging off sin as no big deal. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). The Lord’s Supper is a good time to look in faith to the Savior whom we pierced.

Conclusion

Why did God give this remarkable prophecy to people who lived at least 2,500 years before it would take place? It was not so that they could draw up prophecy charts and read books about how soon these things would take place. He gave these prophecies to comfort His people as they went through trials and faced threatening enemies with the solid truth that He is a mighty Savior, and that no one can touch His elect apart from His purpose.

That’s how He wants us to apply it. If you have not yet repented of your sins and trusted in Christ as your Savior, God may have kept you alive until now so that today you would look on Him whom you pierced and mourn. If you have trusted in Christ, He wants you to know that no enemy, whether “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,” or even death itself, will be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39)!

Discussion Questions

1. What theological problem arises if you ascribe all trials to the devil? What problem arises if you ascribe them to the Lord?
2. Should we pray that God would bring trials into the lives of loved ones to bring them to repentance? Why/why not?
3. Why is it essential to understand properly who Jesus is? Can a person be saved and deny the deity or humanity of Jesus?
4. How does mourning over sin fit in with “rejoice always”?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation